Report from Jerusalem

Lutheran professor reports from on the spot in Jerusalem, where the violence is real and ugly

[8-3-01]

Witherspooner Darrell Yeaney has forwarded this report from Dr. Fred Strickert, who teaches Religious Studies at Wartburg College in Waverley, Iowa. As Darrell's note concludes: Read and weep. But then, cry out for truth and justice.

A note from your WebWeaver: This is a long letter, but I believe the kind of detail given here may help us understand and feel at little more of the reality of the current struggles in Israel/Palestine. If you're in a hurry, you might jump to the paragraph where Dr. Strickert begins to offer some conclusions from his experiences.

Would you like to get more news and commentary on the Middle East? Send a note, and we'll provide more!

Greetings from Jerusalem 18 July 2001

I have been working in the Bishop's Office (Lutheran) here in Jerusalem this past week and a half.

Life in Jerusalem goes on. The shop-keepers whom I pass coming and going to the church sit patiently waiting for their first sell of the week. Heavily armed Israeli soldiers patrol with increased frequency and vigilance the streets of the old city and the walkway dividing the Christian and Jewish Quarters as I watch from the Guest House window. There is a cloud of tension in the air as Israelis and Palestinians both wait for the foot to drop from the other side. The mood is that something will surely break at some time, at some place unknown to but a few.

Nevertheless I feel no less safe than on any previous visit. I walk the streets of the old city alone at night. I sit leisurely over a cup of mint tea. A visit to Ramallah Sunday morning for church was a breath of fresh air where there is no visible military presence and where the priorities of people are the common concerns for daily life. Fresh vegetables from the market. Baklava from the corner shop. Many on their ways proudly to celebrate a son's or daughter's graduation at Bir Zeit University this afternoon.

The church continues to provide a much-need witness of love and hope and forgiveness as office personnel struggle to keep the schools operable and teachers paid, to make pastoral visits beyond and around military barricades and with patience over seemingly unnecessary delays and detours, and to provide members - now living on $ 2 income per day average - with reasons not to pull up stakes and emigrate. The annual church youth gathering where Palestinian Lutheran Youth come together with Israeli youth for dialogue and relationship building is now in limbo since it can be held neither in Palestinian nor Israeli territory. Undeterred, church representatives are working through red tape to bring both groups together perhaps in Jordan, yet even that is only tenuous.

All the churches this week are weighing carefully a decision by the Israeli ministry of Justice which vetoed five of fifteen candidates for the upcoming election for Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. (I just can't imagine the uproar if the US Supreme Court declared Bishop Ullestad or others ineligible for ELCA Bishop). These five, including the two top candidates, have been declared security risks by Israel. Mind you, the Greek Orthodox Church is far behind on the indigenization of its clergy--these are Greek priests, not Palestinians - and the Greek Orthodox are generally less outspoken on political issues. So how they respond may well affect the future of Christianity in the Holy Land. It's that serious. A few weeks ago a Greek Orthodox priest was shot and killed while driving in his car near a West Bank check point. Back in the states AP reports attributed the shooting to a likely Palestinian gunman. Here the word is that credible sources claim that it was an Israeli soldier.

Israeli government animosity toward the churches seems to be growing. Last night was the 40th day since Faisal Husseini's death, a customary occasion for a memorial. Munib has been speaking with me all weak about going as a prime example of Muslim-Christian cooperation and mutual support. He even found a clerical to fit. It was to be held at Orient House in the cultural center of East Jerusalem. The Israeli government decided nevertheless that it should not be held - This morning's Jerusalem Post was filled with quotes from officials that it was expected to be an occasion breeding violence and hatred. So it appears that the border police decided to make it that way whether or not that in fact was to be the case. Blocking off all the streets they announced to all that the event was cancelled, no one was to be admitted within a several block radius.

As is often the case, the police are not always consistent in their message. We learned from several Arab members of the Israeli Knesset that the event was still being held, so Munib suggested to try another way. We managed to get to the gate of the courtyard where we were confronted by a large contingent of 30-40 soldiers. No entrance. Munib showed his Bishop's ID, which Israel officially recognizes as carrying diplomatic status. No entry. "We do not want trouble. We are here only to express our condolences then we will leave." No entry. He tried to explain and the soldiers began raising voices and pushing. "Only diplomats and Knesset members allowed!" They announced. "So there is in fact a memorial service," we responded - even today's media claims there was no service. By then other clergy arrived and there was a standoff between various bishops and church leaders of Jerusalem and the soldiers forbidding entry.

The press caught wind of the story. A reporter from Reuters asked what was the issue and the leaders explained it was their customary practice and duty to share condolences on occasions like this. Since they have diplomatic papers, they should be allowed to enter. They were not here to cause problems. Still an answer of no entry. By now the soldiers were turning to a show of force lining up and holding their guns in intimidation.

By coincidence many of the diplomatic corps arrived en masse. From the American consulate, Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain and others. "What do you mean you are not allowing clergy to enter?" Immediately the cell phones came out and the diplomats went to work. "We will not enter without you," the Swedish representative announced. The entire standoff lasted up to an hour. Then finally it was agreed they could enter. I was not allowed nor were several other Americans associated with various church organizations. In a way it was a good thing that I remained outside.

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem now made his arrival. It was as if the soldiers were angry that they had been overruled and wanted to make a show of force. They linked arms and hurried forward to confront the mufti down the street twenty meters in front of the barricades. They shoved. And members in the mufti's party shoved back, yet nothing dangerous. If they would just let him enter like the other clergy, it would be no problem. But the soldiers shoved some more. Now it turns out that the diplomats and clergy were still in the courtyard, heard the commotion, and returned to the barricades, "Please, let him enter. He's one of us." With that the commander turned and allowed the mufti passage.

