SPECIAL EDITION Issue 46- Fall 2007 1 Issue 46 • Fall 2007 ORNERSTONE CA QUARTERLY PUBLICATION BY SABEEL ECUMENICAL LIBERATION THEOLOGY CENTER Forty Years and Beyond The Great Deception What must Palestinians do? A reflection on the 40 years of Israeli Occupation
by: Naim Ateek
ur experience with Israel over the last 40 years tells us that Israel is not interested in peace on the basis of international law but on the basis of its own terms
Artwork: Nabil Anani Nabil Artwork: O and political objectives. Were Israel interested in peace, many IN THIS ISSUE opportunities could have been seized. In fact, it was not the The Great Deception Palestinians that “did not miss an opportunity to miss an by: Naim Ateek 1 opportunity for peace”, but Israel. Celebrating Injustice by: Pablo Pitcher 4 After 1967, UN resolution 242 specified that since Israel had Never Cease Dreaming illegally acquired territory through war, it must withdraw from by: Samia Costandi 7 all the occupied territories. With cleverly concocted The Golan Heights:Freedom Will Come justifications for its refusal to withdraw, Israel today stands in by: Amali Qadamani 8 violation of over 60 UN General Assembly and Security The Right of No Return Council Resolutions and the international community has by: Abla Aranki 9 The Transformation failed to demand compliance. In fact, Israel and its many by: Dorothy Naor 10 friends around the world have convinced many people, One Woman’s Story: A Testimony from June 1967 especially in western countries, that Palestinians are the guilty by: Georgette Rizek 12 party rather than Israel. The oppressor is perceived as Forty Years After oppressed, the occupier is perceived as occupied, deceptions by: Ibrahim Dakkak 13 and falsehood are perceived as truth and the truth is perceived Forty Years and Counting as falsehood. Israel speaks of peace but practices aggression. by: George Sahhar 14 This is the great deception. From Depression to Hope by: Hanna Katanasho 16 2 Issue 46- Fall 2007
Many of us remember when Israel insisted heard Israel speak the language of peace assassinating its leaders and reducing its that the PLO must change its charter and while on the ground it was entrenching people to abject misery and poverty. The recognize the right of Israel to exist, and its occupation, confiscating Palestinian firing of the qassam rockets provides we supported that idea because we land, building and expanding illegal Israel with an excuse to keep oppressing believed that if the PLO did so, a peace settlements, and solidifying its control the Palestinians in Gaza, making people agreement would be forthcoming. The over the occupied areas. wonder whether collaborators are PLO recognized Israel implicitly when it behind some of the launching of the recognized UN Resolution 242 and the qassams. Be that as it may the Israeli lid PLO Charter was changed but no peace Living without a is on Gaza, imprisoning one and half ensued. This was another great deception. “solution, then as now, million people. In 2002, at a summit meeting in Beirut, was understood by Israel all the Arab leaders agreed to make peace In the West Bank, Israel apparently still with Israel provided that it would as the key to maximizing has two major objectives: The first is the implement UN resolutions regarding the benefits of conquest confiscation of more Palestinian land
Palestine. Had Israel accepted this, all of while minimizing the and the completion of its separation us - Palestinians and Israelis - would (Hebrew: hafrada) wall. Furthermore, already be enjoying the fruits of peace. burdens and dangers“ of Israel seeks not only separation but the But Israel is not interested in peace. Israel retreat or formal dispossession (Hebrew: nishool) of has been masterful at deceptions and at annexation. Palestinians, so these two Hebrew words creating misperceptions. are essential in describing Israel’s goal of apartheid. Under the guise of security, Geoffrey Aronson, who has monitored For most of the last 40 years, Israel was Israel continues to grab more Palestinian Jewish settlement activity from its opposed to the emergence of a land and expand its settlements. There inception, has summarized the situation Palestinian state. When it became clear, seems to be no end to its rapacious lust in this way: however, that the international for Palestinian land. Living without a solution, then as now, community would not endorse illegal was understood by Israel as the key to Israeli expansionist policy and that, as The second objective is to establish a maximizing the benefits of conquest voiced by President Bush, the creation foothold on the Haram Al- Sharif area while minimizing the burdens and of a Palestinian state was required for a in Jerusalem. Some Jewish religious dangers of retreat or formal annexation. viable solution, Israel started to change fanatics and millions of Christian This commitment to the status quo, its strategy and to favor the two-state Zionists have been clamoring for years however, disguised a programme of solution. However, it is clear to many to control this area. Even a small expansion that generations of Israeli of us that Israel is making sure that the foothold would eventually give Israel leaders supported as enabling, through future Palestinian state will be void of greater control over the whole area. Such Israeli settlement, the dynamic genuine viability and will be subservient a move would likely produce a wave of transformation of the territories and the to Israel. In other words, many fear that violent Muslim reactions around the expansion of effective Israeli sovereignty Israel will not allow such a state to world. But once quiet is restored, Israel to the Jordan River.1 emerge without Israeli military and would have reached another important economic control over it. goal and established another fact on the In fact, Henry Siegman, former head of ground. the American Jewish Congress, calls the The time for peace has not yet arrived Middle East peace process, “the most for Israel. There are still more objectives The pursuit of such plans enables Israel spectacular deception in modern that must be reached beyond those to circumvent UN resolutions and create diplomatic history.”2 already accomplished. To begin with, by a Palestinian state that can never be terminating the presence of Jewish independent, sovereign, or viable. Thus, Those of us who live day in and day out settlers in the Gaza Strip, Israel has Israel would have reached its major under the occupation have observed this effectively made Gaza a big prison, a objectives and would be ready to leave