Italian Mass in the Cremisan Valley

I have written about the Cremisan Valley several times. On Tuesday I sat in the office researching the issues on the internet. Then yesterday four of us took a taxi to the valley for the regular Friday open-air Mass.

This afternoon I walked from the Aida camp to the Convent and School, high on the hillside overlooking the valley. I had a chance to enjoy this spectacular place. 

I then joined a large group from Italy who had gathered in quiet solidarity with the Nuns and to protest against the proposed extension of the Wall. 

The Catholic Service in Italian in this unique setting was surprising moving and I was again welcomed to join in the Eucharist. 

As we left to march down through Beit Jala, we had a view over the valley. All the hilltops on the left of the photo are occupied by illegal settlements. The proposal to build the road next to where I am walking is to protect these settlers. It is so strange that they keep moving closer to these dangerous nuns. It has been suggested that the Wall, if built at all, should go along the other side of the valley, close to the settlement - we await the revised proposals to see whether they have changed. All the land of the Cremisan Valley is inside the Green Line- the internationally recognised border between Israel and Palestine. These settlements are on the Palestinian side of the line.  

The Palestinian police (and all the local lads) turned out to guide us down the steep and busy high street of Beit Jala. The route passed Aida, so I said my goodbyes and slipped back into the camp. 

Ayed's story

I live with Ayed - this morning he told me some of his story.

Ayed's grandfather was head of the village - a Sheik. He had land, sheep, cows, and grew wheat and vegetables.

When the Israelis swept in, he fled with his family firstly to Jordan and then back to the Refugee Camp here at Aida. He got a job working as a labourer for UNRWA, the UN relief agency which runs the camp. He unloaded milk, flour and other goods for the families in the camp. 

From Sheik and landowner to labourer, from the most respected leader in the village, to the least in the camp took its toll on his self-respect.

Ayed's father, Mohammad, stayed on at home instead of continuing his education, to help the family. His brothers, Jamil (now in the US), Ahmad(now in Jordan) and Mahmoud (now in Arabia) all went on to get degrees. They were not here when Israel registered everyone in 1967, so lost their citizenship. Jamil has US citizenship so can return occasionally, but the others have not been back since 1967. Ayed has never met Mahmoud.

Ayed's uncle, Jamil, managed to get Ayed's father to America, and this enabled him to get a residency permit there. The main benefit was that all his sons aged 18 or less also got this right, even when they returned to the Camp. 

Ayed is one of six brothers. The eldest, Waleed, runs the shop across the street from here. Said went to work in Saudi Arabia to support the younger brothers in their education. Farid qualified in the US as a Civil Engineer and now runs a chain of restaurants there. Khadr became an Electrical Engineer and works for a Telecoms company in Florida. Ayed also went to the US, but in the middle of his first year, Said lost his job, and so Ayed was left to manage. He worked full time in a restaurant, changed his degree subject to Maths and Philosophy and did his studies in the evening. The youngest brother, Nadal, got a Masters in Law at Columbia University and now works at the Badil Centre here in Bethlehem. 

So, despite being reduced to nothing, Ayed's family have succeeded in getting qualifications and building new lives. Some have made great sacrifices to help the family. Like many other Palestinian families, some have moved elsewhere to find new lives. Other still cling to the hope that one day they will be free. The Palestinian culture is that families stay together - Ayed is sad that his family is being dispersed and that they are not allowed back into the country.

My dream for Ayed is that his children will get to paddle in the sea. Surely not too much to ask. The children have never seen the sea.  

I would love to be there when they do. 

Khaled al Azraq

Last night, this man was interviewed on National TV. I recognised him as the person that had come to our house for coffee on Wednesday and so asked Ayed for his story. This is what he told me.

Khaled al Azraq lives with his family just across the street from here. When Khaled was 16, his sister was sent to prison for participating in the resistance. The Israelis demolished the family home as the penalty for harbouring terrorists.

