"Is there anybody out there?" read the graffiti on a section of the 26' high, razor-wire topped separation barrier that stretches along one of Jerusalem's borders. This concrete separation barrier, proceeding around Jerusalem, around three sides of Bethlehem, and winding on southward, is a physical separation which symbolizes the many facets of separation and oppression which the Israeli government's Occupation policies have created between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. How did this happen? What role do Palestinians play in this?

In January of this year, 2006, eleven Central NY United Methodists joined forty-five other United Methodists from throughout the U.S. on a journey to Israel/Palestine, seeking to listen, see, and learn about the efforts toward peace with justice in these lands. Our time frame extended from the celebration of Armenian Christmas (1/18) through the Palestinian elections (1/25) and the election results, before our departure on January 27th. We stayed in Bethlehem in the West Bank.

Two peoples want and need a homeland in Israel/Palestine. For the Jews, who suffered an oppression in Europe that culminated in the horror of the Holocaust, coming to this site of the Zionist dream seemed the answer. The U.S. and the U.N. agreed and, in 1948, Israel was formed. For the Palestinians, this land where they lived was home. However, the means by which Israel came into existence displaced many of them. They, too, need to be able to have their home. Plans have been put forth for both peoples to live in these lands, but none have yet been fully negotiated. While the violent acts of some Palestinians as suicide bombers must be stopped, the violence of daily dehumanization and oppression by Israeli government policies must change as well.

Viewing the effects of the Occupation and Israeli policies on both the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples gives one a sense of urgency for a just solution. Much of what is happening in the West Bank can be termed "de-development". Illegal Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land stand on hilltops and hillsides around East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In fact, they can be seen in the midst of Hebron and on the tops of some of the south Hebron hills. Dynamiting for settlements above the village of Wadi Fouqin has caused cracks in the school building, and makes Palestinian villagers concerned about the stability of their homes. Sewage systems from the extensive hilltop settlement sometimes break, polluting the fertile farmlands in the valley below. Cutting off of the hilltop for more development is causing erosion and mudslides as well.

The separation barrier, or wall, in places becoming a tall electric fence with security sideroads, blocks farmers from their land or water sources, students from schools or universities, workers from jobs, families from relatives--even separating a parent from children if they have different area ID. For Palestinians to travel anywhere either within or outside of the West Bank, they must go through numerous checkpoints. Young soldiers may decide arbitrarily when or whether to let them pass.

Going from Jerusalem into Bethlehem, our tour buses were usually allowed to pass, but around election time we were asked to get off the bus to go through the terminal. This was a highly improved and technical checkpoint, with screened-in runways and catwalks for military above. Several Palestinian men were sitting and waiting to be allowed through. When we had made our way through, they had been told to wait outside in the cold and wind till it was decided they could pass through. They had already waited for three hours!

The separation barrier was to have been built right through the grounds of Al Quds University, but international activist pressure caused Israel to change the route slightly. Similarly, on the Mount of Olives, a Catholic convent for Palestinian Christians was able to convince the Israeli government not to wall them off from their congregation completely. But for the farmers who just want to farm, or people who need to get to an Israeli hospital, the barrier and checkpoints may mean a livelihood or not -- or life or death.

Demolished home in foreground, with one of several tents where family now lives, in lower right foreground.

Home demolitions, with no regard for a family's needs and no recognition of centuries-old deeds of ownership, happen in the name of security. Cave-dwellers in the southern hills of Hebron have had even their cave homes smashed. They may not build homes or re-inhabit their caves, and must have a special permit even to live in tents on their own land. If land is proven to be uninhabited by way of aerial photographs, the Israeli government claims it.

Acts of destruction by over-zealous illegal settlers in Palestinian lands occur with the purpose of getting Palestinians to leave. We saw fields of olive trees cut down to stumps by settlers just the week before. These stumps, if they survive, will take years to grow and be fruitful again. The Israeli government continues to allow the building of illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land.

More Palestinian land is confiscated for the Israeli-only bypass roads and highways which are inaccessible to Palestinians. These roads effectively allow Israelis to travel through the land without going near Palestinians, and ensures that Palestinians must take many back roads and roundabout routes in their travels.

Israeli Jews also suffer from the effects of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine. Their presence in the West Bank as soldiers makes this the only image of Jews which many young Palestinians have. And for the Israeli Jewish young people, for whom military service is compulsory, duty in the West Bank may cause these young minds to be haunted by the dehumanizing acts they are encouraged / ordered to carry out. Otherwise, they may be deeply marked with "we/they" thinking and reliance on a power and control mindset.