Great Deception. For 40 years we have Bantustan, in which it is systematically to the Palestinians a series of Bantustans Forty Issue 46- Fall 2007 3 separated and controlled by the settlements. Years If this analysis is even partially true, the dangers are immense because justice would have been trampled upon and After international law would be a mockery. Any ensuing peace would leave the region in limbo without rest or tranquility, awaiting the emergence of a strong Palestinian leader to lead a guerrilla war against Israel producing great suffering for people on both sides. Al-Ali Naji Artwork: For the sake of justice and peace for all, the Palestinians must not allow such a scenario to take place. Palestinian community and help them political analyst wrote, 1. Palestinians need to communicate to reject violence and build a culture of the US that the Washington conference peace and nonviolence. Through such a “…Gandhi very clearly did not struggle next November 2007 must be the final strategy, the Palestinians will win the for peace at the price of injustice, for test for US and Israeli serious empathy and support of many nations peace at any price. He already had that; commitment to resolving the conflict on to their cause and expose the racist nature India was peaceful under British rule, the basis of international law. of the Israeli occupation and help bring but it was not just. The essence of it to an end. Gandhi’s satyagraha, and of King’s civil 2. If that does not happen, the rights movement, was resistance to Palestinians must turn the conflict over As people of faith who believe that God injustice through nonviolent civil to the Security Council of the United calls us to do justice and make peace, disobedience – precisely, in other words, Nations and continue to demand the we clearly testify that the road Israel is to disturb the peace by conducting direct 3 implementation of UN resolutions. It walking will not lead to a genuine and nonviolent action against unjust laws.” is clear that the United States is unable enduring peace. Any peace that is not Justice must be achieved before peace to be impartial in finding a solution built on justice as articulated by can be realized. To lift the banners of based on international law. It is the international law is not peace. It peace and still commit injustice is the responsibility of the Security Council to inevitably carries within it the seeds of height of deception. Peace without find the way out of this impasse. The rebellion, violence, and bloodshed. justice is an empty word. We are rights of Palestinians to their land must Israel’s concept of peace will lead to working for the achievement of a just not vanish nor should they be further further oppression and suffering for all peace. It is only such a peace that can compromised. and especially for the oppressed bring true security to Israel and true Palestinians. We believe that God cannot peace for the Palestinians. It is time to 3. While the UN is compelled to assume be pleased with the suffering and expose the deception and re-dedicate its rightful responsibility, no matter how humiliation of any of God’s children. As ourselves to genuinely work for justice long it takes, the Palestinians must look Kathleen Christison, a former CIA and peace and in this order. inward and with the help of other nations that believe in the justice of their cause, The Rev Dr. Naim Ateek is the Director of Sabeel adopt a national strategy of peaceful resistance against the Israeli occupation. 1 Harry Siegman, “The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam,” London Review of Books. Vol. 29 No. 16. 16 A national campaign of education and August 2007. Available from
glowing lights; promotional materials proclaim this glorious year filled with activities each month; and scores of people flock to her embrace to Celebrating remember 1967.
From 1948-1967 Jerusalem was a city Injustice divided. Jordan controlled East Jerusalem which included the Old by: Pablo Pitcher closer to this concrete monster, the City and many religious shrines while energy surrounding her shifts. Israel controlled West Jerusalem. The sun had slipped beneath the hills; Access to these holy sites was a soft enveloping glow grasps the As the last rays of light tickle the restricted and the city was divided for quiet streets, hushed as the minutes setting, Zeynab cautiously steps over the first time in its history. A no- drift away drawing closer and closer crumbling rocks and pieces of garbage man’s-land of debris and barbed wire to sundown and the breaking of the to stand beneath the stone cold separated East from West Jerusalem. fast. The Muslim holy month of WALL. On the other side of this In 1967, after the Six Day War, Israel Ramadan sheds a gentle peace over human made barrier it is a time of conquered and declared the the side of the WALL that Zeynab celebration. This year, 2007, marks annexation of a large area including approaches, her body tired and her 40 years since the reunification of the eastern part of the city into stomach rumbling from the hours of Jerusalem. The streets of West Jerusalem, proclaiming it a unified fasting. Yet as she moves closer and Jerusalem are lit up with strings of city under the control of Israel. Not Issue 46- Fall 2007 5
only were the two parts of the city her, it is not a celebration as her heart to the tiptop, meters and meters reunited but access to religious sites longs to be reunited with her own above her. Zeynab’s small frame clad such as the Western Wall was regained heritage and her own history. in a simple white t-shirt and khaki by those living in West Jerusalem and pants is dwarfed by the WALL. Dark the rest of Israel. She reaches out one hand, then two wisps of her pulled back hair curl to touch the icy concrete plastered around her face as, eager for the feast But there is another population who with graffiti calling for peace. Her to begin, she tries to capture any bit is left out of this equation and who eyes lift from the bottom of the wall of light that she can while telling her was denied access to holy sites inside Israel. What does the word unified really mean for the Palestinians forced to leave their lands and barred from returning? What does it mean for the youth whose history is wrapped around a different word, a word closer to the opposite of unified?
Now a huge WALL and several checkpoints make up no-man’s-land. For many Palestinians their world ends at the base of that WALL, a WALL that holds in 60 years of conflict and holds up 40 years of occupation even as a joyous moment for Israel is celebrated.
