wfn.org | Israelis and Palestinians Begin Fast for Peace

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For Information, Contact:
Fr. Raed Awad Abusahlia
P.O.Box 14152  Jerusalem  91141
Tel.  (972 2) 628.2323 / 627.2280
Fax  (972 2) 627.1652
Personal E-mail: nonviolence@writeme.com
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"Nonviolence Homepage": http://go.to/nonviolence

JERUSALEM, 27 March 2002--A joint Israeli-Palestinian "Fast for Peace" began 
quietly near theBethlehem-Jerusalem checkpoint on Monday, March 25.  

     Israeli Linda Livni has said she will fast until key sections of the 
Mitchell and Tenet plans, which call for an end to violence and a freeze on 
settlement expansion, are implemented.  Palestinians have joined her in this 
call.

     Two American members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Frey, Kathy 
Kern, and CPT friend Bret Davis, helped set-up two tents adjacent to Tantur 
Ecumenical Institute which straddles the Green Line, the border between 
Israel proper and the West Bank.  

     Kern will join Livni in the tents, fasting throughout Holy Week and 
breaking her fast on Easter.  After Easter CPTers will continue to support 
the on-going fast.

     The tent overlooks the lush valley, sculpted with rock terraces on which 
olive
trees grow, that separates Palestinian Beit Jala from the Israeli Jerusalem
settlement of Gilo.  In the past this valley has been the site of many
gun-battles when Palestinian militants have shot at Gilo from Beit Jala and
the Israeli military has responded, often with tank fire.

     Set amidst the spring's bright red poppies, one Palestinian supporter 
explained, "We call these flowers the 'martyrs' because of their blood red 
color, and because there are so many of them and they live for so short a
time."  

     With mounting fatalities on both sides, organizers explain, "We
are dying for peace."

     Straddling the Green Line but located near the Bethlehem checkpoint,  a
notorious Israeli control point that regulates Palestinian movement, the
tent site is designed to both acknowledge the oppression of the occupation
while at the same time be a welcoming place for both Israelis and West Bank
Palestinians to meet and encounter a shared humanity and woundedness.

-end-