I see hope for the future
posted by a member of the youth group
So, we went to Bethlehem. Contrary to the song it is not so little or peaceful anymore. Our group being Americans entered without hassle, and we began our day at the Sumud Story House, an organization geared towards empowering women and peaceful demonstrations. After gaining perspective on the situation facing the Palestinians trapped in by the wall, we walked along the wall...
Obviously since I am only seventeen I do not know what is was like when the Berlin Wall came down, but when the Bethlehem wall comes down I think I may come to know the feeling. Walking along the wall our group was exposed to the graffiti of an angry community and world, that anger geared towards not only Israel, but also the U.S. Phrases like "Made in America" were repeated along the bottom while the iconic quote "Ich bin ein Berliner" was written in ten foot letters across the middle.
However, the whole length of the wall was adorned with the messages of hope from a people and a world. Inside the wall, the reasons for hope became more evident even as the situation seemed to become more bleak. In the Aida refugee camp, for example, there is an organization that works to help the community through art, dance and theater while simultaneously dealing with no water for twenty days.
Water tanks on top of all the homes can attest to the day to day struggles facing the Palestinians as they save the water when it is available so they have it when it is not. That evening we were divided into small groups in order to stay with Palestinian families. In the home I stayed in I was able to friend the son on Facebook, eat delicious food, and delight in sharing information on the basic topics of conversation: where do you live? do you have siblings? and of course, do you like the food, which is not really a question because it was delicious...
The grittier bits of conversation were often stumbled upon; the mother would remind us that she missed her children no longer living in Palestine, the son would show us his Israeli-issued permit, a tour of the garden resulted in a viewing of the holes left in the side of the house from shelling during the Second Intifada, and the father would tell us that the bottom floor of the house used to be a shelter but that now "there is no shelter from the weapons they have."
The next morning after the hugs of goodbye we departed from Bethlehem but not before going through a checkpoint. When we got off the bus at the checkpoint to leave the city it was obvious we were a group of tourists, so the only other people there, a family of Palestinian Muslims, told us to follow them; they would help us through. Inside the building we encountered turnstiles controlled by an unseen person that would stop and go whenever s/he wanted them to. The family who helped us was separated, and the wife who was on our side simply repeated, "It is bad."
Once through the first turnstile, we were shooed through by a soldier because once again we are American; we went through a couple more turnstiles, and a soldier checked out our passports and everything was good, sort of. If the whole experience had not been spent watching the family who had helped us get torn apart and yelled at things would have been better, but for me, I was uncomfortable and nervous, afraid that some detail of my appearance would raise an alarm and I would be yelled at just like the nice people we had just met.
This experience has been life changing, and although at this point total peace seems like a long way off, I am extremely optimistic for the future. Whether it was hearing a Palestinian woman quote to me that "85% of Israelis want peace," learning about a camp that teaches Jewish, Muslim, and Christian children about each other or realizing that the people on both sides are just that-- people, I see hope for the future.
Justice, compassion and fairness are lasting legacies of the Biblical narrative. But government actions, even in vibrant democracies like Israel, do not always reflect the highest and best values of their people or their history. The politics of Israel and Palestine are complex. There is much distrust on both sides built up over decades. Each side has its own perspective on how we got to where we are today and those perspectives are as different as night is from day. The wall has come to represent this lack of understanding. But on our trip we continually heard about the many good people on both sides of the divide who are working very hard for a future of peace and justice. The people we talked to remain very hopeful for the future despite obvious obstacles on the ground. And for that reason I am hopeful too.