Zeynab cannot see any of that from this side of the WALL. At 15 years old she has been to Jerusalem once, escorted in by international volunteers because before the age of 16 she is not required to have a Palestinian ID and thus, will not be stopped at the checkpoints. She was taken through Jerusalem and, for the first time, to see her family’s ancestral village of Zakryya, a mere 25 kilometers from where she now lives in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. For Photo by: Pablo Pitcher 6 Issue 46- Fall 2007 version of what a celebration in eyebrow but her voice speaks for so (Girash), I can’t go there…Why?” Jerusalem means. many, so many who cannot travel past Haitham glances out the window, the WALL and see their ancestral pulling in with his eyes the cramped Her gaze reaches the peak of the villages, so many who aren’t rectangular buildings huddled WALL and she begins to speak, “I celebrating. together. This is the only home he can’t see the sun. I can’t see the trees, has ever known. Girash, his original I can’t see my land…” Her words, Haitham is another of these children. village seems thousands of miles away. spoken in Arabic are quiet at first, At 14 years old, he labors with the gradually with each word her voice word reunification, flipping the Zeynab stands under the WALL, grows louder, “I can’t see my land.” unfamiliar word around in his mind Haitham stares out over the refugee It is not quite dark on her side of the and struggling to form his response. camp, each toying with the word WALL, the calm cool tones of dusk “Jerusalem is maybe 5 minutes that reunification and the idea of 40 years enclose the spot where Zeynab stands. way,” he gestures with his hand from of celebration. Their hearts feel no joy Her statement, “I can’t see the sun” his seat in a restaurant of Dheisheh as this anniversary lights up many seems not to refer to its physical towards the WALL. parts of the rest of the world. The tales presence but to her eyes being of violence, pain and occupation have blocked, the shadow closing in on her They are celebrating been passed down to these two spirit. This dark silent side of the “ children by their grandparents, WALL in stark contrast to the light what they took from us, parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and and celebration just a few feet away. they don’t care about us, uncles, all who lived in this world of
they are celebrating containment, of division, of the Zeynab falls into a silent moment of injustice. I don’t“ opposite of unification. For them contemplation, her eyes sinking to the there is no celebration, not just ground beneath the wall, her feet understand… Why? yet…and their hearts cry out…Why? shuffling to kick a lone rock on the ground. The seconds slip by. In this “You hope that you can go there and That one word echoes off the WALL, stifling silence the mind creates its own you can’t…your friends there…your it floats in the air above Dheisheh and noises, it is almost as if you can hear family there… your grandfather, your so many other refugee camps, it the cheers, laughter and music of sister. Why?” Haitham’s simple reverberates back around the streets celebration on the other side of the wall. broken English words paint the and off the buildings, making no division of the Palestinian families in sound but carrying with it the weight Suddenly her head snaps forward and the air around the table. of the voices of more than six million she blurts out, “They are celebrating Palestinian refugees since 1948, what they took from us, they don’t His voice charged, his hands spinning refugees who are all but forgotten on care about us, they are celebrating the words out of his mouth as he the streets of Jerusalem where injustice. I don’t understand… continues “If I go there, maybe they reunification is celebrated, a word Why?” This one simple three-letter will take me to the prison…but why? that has quite a different meaning on word carries behind it an This is our land, I have a village this side of the WALL. indescribable weight. Pablo Pitcher has been working in marginalized communities for over 10 years now, and Zeynab is not the only Palestinian is currently pursuing his Masters Degree and working in the West Bank. He is an child who hears the word accomplished writer, having published his first book, “When Necessary…Use Words” in reunification and raises a questioning January 2007 and has displayed his photography from Guatemala in several gallery shows. Issue 46- Fall 2007 7
As a child, I wavered and hesitated before divulging that I was Palestinian. I was ashamed of our refugee status. Then came the Palestinian revolution and I was filled with pride. I began to announce it to the world at large in a strong and loud voice: in 1969 at Hyde Park, and later at the Institute for Palestine Studies, and later on in Canada as a Canadian activist for human rights, for the rights of Palestinians and Lebanese and all oppressed groups. Later, I became more nuanced and sophisticated; I began to
Artwork: Ahmad Canaan Artwork: choose my battles, to couch the facts and feelings in academic and Never Cease Dreaming “appropriate” language. By: Samia Costandi The reality is that I cannot and will not fight this anymore; whether I am a I miss Birzeit, my mother’s village in the grown children to see their citizen of Canada, a citizen of the world, West Bank…I miss my childhood, I grandmother’s house where my an educator, a writer, a feminist, or an miss climbing my favorite fig tree and grandfather, the mayor of Birzeit, activist, whatever, wherever and picking the honey-dipped fruit. I miss conducted the affairs of the village. I whoever I am. As I grow older I yearn my secluded moments perched up on speak to my sons about their more for my childhood, for my my tree watching the sunset and grandmother’s and grandfather’s beautiful, colorful, happy moments in articulating my first words of poetry. I childhoods more than I speak of my time and place, in an un-occupied miss playing with my cousins who have own. It is as if mine was an ephemeral Birzeit, in a peaceful Beirut, with my now become fathers and mothers like childhood, full of love, but shifting in maternal and paternal cousins, with my me all over the world, in multiple terms of place and time, in terms of the brothers, with my parents, uncles and continents. When did we grow up? legitimacy of it all – it felt transitory, aunts. I will never cease yearning…I will Where have the years gone? Why did we were simply waiting in Lebanon, in feed my shameless nostalgic, passionate we not spend some time together Beirut, to all go back. My father refused and powerful yearning… I will never sharing anecdotes, cups of tea, and jokes to buy land in Lebanon, “What heresy!” cease dreaming of my homeland, and about rearing children? We stand he would say to my aunt when she when my children fulfill my wish and dispersed, frozen in time, ashamed of suggested it. We will go back to our own carry me there in a casket, my soul will the loss of innocence, ashamed of our lands eventually. We are all in transition dance as my body embraces the earth unrelenting yearnings for a homeland here, just give us a little more time, it is and the wildflowers. Millions of others that is so vividly portrayed in our going to be resolved, and the share that with me, for another memories. negotiations seemed to be taking off! generation, and another, and another…
I need permission to visit my Samia Costandi holds a PhD from McGill Faculty of Education, Montreal, Canada; her grandfather’s house in Birzeit. I need areas of research (and teaching) are: philosophy of education, feminist epistemology and permission to take my children, my pedagogy multicultural education, mythology, culture, and values in education. 8 Issue 46- Fall 2007 The Golan Heights Freedom Will Come By: Amali Qadamani
The Golan Heights is an Arab Syrian territory located along the southwestern Syrian border. The area is estimated at around 1,800 square kilometers along its borders with Syria with its rectangular shape extending from the north to the south with a distance ranging between 75km to 85km and average width ranging between 18km and 20km on a plain. The Golan high ground overlooks the Huleh Basin and Sea of Galilee. The Golan is a basalt plateau which rises in the northeast to an average altitude of 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. The Golan Heights is bordered by Mt. Hermon on the north and the Yarmuk River on the south.
