The Border Wall, the Iron Wall:

I am in Hebron, located in the Judean Hills south of Jerusalem, in Israel, the Holy Land, and thus this place is way in the other side of the world from my home town, Brownsville, TX, many things here are similar to the things we experience in our hometown.
The struggles of the people here are the same as the struggles of our people in the Valley. As people of color, Palestinians have to put up with daily harassment from the IDF (Israel Defense Force). Just as our brothers and sister of color coming from México and other parts of the world that are harassed by CBP (Customs and Border Patrol).
Here our Palestinian friends are divided by the iron wall, in the name of security! Sounds familiar! There is no freedom of movement, and families get separated because of this "Iron Wall" as its call by locals. I was traveling this morning from Hebron to Jerusalem, to attend mass service, and have to go to Gila Checkpoint, We waited for almost an hour and a half to go thru it, as Palestinians go about their daily life, they have learned to endure the daily harassment in a non-violent way, and it impresses me their capacity to resist to this illegal occupation. Of course, in the valley, we don't have an illegal occupation, GOD forbid, right! but aren't we experiencing the same ethnic cleansing that Palestinian do?
Here if you are a Muslim, Arab, or Palestinian, you are probably a terrorist, whether you are 4 years old or twenty. Chances are you are set to hurt the Jewish community. The same concept North American Anglos have of Hispanics and Latinos and other people of color. If you are not white, you become automatically, a threat to the nation, and thus you must be remove immediately. Operation End Game, a plan implemented in 2003 by Home Land security to "remove" and eventually deport all "illegal aliens" and possible terrorists, is the same game the Israel government play to get all Palestinians out of the county, by any means! and so they build the wall, they separate families, they harassed the people in the worst possible ways anyone can even imagine to remove all these "illegal aliens" because according the state of Israel, Palestine in not a state, and therefore as a Palestinian you have no citizenship, and thus you must be "remove" from the county.
So people in this side of the wall, suffer, because they cannot see their close relatives, they cannot travel to their holy sites, and they cannot bury their death. Just as many of my friends and relatives in Brownsville and other parts of the valley suffer. Every minute I spend here reminds me of our own struggles, and the same suffering our people, my people experience in our beloved valley. And so, one must wonder, how important is to stay connected? we are miles and miles away, but what happens here, and there, there and here, is the same yes, I will say it, the same racism, from those who look at us as terrorist, as "illegal aliens" as objects that need to be removed. The leaders of our nations build walls of violence against our people. Walls of political corruption and lack of will, of ignorance, mistrust walls that create fear of the “others”.

The iron wall here, as the border wall there, is a symbol that breaks our communities into pieces. These barriers make it impossible to have normal lives, make it impossible to maintained normal family and human relations. Walls are a symbol of shame to our nations.

My only hope, is that rooted in my Christian faith, I continue and choose to believe that the gospel will break down the diving walls of hostility among us all.

My own inner FronTra

OK,

It has taking me all this time to sit and write about my last trip to Israel/Palestine. I still have not learned not to let these kinds of trips affect me in the most profound ways…Then, other things got in the way. First, I came back to a new job, and so it’s being crazy, just trying to learn and absorb new things. Then, La LUCHA, that never ends, so uno siempre está busy!

But más que nada, its being the hard reality of knowing, things in the Middle East are getting worst. My Palestinian friends continue to live in a place donde el acoso es constant, the harassment they have to experience on a daily basis, it’s just way too much for me to assimilate.

Aquí viviendo en la frontera, we complain of many things, we have our own luchas, and we try to engage in the struggle for social justice. But; y los demás qué? Nos olvidamos,(or we just don’t know it yet) that now, más que nunca, with globalization we are so inter-related with the rest of the world. Y lo que pasa on the other side of the world, affect us here, and what happens here, les afecta allá …

In between my job as a delegation leader, I had time para visitar compas, dear friends that I know and met since the very first time I went to the holy land. Y parece que things are apparently getting better, I got to Jerusalem, y veo, miles de turistas, and think, this has change a lot since la ultima vez that I was here, business looks good, I walk the vía crucis, que me pone la piel chinita, the emotions of walking the same vía dolorosa that Jesus did is just demasiado, too much to experience, and this time, remembering my own pain, because of las ultimas cosas que han pasado en mi vida, I feel so much closer to my own identity as a spiritual being, es curioso, but somehow the pain is keeping my senses more alert than ever. I felt “different” not sure why, the pain of the last months has taken so much of my energy, its being very difficult, yet al mismo tiempo, I feel more empower, and in charge of my life. There is a level of grow happening en mi interior, el conocimiento, all of a sudden is filling my soul, and I am experiencing new things, not sure what that means, pero es importante, it’s an important part of my healing process. And being in that part of the world at this moment in my life was important, I think God me andaba queriendo decir algo, but I was so busy in my own world, entregada en una relación for 25years that was a thing of beauty, pero entregada for long ten years a una persona que no era mi destino, to someone that didn’t treated me with respect, and who though I was not worthy of his love. I will always love him, pero estoy entendiendo, that that is not enough, the levels of commitment were not the same, and this makes me realized that I have being living in my own frontera, not only physically, divided by a line between my two homes, but also divided in spirit, and when I sat in front of my dear Palestinian friends, Saddiyya and Jamal, Atta and Roddina, entiendo that relationships are both ways, is commitment, is ENTREGA incondicional... Perhaps that is why my friends are able to tolerate all the injustices and the harassment they live in, porque se tienen one another, and I think could it be that this is the formula for peace; how can one preach about justice and peace and be the defender of human rights, when in your more intimate relations, you don’t respect one another, perhaps that is why we live en el mundo que vivimos, porque we say one thing but we do the opposite. If the leaders of our nations will commit to each other, unconditionally, with respect, with no privileges, maybe they could find ways for world peace, será que esta es la fórmula? I don’t know, maybe no one knows, but for now, I continue to live In my own frontera, with a broken spirit, but not defeated, sadden by la traición, el rechazo y la humillación, but walking with my head up, with dignity, the man that I love was not able to valorar la entrega; esa que solo we woman know how to do, never the less, I continue to pray for healing both ways, he will always be in my heart, but I know we are now going separate ways, and with pain, I accept it, and send blessings his way each and every day.

