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| What do you wan to find? | Trip Blog | ||
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May 1-12, a UCC delegation that includes many Coalition members is in Israel and Palestine to explore the intersection of sexuality and faith and voice solidarity with lgbt people in the region. Below are daily logs and photos from the trip submitted by various participants. May 3, 2007: Ruth Garwood writes, "Our flight was fine. Two of our group, Sala Nolan and her partner Diana, got out of Cleveland late because of thunderstorms and missed our flight. They'll be here today or tomorrow...We're staying in two small hotels just outside of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Walking tour this morning, a meeting and our first meeting this afternoon. Haven't figured out how to make my phone work yet. We're 7 hours ahead of Eastern time."
An archeological excavation next to the Wailing Wall--the site of the Temple.
Pamela and John Selders in the foreground in a souk, or market, in the Old City.
Sandy Sorensen in front of the Dome of the Rock—one of the four most holy Muslim sites, located right next to the remains of the Jewish Temple built by Herod the Great.
Peter Barbosa and Scott Howell in the souk or market.
Women praying at the Wailing Wall
This is a photo of the wall built by the Israelis to separate the West Bank from Jerusalem. The wall is ostensibly being built for "security." It is also dividing families from each other, separating Palestinians from municipal services, and making access to Jerusalem more difficult for residents of the West Bank. The wall is 10 meters high and topped by barbed wire. May 4, 2007: From Peter Barbosa It has not even been 48 hours since I landed in Israel,
and I feel my life is changed. I don't remember when was the last time
in which I felt so many intense emotions packed into such a short time.
I am at a constant state of overload and feel overwhelmed. Jerusalem is
the most intense place I have ever visited in my life. Besides the amazing
culture and history, the overpowering spiritual elements can not be described
by words. Simply standing at a place where some of the most holy sites
for three of the greatest world religions are centered is a transforming
experience. The wall is filled with the Spirit, and the passion
of all praying against it is magical. I was overtaken by emotion and this
set the mood for the rest of my day. Off the wall there was a space where
multiple Bar Mitzvah celebrations were takning place. The wall was divided
for men versus women, and the Bar Mitzvahs were for men only. This is
the celebration when a Jewish boy becomes a man, and it is hard for me
to describe the beauty of the event. Generations of conservative Jewish
men will circle the boy and watch him sing and recite portions of the
Torah. The entire gathering celebrates passionately and the feelings emerging
for each group were contagious.
Peter Barbosa is standing at Station # 10 on the Via Dolorosa.
Rabbi Naamah Kelman, of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion was the first woman rabbi ordained in Israel—in 1992. She gave us a tour of the campus, talked about the varieties of Judaism in Israel and about how Christians can be a bridge between Jews and Muslims. Scott Howell is standing with her.
Our delegation spent part of Friday with Women in Black, a group who has been protesting Israeli occupation of Palestine. Every Friday since 1987 they have demonstrated for one hour at a corner in the heart of West Jerusalem. We joined them, holding signs that say "Stop the Occupation" in English, Hebrew and Arabic. We got into some serious discussions with passing Israelis who have a very different view of the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians.
Cedar Duaybis is the secretary of the board of Sabeel, a center of Palestinian liberation theology. She is a Palestinian Christian, the widow of an Anglican priest—also a Palestinian Christian. Sabeel is a center for education. Cathy Nichols, who arranged our meetings and is accompanying us on our travels, is a Global Ministries missionary whose assignment is at Sabeel. May 5, 2007: From Ruth Garwood
The steeple of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, identified as the birthplace of Jesus. Many of the people our group has met with are Palestinian Christians.
Bethlehem is in the West Bank, Palestinian territory. On April 2, 2002, when 200 Palestinians fled Israeli forces into the Church of the Nativity, nine Palestinians were killed inside the church. The bullet holes and the broken window in the church mark that attack. The siege on the church lasted 40 days from March to April, with a standoff that continued into May. Downtown Bethlehem, which, in addition to its traditional significance, is also a contemporary town. It's about a 20-minute drive from Jerusalem on modern roads.
The village of Beit Sahour (Shepherd's Field) next to Bethlehem, is identified as the place where the angels appeared to the shepherds. Our group enjoyed a traditional Bedouin meal in a restaurant decorated as a Bedouin tent.
Israel is constructing a wall throughout the West Bank to more definitely separate Palestinians from Israeli land, and to obstruct the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank. The wall encroaches beyond the Green Line, the marker defined in 1967 as the border of the West Bank. These olive trees, some as much as 1500 years old, were uprooted for the construction.