he June 1967 defeat can be early days the danger of surrender to the this non-violent resistance. The brightest described as a historical Occupation which would be another image of the Arab Syrian Golan people T landmark in the life of our defeat building on the first defeat. We was achieved in the historical victory Arab nation, discharging several negative realized that the authentic indigenous over the occupier in the “battle of the results that run deep in the Arab realities Golan society is largely faithful and able Identity Cards” during the protests and conscience. The ramifications and to turn the defeat into a victory and can against the Israeli Knesset’s decision to impact of this defeat are still affecting say a collective NO in the face of the annex the Golan Heights and force the us with the images of war in the field occupation. Our young people have Israeli citizenship on its Arab residents. and its psychological results. Forty years shown that they are patient, confident, The famous struggle phase then have passed and still it remains present and ready to sacrifice everything for the produced the “National Document” and and live in the Arab collective memory dignity of their homeland. Our Arab the “Big Strike” in 1982 which lasted in general, and in our memory as Golan Syrian identity helped us to reproduce this six months and which ended with the people in particular. In a fortnight, we collective NO in the face of the occupier victory of the residents. found ourselves forcibly separated from despite all oppression and anger. In fact, the natural extension of our homeland this identity transformed the fall of Yes, the feeling of defeat in 1967 was and nation. Thus, we needed to meditate martyrs and the long years of prison, transformed into victory through the seriously within our “defeated” self and deprivation, and house arrests into national awareness of young people wise open a transparent dialogue to address additional fuel to keep the spirit of enough to choose means of struggle that our individual and collective feelings of resistance burning. Yes, they have not matched their relatively small numbers; defeat. We launched the struggle to succeeded in subjugating or containing counting first and foremost on loyalty protect this territory after it fell into the our society. On the contrary, our young to the homeland and love of Pan- hands of the occupiers, and worked to people who were born after the Arabism. Freedom will inevitably come maintain and support the small number Occupation are even more enthusiastic no matter how long the Occupation of residents who remain steadfast in about their cause and many of them persists. confronting the Occupation schemes received and served long prison sentences. and settlement plans. Mrs. Amali “my hope” Qadamani is a This is what the residents of the Golan member of the Druze community living The nationally and politically aware Heights have been able to achieve in Majdal Shams, in the Occupied Arab sector of our society has realized since the although the world does not know of Syrian Golan Heights. Issue 46- Fall 2007 9 The Right of No Return By: Abla Aranki
My older brother and my parents process of applying for ‘permanent The Israeli soldier looked at my lived in Ramleh when I was born in residency’ status in the place where I mother and said she looked healthy 1947 in a Jewish hospital in Rehovot. grew up and lived for 18 years, only to him. When I got upset that my At that time, both Ramleh and to be rejected both times. I was very credibility was being questioned and Rehovot were part of Palestine. When humiliated when I was asked why I said that I will bring him my mother’s war broke out in 1948, my father, to was requesting such a status. I wanted medial records, he nonchalantly said get us out of harm’s way, took us to to shout and say that this is my home that I should take her with me to the my grandmother’s house in Birzeit, and I should not be asking for US! Had I been Jewish, from located about twelve miles north of residency in the first place. But I knew anywhere in the world, I would Jerusalem. Unfortunately we were that answer would not work in my probably have been begged by the never allowed to go back. My sister favor. Instead, I gave what I thought government of Israel to become a and two of my brothers were born in was a good reason. I pointed at my citizen! Birzeit. 78-year old mother at the time, and said that she had a heart disease and Abla Aranki is a member of the In 1967 when Israel occupied the rest I might have to stay with her beyond Palestinian Diaspora currently living of historic Palestine including Birzeit, the 3-month visitor’s visa I am given. in the United States. my older brother and I were pursuing our college education in Lebanon and the US respectively. Therefore we were not the lucky recipients of the the art found in this issue of Cornerstone was provided by Israeli identity cards that were granted All Resistance Art, a Toronto based distributor of “The Colors to residents of the West Bank and from Palestine” art wall calendars. The calendars are used Gaza after these territories were to support the work of Palestinian cultural organizations in Palestine occupied. When one of my younger and Diaspora. brothers left for the US at the end of The 2008 Calendar is dedicated to the Memory of Naji Al-Ali and will 1967 for his college education, he was mark the 60th commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). asked to sign a paper saying that he The proceeds from the calendar sales will support Kanafani Cultural gives up his right to return to the West foundation and to build a memorial for the 60th commemoration of Bank. My sister married an Israeli the Palestinian Nakba in Toronto. The memorial will be designed and Arab citizen and acquired Israeli crafted by the Palestinian artist Ahmad Canaan who lives and works in citizenship. My youngest bother Tamra, Galilee. remains the only one of the five of us To learn more about Ghassan Kanafani Foundation Please visit who holds a West Bank residency http://www.kanafani.dk/gkk_main_eng.htm identity card. You can buy the calendar on line: http://www.resistanceart.com/calendars.htm I have twice gone through the painful 10 Issue 46- Fall 2007 Artwork: Abed Abdi Abed Artwork: TransformationThe By: Dorothy Naor United States, but was shocked by the dug ditches for the