Appropriately they all entered Orient House together to join with others already gathered for several hours of speeches and commemoration - all very proper and peaceful. Yet out in the streets, the soldiers immediately called for the mounted police who rode up in a show of force to teach the crowd (maybe all of 50 people - certainly not a threat) a lesson. They charged one person then another as if deliberately trying to cause harm. Then one of the horsemen rode over to the side where I and several Americans were waiting out of the way and rode right towards us. I was able to side step between two cars. Otherwise I would have been trampled. I was afraid that after 10 minutes of this someone in the crowd might throw something or do something careless. They did not, they all simply stepped to the side and tried to get out of the way. All the while a member of the police force was video taping every face in the crowd (What future reprisals might follow?)

The horsemen then regrouped while the rest of the soldiers linked arms and started walking at us trying to push us back. I, like most, was more than happy to comply. Whenever someone did not move fast enough the soldiers did not hesitate to use force, butting heads, hitting with clubs and hands. Yet in the whole process, I honestly did not see anything against the soldiers that could be in any way interpreted as violent or even "disobedient". The crowd complied. Many completely left the scene. I and a few others waited by an outdoor restaurant two blocks away. Several youth and a number of well dressed people stood at the end of the street waiting.

The soldiers were still not satisfied. They charged with their horses up this street and that street chasing any young person another two or three blocks away. A young German woman turned to me and asked me to help her get out of there safely. So when the horsemen chased down one street we made our way down another. I walked back to the old city. I telephoned Munib, "Sorry, they would not let me wait for you outside."

My apologies for this detail, but it illustrates what is happening in this region every day.

In many cases people argue that there are always two sides to a fight. Here I beg to differ. Such a show of force for no apparent reason.

It also demonstrates why the current situation cannot continue. This is Jerusalem mind you. It must be shared by all people, but not one with a gun to the head of the other.

Third, the lack of respect shown for local custom and for religious leaders is shameful.

Fourth, and maybe most important is the role of the press. I mentioned the Reuters reporter earlier. When I went back to the old city I checked my email and read the latest AOL.com news reports. This included one just filed by Reuters. To paraphrase. First, The Israeli government cancelled memorial services for Faisal Husseini----a lie. The memorial service was going on inside, they were restricting who could attend. Second, mounted police were called in to disperse a violent crowd which demanded to hold the memorial anyway - I would not describe it as a crowd. It was certainly not violent, there were no demands made by those turned away (other than the clergy who were in fact admitted). What kind of reporting is this? Yet this is what we Americans read day in and day out.

If you would be so kind, may I say one more thing about Reuters? The same online news report mentioned the Israeli assassination earlier in the day of four Palestinians in Bethlehem not far from the Lutheran Church. The report didn't say these were American-made Apache Helicopters. The report referred to this as a preemptive strike before these individuals committed a suicide attack on Israel. Who am I to say? But it seems that everything Israel does is preemptive, self-defense, retaliatory. When you hear that line over and over, don't you start to wonder?

More importantly, the Reuters reporter referred the four dead at that time as "terrorists." It did not mention that one of the dead was Isaac Saada, a teacher in the Roman Catholic Terra Sancta school across from the Casa Nova in Bethlehem. It did not mention that he was active in promoting peace education and work with building understanding with Israelis. It did not mention that he was the father of eleven, in a relatively poor family. Also not mentioned in the Reuters report was the fact that this assassination attempt (all such assassinations are a violation of international law and these have been condemned by the U.S. and every major world power) was aimed at a domestic residence and injured children inside, one of whom I understand died this morning, another of whom had an arm severed.

The Reuters report then went on to mention that Palestinians launched a shell which exploded in the Gilo area across from Beit Jala (I still refuse to condone such actions). It referred unquestioningly to the Israeli government statement which said the Palestinians had dramatically escalated the violence and were responsible for breaking the agreement brokered by Sec. Colin Powell. Reuters did not mention that American made Apache helicopters shelled Beit Jala throughout the night.

The situation is indeed worse than even I imagined. The daily reports come into the bishop's office from all over the West Bank. House demolitions, olive groves uprooted, a woman gives birth at a checkpoint when denied passage and the baby later dies, Palestinian youth are beat up without reason, settlers are allowed free reign for shootings and lootings, and the Israeli military continues to shell when media backs are turned. And Sharon all the while cries to the world, "Make the bullies stop the violence!"

Somehow the U.S. government has allowed the Israelis the role of umpire to limit the definition of violence to killings and to excuse Israeli military actions as self-defense. The church here continues to proclaim a message of non-violence in all its forms for all parties and cries out for justice. As I write, the BBC and Agency France have reported major build up of Israeli forces around Palestinian cities. Already last night they moved in surrounding Bethlehem-Beit Jala-Beit Sahour. I fear the worst.

I just don't understand it. I would have given up long ago. But the people here in the church office in Jerusalem remain resolved in providing the example of faith in Christ, a message of non-violence, and hope for the future. On Sunday in Ramallah those who gathered around word and sacrament were fervent in their hymns and in their prayers. Church leaders continue to work under a pall of death threats, and yet they continue untiring among the people to speak words of consolation and encouragement and to stand tall and to speak loudly as a voice for the voiceless.

Dr. Fred Strickert
Professor of Religion
Wartburg College
Waverly, IA 50677
email: Strickert@Wartburg.edu

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