Ayed tells me that Khaled was very angry and rebellious at school - he got involved in demonstrations, was arrested and was sent to prison for 2 years in 1982. He continued the fight when he came out of prison.

In 1991, Khaled married. It was during the first Intifada. He had been married for 3 month's when his wife planned to plant a bomb in the Central Post Office of Jerusalem. She was in the washroom at the Post Office preparing the bomb when it went off, killing her. 

The Israelis demolished the family home again and Khaled went on the run. He was eventually caught in a village near Ramallah and sentenced to 3 life sentences for his involvement in the Intifada. 

And now, after 23 years, he was released in December 2013, as part of the peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. 

Khaled's sister, Majeda, who also appeared in the programme, is now vice president of the prisoners' ministry in Bethlehem. 

Khaled's other sisters now Head of the Women's Palestinian Union, and is married to Issa Qareq, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisons. 

All of these people are from the Aida Camp. 

I have not previously come face to face with someone directly involved in the Palestinian struggle against occupation. What are people to do to resist? How deeply must the pain go for someone to consider planting a bomb? Those of us on the outside of the conflict can only imagine the pain on both sides. The nearer you get to the conflict the greater the pain. Both sides have lost people. How can peace and reconciliation be achieved amidst so much pain and fear?

Cremisan Valley - Friday Mass on the hillside

Every Friday afternoon for the past six years, the local priest has taken a Mass on the slopes of the Cremisan Valley, close to where Israel intends to build the Annexation Wall. I gathered with about 15 others for the Catholic Mass, taken in Arabic. I was offered and received the Eucharist for just second time in a Catholic service, the first time being at Worth Abbey. This was moving for me - a very simple service in this beautiful place. 

It is so sad to see these beautiful lands cut to pieces by this horrific wall. The reason for this latest extension is of course security - the valley contains only the Monastery and the Convent. The six elderly nuns in the Convent must be very scary indeed to necessitate a 24 foot wall around 3 sides of their property. 

The children in the house where I live go to the Convent School. Building the wall will mean that they have to pass through a checkpoint. Dan downstairs watched two soldiers here in the camp this week - one was eating a sandwich, the other was kneeling and pointing his sniper rifle at a 10 year old. Children grow to hate soldiers because of the way they are treated by them. They never get to meet Jews who are nice to them.

Father Paulo thanked us for coming, and another drove us home - so kind. Tomorrow a large delegation from Italy is coming to hold a Mass and to march to Bethlehem. I hope to join them. 

Tel Aviv

I decided to take a trip to Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean coast to the west of Jerusalem. This meant taking a bus to Jerusalem, tram to the bus station and express coach to Tel Aviv. I thought that the contrast with the West Bank might help me to understand the situation there. 

This is Israel, so no checkpoints, although there was a bag check at both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv bus stations. I was a little surprised when I realised that the young girl dressed in casual clothes and a tattoo sitting across the gangway on the bus was carrying an automatic rifle!

We walked through the southern part of Tel Aviv, which is where the markets and cheaper housing is, compared with the central business district which is more high rise building and commercial. 

It struck me rather like many American and European cities that I had visited in my research on urban development. We wandered through cosmopolitan areas where it was even difficult to recognise the architecture. Dress is more liberal, with fewer people with obvious Jewish or Muslim dress. I understand the the culture of Tel Aviv is generally more liberal, with greater acceptance of sexual orientation. 

We emerged at the coast and this was stunning.Miles of glorious beaches (deserted as this is winter despite the warm sunshine). We walked south to the adjoining town of Jaffa (which is referred to as Joppa in the Bible).

Jaffa has the most amazing history of any city I have heard of. It was captured by the Pharaohs, mentioned in Joshua, part of the territory of the tribe of Dan. The Canaanites and Philistines retook it until King David recaptured it. Solomon brought cedars for the temple in through Jaffa. Jonah sailed from Jaffa, and Peter had a vision of a sheet filled with animals there. Saladin captured Jaffa for the arabs in 1187, and Richard I retook it in 1192. Napoleon captured Jaffa in 1799. The British led by General Allenby captured Jaffa in 1917. 