elderly and pictures of the camps. During my incapacitated in our community, What brings about change in teens, I met Jewish survivors of should the need arise for these. I someone’s thinking, especially a WWII and heard their stories. These stocked up on a few basic goods so drastic change that makes someone’s events impacted our thinking, and led that our three children would not views diametrically oppose their each of us to believe that indeed the starve in case of a prolonged war, and former ones? In my case, I know the Jews needed a country of their own. pasted black paper on the windows answer. Neither of us knew the facts. Neither to prevent light from shining through of us questioned, not even my spouse at night. I totally and unquestioningly My spouse and I are both of the though he had lived here in Palestine/ trusted the government’s analysis of Holocaust generation. He, his Israel, and fought in the 1948 war. the situation and its decision to act. parents, and a younger brother At the end of the war, I, like most escaped from Nazi Austria in 1938, Our former views are reflected in our Israelis, was elated by the victory, and arriving in Palestine in 1939 when he conduct in 1967. My husband had by the opening of Jerusalem and the was eleven years old. The remainder been called to reserve duty about a West Bank. of his extended family perished in the week before the war broke out. I had camps, except for one uncle who no objections, apart from concern for But I strongly opposed Israeli survived Auschwitz and later came to his safety. During the waiting period settlement in the West Bank, and Israel. I was born and raised in the before the war, our two oldest children Israel’s refusal to agree to peace
Issue 46- Fall 2007 11 Gradually, as our understanding of the history of this blood-soaked land “ “ increased, as our knowledge of what Israel had done to the Palestinians increased, as our friendship with Palestinians we’d met grew, so also our views changed.
overtures. Israel’s conduct in the West history of Zionism, and continued racism, but also due to Israel’s Bank caused me to question, but not with the history of Palestine and governments’ continuous desire for yet to seek answers. I was busy those Israel. The journey was traumatic. expansionism -from the beginning till years teaching, raising children, and The findings made me ashamed that today- and ridding the land of living abroad a good part of the time I had not seriously questioned before. Palestinians, neither Israelis nor due to my spouse’s job. My activism, which at the beginning Palestinians have experienced was mainly in organizations, brought security, peace, or a future. They are Not until October 2000 did we begin me and my spouse into contact with not able to. Not until Palestinians to actually study the situation. We were Palestinians for the first time in our have security and justice will Israelis horrified by the 1994 massacre of 29 lives. Gradually, as our understanding have the same. Muslims at prayer, and the injury of of the history of this blood-soaked many more, by Dr. Baruch Goldstein. land increased, as our knowledge of Israelis and Palestinians can live Also by the government’s action what Israel had done to the together in peace. In much of today’s following the massacre, imposing Palestinians increased, as our world Muslims, Christians, Jews, closure on the Palestinians, on the friendship with Palestinians we’d met seculars, and others live together in families who suffered from the massacre grew, so also our views changed. I am peace. And in Palestine, prior to the rather than punishing the victimizers. tremendously grateful that my spouse advent of Zionism, from the time of But we still did not seek answers. and I took this journey together. the Crusades, Jews, Muslims, and Though we do not agree on Christians lived together in peace. In The final nail came in October 2000 everything, we are close enough in fact, from the time of the Inquisition, when the Israeli police shot and killed our views to be able to continue living Jews were far better off in most 13 Palestinians who had been together another 55 years. Muslim countries than in most demonstrating, 12 of them were European countries. Therefore, there Israeli citizens. Never before had the Today I know that the Jews not only is no question that we can co-exist. Israeli police used live ammunition do not need a state of their own, but But to do this we need a single state on demonstrators, no matter how that the establishment of Israel has with equality for all its citizens. My violent they might be. Nor should the been detrimental to the Jews, dream is to achieve this before police do so. Police should not kill certainly to Israeli Jews. Not only has generations more of Israelis and citizens who are protesting. It was separatism encouraged and promoted Palestinians suffer and die. immediately clear to us that this killing was a racist act. Dorothy Naor is originally from California and she met her Israeli husband when he came to study at UC Berkeley in the early 1950s. They and their three children made Israel their home in 1958. Dorothy earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from Tel Aviv University in Israel, and has This event motivated research and been an English teacher for most of her professional life. For more than seven years much of her activism. Research began with the time has been spent in activism against Israel’s Occupation of Palestine. 12 Issue 46- Fall 2007
One Woman’s Story A Testimony
from June 1967 By: Georgette Rizek It was Monday morning on the 5th of June, when we felt something was wrong… The schools started closing and my husband had to go and get the children from school. The Arab radios started giving updates on the move of the army troops. It was a day of fear and terror. My mother, sister, and I started filling sand bags to close the window of the basement and when my husband arrived we started moving mattresses, food and candles to the basement. We decided that we would not leave our houses. We were fooled when we thought we would come Artwork: Ghassan Kanafani Artwork: back to them in 1948, and we lost them forever. It took us 20 years to re-establish ourselves, our business and our saw young men injured on the roads and residence. We could not afford to lose our houses again. I felt the urge to open this clinic to do first aid.
