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This morning I arrived at JFK around 6am from Israel. I bought a breakfast sandwich at Burger King (it’s nice to be home!), turned on the computer, and connected to my e-mail, which downloaded the following message from Brother Jack Curran, vice-president of Bethlehem University. Brother Jack has served me lunch at the university so many times now, he remembers that I hate fish! Bethlehem University, founded by the Christian Brothers in the mid-70s, is the oasis of peace and sanity in Bethlehem, apart from the Church of the Holy Nativity itself, of course. But at BU, Christian and Muslim students and staff have worked together as friends for over forty years. They still do. The e-mail from Brother Jack begins with a description of Christian homes presently being bulldozed in East Jerusalem -- an area according to international agreements (including with the U.S.) that does not belong to Israel. The following story from Brother Jack gives the flavor of what daily life is like for our Christian brothers and sisters who live in places like East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the city just to the west, Beit Jala. From Brother Jack Curran, Bethlehem University: May I share with you a description of what happened just a few days ago on Sunday, Palm Sunday, 5 April 2009. This is a description of what happened to one of our Bethlehem University faculty members -- Dr. Muna Matar -- a graduate of Bethlehem University who earned her doctorate in Computer Information Systems at the University of Ghent (Belgium) and then returned to Bethlehem to join the faculty. Here is what she writes: "I am not your friend" - the Israeli solder said. After a very long and busy weekend of celebrating Palm Sunday with my family and then attending meetings with some of my academic colleagues reviewing and planning our computer course curriculum, I finally went to bed around 12 midnight - it was Palm Sunday, Sunday April 5, 2009. Then, in the middle of the night, at about 2:00 am, my brother came into my room and woke me up. He and I were frightened. He was whispering, "Muna get up. The soldiers are surrounding the house and banging on the garage door." What, I thought to myself as I awoke 'Israeli soldiers here in the middle of the night at my house in Beit Jala?' Waking up very frightened I ran to the front door of the house and heard the soldiers banging on the main entrance of the house shouting in their very broken Arabic "Open the door. Open the door. Put the lights off." My brother went into his room to put some clothes on and ran to the main entrance. Four Israel soldiers with their guns stood at the front door pointing their guns at us. I asked, "What is happening? What do you want from us?" One of them shouted, "Go inside and do not say anything." "This my house. You are coming to my house. You cannot tell me to go inside." The soldier answered, "I am not your friend. I do not come to your house. This is Israel. Do you understand?" And he pointed his machine gun to my chest. My sister in-law, who was standing behind me, said to him, "I have two small children in the house. Do not shout. You will frighten them." The soldier replied, "I do not care" and continued shouting at my brother to give him his ID. Then they took my brother out of the house. I followed them. The soldier pointed his machine gum at me again and forced me inside the house. They kept my brother in the street -- in the middle of the night -- in the cold for about two and a half hours. Those were probably the longest two hours of my life. When my brother finally came back home he told us that they took him out in the fields. Apparently they were looking for somebody and they wanted some "protection," so they took my brother with them. After searching the fields and found nothing or no one (they didn’t tell my brother who or what they were looking for), they brought my brother back to the jeep and showed him a map of the area. They had a laptop in their jeep with maps on it. They wanted my brother to then take them to a house. They forced him to walk with them "to protect" them and to show them the house. Again, they found nothing and returned to the house at about 4:30am -- just before sunrise. In the morning, after the sun rose, we went out to check around our house and neighborhood to see what happened. We found that the soldiers broke the glass of the garage window and the shutters of one of the bedrooms of our house. That was the physical damage - there was other harm that they imposed upon us. I am still haunted by the words of the soldier when I told him, "This is my house," and he shouted back, "I am not your friend. This is Israel. Do you understand?" Indeed. But, I don't have the luxury to dwell upon this now. I need to get to the University -- my students await me and I have classes to teach.