Between 1921 and 1948, Jaffa was at the heart of the tensions between the Jews, who were settling in Tel Aviv to the north and the arabs, most of whom were in Jaffa to the south. In 1936 the British blew up much of Jaffa in order to isolate the arabs fighting from there. 

Jaffa was subject to disputes in the discussions leading up to partition, but was finally allocated to the arabs in the UN 1947 partition plan. However, in 1948 Jewish attacks on the city resulted in most of the arabs leaving. The population has gradually increased and is now around 46,000, with 30,000 jews and 16,000 muslims. Jaffa has become "unified" with Tel Aviv which is now called Tel Aviv-Jafo. 

There are still tensions here. The arabs complain about being evicted from their properties, while the authorities say they are illegal squatters. Many areas of Jaffa have high crime and drug problems. 



Another interesting day with much to ponder.

The three children in the house where I am living have never seen the sea.

Visiting the Bethlehem Bible College

Flora

On the way back home, I called in to the Bethlehem Bible College, as several people had invited me to visit. Everyone was really nice. Flora showed we around the college.

Bishara Awad

Bishara Awad was concerned that theological students were leaving Bethlehem to study and were not returning. He had a dream to open a Bible College in Bethlehem. A friend gave him a cheque and told him to get started. The cheque was for £20!

Nevertheless he did achieve his dream and he founded the Bethlehem Bible College. They bought the modest building which had previously been used for the Helen Keller Centre for the blind. They had five years to pay and weeks before the deadline they were $500,000 short. Then Bishara received a donation of $600,000!


Once through the building which faces the road, the view reveals two more newer buildings. The latest has only recently been opened and is state of the art. There is a very smart auditorium, and chapel. I had a look around the facilities and saw the extensive library, which is open to the public, and the media room, which is very well set out. 

I found out about the Shepherd Society, which is the social arm of the college, helping local families. At Christmas they distributed 370 food parcels to needy people in the Bethlehem area.

Finally I had lunch at the college. During the visit I had also met Alex Awad, the paster at the Church I attend in Jerusalem, and his wife Brenda. All made me feel very welcome. 

Alex Awad

Then back to my house to write about all that I have seen and heard today. 

Bethlehem Arab Society Rehabilitation

Today I visited an inspiration place, the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation, a medical facility that is providing world-class treatment and care in the most difficult circumstances. BASR offers comprehensive medical and rehabilitation services to the people of Palestine, irrespective of gender, age, religion, and social class.

I had heard about BASR from Embrace the Middle East, which provides financial support to one of the programmes. They suggested that I would find a visit to BASR of interest.

I spoke to Rima and Raneen, from the Programme and Project Development Office. They spent time telling me about BASR. It has a strong focus on children with disabilities, but has expanded the services to  provide wider medical services to meet the needs of the community. They offer a wide range of state-of-the-art medical services e.g. Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Audiology, Speech and language Therapy, Pediatric Psychiatry, Vision rehabilitation, Orthotics and Prosthetics, Rheumatology, Traumatology and Orthopedics, Cardiology, Endoscopy, Osteoporosis Prevention, Intensive Care, Ophthalmology, E.N.T and Radiology.

BASR is moving from a medical model to a social model, and so it extends its services into the community by offering community based rehabilitation services. Teams travel around to see families where they live and seek to enable them to be self-sufficient and independent.

I heard about some of the particular issues facing BASR. They are working to international standards of social inclusion and are pressing for legislation in Palestine to ensure that employers and school accept people with disabilities. However, such legislation is of low priority compared with other political issues and so progress with the human rights legal framework is disappointing. 