We heard some shelling and bombing My husband and I decided to walk I walked about seven kilometers under but it sounded far away. The Arab downtown from Beit Hanina to see what the burning sun and finally got to the radio channels claimed that the happened to our garage on the border garage. The offices were demolished, all Egyptian, Jordanian and Iraqi armies between East and West Jerusalem. There the furniture was broken, all the tools were advancing inside Palestine and were many people in the streets walking were stolen, and all the cars were the whole Arab world was rejoicing. downtown. When we got to Shu’fat, we damaged or had been stolen. There was In spite of the fear we were rejoicing, heard someone calling our names. It was blood all over the floor and walls. too! On Monday morning, we saw our family doctor, Saliba Saeed. He took Children’s school bags were thrown all what we assumed to be Iraqi army me aside and said: “Georgette, your over the garage. Oil, from our stock of tanks, jeeps and trucks coming down. husband should not see the garage now… oil barrels, was seeping all the way to It was only when they started shouting it is completely damaged and it will be Damascus Gate. The account books and that we realized that this was the Israeli too much for him to handle. I think you ledgers were all over the place and the army. should go back home.” Finally, we cash register was broken into pieces. I convinced my husband to stay with Dr. stood there crying and crying. On Thursday the Israeli army, who by Saliba, and I continued my walk that time was controlling all of downtown toward the Infant Welfare This was the business that my husband Jerusalem, started announcing that Center- the clinic which I had been worked all his life to establish and it was people could come out of their homes. managing for many years. As I walked I all gone now. This was the business that Issue 46- Fall 2007 13 has been supporting many families, us if we had enough medications Forty Years and it was gone now. For the second and first aid supplies. He talked and time in my life, I could not bear talked… We were just so engrossed the pain of starting all over again. in our work, with so many patients After It was too much… Oh God, it was lying around, that we hardly looked By: Ibrahim Dakkak too much. I started thinking about up at him. After he left, I ran down how to break the news to my the stairs to ask who he was. He Three thoughts come to my mind when I am reminded husband, so he would not have a answered: “it’s not important” and that Israel has been occupying the West Bank and Gaza heart attack when he saw it… gave me his card. He was Mr. Ott, Strip for the last forty years. First it reminds me that I the Lutheran World Federation spent more than half of my life under Israeli occupation. Then I proceeded to the Old City representative. Second, I became - by the virtue of the Israeli occupation to check on the Infant Welfare - stateless like the rest of the Palestinian Jerusalemites. Center. On the way, I met our staff That same night, at 7:45 pm, as we Third, it reveals that occupation has been termed a nurse Theresa Azraq and we went were having dinner by candle light, “problem” in the international political language! to the center together. There was someone knocked on our front However none of these ideas ever occurred to any so much damage around but our door. We were very frightened, but Palestinian living in Jerusalem in June 1967. But forty center was untouched. The next my husband went to open the door. years made the difference. day I got in touch with our general It was Mr. Ott standing there with 1967 is a land mark in Palestinian history; it is also a doctor, Subhi Ghosheh, and we an envelope in his hand. He came land mark in the annals of the international community. started planning how to prepare in and said: “this is our Palestinians still yearn for exercising their right for self ourselves to receive the injured and contribution to you so you can determination; and the international community is the sick. continue doing what you are doing. failing to compromise the items of its charter and the The UNRWA clinics have been Israeli claims. The result was disappointment and dismay. In the Center we had food supplies, paralyzed, and your clinic needs to so we started distributing food and continue to operate, so please use Resistance became the order of the day. There was milk for children. The shops were this money wisely.” I stood there genuine worry about the Holy Places and there was a only open a few hours a day, and in shock and told him that I did boycott of the Israeli-run schools. In the meantime Israel many people did not have cash to not have the receipt book with me. displayed unexpected efficiency in confiscating buy basic food. A week before life He looked at me and laughed and Palestinian land and building new settlements in had been so normal… Here we said: “keep it with you to encourage Jerusalem and around. On his part, Moshe Dayan, as were again, no lights, no electricity, you to proceed.” Minister of Defense, ordered the Jordanian border open no gas, and no water. Overnight, for the outgoing Palestinians. The spokeswoman of the our lives were turned upside down. When our treasurer came to the Ministry of the Interior declared that Israel annexed the We did not know where we were clinic and told me that we would land of Jerusalem and not its people. Thus the problem heading or what the future was have to close down because we had for the Palestinians was how to discourage the Palestinians holding for us. no money. I looked at