All quiet on the West Bank
Indeed, too quiet on the West Bank! I went on a three-week field study trip to Israel this summer, and it was quite an eye-opener. We (nearly 40 theological students from different denominations) stayed at the Tantur Institute, which overlooked the Bethlehem checkpoint in the security wall.In case you've got no idea what the "security wall" is, it's a wall, or sometimes a fence, that the Israelis built around the whole of the Palestinian West Bank in 2003, ostensibly to prevent the suicide bombers who were blowing up buses in Jerusalem almost on a weekly basis. The wall is typically 25' high, with searchlights and movement detectors every few yards.
I say "ostensibly" because many see the wall as an attempt to annex Palestinian land and control their territory. In many places the wall strays well over the "green line" (The 1949 Armistice demarcation line) into Palestinian territory, usually without any obvious military or security justification. In a country where good land and water are in short supply, any loss is serious, any gain is a benefit. To put it in perspective, Edwards Air Force base in California covers 301,000 acres, and the land was hardly missed; the whole of the West Bank is less than 5 times the size of the Edwards base.
Now it's important to note that Israel did indeed have a major problem with security, and the wall has indeed helped. If our own countries were faced with regular bombings we too would demand action and be less worried about human rights. But having seen the wall at first hand, I know that the way in which the Israelis maintain security is deliberately detrimental to the dignity and well-being of the West Bank Palestinians.
Bethlehem, a few miles to the south-west of Jerusalem, has a single checkpoint between the west Bank and Israel. Inside the grim building there are several booths where members of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) can check documents, passports and permits. When I was there, only one booth was staffed, despite the queue of hundreds of Palestinians. A young girl of about 19-20 sat there eating a sandwich and drinking coffee, ignoring the queue completely. Feeling brave (or, more probably, being foolish) I rapped on the glass and waved my UK passport. She swung round with anger on her face but, recognising the passport, waved me through and resumed eating. The Palestinians waited resignedly. I saw the same or similar on other occasions, always the queues, always the indifference, the powerlessness.
Queues are not the worst of the problems. Palestinians do not have the right to travel into Israeli territory, and must obtain a permit. These are only granted where the applicant can prove that he or she has a bona fide job, and the employer vouches for them. In almost all cases, the Palestinians have to return before the checkpoint closes in the early evening; failure to do so risks arrest and loss of the permit. Permits have to be renewed every 1,2 or 3 months. Given that thousands of people from Bethlehem used to work in Jerusalem and can no longer do so, there is much unemployment. Restrictions on the movement of fresh food, ostensibly on food safety grounds, mean that Palestinians can no longer sell their produce in Israel, causing further hardship.
It seems to me that the wall, and these other measures, go beyond what is required for security and becomes a means of controlling and humiliating the people of an occupied territory.
The Israelis are enabled to do this because of the powerful political support they receive from evangelical Christians, particularly in the USA, who see the Jews as "God's people" and the Palestinians as "the enemies of God's people", usually assuming that all Palestinians are Muslims. This view is both simplistic and wrong. Around 12% of Palestinians are Christians, mainly Orthodox (Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek) or Roman Catholic, but with some Protestants. The percentage has been much higher, but forced population movements and high birthrates among the Muslim Palestinians has altered the balance. Certainly, the number of Christian Palestinians far outweighs the number of Christians or Messianic believers who are racially Jewish, so where should our loyalties lie? Time and time again the USA has prevented the international community applying political pressure on Israel to address these issues, by wielding its veto in the UN Security Council. What message does this send to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the West Bank? Life is difficult politically and economically; they are a religious minority; and to cap it all, they are disowned by the churches in the west.
If things are quiet on the West Bank, are we to blame?
posted by Neil @ 2:17 PM
4 comments
