wfn.org | United Methodist finds despair, hope in Bethlehem

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

June 5, 2003	   News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington	10-21-71BPI{318}

NOTE:  Photographs are available with this report.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - A United Methodist returning from three months in the
Middle East is troubled by Israel's construction of a wall to separate its
citizens from the Palestinians, but he also came away with hope.

Aaron Chan, 27, a member of Oakland (Calif.) United Methodist Church, spent
March through May in Palestine, primarily in Bethlehem, as part of an
ecumenical accompaniment group.

He was one of four U.S. participants in a group of 12 people who were part of
the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, an initiative
of the World Council of Churches. The other eight in his group were from
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland. Participants monitor human rights,
and they support local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace
activists with a nonviolent presence and advocacy.

"In Bethlehem, you have examples of many of the things that are plaguing the
people of Palestine because of the occupation," Chan said. He cited the wall
being built to protect the Israelis, and Israeli settlements' being enlarged
or created.

"Assassinations happen all over the place but happened a few times in the
Bethlehem area," he added. On one of those occasions a 10-year-old Christian
girl was killed in an assassination attempt late in March.

"Previously there were a lot of curfews but not recently while I was there."
Still, he added, the lack of freedom of movement is extreme. The people of
the area are "living in open-air prisons."

The lack of movement adversely affects the economy, health care and school
attendance, Chan learned.

He found the checkpoints that restrict movement to be inconsistently
obstructive. He spoke of being allowed to pass one point, then being held at
the next for two hours only to be denied entry. Several miles and a few hours
later, he and his companions were admitted at a different checkpoint without
the guards even looking at their passports.  

The wall being built by Israel is a more permanent part of that disruption.
He wrote in an online journal of a visit to Jayous: "In Jayous, where two
EA's (ecumenical accompaniers) are placed to report what's happening and
where I stayed, around 75 percent of the town's land will be taken away by
this wall. 

"Since nobody has been able to work since the Intifada due to all the
closures and curfews, a majority of the people are now completely dependent
on their land for survival. The question is will they still be able to own
that land and will they have access to it when the wall is finished. 

"Imagine having to pay a tax to get to the other side of the wall, taking 3
hours more than it would normally take, just so you can work on your own
land. That very well may be the situation when the wall is complete."

Water rights represent an issue in many parts of the country, as the wall and
its nearby restricted space separate the wells from the homes or farms they
have traditionally served or simply take those wells away, he explained..

The wall is affecting Bethlehem also. Rachel's Tomb is one of the areas being
annexed to the city. Once surrounded by a thriving community, the shops that
served tourists and others in the area are gone, Chan said. The only people
who go there now are the Israelis who come under armed guard, "say their
prayers and leave."

Despite the problems, Chan was able to work with the International Center of
Bethlehem and in children's centers in two of the refugee camps.

"For me, what was significant about working in Bethlehem was the positive
stories because I've been for years hearing all these reports from
international groups and peace groups about all the negative things
happening," he said. While an ecumenical accompanier, he saw people working
through the nongovernmental organizations to build or rebuild the cultural
and civil society in Bethlehem.

In the international center, a wellness center is being built for
rehabilitation, Chan said. The international center also has a model school
and a music conservatory. It hosts lectures, concerts, and art exhibits by
local artists.

"Part of this is all about building the cultural and civil society," Chan
said. "For me, it was also just about having a break from thinking about the
occupation, from working on the occupation or fighting against it - to
express the anger and pain in different ways through art and through music."

While at the international center, Chan enjoyed playing his guitar with
others. Whoever was available would join in impromptu sessions that were
mainly "oldies," jazz, Latin and American folk music - familiar tunes from
earlier decades. The grand opening of the center is set for September.
Finland is providing most of the funds for the current expansion of the
center, which is partially housed in a Lutheran church.

Chan worked with people from many countries at the center, as well as United
Methodist missionaries Sandra Olewine and Bob May. He also came into contact
with the Rev. Alex Awad, who teaches at Bethlehem Bible College, and his
wife, Brenda, who are United Methodists.

He became an accompanier, he said, because he was interested in "following
the ways of Jesus in the encounter of the stranger and the chance to love the
stranger." He added that he has come to realize that the program also affords
Palestinians a chance "to love the other, to love the stranger because they
are very isolated in these open-air prisons and towns that they live in."

Chan, who has completed work for a master of divinity degree at the Pacific
School of Religion, said he can see how hatred between Muslims and Jews in
the area continues to build up because they are very isolated from each
other. Stereotypes build up too, he added.

"Coming in as an American Christian to break those barriers of what it means
to be an American Christian - especially during the war in Iraq when many of
them were very angry about what American Christians are doing and this is
their perception about what Christians are - to break those barriers down
through the encounter" was meaningful, he said.
 
Financial support for his trip was provided by the California-Nevada Annual
(regional) Conference, individual churches in the conference and a Peace with
Justice grant from the denomination's Board of Church and Society. Such
grants are created from the donations of church members to the annual Peace
with Justice Sunday special offering, which will be June 15.

Peaceful Ends through Peaceful Means is the U.S. coordinator for the
accompaniment program. It handles the application, selection, orientation and
debriefing of U.S. participants. Each participant must raise $1,700 a month
to cover all expenses for the three-month stay except transportation to the
country and insurance. Details about the program, along with photos and
journal entries from Chan and the other U.S. accompaniers, are available at
www.pepm.org. 

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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