BASR is a national nonprofit, nongovernmental organization recognized as a national referral and resource rehabilitation and surgery hospital concerned with tackling the emerging health needs of the Palestinian population, with special focus on people with disabilities. They get many referrals for treatment from the Palestinian Authority, but the payment for these services lags far behind the services offered. Financing the demand for all these services is particularly difficult within the Palestinian economy.

The cultural and political context in Palestine means that there is a great deal of trauma among children. They have also encountered a lot of child abuse. The Psychosocial Intervention Programme aims to help traumatised, abused and neglected children, children with disabilities and victims of the ongoing conflict. 

I was then taken to the BASR main facility and was given a tour by Anas. It was good to see this excellent facility working to the highest standards despite all the difficulties.

As always with such visits, I find people working positively, to high professional standards and showing strong perseverance to overcome the problems they encounter. 

Moving up in the world

This is where I will be based from 10th-14th March. This is the Jacir Palace Intercontinental Hotel and the venue for "Christ at the Checkpoint", an international conference.  I will be attending the conference. Fortunately, I am living in the Refugee Camp just behind this hotel! 

Sometimes I get a strong feeling that I am in the place that God wants me to be, such as when a significant event like this takes place so near. This will occur at a good time for me, just two weeks before I come home. 

Just to make it clear, I will not be staying at the Jacir Palace.

Will tell you more about this is due course.  

Starting a new phase

I have just completed three weeks here and have seen a lot to help me understand the problems. I recall Mitri Raheb saying that Palestine had seen a lot of people who came to see, but little has yet been done to stop the occupation. After my time of meditation yesterday, I am determined not to just make this a time for my personal education, but one which leads to some action to help the Palestinians. 

I have decided to turn my focus to ways in which I can encourage others to  work for change, including the potential role which St John's might have. I am going to go back to study the Kairos documents and to use the knowledge gained here to see how we might develop a programme of active support to Palestine, subject of course to the Church agreeing. 

It is strange how things work out, as this morning Rafat asked me to write something to encourage delegates at the forthcoming "Christ at the Checkpoint" conference to take action to support Cremisan Valley - see the following article. This has started me on a process of thinking about advocacy.

I am considering registering for the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. It is happening on March 10th-14th and is at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem, which is next door to Aida Camp, where I am staying. Seems like I am in the right place, except that I forgot to bring the tuxedo.   

Cremisan Valley - the issues

Taken by Yolande Knell, BBC (2012)

Today I have been given a new task - to write about the village of Cremisan. I have spent the morning on research using the internet and hope to visit the village to see for myself in the next few days. Here is the story:-

The Cremisan Valley is part of Beit Jala within the Bethlehem Governorate, in Palestine. It is a stunning area. Lush green terraces are cultivated with olives, almonds, apricots, lemons and figs as well as vineyards. The Monastery was built in built in 1885 on the ruins of a 7th Century Byzantine monastery. Since then, the monks have produced their own wine.

There is also a Convent here. The Monastery and Convent belong to the Salesian Order. The Convent opened a school in 1960 and has 400 children in the kindergarten, primary school. It includes a school for children with learning difficulties.

Apart from the Church, local Palestinian families, both Christian and Muslim, own and tend the land on these ancient terraces, honouring the rhythms of the seasons and artfully managing rain and sunshine exposure for the benefit of all, providing restful picnic space and splendid views for families, as well as necessary food for nearby towns and villages in the Bethlehem District.

However, Israel plans to extend the Annexation Wall through the valley. It will weave around three sides of the Convent, dividing it from the Monastery (which will then effectively be in Israel) and “annexing” 75% of the land to Israel. If this goes ahead, Palestinian children will have to pass through a checkpoint to get to school, and farmers through an agricultural gate. This means them having to deal with soldiers every day, being subject to search and arbitrary restrictions on access.