I wish one day, our brothers and sisters from Israel and Palestine, could do the same, they have lived in peace before, and people still remember that, if only they can reach out to one another, I think some good things can happen.

International Peace Day is coming up soon, so let’s promote love, understanding, tolerance, solidarity and respect. These things little by little will bring some peace, at least inner peace, and that is a good start, I think…

Meeting with Farhan's Family...

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Dianne, Kathy and myself, went to Beit Ummar, we visited with the mayor’s wife. It was a special visit, as Farhan A’lqam, the Mayor of Beit Ummar was detain two months ago, b/c he is with Hamas, (Islamic Resistance Movement) which many considered is a radical Islamic militant/fundamentalist organization. However, in the city of Beit Ummar, (located in the northern part of the Hebron district, between Bethlehem and the Hebron municipality), and area covered by grape vines; the Mayor, is considered by the citizens of the town, as an honest and caring man, who will do anything for his people and the city of Beit Ummar. Many know of his relationship with Hamas, but people do not put much attention to this fact, because he has always demonstrated that he is a man of honor, and he will protect his people as much as possible. In an encounter with Israeli soldiers, who were questioning Farhan and his son, The Mayor told CPT members, that he does not like to lie, he is Hamas, but that one day, his son, not understanding the soldier who was speaking in Hebrew, asked his father, what the soldier was saying (the mayor speaks Hebrew), Farhan told his son, that the soldier was upset, but that things were ok. In reality, the soldier, was cursing both of them, but the mayor, stated to CPT members, that he did not want his son to hate soldiers or any Israeli people.

Two weeks ago, he received a release from the court, but a “witness” testified that Farhan is hiding something, and so they disregarded the order, and will stay in prison for 3 more months.

Visiting with Farhan’s wife and children, talking, and drinking tea, neighbors come in to sit with us, and tell us stories about the Farhan, its easy to see, that this man has gain the respect of the citizens of Beit Ummar, and hearing all these people speaking so highly of the Mayor, I wonder, how much distorted the news get by the time they get to us. When news from the East, reach the West, we picture Hamas, as the bad guys, but is like everything, there are good and bad people, here, there, and everywhere. There are good people in the bad side, and there are bad people in the good side, it all depends our own perspective, I guess… Salaam

Social Repression in Palestine

Wednesday, July 25^th,

This afternoon, I went with Lorin, to the Ibrahim Temple, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in the ancient city of Hebron, the second holiest city for Jews after Jerusalem.

We went thru the gate, and notice a Palestinian man detained, so we decided to wait and offered some accompaniment, (as that is one thing CPT does-and this happened on a daily basis unfortunately, Palestinians here get harassed all the time). Anyways, we were planning on doing that, so we stand, as usual, close to the check point, and all of a sudden, this soldier girl comes and tell us in a very rude and unfriendly way: “you must go, you can not be here.” We questioned her, but she was not listening to us, she kept on saying, you are not allowed here, and don’t come back again, if you want to come to here, go around, (This is a check point, going both ways) but she was not going to allowed us to go back the same way. So, Lorin, told her, ok, we will be walking for 15 minuets, but we’ll come back. So we went to the other check points, and did a circle, and ended up at the same check point, the man, that we saw, was not there anymore, so that was a relief, but another two men were being questioned, so we stand in the same place. The soldier girl, came again and screaming told us: “I said you can not be here” GO, GO!”, Lorin ask her, can you showed me something that says we can not be here, but speaking to us in perfect English, when we will ask her something, she will say: “I don’t understand English”, very funny! Then I told her we wanted to speak to her commander, and she said “ I am the commander, you don’t speak, you GO, GO!” we try to ask more questions, but she will say “I don’t want to speak to you, you GO, GO, GO” or I will handcuff you, someone caller her, and she left us alone for a few minutes, but she got back to us, this time, pushing me twice. I told her not to pushed me, for I was not doing anything wrong, and she will only say: “GO, GO”, then, she push Lorin a bit too, and told him: “ If a Palestinian comes right now with a gun and shoots me, it will be your fault, because you are distracting me.” I told her, you don’t have to be distracted with us, you go do your job, we are fine here, we just want to make sure to be available in case people need of help. She left, and never came back, apparently she gave up on us!. I hear from other team members, she is very rude and aggressive soldier, and is always like that with her. So, Lorin and I stay there, and then, all of a sudden, they send a teenager, maybe 17 or 18, and a little girl, I will say no older than 7y/o, they have them stand right in the middle of the street, (very unusual, as most of the time, they send Palestinians to stand against the wall, right after the check point. The youngest girl, will look back at the checkpoint, and will start crying and biting on her nails, and will hug the teenager, telling her something. I walk up to them, and ask them what was going on? Unfortunately, they did not speak a single word in English. So we just stand there, hoping to understand what was going on. The girls were there for like about 20 minutes, the youngest, crying and biting on her nails. All of a Sudden, two women come thru the gate, and the little girl runs, and hugs one of them. We discovered, all this time, she was detain, but we were unable to see her, turns our, this lady was the mother of the little girl. We don't know why she was being questioned, but the truth is IDF needs no reason for harassing Palestinians. Later on, we met another soldier, nice guy, had a nice conversation with him, and told us "whenever you pass thru here, stop and say hi". Shalom!

