Oush Garab and more

Much to write about. Let's start with some events from last week that are continuing tonight. In Beit Sahour, the smaller sister town of Bethlehem, on its outskirts, there is a park called Oush Garab. It used to be a military area, which was then abandoned for a while, and then about 2 years ago it was given to the Beit Sahour municipality for them to build on it. So far, the area has been used as a really nice park area for families, with a climbing wall, playgrounds, picnic/barbeque areas, and a bra

nd new turf football (soccer) field. Tons of families from Beit Sahour come to this park every night because there are not many places in Bethlehem where kids can just play and run around. Also, there are plans already in motion for the construction of a children's hospital in this area, which would be really great.

Okay, so the problem is, there is still the abandoned military buildings on a hill right beside the park, and it is this

 area that Israeli Jews are now trying to take back for two purposes, in their words...to keep the Arabs away, and to establish a new settlement. Any  settlement whatsoever in the West Bank is  a tragedy, but this one, should it succeed, would be very devastating because the park Oush Garab would pretty much be shut down. Residents of Beit Sahour would not want to bring their families to a park right beside a settlement, because it would just not be safe. 

As it turns out, the settlers have a blog website (which is funny to me...), and through this, some organizations around the area are finding out what plans the settlers have for this area and have thus been able to plan non-violent, creatively alternative protests against what the settlers are doing and wish to do. In the past few weeks, this has involved painting non-political, usually funny, words on the military compound, as well as organizing a huge bingo event which the settlers, when they showed up that night, were really really confused by, and other such fun, non threatening, activities for local Palestinians and internationals to attend. The idea is that the typical, worn out form of protesting, like shouting slogans and carrying signs and giving speeches and what not, is expected by the settlers and doesn't affect them at all. They're used to it. But by thinking of creative, fun ways of having a presence in the area, where for the most part, the settlers are actually ignored for the sake of just having fun, we totally throw off and confuse them because they don't know how to respond to a demonstration which is a bingo game, or a bunch of people acting like animals (this actually happened. wish i had been there). 

So, tonight, the settlers are coming to spend their first night on the premises. In response, a party has been organized, which will essentially be a lot of loud music and bright lights in order to make sure the settlers don't get cozy and comfortable enough to actually go to sleep. We've all been given explicit instructions not to talk to the settlers, the army, the police, but to just have fun, make some noise, play football, whatever, just to be there and make sure the army "protecting" the settlers and they themselves know that we are there and won't accept what they're trying to do. so, please keep Oush Garab and the movement to protect it in your prayers, and I'll continue updating everyone about the situation. Please check out the link above for the settlers email, I don't know, I think it's pretty amusing, especially the part about the international leftist and anarchist organizations. That would be referring to me, in part... oh so funny. 

What else. Class is going well, and I'm getting to spend some time with a few students outside of class. The other week I visited a couple guys who live in the Deheisha refugee camp and got a nice tour, which I really enjoyed. I've also gone to play football with one of those guys a couple of times, which was fun and kind of bewildering because I was being shouted at to do something, and of course, I definitely didn't know what they were saying. And also, this past Saturday, I visited 3 other students from my class in Hebron, where they live. I'll write a blog tomorrow or the next day about my experience there. This week, I'm planning on waking up early to go to the checkpoint down the street where hundreds of Palestinians must go through every morning to work in Jerusalem. I don't know much about this aspect of Palestinian life, so I'm really interested to learn more. And I'm going to begin working on figuring out how to visit one of the nearby Jewish settlements for a day, just to walk around and maybe talk to some of the residents. I just have no idea what life is like in those places.  And, either this week or next week I'm going to visit the family of my Arabic instructor back home, Ahmad, so that will be really cool. 

And with a month left here, I'm really really missing home a lot. And then of course, at the same time, I'm really enjoying being here, so I'm pretty split these days. This week, a lot of the volunteers here at the Bible college will be leaving (including some whom I've become really good friends with), so things will change  a lot soon.  Hopefully it'll make me learn more Arabic, I've been pretty lazy about it lately, just kind of tuning it out because I don't understand it, rather than listening carefully and trying to pick up at least the general topic being discussed.  So I suppose that's it for me now, sorry I don't post more often and instead just give you these giant posts about everything. Hope you are all well.

