bethelehem. again.

Palestine is my land, and I won’t let you take it – and while you put the world to sleep, I try to wake it.
-Rashid, 11th grade




I find myself saying to Christians who seek a devotional pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Yes! Go! Walk where Jesus walked! For you will not only walk where he walked but you will see what he saw. You will see land taken through illegal laws and the tread of soldier’s boots. You will see the attempt to destroy community and family through the taking of farms and the destruction of village life. But you will also see nonviolent resistance: in demonstrations against the separation wall, in families of Palestinians and Jews who have lost children to the conflict coming together and refusing to be enemies, and in farmers who refuse to abandon their land, even as the walls go up, the restrictions on movement tighten, and the everyday harassment and violence against them intensifies. -excerpt from "Rededicating the Temple: A Hanukah Homily," Mondoweiss, posted on 11 Dec 09

update on settlements in west bank

more on the story i wrote about last night- jewish settlers in the west bank and those who support the settlement movement are currently protesting outside israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's house. netanyahu is caught in the awkward place of attempting to curb his own citizens' fierce determination to expand the settlements in the west bank and thus comply with international law, or not.

i'm fairly convinced that were this anywhere else in the world, or between any other people groups, the entire situation would have been squashed long ago and both sides would be in some way forced to comply with international law. just my two cents.


for further reading:  here's an article on what it's like to live as a palestinian in the occupied territories near jewish settlements (even if you just skim it, do it!), here's an article on a palestinian family expelled from their home in east jerusalem to make room for settlers, and here's one on the broader (though incredibly convoluted) issues of borders and settlements.

bethlehem: thoughts on the occupation at christmastime

it's crazy to think it's christmas already. i think feeling "in the christmas spirit" for most of the month of december is something fairly unique to little kids, but this year i'm not sure what to make of all of this. we sing carols like, 'o little town of bethlehem' and talk about the birth of Jesus in an inn there, but we don't stop for a second to think about what's going on in bethlehem today. we sing about quaint little bethlehem- fields full of sheep, dark streets on silent nights underneath starry skies- thousands of years ago.

el-walajah, suburb of bethlehem, suburb of jerusalem: palestinian houses continually demolished.

the occupied west bank (which contains bethlehem) and settlements: jewish zionist settlers ignore prime minister netanyahu's plea that the (illegal) settlers stop (illegally) settling in palestinian territory.

al-ma'asara, village/ suburb of bethlehem: palestinians and internationals stand in solidarity every week in protest of the occupation and the (illegal) jewish settlers in the neighboring village of efrat.

around the entire west bank (or, in judeo christian language, 'biblical judea and samaria): an 8 meter (~30 ft) high wall made of concrete imported from the US, topped with barbed wire stands between the occupied palestinian territories and israel. 75% of the wall was built on palestinian land as per the established 1967 palestinian-israeli borders. it literally cuts villages in half. it circles around aquifers and fertile land, designating them as part of israel. it is over 400 miles long. bethlehem is walled in.

true, the quaintness of biblical bethlehem sounds much better in a carol than housing demolitions or concrete walls, but i certainly don't think this should keep us from knowing and caring and loving and doing something about this.

no war, no wall

photo by anna westlund

oh, little town of bethlehem

Oh, little town of Bethlehem...




No ear may hear His coming,
    But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
    The dear Christ enters in.

promise i will post photos and more thoughts over these next few days.

things i'm still thinking about: israel's collective memory, eid al- adha, the "security fence" around bethlehem and the entire west bank, housing demolitions, friends across the world and humanizing the other.

love, love.

jerusalem = love.

ok. seriously, a lot going on. in favor of a coherent, attempt at eloquent here are my thoughts, reactions and feelings to the things we've been seeing and experiencing this past week.

jerusalem: i will never, ever grow tired of hearing the call to prayer echo across the skies. shabbat. ultra-orthodox, neo-orthodox, un-orthodox bow, pray and sing at the western wall while the call to prayer fills the sky above, from al-aqsa and across the city. jews in kippa, in shtreimel, in long coats with tassels and earlocks, underneath 'allahu akbar' from minaret to minaret. the yeshiva students in their stereotypical american clothes put their arms around each other's shoulders and dance and jump in circles, celebrating the shabbat shalom. pilgrims of all 3 faiths pressing down the streets, the settlers with their tambourines and intense sense of divine right, despite the riff between the secular and the sacred... incense and hymns in harmony and genuine, prayers for the peace of this city, this country from the heart. cats, cats, cats.

galilee: peaceful waters, tiny chapels, beautiful rolling hills. a reminder that our Lord, too, was human, walked these roads. sailed this sea. the mount of beattitudes: blessed are the peacemakers, even here, in this place. especially here, in this place.

golan heights: lush, fertile, scarred by anti-tank trenches and old army bunkers and not-so-distant memories of a war over territory. climbing a military mountain to see (almost) all the way to damascus, to lebanon, to majdal shams and the UN's control over these borders...

nazareth: sleepy, despite all the racket. church of the ascension: bells. gorgeous mosaics of mary surrounding her stone house, carols. more bells. big, white christmas-y lights above the streets to usher in the coming of eid.

there are a few things that i really love about this place. i mean, there are a lot of things i enjoy, but i love, love waking up to intermittent church bells and the call to prayer. i love the smell of shwarma (most of the time), of incense in old, old churches.

we've talked with combatants for peace, with abouna elias chacour, with andy david and ophir yarden, with jonathan kaplan and michael honigstein.
we've been to yad vashem, to the church of ascension in nazareth, to mount herzl. to the arab quarter, the jewish quarter, the christian quarter. we've been to tel aviv and to jaffa (love!). the western wall, the church of the holy sepulcher/ resurrection, the ruins of herod's temple.

i still can't believe this group of college kids gave up their lunch money to share this experience with me. i'm so, so thankful- for all that i'm being challenged with and exposed to, for being able to learn more of j's context, and for being able to share in this with each of them!