April 2004 #2

From the Far Side

Dear Friends and Prayer Partners,

Greetings in Jesus’ name from the Middle East! I do pray that this finds all well and blessed.

Since our acceptance by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to be mission co-workers, I have taken very seriously the writing of monthly newsletters to convey our experiences in ministry. As all know, the title of our newsletters has always been “From The Far Side.” The reasoning behind this is obviously connected to the cartoon depictions of Gary Larson. Happenings in the Middle East, as bizarre as it may sound, so often represent a type of reality that is just pure non-sense, hence the title of our newsletters. However, upon a recent trip to Palestine, I started feeling that “From The Far Side” just simply wasn’t enough of a title. What is happening in Palestine can only be related as “From The Dark Side.” Let me give some examples of what I mean.

On April 19th and 20th, I was visiting some of our partner organizations in Bethlehem with a delegation from Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. Upon leaving the military checkpoint on the outskirts of Our Savior’s birth place, we hired a Palestinian on the other side of the checkpoint to take us into Jerusalem. He drives his own somewhat crippled car because he doesn’t have a different or better means of making money to feed his family. (I know him and have ridden with him before.) He related to us what he has witnessed at the checkpoint.

That next morning, a young girl of eight or nine was trying to leave the checkpoint to go to school in the neighboring village. (This was the morning after the assassination of Abdel Rantisi, the appointed leader of Hamas, so the Israelis were being particularly cruel with the knowledge that they can do anything they want and get away with it, especially after George Bush and Ariel Sharon’s recent meeting.) The young teenage soldiers decided that this little girl would not be allowed out that morning to school. When she started to protest that she wanted to get through, they began hitting her. Her brother, who was guessed to be about fifteen, was standing behind her in line to get through, saw this and attempted to come to her aid. When he ran up to the soldiers in protest, they began slapping and punching him. They then threw the boy into the back of a military van and took him away. The young girl was hit a few more times before running back to her home on the Bethlehem side of the checkpoint.

This has become the way of life for Palestinians. The Israelis are also now enforcing a law that forbids any person living on the Israel side of the Green Line to buy goods of any kind from the Occupied Territories. If any person is caught buying goods—fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, anything—they will be fined 20,000 shekels, that’s about $4200. Imagine being fined for doing your shopping? Another law that is suddenly creating havoc is the enforcement of the television tax. Many Palestinians living in Jerusalem are being pulled over by police and asked for their I.D. cards. Once their name is put into their computer, it will be seen if their television tax has been paid. Most people have not been aware of this tax until the beginning of this year. If the tax has not been paid, the police take the keys to that person’s car and tell them that they will get their car back after they pay the tax. The tax is averaging $1200 per household.

Another law that was just issued by the Israelis forbids any Israeli citizen or resident of Jerusalem to marry from the Occupied Territories. If someone defies this law, they will automatically lose all of their rights and be forced to live in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Imagine losing all of your human and citizenship rights based on who you fall in love with? These rights affect worker rights, state health insurance, educational rights, and so on.

Now, upon reading this, I’m sure that anyone would automatically feel disgust and even pity for the Palestinians. However, many new Israeli policies are also affecting foreigners living and working in the “Holy Land” as well. Since the beginning of 2004, Israel has kicked-out 29 Christian workers. Border crossing and interrogations at the sites of entry have become an exercise in frustration. Coming into the country I have now been receiving a ten-day visa, whereas I had always received three months. This is what I receive after I tell them that I am a Christian worker. I even had one border interrogator ask me why we don’t give our money to poor Jews instead of Palestinians who just want to kill Jews. I can honestly say that I have never seen in all of my 14 years in the Middle East such a bad situation.

Palestinians and all Arabs alike constantly ask me how the Bush Administration can be so one-sided in its approaches and policies. Unfortunately, I can’t give them an answer and simply have to concur with their disgust. Ariel Sharon and George Bush’s latest meeting has just been another example of this. The bottom line with the new policy of accepting “facts on the ground” not only denies Palestinians their rights according to the Geneva Convention and every international law, but demonstrates to the world that the United States has no intention of considering or respecting such “trivial” matters as democracy and human rights. Many people ask me, “Why doesn’t the United States make Israel hold up all of the UN resolutions that it refuses to accept? If it was any other country, they would be labeled terrorists.” Now there’s one to chew on.

In Christ’s Service,

Chris, Hala, Nadiim & Adeeb

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, pp. 318, 321, 323