him, from leaving the country, and how to encourage them laughed, and asked “where is your to stay put in their houses. The Palestinians responded We began receiving dozens of receipt book? Please give me a positively. They are, to the surprise of the Israelis, still patients every day. As we were receipt for this money.” He could there after forty years, increasing in number and insisting working, a foreigner came into the not believe it. Our work at the on defending their rights. clinic and asked us who we were Center continues even now. and what we were doing. He asked Ibrahim Dakkak is an engineer, writer and political commentator. He is the co-founder of several Palestinian Georgette Rizek is the Director of the Infant Welfare Center institutions including the Council for Higher Education and of the Greek Catholic Society the National Guidance Committee. 14 Issue 46- Fall 2007
Forty Years and Counting
By George Sahhar Many other Palestinians were infants I am simply a person like many others when our nation fell under who wants to live normally. So far, Many years have passed since Occupation, and Jerusalem my journey in life has gone from one Palestine, as known by the generation succumbed to yet another foreign chapter to another, but it was all in of our forefathers, was the land where conquest. So my narrative tells the the same book called the Occupation. Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived experience of that generation. It may Now that I have three wonderful together as neighbors, business be the voice of a single person, but it children, I am adamant that they will partners, and as human beings who is the cry of an entire generation: have a happy life, with equal shared bread and whose children Open the doors of Jerusalem so the opportunity, democracy, and justice. played and grew up together. I am future can be ushered in! Enough not part of that generation. I was pillage, theft, and disobedience of When I look at my two little born in Jerusalem, but it was long God’s will. End the Occupation now! daughters in first and fourth grades after the great psychological, emotional, and political divide that set people apart from each other, not long after the onset of Palestinian dispossession. I belong to a generation that only knows the Occupation. Forty years and counting, in the wilderness. Forty years and counting is way too long and far too deeply entrenched in the heart and mind. Forty years and counting reminds me of the cry of the crucified Lord Jesus, “Father, why have you abandoned me?” But I remember quickly that the glorious resurrection and the triumph of life over death and justice over evil was only days away. There is the Occupation, but there is always tomorrow. There has to be a life after the Occupation and light at the end Symbol developed by the Jerusalem Church Related of the tunnel. Organizations (CROs) to mark 40 years of Occupation Issue 46- Fall 2007 15
Jerusalem, 2007 Blinding in the noonday sun, thick-set limestone walls reflect white light, hum with heartbeats of the living stones interned both inside and without— a shelter, yet a prison. as they are about to go to school in Rock by rock, layer upon layer, the morning, I know that they are a thin veneer upon the ruins of the past, already learning to take their one people treads upon another, responsibilities seriously. As I stand stumbles over guile and greed, by the window watching them get on then seeks redemption promised here. the school bus, I am aware that this time will be their good old days. Tears wash the streets of the market place; Because they mean the world to me, Few come to buy nowadays. it is up to me as their father to decide Those who cannot pay their tax how I will be remembered, as what nail shutters on their shops. type of father. When they grow up Produce stands stay open and start looking back, they will say selling Caesar’s fruit. their father used to… Now it is up to me to fill in the blanks. It is not late yet for their generation to lead a Mary Pneuman normal life. Maybe for my June, 2007 generation it is already too late, and we are living our life like someone who dreams of playing soccer only to find out there is no game or that he is excluded from playing. There is something inherently evil arrive at the other side towards that taking place when nations are denied long-awaited Easter. Yes, there has Sure every generation lives in the their liberty. One can never accept to be light at the end of the tunnel, middle of dynamics unique to the era, these conditions. We all have an not only for my generation, hoping but here I must wonder whether inalienable right to live in dignity and for that long-overdue normality in humans shape the era, or the era pursue our dreams. It may be too our lives, but also for all the children shapes us? The Occupation is such late for my generation, but it is not of Palestine when the Occupation an evil era, that however we go too late for the young children of ends. around living our lives, watching the Palestine. sunset and sunrise, and struggling to make ends meet, we cannot escape I realize that dwelling on the past will that reality no matter how hard we make a hostage out of me. First I George Sahhar lives and works in Jerusalem pretend or how much we seek to must break the mental shackles, so I and serves as a member of the Sabeel Board create an impression of normalcy. can smash through the present and and the Cornerstone Editorial Committee. 16 Issue 46- Fall 2007
Korahite Psalmist is full of questions. He passionately asks God: when will he be able to be in Jerusalem again (42: 2)?
