Report from Palestine
The importance of the subject of Ailsa Moore’s talk on Saturday 12 April was reflected in the good attendance, despite the conflicting claims of another Stop the War demonstration and a warm, sunny afternoon.
Ailsa went to Palestine on a Solidarity Visit last October, in a group of 18 organised by Christians Aware with local support from the Alternative Tourism Group based in Bethlehem. Although she had previously visited war zones in Vietnam, Bosnia and Afghanistan, she found this experience quite different and somehow more horrifying.
It wasn’t that they were directly involved in violence and bloodshed. The closest Ailsa came to that was when, following bulldozer tracks to photograph a demolished Palestinian house, she and THREE companionS were shot at from a settlement up the slope. The settlements are inhabited by Jews convinced of their God-given right to the land of Palestine and they are scattered across the West Bank and Gaza, virtually monopolising available water supplies and protected by the Israeli Defence Force, all quite illegal.
What horrified Ailsa was the constant awareness of the impossible conditions in which Palestinians were forced to live. Those she spoke to asked above all to have their story made known to the world beyond Israel. Many of their homes have been demolished. Most have been deprived of any means of livelihood. Their olive groves have been destroyed or rendered inaccessible to make roads between settlements, which Palestinians are not permitted to use. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was empty, the streets around it deserted: tourists almost never came. Palestinian shops were boarded up, the owners forbidden to trade. One of Islam’s holiest shrines, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, has been closed.
There were road blocks and checkpoints everywhere, at different places on different days, so no one could be sure whether a planned journey could be completed or not. Ailsa’s group of tourists got through checkpoints without delay; Palestinians were left standing in the sun, sometimes for hours, for officials to decide for them, one way or the other. In sum, the Palestinians have little to no control over their own lives in what is by international law their own territory: road blocks and curfews are imposed by the Israelis at will. Some Palestinians fear that, following the War in Iraq, they will be forced to migrate to that country, ethnically cleansed from their homeland altogether.
Ailsa was disappointed not to have had the opportunity to speak to more local people, Jews and Christians as well as Palestinians Muslims. Among those the group did meet were the Bishop of Jerusalem, Bishop RIAH, an Israeli Arab who has very good relations with the Palestinians. He was among those who feared that, should war in Iraq come, the Palestinians would be forced to emigrate REMOVE (there.) A group of Christian Israelis in Nazareth told the visitors of their second class status, denied the educational and employment opportunities of the Jews. Perhaps the most surprising highlight of the tour was a visit to Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah. Arafat greeted them courteously, offered tea, and cameras flashed for the host as well as the visitors – they later heard that a report was carried by CNN news. Ailsa was able to speak to a few Israeli soldiers, her main impression being that they were not happy in their work. A long conversation later, with Israeli Refuseniks visiting Britain in November, confirmed that many are not; and that growing numbers of young Israelis are protesting at the gross violations of Palestinian rights.
Question time raised important issues of history, sources of information (a list of UN Resolutions flouted by the Israeli government and/or vetoed by the USA for example); and the Christian Zionist movement, which enjoys considerable influence at the White House. Their brief is to support "the Holy Land" of Israel on the understanding that in time all Jews will accept Jesus as the Messiah and so bring about the Second Coming. It is not possible to feel optimistic for Palestine or Israel in the short term. Eventually, some future generation may see the two-state solution favoured by most experts - or the two-peoples, one-nation vision of the Refuseniks.
If that long-term assessment proves to be unduly pessimistic, we will all rejoice!
Alison Williams 2003