Readers have left 11 comments. Quote(1) American ComplicityApril 10th, 2009 | 8:18am For the American readers of this article, please know that your tax dollars paid for the weapons, vehicles, and radios used by these Israeli soldiers. The US gives Israel more foreign aid than any other country -- about $2.5 billion this year. And George Bush, before he left office, set in motion a plan to raise it for each of the next ten years. During this Holy Week, we Americans should stop to consider ourselves as the Pontius Pilate in this modern day passion play. The Roman procurator found no guilt in Jesus but proceeded to have him scourged and crucified anyway. Similarly, the US government piously claims to deal fairly with the Palestinians through the non-existent "peace process", but then provide Israel with the weapons, technology, international diplomatic cover, and even encouragement to do whatever it wants to the Palestinians in the name of "security." And we wonder why they hate us so much around the world! Pray this Holy Week for the conversion of Jews and Muslims. That is more likely to happen than the US change its corrupt policies. Quote(2) The ugly truths Christian Zionists gloss overApril 10th, 2009 | 8:51am ...Israel is not blameless in this conflict, and we need to stop pretending that they are a victim of "mindless Arab hatred"...and get it through the thick heads of some people that this Israel and the Biblical Israel are not the same entity. I view Israel with the same dispassionate view I would look at any other earthly nation with...they don't get a special pass because they are Jewish, nor should anyone be cowed into silence by invocations of the Holocaust and attempts to smear legitimate critics with the brand of "Anti-Semite."
Quote(3) UntitledApril 10th, 2009 | 9:32am Is there any wonder why Arab extremists react against Israel and the United States when provoked with treatment like this? Pro-Zionists propagandists have silenced the mainstream media and prevented stories such as this from being reported. Israeli terrorism ought to be condemned just as other forms of terrorism are. Quote(4) UntitledApril 10th, 2009 | 10:04am Deal,
I am sorry to hear of this. It is hard to continually take these things in. I hear about them constantly, almost daily, at Vatican radio and through my now growing network of friends in the area. It's heartbreaking, really. One of the things I find is that there is a great temptation to anger - not the righteous kind - but to an anger directed towards Israelis and jews and everyone else in the area who perpetrates injustice. But I also realize that as soon as we engage in anger, we've lost the battle... we become part of the problem. And this is why it is so important for Christians to understand their identity. Forgiveness does not mean being a doormat, but it means that we must continually strive to free ourselves of hatred and live in the world as peacemakers. Quote(5) sad, but trueApril 10th, 2009 | 10:40am These stories may surprise people or be viewed as exceptions, but unfortunately they're very common. We just don't hear much about them in the U.S. press. And they've been going on for some time -- just read Fr. Elias Chacour's book and life story, Blood Brothers.
Above, Irene mentions the Christian's call to be peacemaker -- this is what the Palestinian Christians have been in the Holy Land for years, and why their presence there must be preserved. Time is running out.
The question - before it turns midnight - is: what do you and I do to change things? (Besides pray, which is a given.) Quote(6) PerspectiveApril 10th, 2009 | 11:27am Anybody care to guess why this sort of thing happens? Quote(7) Both side have powerful storiesApril 10th, 2009 | 11:27am Both Israelis and Palestinians have powerful, and tragic, stories to tell. More often than not, the Palestinian story is not heard to the full in the United States, or, if it is heard, it is quickly dismissed as a gracenote in the larger and louder chord of Muslim terrorism.
The point of telling these stories is to provide a fuller picture of what me normally see, to humanize a people who have been, largely, dehumanized, as they were in the recent Gaza attack.
That attack has left the region smoldering, to say the least.
Quote(8) UntitledApril 10th, 2009 | 1:17pm Thanks for posting, Deal. And thanks again to you Zoe for recommending Blood Brothers. I read the book shortly after you recommended it here the last time we were discussing this part of the world.
