Friends, Thursday night a Palestinian from East Jerusalem entered a yeshiva in the Western (Jewish) part of Jerusalem. People were killed as he opened fire on students that were studying. Speculating, it seems that this attack was carried out in response to the deaths of Palestinians as a result of the Israeli military's operation in Gaza.
That same night, in response to the attack, the Israeli military entered Bethlehem, which under agreements with Israel is supposed to be sovereign Palestinian territory. It seems that the military was setting off bombs, and there was lots of gunfire, we believe from the Israeli military.
Earlier this week, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, agreed to resume negotiations with Israel towards achieving a lasting peace here. He had called them off in response to what he viewed as Israel's disproportional military response in Gaza to the firing of rockets from parts of Gaza.
Wednesday, Israeli 'border police' were in Bethlehem and killed 4 men. The Israeli military claims the 4 were "terrorists". People in Bethlehem agree that some of them were radical militants, but not all. Regardless, using the legal system to bring to justice those accused of the killings would seem to be a more appropriate and less inflammatory response.
This is not a new cycle and I don't expect that it will end any time soon. It's so easy to see how extremists from either side are able to inflame tensions here or elicit a response from the 'other side'. When we initially came here, we had trouble understanding what 'peacebuilding', our official job title, was. We now have a better understanding of some of what that means. When people are working so hard to kill and destroy, it's much clearer that there should be those that are working harder to build and encourage people towards peaceful, non-violent responses to injustices they see all around them.

Gaza

Friends, below is an update on Gaza as we see the situation from here. Please continue to pray for innocent people on both sides, and especially for innocent residents of Gaza who are unable to even flee the violence. If bullets are indiscriminate, missiles dropped from aircraft are even more so.

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Over the weekend, we heard from a personal contact who assists in the
hospitals and clinics in Gaza. The writer describes the Israeli
offensive as as "organized destruction". The following is a brief
excerpt from that letter: "Over the previous 48 hours 35 killed and
around 75 injured. Last night to now in one hospital in Jabbalayeh a
further 28 killed including 3 women and 10 under 16 the youngest being
one week old. Less than 10% would be classed as 'fighters' the
majority are civilians with varying injuries... Again most of the
injured are from within houses demolished by the missiles. One man has
lost both lower limbs with an injury to one shoulder whilst feeding
his goats. His father requests his photograph is sent to US as the
chances, when he is ready for getting out for appropriate prosthetic
limb fitting, are slim to nil at present and getting any kind of
prosthesis in, let alone fitted, is costly. He is 20 years old with a
new wife and baby on the way. Whilst he may well become mobile again
on prostheses the way ahead for him will be long and difficult to
regain any degree of independence in any society let alone one that is
being systematically destroyed. He is one of many just in these last
few days."

Gaza's hospitals and emergency workers are stretched beyond their
capabilities and on the verge of collapse. Today, Egypt allowed
approximately 200 patients to be transferred to Egypt. As a result of
the death toll and violence in Gaza, Palestinian President Abbas has
cut off talks with Israel.

Please pray for the situation here, the leaders, and if willing
contact your congressman or senators. Remind them that violence only
begets violence and that the seige of Gaza and the collective
punishment of innocent civilians must end.

Ten Thousand Villages and Olive Wood

As part of a semester abroad a group of EMU students came to visit MCC Israel/Palestine. We met with some of the artisans who supply Ten Thousand Villages with olive wood products from here in Bethlehem. By getting to meet with the artisans, people are able to put faces to the conflict here; it becomes not the 'other' who is experiencing difficulties as a result of the conflict, but people with names and stories.

If you'd like to link to a slightly larger screen, click here.