Meeting with Mordechai Vanunu

In the picture, I am with Mordechai Vanunu, the former technician at Israel's nuclear plant in Dimona, known to many as the Isreal's nuclear whistle blower
Meeting with him was such an honor. Vanuno, from a big Jewish family that emigrated to Israel from Morocco in 1963. In the late 80's (can't recall the exact yr-86/87) feeling committed to do the right thing, Vanuno reveled to the people of Israel and to the rest of the world about the nuclear program Israel had in place. The London Sunday Times, learned about Vanuno's story and flew him to England, where he provided the newspaper with information based in facts. The London Sunday Times appointed specialists to verify the information, and after confirming, Vanuno's information, his story was published and the entire world learned that Israel had become a major nuclear weapon power. Days before the story was published in the Sunday Times, he was trick by a female friend of his, an Israeli secret agent and was apprehended and returned to Israel where he was charged with espionage and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Vanuno, told us that the first 10-12 years, he was in solitary confinement in a very small tiny cell. In April 2004, Vanuno was released from jail, but not set free, as he was force to be in constant surveillance and unable to leave the country. Vanuno found sanctuary at St. George's Cathedral, home of the Bishop of Jerusalem. Vanuno was forbidden to speak to media or foreigners, keeping him as a "virtual" prisoner. Believing that this restrictions against him, is a clear violation of his human rights, he gives interviews to newspapers and groups like CPT.
At the end of our visit, some one in our group asked him if he regretted his decision, he stated: "I did the necessary thing" and even if I had to do it all over again, no doubt I will do it again.

Right after the 9/11, things all over the world change, and our view of the Muslim world became a narrow window, a window that was allowing us to see only the terrorist acts the "Muslims" were perpetrating against us. It became clear who the terrorist were...
We saw images in the news, where Muslims were celebrating the pain and chaos that their "Jihad" has caused our people. It was scary, I remember watching live in the news the first crash of the plane that turned into flames and melted down the Twin Towers, it was a hard thing to watch, but at that time, It was impossible to believe, it was for sure, a bad joke While I was hearing as an echo the news, a second plane is seen on the screen, and the chaos grew.
I remember the disbelief of the hole thing, everyone was calling everyone, and for days all we talk and hear was the thousands of people who died, images of the buildings burned, it just looked like a movie. It was a hard thing to digest, and for weeks I remember being sadden by all this.
As I was in my own process of looking into doing something more meaningful in my life, I joined a delegation with the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) the year after 9/11.
It was quite an experience as I was still apprehensive about the Muslims, I was excited about the opportunity to go to the Holy Land, and at the same time I was scared as one can be.
I was going to the Arab world, where Muslim presence is very significant. What if they bomb our plane, or maybe kill us while doing the delegation!
Before I continue, lets review a little time table about Israel/Palestine

• The State of Israel was established in 1948
• At that time 5 Arab armies, in support of the Palestinians attacked the new state, Palestine was defeated and Israel gain more territory
• As a result of this war almost 8000,000 Palestinians became refugees in their own land.
• In 1964 the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLO) was formed and the Palestinian got some governing authority.
• In 1967 Jewish and Arabs engaged into another war that lasted 6 days. With this war Israel gained control over Gaza and West Bank.
• In December of 1987, the first "Intifada"(up-rising) took place. The uprising was started as a false rumor from a misunderstanding outbreak that was used as a pretext and soon this "Intifada" became a well organized rebellion manipulated by the PLO.
• In September of 2000, the second "Intifada" took place after a group of Israeli police stop some Palestinians coming back from work and hold them for no reason at all, then the soldiers beat the Palestinians to death.
  

Then came the attacks of 9/11, and in September of 2002, I made my first trip to Israel/Palestine. What I witness there, was a totally different story.
To be Con't...