Also...

A friend of mine and Sarah's here, Julia, also wrote about Nablus, and you will get a better idea of the situation here from reading her blog. Here is the link.

http://juliainpalestine.tumblr.com/post/40398122/nablus

Nablus

This past Sunday, I went with the Summer Encounter people to Nablus. Some information about Nablus, it's in the northern West Bank and is one of the largest Palestinian cities with a population over 130,000. This place was very, very different from Bethlehem. The main reason for this is because Nablus is considered the center of the violent resistance movement for the West Bank. Our tour guide characterized the resistance not as a religious battle between Muslims and Jews, but rather a political fight between Palestinians and Israelis. The Israeli military orders incursions into the city every night going after targets, leaders of the resistance movement, or at least anyone suspected of having dealings with a resistance group. Also, we heard stories about common experiences at the check points to leave the Nablus area (which you have to go through in order to get anywhere else in the West Bank). These experiences are many times humiliating, where both men and women are asked to strip in front of hundreds of people, or where the men are touched inappropriately by the women soldiers. This kind of experience even happens to international people who work in Nablus. For us as Americans, this would be a horrendous experience. For Palestinian Muslims, the shame is even worse considering the strict conservative culture they live in.

Whether this is all an effective way to "secure" Israel, that is left to one's opinion, but there is no doubt that the constant military threat is breeding a lot of fear, anger, and hatred in this city. Every where we went, there were posters commemorating martyrs who had carried out suicide attacks or been killed in military incursions as they worked for the resistance. This memorial was very chilling.

Even more, there were martyr memorials for certain parts of the city. For example, a memorial was in construction to remember the people killed in one of the city's 4 refugee camps. We walked through this refugee camp and were followed by I don't know how many kids. Our group was a spectacle. The kids were really nice, not asking for money or to buy anything, but just wanting to walk with us and ask for our names in english and for us to take their pictures, which we were all definitely okay with.




What has hit me the hardest since being there has been thinking about all these kids. Our tour guide emphasized that many, if not all, of the children here have serious psychological damage because of the constant conflict. They are force fed hatred, either by the Israeli military, or by their fellow Palestinians who are resisting the Israeli occupation. Because of this, most children don't want to grow up to be doctors or engineers or lawyers, but rather, they want to fight and they want to be martyred. This is the only way they can find worth in their daily lives, by resistance, and the only way they think they can make their lives mean something, the only way they can be remembered, is by becoming suicide bombers.

It's difficult for someone on the outside to describe the extent of how difficult, humiliating, and hopeless people's lives in Nablus can be, simply because we have no idea what it is like to live in constant fear every night that your house will be next for an Israeli incursion, or your friend's family, or your refugee camp. In saying this, I'm hoping that rather than having outright condemnation toward those people who choose to resist by violent means, we will try to have compassion, and even some amount of understanding. I am in no way saying that violent means are okay to use, regardless of how bad things can be. I am not saying Palestinians have the right to blow themselves up because of what Israel has done to them. I don't believe violent means are a morally valid way to resist occupation and oppression, nor are they practically viable in terms of actually changing the situation. I think they make everything, and I mean everything spiritually, politically, economically, socially, personally, worse. But yet, we are to love and pray for these people, both the Palestinians and the Israelis, regardless of how much we hate what they do. And we should try to remember that the 'terrorists' we hear about on TV were not simply born terrorists, but through the fault of many, including themselves, sometimes even ourselves, they became forces for hatred. Here, it is very easy to know that we live in a fallen world.

However, I will say that for being the "Terrorist Captital of the West Bank", the people were all really friendly and welcoming. Since the Intifada a few years ago, people there have stopped seeing tourists for the most part, so it was probably strange that we were there. But, we still felt welcomed. The lighter things that we did while there were to eat kanafi, which is an amazing Palestinian dessert. Nablus is known for having the best kanafi. I mean, we have nothing like this in the States, so if I described, it would sound weird, if not disgusting. But seriously, it is awesome. And, Nablus is also well known for it olive oil soap, so we went to a soap factory there and bought some good soap. This soap is shipped to a lot of places in Europe and the rest of the Arab world. So, is anyone asks you if you know anything about soap, you can tell them Nablus is known for its kanafi, its soap, and its terrorists :)