The Israeli government claims security, of course, for all its land confiscations. But if it were concerned about security, it would not send more and more settlers into so-called dangerous areas, would not subsidize the settlers, nor arm them, nor encourage them.

Many groups have been campaigning for the wall to be stopped. As the Convent and Monastery, a lot of these have been Catholic groups.

The Society of St Yves, the Catholic human rights organization connected with the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land filed the lawsuit against the construction of the wall in the Cremisan Valley.

The Chairman on International Justice and Peace, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has written to John Kerry.

Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination wrote to the Security Council of the UN. 

Pax Christi, the International Catholic Peace Movement, has issued a call for support.

Father Ibrahim Shomali, priest of Beit Jala (and Rafat's cousin) has presented the case of Cremisan Valley to the Pope in person. He also leads a Mass every week in Cremisan Valley. I am hoping to attend this next week.

Other groups are supporting Cremisan – type #cremisan into twitter to see more.

On Jan. 29, 2014 the residents of the Cremisan Valley in the West Bank had 

their day in court. On Monday (Feb. 3) they received a favourable decision. 

The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the state of Israel to show justification for the proposed route of the separation wall through the valley by April 10 and to halt all construction until then.

So we need to act before April 10th. I am helping the Holy Land Trust to consider how to mobilise people across the world to help stop the wall. 

Time for reflection

Today I have been in Palestine for three weeks. I am pleased with the extent to which I have been able to engage with issues in this complicated place.

It seemed right to me to take some time for reflection, and to think about how to spend my time in the remaining 5 weeks. Consequently, Cali and I met up at 9am, picked up some things for lunch in Bethlehem, and got the shared bus out to the Tent of Nations, a place we had visited last Wednesday.

Daher, one of the four brothers who run the farm, gave me a great hug when I arrived. He welcomed us to sit and reflect in this beautiful place. It was a warm, sunny morning and just perfect to sit quietly listening to the birds and the farm animals. 

There was an Italian group there and we joined them for part of the time. We sat in the cave which is used as the church and sang "Praise ye the Lord" in arabic. Of course we were given some delicious tea. 


I planted an olive tree and bought a pot of fig jam - which Tracy warns me to be careful with.

Daher saw us to the gate and urged us to return soon. 

On our way back to the main road, we noticed that, under the metal gate across the farm road built 2 weeks ago by the Israelis, there was a piece of paper, with a rock on top. We picked it up and found it was another demolition order - the soldiers who had called in the morning could not even give this to Daher in person. We walked back to the farm and gave it to Daher.

He was quite philosophical and said he would pass it to the lawyer - the legal battle has lasted 23 years so far and it seems it will continue. 

We gave thanks for this lovely peaceful place and thought about the plans for tomorrow.

PS Cali is a Canadian student studying Conflict Resolution and Human Rights. She is here until June. She has been good company on these trips. 

Inspirational morning

This morning I returned to the East Jerusalem Baptist Church, the Church of Alex Awad, where I received such a warm welcome last week.

The service was inspirational and I found the following chorus spoke to me about my time here:-

Every promise we can make,
Every prayer and step of faith,
Every difference we will make,
Is only by His grace.

Every mountain we will climb,
Every ray of hope we shine,
Every blessing left behind,
Is only by His grace.

Every soul we long to reach,
Every heart we hope to teach,
Everywhere we share His peace,
Is only by His grace.

Every loving word we say,
Every tear we wipe away,
Every sorrow turned to praise,
Is only by His grace.

I cannot believe it, but I actually gave a testimony for the first time in my life!

The preacher was Palmer Becker, a Mennonite from USA and Canada. He is working at Bethlehem Bible College. One of the advantages here is that we have some very good visiting speakers. He spoke about how we might seek to be Christlike and suggested that we might try to be:-

• Compassionate
• Truthworthy
• Skillful 
• Christ-centred
• Full of faith

Good advice for me. We had refreshments and then a couple from the Bible College drove me home to Bethlehem. What a great morning.