Midterm Orientation Week, June 3-7, 2013
From the midterm orientation week, I return with renewed
energy. I return to continue the
struggle for JUST peace. I have new
insights from the Israeli people I met some who are going counter to the
prevailing culture to work for justice.
I pondered the worldviews of the settler that talked with us,
Bob Lang. He invited us into his
home. He is proud of his settlement community. His home was beautiful, lovely flowers and
yards in the community. He explained
that the homes sell for $250,000 and up.
Pride of home, family, and community were evident, unacknowledged was the
fact that all was illegal under international law.
It was hard for me to listen to Israelis talk about their
prosperity. They have only a five
percent unemployment rate. In the United
States, our unemployment rate is much higher.
Our economy is declining. I am
wondering why my country sends five billion dollars yearly into Israel’s prosperous
economy, while many in our economy are struggling and are having our government’s
help taken from their social programs because of a supposed lack of funds.
I am also reflecting on the organizations in the United
States that are collecting tax free funds to fund activities that are illegal under
international law and would be crimes if they were done in the United
States. Some of these are Israeli
organizations and some are U.S. churches.
Perhaps if this tax money went to the United States treasury,
funds would be available for our social programs.
For the first time I went to a worship service in a synagogue. The person who gave the update was
progressive in her thinking, she told us this synagogue is to the “left” of all
other congregations in Jerusalem. After
the service, we, in groups of two, went to homes for a Shabbat Dinner.
Depending on which side of the street the families lived, we
were having dinner in a settlement or else in the Israeli part of
Jerusalem.
It was refreshing to hear, in my host’s home, how the
members of the family and the others who joined in the dinner are working for
peace. They seemed clearly aware of the
plight of the Palestinians and were doing actions to change the status quo.
Others did not have such progressive families with which to
interact.
In all this, my personal faith grows. It grows because people are praying form me and the situation here in Palestine. In addition, I am encouraged as I reread the Kairos Palestine document.
“In the absence of all hope, we cry out our
cry of hope. We believe in God, good and
just. We believe that God’s goodness
will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that persists in our
land. We will see here ‘a new land’ and ‘a
new human being,’ capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or
her brothers and sisters.