In some places, the wall is a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, until the concrete wall is built. Part of the $3 billion of US annual aid to Israel finances the construction of the wall, which Israel defines as a temporary security fence. May 6, 2007: From Scott Howell
The group met with leaders from the Jerusalem Open House
- THE glbt community center in Jerusalem. They were the local organizers
for last year's World Pride events which were greatly overshowed by the
war with Lebanon last summer. The Pride parade was postponed until November
and met incredible, hostile resistance from the ultra-orthodox Jewish
community. Eventually, it took place in a guarded stadium—but it
DID happen. We watched a powerful documentary about this experience which
Peter Barbosa is going help them circulate among the various upcoming
film festivals. Blessings & Peace, May 10 From Ruth Garwood Jerusalem, a city of about 1 million people, is about evenly divided among Muslims, orthodox Jews, and secular Jews. We are staying in East Jerusalem, which is Muslim. This is part of our commitment to support Palestinians economically as well as spiritually. Most of the people our delegation has met with are Palestinian Christians. These are folks who are Arabic in culture and language, and who are also Christian. Some of Lutheran, some Anglican, some Orthodox Christian.
Tuesday we spent at the Gaza strip, which, along with the West Bank, is land allocated for Palestinians since the 1967 war. Both of these areas are occupied by Israelis. Gaza has 2.5 million people, for a density of approximately 5,000 people per square kilometer. Between one third and one half of them are in refugee camps. These are people who fled their homes in Israel in 1948 when Israel declared statehood and claimed the land. They expected that they would return home within weeks. Many of them stay in the camps because they expect that leaving will mean that they receive no compensation for their land that was confiscated.
Gaza’s border is controlled by the Israelis. There is no airport and no port in Gaza. Entry and exit happens at one of three places. Rafah on the Egyptian border and is managed by Egyptians. One is at the northern border of Gaza, which is where we entered, and one is the location for trucks to cross. Farmers in Gaza who want to truck their goods to sell in Israel can be detained at that checkpoint for days, which often makes their produce unsaleable. Strawberries don’t do well with extra days in the sun. People who want to enter and leave Gaza require a permit, which is not always honored when they get to the checkpoint.
We visited Jabr Wishaw at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (http://www.pchrgaza.ps/about_pchr.htm) They document human rights violations, whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis.
Most of our time in Gaza was spent with people from the Near East Council of Churches. They operate a vocational school, secretarial and sewing schools, and clinics. We visited a clinic that has 10,000 families registered. The clinic is served by one doctor. I asked Constantine S. Dabbag, the Orthodox priest who is the head of the Center, “Where do you see God in Gaza?” His reply: “We have God in our hearts and minds, but we don’t see God, as if we have a ceiling.”
May 1-12, a UCC delegation that includes many Coalition members is in Israel and Palestine to explore the intersection of sexuality and faith and voice solidarity with lgbt people in the region. Sat. May 12 Stateside From Ruth Garwood We arrived at Newark at 4:15 am. The Selders family had left Jerusalem early for a few days in Egypt. The rest of us dispersed to our homes: Sandy Sorensen and Harry Knox to Washington, DC, Scott Howell to Montclair, NJ, Peter Barbosa to San Francisco, and Mike Schuenemeyer, Adrienne Brockway, Sala Nolan, Diana Gurley, and me to Cleveland. We had left Tel Aviv at midnight local time. Fortunately, we had allowed ourselves four hours at the airport, for the many security checks more experienced travelers had told us to expect. The first was as the bus pulled into the airport area, when a man with an automatic rifle boarded the bus, asked whether we had packed our own luggage, and where we had been during our visit. Police, army, border patrol and other uniformed personnel are all over Israel, almost always armed with automatic rifles. Compulsory military service for men and women generates plenty of people to fill these roles. Once we entered the airport, airport personnel checked of our passports, pulled Diane and Mike out of the line for questioning about the purpose of our trip, how long we had stayed, where we had gone, the names of our bus drivers, who arranged our trip. Presumably, their two stories were compared. Then our carry-on luggage went through x-ray. Next, security folks searched our luggage by hand. In one bag, literature from a human rights group drew more questioning: did each of us have a packet from this group? Yes, and the packet was taken from each of us. They returned the packets a few minutes later. Then we were allowed to go to the Continental Airlines ticket counter, where Continental staff reviewed our passports and sent our luggage toward the plane. Then through the metal detectors, and finally passport control. We made it through those seven points of inspection before we could go to our gate. Coming to American territory felt a relief from the many checkpoints we passed through in Israel and Palestine (more about that at another time). There is much to digest from our trip, and much to share. Thank you for your support all through these 12 days. You may read former Council member, John Selders', blog about the trip here: The Bishop's Blog http://bishopjs.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/ |
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