Working for Peace In Israel and Palestine
From the Neighbors Times, Spring/Summer Edition...
By Mary Ann Weston
Palestinians and Israelis working for a just peace struggle against formidable odds. These workers, unknown to most Americans, were the focus of my November trip to the region with a delegation co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and Interfaith Peace-Builders.
Jimmy Carter called the situation of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem apartheid. He was right.
Many Palestinians cannot go to work or school, visit family or health care facilities, or tend their fields and olive groves without running into some of the 522 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks or the formidable Wall, the “separation barrier.” The Wall–solid concrete and 25-feet high in places—is supposed to protect Israelis from suicide bombers. But instead of running along the “green line” drawn to separate Israel from the Palestinian territories in 1948, it snakes deep into the West Bank, annexing about 10 percent of it to Israel.
Also few Palestinians can drive on the main roads. These are reserved for Jewish settlers. Palestinian houses are often in danger of demolition by Israeli authorities.
But many Israelis and Palestinians refuse to accept occupation and resist creatively and nonviolently. Some examples I saw:
• The Nassar family, facing confiscation of their farm near Bethlehem by Israeli settlers, fights for their land in court while bringing international visitors and Palestinian children to the farm for planting, harvesting and summer camps.
• The Palestine Fair Trade Association, a cooperative that helps farmers market their olive oil overseas in return for just compensation.
• Fida Shafi, a refugee herself who runs the Quaker Palestine Youth Program in Ramallah, teaches non-violence to teens who see little but violence.
• Combatants for Peace, Israeli and Palestinian former fighters who now call one another “brother,” work together for peace.
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