Seeing the Conflict of Israel with New Eyes

What a month February has been! I have been challenged and lifted up in so many new ways. The event that continues to be processed in the back of my mind is my journey to Israel (February 7-14) and the experiences of culture conflict. Words seem to fail in my effort to describe this experience. "Life changing" just doesn't seem to have the appropiate ring to it. However, that is probably the best term that I can use to describe what the whole geography, traditions, and culture of the Holy Land have done to my thinking.

It was the three of us volunteers who decided to take this journey together. The other two were named Matt (who is up in Scottland) and Amanda (who is in a close by parish in London). Our first exposure to the "tense" atmosphere of Israel was experienced on the plane when flight attendants had to quell a fist fight between Orthodox Jews. Apparently one had been given a kosher meal and the other not. Quite scary indeed.Late that evening, we made it to the apartment of my friend Paul. Paul is a friend from college who works for the Lutheran World Federation; an organization that is really involved in education and healthcare for Palestinians. His home and work are located right on top of the Mount of Olives and overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem. Throughout the week, we became educated on the conflict between the Israeli's and the Palestinians.

Israel as a country is very young- gaining it's independence in 1948. Because of the historical treatment of the Jews, it was agreed (by the UN) that this new nation would be Jewish in origin. This was not a large change as Jews have inhabitated the land for centuries. With the fall of the Roman Empire, people of Arab and Islamic descent also settled in Jerusalem and in the areas of Palestine causing fuel for the crusades in the 13th and 14th centuries. This element also became the major problem of the present day Israel: How do you settle a land that has two peoples"claiming" it? Immediatley, the new Israeli government started to push it's "pro Jewish" policies upon the area which resulted in more conflicts. Today, having control of the entire city of Jerusalem and most of the Palestinian territory, it still seeks to put preasure on the Palestinian people.


Jerusalem is a city with two parts: the Palestinian side and the Israeli side. It is more like two cities, or perhaps a city that is trying to dominate it's other part. There are two taxi systems, two bus systems, two electric grids, and two peoples. For us living on the Palestinians side, it became very frustrating for transportation as a bus or taxi wouldn't take you somewhere, even though it was a mile away. Palestinian cars are not allowed in any part of Jerusalem. Period. In order to live in Jerusalem as a Palestinian, you have to have a special "city permit" issued by the Israeli government. Without it, you are banned from entering the city. Period. I saw this seperation first hand as I talked with a Palastinian Christian taxi driver in Bethlehem. Even though Bethlehem is only 8 miles away from the Jerusalem city boundary, he has not been to Jerusalem in over 9 years. " I would really love to celebrate Easter at my church in Jerusalem", he said. "Without a city permit, that is impossible."

The seperation continues as Israel continues to build illegal (according to international law) settlements on Palestinian lands, claiming them as bargaining tools for international treaties to aquire more land for Israel. It becomes quite simple: if you already have citizens living in the area, you are more likley to aquire that area for your country in future delegations. Thus, "Israeli Citizen Only" roads connect the Jerusalem city propper to these various settlements in the West Bank. These roads bypass the check-points that Palestinians are required to go through.

Finally, there is the Israeli "Security Wall", a wall that stretches hundreds of miles supposedly seperating Israel from the "Palestinians Terrorists". Even with a city permit, Palestinian people stand in line for hours to get to work everyday because of the Israeli policy of letting only 2 people per minute walk through that gates. Thus, one Palestinian employee who lives in Ramallah told me he has to leave his house by 3.30am to get to work by 8am everday. I can't imagine living a life like that.

For many of us, it is hard to not get angry at a particular people. We either "hate" the Palestinians for sending suicide bombers to blow up things, or we "hate" the Jewish population for illigally settling in Palestinian lands. What I have come away with as the biggest cullprit to the the Israeli/Palestinian problem is not the deep rooted land conflict, but the ease of which our societies generalize a people. Through this, we find ourselves attacking and seeing the "people" as the problem, not the greed and politics.

In our last day of the trip, Paul invited us to join him in an interview process where we drove up into Palestinian villages and talked with graduates of the Lutheran World Federation Vocational Training Center. These were people who had persevered and had graduated to start a vocation in auto mechanics, carpentry, or design. One of the young mechanics, who works on Israeli vehicles constantly and is used to seeing Israelis coming to his village summed it all up by saying, "We live along side each other in peace every day. Why do we need to let our greedy leaders tell us otherwise?" That is the question I now continue to ask.

A Visit with the Archbishop of York

Last week I recieved an email stating that I was nominated by the staff at Time for God to accompany them at a meeting with the John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. After making sure the meeting would work into my own schedule, I gladly accepted the invitation. I didn't really know what to expect.





Thus, I boarded a train and traveled two hours up to the beautiful city York. The city still contains many medieval features like the wall that still surrounds much of the old city and tiny cobblestone streets that you can barley fit a car through. It all seemed amazing, that is, until I stepped off the train and nearly got blown off my feet! You see, Janurary and February for England is the time when winter Gales are at their finest. The day that I spent in York was a shining example of this. Record winds up to 80 mph were reported on the coast of the Irish Sea and more than a dozen ships were affected- some being blown against their will streight into the high cliffs and rocks. This system was continuing it's way southward and was hitting the city of York just around the time we were meeting with the Archbishop. It seems sometimes that not even the hand of God can stop hearty North Country people from going about their daily lives, let alone a measley storm with hurricane winds. Thus, my train remarkably got into the station relativley on time and more important- was only five minutes late going back to London. Even with the horizontal rain outside, people still came into the pub where we ate lunch before the big meeting and were quite cheerful and almost oblivious to the conditions around them. An amazing thing indeed.





The purpose of our meeting with the Archbishop was that of begining a relationship. Jon Sentamu recently agreed to be a patron of the organization Time for God and we were there to describe what the organization was all about and how he could help us. Archbishop Sentamu is an inspirational character who originally comes from Uganda. His passion for political stability on the African continent rings throughout his whole being and is best exampled by his refusal to wear a preist collar until there is peace within the currently politcal unstable country of Zimbabwe.





He was extremely down to earth and welcomed us all with a wonderful spirit to the Archbishop's Palace in York. What was most intriguing about his character and presence was his "no fluff" tone of speach. Every word he said meant somthing and it turned out that he spoke relativley little throughout the entire meeting. It inspired me to see how such a well known leader could talk so little. After the meeting, Claire (the other volunteer who was invited to come and who ironically was also from Uganda) and I braved the conditions and made it to York Minster before our trains departed. After the noise and cold weather outside, it was nice again to come into a space of such peace and tranquility. I now am back in London again inspired by the Archbishop to be ever more of a listener. I think it is somthing all of us could learn.

From left to right: John (Chair of the Time for God Board of Trustees), Archbishop of York John Sentamu, me, Claire (another Time for God Volunteer), David (CEO of Time for God).