What do we do now? You have done much to get the message out here. I have sent the post to a few others and am passing around the book in my small circle here in the middle of America. It won't do much on a big scale but the little sparks of truth sown here and there will help. Quote(9) UntitledApril 10th, 2009 | 1:54pm There is a lot that can be done, beginning with media coverage of the issue and putting pressure on lawmakers through lobbying efforts to correct the idea that Israel is the only victim. There are also organizations and efforts that should be supported. Catholic Near East Welfare Association is one organization that does tremendous work, and provides an example of true charity in that area of the world. Their ONE magazine is worth reading. In addition, how many people are aware of and support Bethlehem University? How many people know they recently graduated their first students from the Gaza strip, a few of whom won Fulbright Scholarships? Still,these young people were denied exit visas. Educating the younger generation - on all sides - is one of the key ways to change the entrenched sense of victimhood that plagues virtually all Palestinians, and many Israelis. I'd say educating our public - in a way that does not breed reactionary hatred is the first step. Quote(10) Sombre news for this dayApril 10th, 2009 | 3:00pm Deal,
Such sad news. It reminds us why the event we mark on this day was so necessary, why Good Friday followed by Easter are such Good News.
Kamilla Quote(11) Jesus Calls Us To "Another Way" - come and follow ...April 11th, 2009 | 1:48am I am in Jerusalem today, Holy Thursday. It is a blessing to be here with the Brothers from Bethlehem University (www.bethlehem.edu) for a few days of prayer and reflection during the Triduim – leading us to the joy of Easter Sunday.
Jerusalem is the place of the “original” Holy Week where Jesus was brought by the leaders of his time before Pilate (the governor of the Roman Occupying Forces of his time) to be condemned to death - and where the crowds were rallied against him and yelled "crucify him" -- which they did – yes, they crucified him here in Jerusalem along with two repentant thieves alongside him.
Jerusalem is where this same Jesus was raised from the dead, as witnessed FIRST by a woman named Mary, Mary Magdalene, a woman some say had a "past" reputation that might not have been all so pretty. And then the other followers of Jesus witnessed this miracle, this mystery of his "new life" of the resurrection, and still, some did not believe his message.
What was / is His message?
There is a "new way" of being with each other
- a way of forgiveness (who of us doesn't need forgiveness sometimes in our lives)
- and a way of faithfulness (who of us doesn't need and sometimes actually "thirst" for the faithful support and companionship and love of our friends)
- and a way of solidarity with the downtrodden and the outcast (who of us would not appreciate and welcome the support of others when we are down and out - and perhaps misunderstood)
– and an invitation / command to “love your enemies” (who of us couldn’t both benefit from being on the receiving end of this love from people who consider us “their enemy” and also who of us doesn’t struggle with ‘loving our enemies” – really LOVING those who persecute me!).
Maybe some things haven’t realty changed since Jesus’ time. We still have crowds who get rallied to yell "crucify them" and somehow the killing of thousands of people in Gaza is justified. Too many have died on both sides of the Israeli- built prison / apartheid / separation / security wall. When will we decide that “enough is enough!”
Some people have decided that “enough is enough” – and they are DOING something about it! People are rallying in support of the Gaza Student Initiative of Bethlehem University: helping us with funds to bring students (Christians and Muslims) from Gaza to study here in Bethlehem University, the only Catholic university in the Holy Land. Can you join is support of this? Email me:
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Together, we can make a difference - one life at a time!
Yes, in Bethlehem and in Jerusalem in the past and today there were and are contradictions of Jesus’ message and our reality. This Holy Week, as I come to Jerusalem for the Holy Triduim, I bring with me the experience of Palestinian Christians from Beit Jala and Bethlehem who are not allowed to come to Jerusalem for these Holy Days – but who are harassed and suffer the realities of the Israeli Occupying Forces.
Perhaps this year, the crowd who hear and take up the message of Jesus today, who take up his cross in solidarity with him, will be a little bigger than last year -- and perhaps we will realize more of the justice and peace that we all deserve -- Jews, Muslims, Christians, those of other or no faith tradition. We all deserve and are offered this gift of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE that led Jesus to take up his cross and to lay down his life for you and for me, his friends: no greater gift is there, and God has raised this same Jesus, all here in Jerusalem!
Please remember in your prayer the many Palestinian families – and also the many Israeli families – who continue to suffer the effects of Israeli Occupation (yes, Israeli families also suffer from the consequences of the on-going Israeli occupation).
God Bless Us All!
Brother Jack |