Some of our Methodist group heard a member of "Breaking the Silence" speak about his experience as a young soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces serving in the West Bank. His family was proud of him, and he felt that he was a good and loyal person doing his duty. One night in a house search in the West Bank, he realized that he was holding a gun on an older man, a Palestinian father, who had to ask permission to use his own bathroom. As the young soldier proceeded to a bedroom in the home, and began to dump things out of a child's schoolbag, he glanced over and saw the young boy looking at him. Suddenly he thought to himself, "I'm a monster. I belong to one of the best, most moral armed forces in the world, and my family thinks of me as a good son, but this child sees a monster." Later, this young soldier found "telling his story" as a source of healing for the behavior he had become part of.

Israeli Jews also suffer as the very land they love becomes polluted, denuded, and stripped of some of the most productive farmlands because of the zealous encroachment of illegal Jewish settlers or preparations for the separation barrier. The very steps that have been taken to increase security and decrease fear have only led to an increase in fear for Israelis, as the desperation that has been created for many Palestinians sometimes breaks out in violence.

And finally, the increased separation between peoples who have had some experience of living and working together, Jews and Palestinians, in the past--this increased separation also has increased the amount of "not knowing" one another.

There are voices speaking for peace, people working for peace in Israel/Palestine. Palestinian Christian teachers and pastors in Bethlehem and in Jerusalem spoke to us of the importance of education in giving youth a sense of self-worth, hope, and positive ways to deal with problems. One creative Palestinian teacher of English, at a Christian girls' school in Bethlehem, had her students keep diaries. These were diary entries during the years of invasion and curfew in 2000 - 2004. They were published in the book The Wall Cannot Stop our Stories.

Americans and Europeans involved in Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron continue to be present with both Palestinian families and with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, trying to build understanding. These Christian Peacemakers sometimes stay with Palestinian families who fear attack or house demolitions.

In the village of Wadi Fouqin, where the anticipated separation barrier/wall will be built near the fertile valley, our Palestinian Muslim guide told of peaceful negotiations with an Israeli village on the other side of the "Green Line" or border. People in this Israeli village have offered to negotiate with the Israeli government to alter the path of the separation barrier onto their Israeli land to prevent destruction of some of the fertile valley farmland.

A group called "Parent's Circle Family Forum" spoke with us, as they speak with school groups and others. Their group consists of Jews and Palestinians who have lost family members to violence. Two speak, one Palestinian, one Jew, to tell of the value of forsaking a spirit of revenge and adopting a spirit of compassion and understanding. Their combined witness, each speaking of their loss because of violence on the other side, is very convincing.

Bethlehem terminal / checkpoint

Finally, there are the strong Jewish voices of those who work for peace. Participating in a vigil in Jerusalem with the "Women in Black", a group of Jewish women who stand against the Occupation, we learned that they had been meeting every Friday for the last fourteen years in a public square near the Prime Minister's house. A couple of them were in their 90's, one had been a museum curator, and still another, more recent attendee, was a university student. While we were with them, a Jewish man who sometimes joins the vigil stopped to chat. He said he had hopes that the Occupation would end soon, because injustice was being found out, and injustice cannot stand forever.

Gila Svirsky, a Jewish woman who came to Israel when she was eighteen and now works for the "Women's Coalition for a Just Peace", said she didn't really know a Palestinian until she was forty. In Haifa, Professor Ilan Pappe told us that he grew up in a typical Jewish home with typical Jewish understandings of his history. He said that it was when, as a history student, he came across original source documents referring to 1948 that he had a new sense of what had occurred. He feels that a true understanding of that event is key to peaceful solutions.

Other Israeli Jews who have worked for justice include Jeff Halper, who directs "The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions", and members of "Rabbis for Human Rights". They have stood in front of bulldozers as they came to demolish Palestinian homes, and have worked for just solutions for Palestinian homeowners.

As our time in Israel/Palestine was drawing to a close, we saw the pre-election enthusiasm of numerous posters, and a campaign truck with loudspeaker passing by with joyful supporters of candidates reminding people to vote. We learned that, after an orderly and democratic election process, Hamas had won a majority. The sense was that they (Hamas) and everyone were surprised. Their hope seemed to be that of working for an open and honest government that would bring good social services to their people. For those who weren't sure about the result, there was a "wait and see, but let's work with them" attitude.

Our group left Israel/Palestine with a request to "tell the story". When we asked where they placed their hope, people said, "In international civil society". And so, the question remains, "Is there anybody out there?

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The author:

Linda Bergh, a United Methodist living in Syracuse, NY, wrote this report originally for the newsletter of the Syracuse Peace Council. It is also being published in the Briefly, the newsletter of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Our thanks go to Linda Bergh and to the two groups that have given us permission to publish her article here.

Photos by Linda Bergh.

A note from the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship: