In Bethlehem, we met a fellow that I'll call Isaac. In case you didn't know (I didn't), Bethlehem is in the Palestinian controlled area known as the West Bank. Isaac is a 36 year-old father of three who is a Christian Palestinian. Believe it or not, there are quite a few Christian Palestinians. From Isaac and others, I learned a lot about Israel and Palestine that, I am embarassed to admit, I did not know. As Americans, our knowledge of the Middle East in general is not very broad and is limited to what we hear or see on TV, which is not a good true picture of the people, the struggles and the realities that are modern day Israel and Palestine.
I'm not pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian, but consider myself pro-people. That may sound naive or simplistic and, perhaps to some, anti-American, but I would be willing to bet that most of you, knowing the whole story, or at least a little more of it, would find yourself in the same place.
A little history is in order. Israel was founded as a nation state in 1948. The West Bank refers to an area east of Israel on the western bank of the Jordan River which used to belong to Jordan. It is made up predominantly of Arabs known as Palestinians. Israel has "occupied" parts of it since about 1967. It is in this area that Israel has created "settlements" where small communities are built for Israeli citizens. Israel tightly controls entry into Israel from the West Bank. Palestinians cannot enter Israel without a permit. The West Bank is governed by what is now known as the Palestinian National Authority, though it used to be the PLO. The Gaza Strip is an area separate from the West Bank which is also Palestinian. Most of the more recent trouble in the region of which we are familiar was the result of fighting in the Gaza Strip which was the result of elections in 2006 in which Hamas candidates were elected to most offices. As a result, most aid to the region was cut off, which created a real crisis. Fatah, the party which had been in power, tried to regain control of the government, which effectively created a civil war within Palestine for power. Eventually, a coalition government was created.
Hamas has done some bad stuff right? Terrorist acts, etc.? Sure, we've all heard about their suicide bombers. So, why did the Palestinians vote them into office? They must all be terrorists, right? Well, not according to Isaac. The people simply voted for change. Fatah had been very corrupt and got nothing done in the 13 or so years that they had been in power, so the people voted for change. The spin we as Americans got was that the election must have been rigged because why would these people vote in Hamas. Well, the election was legitimate. The people just wanted change. That is something that we can relate to, isn't it?
Yeah, I had picked up a little about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the years, but there is nothing like seeing the people and the places and asking question of people who know it and live it to gain a more complete picture.
But, here is something that I didn't know and was shocked to see and experience: Israel has built a wall separating Israel from the West Bank? A Berlin-type wall. A great deal of it is made of concrete, is over 400 kilometers long and is heavily guarded. It separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. It separates families. It was built in 2003 creating a boundary which wasn't there before. I had no idea. Israel controls all that comes in and out of the West Bank -- even water. When we were there, the water into areas of the West Bank near Bethlehem had been cutoff for over 20 days before being restored. The situation in Palestine is tough. There is a marked difference between the living conditions on one side of the wall versus the other.
How ironic. A nation state created by and for people who had been abused and discriminated against, who had their property wrongfully taken, who had been forced into walled and fenced off ghettos and then concentration camps has pushed people from their land, and corralled them into walled and fenced areas against their will where they have little control over their standard of living and where they are abused and mistreated whenever they do venture out or when the soldiers venture in. The irony would choke a horse.
Now, does that mean that the radical Palestinian extremists who have killed innocent people or who turn to violence as a solution should be celebrated or excused for their conduct? Absolutely not. But, just like we, as Americans, do not want to be judged by the conduct of a few of our own radical extremist who are known internationally or who somehow get elected to prominent positions, we shouldn't judge the vast majority of people there who don't give a flip about politics or power or borders but who just want to live, to love, to work and to raise a family.
Most people in Israel don't care about all the politics and the peace process either. They are enjoying a fairly robust economy and good times. They just want to live, to love, to work and to raise a family.
Neither group is really any different than most of us.
So, be slow to judge. Be quick to question what you see and hear on TV. And, think about the majority of the people in that far off land that want the same things out of life that you do. And wonder what might be standing in the way.
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