The Psalmist’s proximity to Jerusalem is a theopolitical concern i.e. to lose Jerusalem is to lose God as well as to be bereft of home. Thus, the enemies of the Psalmist taunt him saying, “where is your God?” (42: 3, 10). They ridicule the Psalmist and his seemingly impotent God. Clearly, his present sufferings and his nostalgia indicate a despondent situation. In addition, his tragic sociopolitical reality has theological implications. What should he do and where is his God? The Psalmist rightly thinks of his sociopolitical struggles in a theopolitical framework. In this framework, God is interested in all Artwork: Ibrahim Nashashibi Artwork: the affairs of human beings and their psychology is a theological concern (Terrien 356). Consequently, the From Depression to Hope Psalmist unapologetically, As the Deer Pants for Streams of Water, audaciously, as well as sincerely presents his case to God. He is So My Soul Pants for You, O God (NIV Ps 42: 1) interested in transforming his attitude By: Hanna Katanasho and emotions towards God in order to restore the peace of his soul and to as the Psalter anything to It is the voice of Psalms 42 and 43. go back home. say to Palestinian refugees? These two Psalms should be read H Is it relevant to their loss together for both psalms have a Just like the Korahite Psalmist, of land and continual struggle against similar refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5) in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians oppression? The simple answer is yes. which a Korahite exhorts himself to are depressed refugees. Moreover, In the following short essay, we will move from depression to hope, a they fight against injustices and seek explore an ancient voice that topic that is so intriguing to to go back home. Perhaps, the addresses a contemporary problem. Palestinians. In his despair, the Korahite Psalmist and his Issue 46- Fall 2007 17
theopolitical approach can inspire in which hundreds of thousands of while the latter reveals God’s heart and empower them. Perhaps, they Palestinians were forced to leave their and nature. can learn from his insights. So let us homes. God speaks words of comfort contemplate the divine prudence to the oppressed and sends In his search for hope the Psalmist embedded in his poem. Through his messengers personified as light and discovers the God of hope. The words and attitude, the Psalmist truth (43: 3) in order to lead those Psalmist mentions God or one of his communicates two insights that who trust him home and quench epithets 22 times (Sch?kel 9). He calls might help Palestinian refugees in their thirst. God will not abandon him the living God (42: 2), the God their struggle with despair. those who seek him. of my life (42: 8), the God of my rock (42: 9), the God of my stronghold First, having the right theology This leads us to the second insight: (43: 2), and the God of my exceeding transforms our psychology. The label having the right theology or more joy (43: 4). He finds his hope in an “theology” is not only associated with specifically the proper view of God acting God who can be trusted. Thus, orthodoxy (right doctrine) and alters the focus of our eschatology. the Psalmist decides to pray seeking orthopraxis (right practice) but also God speaks in and through our pain. a just God who will plead his case and with orthopathos. Orthopathos is the In effect, he is transforming the pain prosecute his cunning and wicked kind of human suffering that of Palestinian refugees into a divine oppressors. He wants God to becomes a source for liberation and message that reminds the world of the vindicate him (43:1) and he wishes social transformation. In his difference between heartless or God to be his lawyer who will present suffering, the Psalmist thought that hardhearted eschatacentric his case and defend him before an God has forgotten him (42: 9) and eschatology represented by some ungodly nation. The Psalmist no even rejected him (43: 2). But in fact, Christian theologies, and merciful longer seeks to go to Jerusalem to find his ordeal made him thirst for God Christocentric eschatology. The God but seeks God to find Jerusalem. and prompted him to pour himself former focuses on “God’s agenda” or The light and truth of God will guide in prayer. It led him to an intimate the so called prophetic programs him to God’s holy mountain. relationship with God, the source of true happiness. His heartrending The Rev. Dr. Hanna Katanasho is Associate Professor and Director of Academic prayer went up to God as a human Affairs at Bethlehem Bible College- Galilee Extension. lament but came back as the message of God to all those who suffer for God’s sake. His fervent prayer became Anderson, Bernhard and Steven Bishop. Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak God’s inspired word. In fact, God for us Today. 3rd edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. made the Psalmist an identification Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. figure whose suffering is a divine Schökel, Alonso. “The Poetic Structure of Psalm 42-43,” Journal for the “megaphone” that “shouts in our Study of the Old Testament 1 (1976): 4-11. pain” (Lewis 91). God is not silent during, what Anderson calls, the Terrien, Samuel. The Psalms: Strophic Structure and Theological “eclipse of God” (Anderson 67), or Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. during the catastrophe (Al Nakbah) 18 Issue 46- Fall 2007
SAVE THE DATES
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This new book on Palestinian Christians, compiled from presentations made at the Sabeel Sixth International Conference, covers a broad look at the history of Christianity in the Holy Land, the contributions of the historic churches, the tradition of pilgrimage, the effect of cultural context on Biblical reflection, and the current realities of Palestinian life both for those living under Israeli Occupation and for those who are Israeli citizens. People worldwide will profit from sharing the life stories of these earliest Christians who continue to exercise their spiritual vocation of seeking to shape a just society for the future.
“The talks at this conference have changed my understanding of Palestinian Christianity and deepened the roots of my faith. I have gained a new appreciation for the Christian heritage in the Middle East and how the current political realities are challenging this incredible presence.”
- Sabeel 2006 Conference Participant
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Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center P.O. Box 49084 Jerusalem 91491 Ph: 972 (0)2 532 7136 Fax: 972 (0) 2 532 7137 Email: [email protected] Web: www.sabeel.org 20 Issue 46- Fall 2007 Purpose Statement Éy Sabeel Sabeel is an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Sabeel Christians. Inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, this liberation theology seeks to deepen the faith of Palestinian Christians, promote unity among them, and lead them Ecumenical Liberation to act for justice and love. Sabeel strives to develop a spirituality based on justice, peace, Theology Center non-violence, liberation, and reconciliation for the different national and faith communities. The word ‘Sabeel’ is Arabic for ‘the way’ and also a ‘channel’ or ‘spring’ of life-giving water. P.O.B. 49084 Jerusalem 91491 Sabeel also works to promote a more accurate international awareness regarding the identity, presence, and witness of Palestinian Christians as well as their contemporary concerns. It Tel: 972.2.532.7136 encourages individuals and groups from around the world to work for a just, comprehensive, Fax: 972.2.532.7137 and enduring peace informed by truth and empowered by prayer and action. Visit our website at: For more information on Friends of Sabeel groups in your area please contact our International representatives or the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem. www.sabeel.org E-Mail addresses: General E-mail: [email protected]; Local Programs: [email protected]; Clergy Program: [email protected]; Friends of Sabeel: [email protected]; Youth Program: [email protected]; Public Relations: [email protected]
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