Not Lying Down

This week and last week I went to a Palestinian demonstration. Demonstrations are held every Friday all over Palestine, and for all the expected reasons: taking away of land, building of the Wall, illegal settlements, and just the simple injustice of one people occupying another people. The protest I went to is largely because of the plan for continuing the building of the Wall in the West Bank. The town that holds the demonstrations here is called Umm Salimoneh. Every Friday, a bunch of people from the town come down to a point in the road that leads out of the town where a group of Israeli soldiers is stationed. Many of the protesters are children, and they are the ones that lead the group to the Israeli arming, waving their Palestinian flags and marching in a line. The townspeople are joined by a varying number of international supporters. For example, today, I met people from America, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, and from Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. I'm sure there were other countries represented.

What has happened these past two weeks that I've gone (from what I understand, the protests can be very different from week to week, and very different from place to place) is that the group of Palestinian and international protesters go to Israeli army, who has blocked the road with a fence of razor wire. The demonstrations are most definitely guided by a non-violent philosophy, so usually there are speeches encouraging the protesters to continue their struggle, thanksgiving to the internationals who are there to support and document the Palestinian people and their cause, and speeches directed to the Israeli soldiers asking them where is the peace, where is the democracy that is Israel is heralded as, where is their sense of right and wrong. There is also a group of Jewish Israeli activists who come into the West Bank illegally (Israeli citizens are not allowed to come into the West Bank) who are usually the biggest problem for the soldiers. They mess with the razor fence the soldiers have set up to get across and just sit in the midst of the soldiers. This really makes the soldiers mad and there have been intense struggles between them all, with injuries and arrests and all that.

I'm still not entirely sure what I think about the protests. For me, it's difficult to enter into the heart of why the Palestinians are there in the middle of nowhere, making speeches and yelling at a small group of soldiers who, by the looks on their faces, could care less about what is going on. From my standpoint, it doesn't seem like a protest this small will actually do anything to delay or stop the construction of the Wall. And even less do I understand what I myself can do there to help the Palestinians in their struggle and to help the Israeli soldiers understand why there have to be protests at all. However, I am not a Palestinian and therefore really have very little, if any, idea of what they have been through and what it feels like to have your land be in constant threat of destruction or robbery, what it means to have plans looming in the near future that will erect a giant cement fence around your town, so that while the illegal settlers can have their peace of mind, their security, your freedom is taken away. And so even though the protests every week will not, in all liklihood, cause the Wall not to be built, but they have to do something. They can't simply not do or say anything against what Israel is trying to do to them, and they have to continue hoping, always hoping, that one day there will be some amount of justice given to them. And for them, it's very important to see internationals there every week, just so they know that they are not alone and not completely forgotten by the world, and to know that there are people going back to their home countries to report what is actually happening in this place. We as internationals must become a voice for their voice.

And so, while I can't say that these demonstrations are the safest things to attend, nor the most effective way of ending the occupation, I will nonetheless continue attending because the Palestinians of this demonstration are non-violently saying they will not simply lie down to oppression in whatever form it may come, whether it's a giant concrete wall or a tank or a tear gas canister or not being able to see their family in another town at their own liberty. And this to me is very courageous and something I will support.

Nashkur Allah

Nashkur Allah is the Christian's way of saying Thanks be to God.

Sorry I haven't updated sooner, I've been (somewhat) busy and it's difficult to get on a computer here sometimes. The past few days have been very good. I've met a lot of the guys studying here at the Bible college, and have been hanging out with them and having a really good time. I am rooming with one of them for now, his name is Asharaf, and he's a good friend of mine already. He's kind of a crazy guy (in a very good way) and very funny and eager to learn english better (it's already pretty decent). Most of the guys here know some english, at least more english than I know arabic, so it's good. Anyway, Asharaf has been helping me out, with buying food so I don't get ripped off (there is a foreigner price and a local price), and has been sharing some of his life story with me, about being a Christian in a predominantly Muslim town, and about his brother Ramzi who was killed by the Israeli military in 1991, and about how he wants to study philosophy in Britain or America.

