Immersion Trip Day 7: Kairos Palestine and the Wall (Part 2)

As I mentioned, much of our trip was dense with information and informational presentations from faith leaders and others in the Palestine region.  After meeting with Diyar, a Lutheran organization based in Bethlehem that works with people of all faiths in Palestine (and elsewhere) to help keep people living under occupation hopeful, cultured, and rooted in their identity.  Not only does their work ignite passion in youth who feel hopeless about their situation, but it helps train young people for work in the stunted economy of Palestine and roots them in their cultural identity.

Kairos is a Christian organization that works with Palestinians in a different way.  Much of what they do is advocacy and awareness.  Here are some links that might be useful:

Welcome to Kairos Palestine | Kairos Palestine (their website)

Kairos Document | Kairos Palestine

The Kairos Document was a cry in the wilderness for compassion and solidarity with Palestinian Christians.  While the conflict is often framed as one between Muslims and Jews, the reality is that there is some mix.  Israel is 20% Arabic citizenship and Christians make up about 15% of the Palestinian population.  Part of the message control about what is happening in Palestine is the use of religion.  Westerners already make associations between Islam and terrorism, so to continue suggesting that narrative furthers the Israeli cause.  What such implied associations fail to acknowledge is how the severity of Israeli policy and action affects the Palestinian community and how their continued occupation, abuse, discrimination, and displacement of Palestinians foments the resistance (largely unarmed) which the West likes to call "terrorism."  If the British came back to the U.S. tomorrow and said, "we were here before and want this land back, you Americans can all go live in the Dakotas, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado under our control, with limited movement, access to resources, and a closed economy without opportunities for export and limited opportunities for imports, WOULD WE NOT REBEL?  Come on.  

Anyway, I will try to tease out some of the information we got in these meetings, but as with every experience we had, the second hand telling does not do justice to the experience.  The passion and lived experiences of those we met with was hard to deny and hard to accept.  

Here is my group with the folks from Kairos:

After visiting with folks from Diyar and Kairos, it made the experience of the Bethlehem wall very real.  We went to look at the wall, then cross it as a Palestinian might.  Here are some images:

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  The wall in Bethlehem. The conversations we got to be a part of ignited hope. Experiences like this trip always manage to couple hope and despair as yin and yang. As Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb says, we are not optimistic, but we are hopeful. There is a difference.

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  More of the wall.

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  The things some of us take for granted are denied so many of our brothers and sisters around the world.

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  "We are one" And yet…

 

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  "You may be blind, but we are NOT.“

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  "END ISRAELI APARTHEID" My experience here illustrates how much misinformation is spouted in our media. The narratives floated by the dominant voices in American media are pretty much the exact opposite of what is happening on the ground. Across the street from this (on the side “controlled” by Palestians), in a dilapidated neighborhood, a little boy (his name was Ahmed) waved hello to me and my classmates. He and his father asked if we had time for coffee. Tell me again who the terrorists are. 

 

Above:  (at Bethlehem, West Bank)  "There is but one coward on this earth, and that is the coward that dare not know.“ W.E.B. Du Bois          Where is the truth? It is here. It is plain. And it is hidden from those who do not look for it. The truth alone may not set us free, but we cannot be free without it. None of us are free until all of us are free.

We crossed the wall on foot, through gates that Palestinian laborers cross between 2:30 and 4:30 in the morning.  I cannot imagine when they sleep.

We entered a dark, ramped hallway.  It was pitch black and covered in trash.  After making it up the dark ramp, we entered a brightly-lit room with florescent lights that seemed blinding after dark-hallway-of-trash.  It was metal, concrete, and wire everywhere.  Yet again, I felt like an animal.  The design is clearly made to dehumanize and be unpleasant.  Our leader told us that in the mornings, when it is full, guards are everywhere.  Faith groups also stand in the line to intervene when Israeli soldiers mistreat Palestinians.

As we approached a metal turnstyle to get to the next area, a man was standing in front of the gate, yelling down the empty hallway, trying to get someone's attention.  He was standing in front of the gate, belt in hand, ready to go through security.  As we walked up (a group of Americans), he pointed up at the camera directly above his head.

"They can see us," he pointed out to us.  How long had he been standing there, waiting for someone to acknowledge him and let him through?  It wasn't even busy.

Momentarily, perhaps with the arrival of we Americans, a guard spoke over the loudspeaker.  "Go to Gate 3." There were 3 gates.  We looked around.  None were labeled.

"Which is Gate 3?"  We asked and walked over to a different one.  Nope, not the one.  We walked to the third gate.

A couple followed us and we let them go ahead.  We were tourists after all, and they were probably trying to do something more important.  The woman, in a long skirt and holding a plastic shopping back, went through security, taking off her shoes and placing her bag on the x-ray machine, walking through the metal detector.  This is the second place we needed to be approved to move forward.

We got to the last point, where we were to show our passports and visas.  The Palestinian woman who we let in front of us spoke to the guard for quite some time.  She had her documents, but there was much talking back and forth.  I could only imagine how often that happened when the facility was packed with folks trying to get through to work, to see family, or to get to their land.  I don't know why they questioned her for so long, but they did.

After we got back to Area B on the other side of the wall, our guide told us that a group of Jewish grandmothers stands there every day to yell at the Israeli soldiers for doing a poor job.

The night was dark.  We were tired.  We returned to the hotel; I was feeling helpless.  How terrible the situation is for so many Palestinians.  They are not animals.

We cannot cage them in and treat them so.

None of us are free until all of us are free.

Here are some videos.  I recommend the following explanation of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Above:  This is a fairly good explanation of the history of events in Israel and Palestine.

Above: Building Peace