I've also been hanging out with a guy named Allen (the guy from my email that I sent, for those of you who get that), and also his cousin who has a restaurant next door to Allen's shop. They're very funny and help me with Arabic and get me tea and coffee for free. The Lord is really burdening me for these two, they're just the nicest guys, so you could be praying for them and for our friendship.

As some of you know, the plan for my summer was to spend one month in Zebabdeh, a town in the northern West Bank, and then the following two months here in Bethlehem. I was supposed to go to Zebabdeh next week, but I don't think that's going to be happening anymore since they have an english teacher until the middle of June. So I'm really not sure what's going on. Until then, I think I'll be helping in the Bible college's library, putting bar codes on books as they attempt to update their system. This is kind of a boring job, but it's teaching me about serving the Palestinian church in a way that is not in anyway extraordinary, but still something they need.

As Sarah said, there is a business investment conference going on this week, and yes, it's quite hectic around here pretty much all the time. The other night was very interesting, I was walking around the street that the Bible college is on with a guy named Elias, and we walked up to the Wall (it's only a quarter of a mile from here). The Israeli military had opened it and let a procession of cars that Mahmoud Abbas was in through, and then closed it back up. It felt very strange at that moment, to be seeing the wall close up like that, the reality of this town feeling like a prison for those who really live here definitely came upon me.

Last night I had a really sweet time of fellowship with Asharaf and this other guy Jarius. They both very much love the Lord and it is a great encouragement. We all prayed together, and their prayers, in Arabic, were like music, like they were writing psalms right then. It was very beautiful. Then Jarius got his guitar and he and Asharaf sang some really sweet Arabic songs to the Lord. Not all of the students at the Bible college are like this. They represent the larger Christian population here in Bethlehem, where some are very much hungry for the Lord himself and to be used by him in great ways here, and others are not so much, usually coming from more conservative, orthodox backgrounds. It's kind of strange to not only be seeing the differences and splits between the Christians and the Muslims, but also within the Christians themselves. This is also something that you all could be praying for, that the Spirit would come to do a great work of unification in the church here.

Today, Sarah and I met with our friends, Andrea and Dawn who have been living here for a while and are planning on starting a hostel type thing for international Christians to come and fellowship and meet the local church here. Both of them are just so hungry and seeking after God and all that the Lord wants to do here in this town, the way they talk about it is as there is a great movement, a great revival coming, and they feel this so strongly. It's very cool. I don't think I've been here long enough to get a sense of this, but from the stories they told us, I believe them and am excited to see and be a part of God's outpouring here. Be in much prayer. Thank you.

Urgent Prayer

I guess it's unfortunate that my first post on this blog is coming right now, I've been meaning to write up some of why I'm going to Bethlehem, and I will hopefully get the chance to do this over spring break, but for now, this is post urging mine and Sarah's supporters to pray.

As some of you may have seen on the news, there was a shooting yesterday in Jerusalem at a Jewish seminary. The gunman was from East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of Jerusalem. He killed 8 people and wounded anywhere from 9-35, the reports vary. This shooting is coming after a week of an Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip in order to stop Hamas from firing missiles into Israeli border towns. The incursion killed around 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and many of them women and children. To learn more about the story, I would suggest the BBC website, the Palestinian News Network, and the major Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.

Obviously this is not a good turn of events for anyone, the Israelis nor the Palestinians, especially since peace talks have resumed recently, sort of. There is a lot of anger on both sides right now, and everything is set to escalate. I'm writing here to urge everyone reading this blog to be praying for the situation in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza now, pray that somehow the Lord would be at work to restore some amount of peace, that he would protect civilians especially, and that he would be protecting the Christians there and using them as a vessel in the whole situation there. Pray especially for Bethlehem as it was invaded late last night by the Israeli military. There has been bombing and shooting, and even kids are fighting with throwing rocks. Keep the Bible college in your prayers for its protection and for it being a refuge for all Bethlehemites.

This news is obviously disconcerting for Sarah and I. Even though we haven't yet been with the people of Bethlehem, we have already come to have a lot of love for them, and all this news is heartbreaking for us. And it is also throwing a lot of doubt and confusion over our trip this summer. We are praying now that the Lord will give us guidance as to whether or not he sends us there. We are praying for faith to know that he will protect us if we do go, and wisdom to know if we should not go.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust" psalm 91.1-2