wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Palestinian Christian family counters harassment with openness

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>For immediate release - 29/04/2009 8:47:41

PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN FAMILY COUNTERS HARASSMENT WITH OPENNESS

>By Emma Halgren (*)

"A land is nothing without people, and people are nothing
without a land." That's the maxim followed by Palestinian farmer
Daoud Nassar. And when he speaks of the intimate connection
between people and their land, he is talking from hard-won
experience.

Nassar, a Palestinian Christian, lives with his family on 42
hectares (100 acres) of fertile land west of Bethlehem. His
grandfather bought the land in 1916, and the Nassar family has
farmed there ever since, growing olives, almonds, grapes, pears
and figs. 

In 1991, Daoud Nassar learned that the Israeli authorities were
planning to confiscate three quarters of his land – a practice
that is illegal under international law, but nonetheless
widespread on the West Bank.

Since then, the family has been locked in a costly legal battle
with the Israeli government, despite possessing all the land
registration documents and other paperwork necessary to prove
their ownership of the land, Daoud Nassar told a visiting
ecumenical delegation on 10 March. 

The ecumenical delegation – a Living Letters (
http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation/living-letters-visits.html
)team travelling on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
– visited the Nassar farm along with ecumenical organizations,
church leaders and civil society groups in Israel and Palestine
in March.

Amid the legal battles and harassment from surrounding Israeli
settlers, the Nassar family has chosen a path of peace. It has
opened up its land to locals and people from around the world to
participate in educational and peace building activities.

The Nassar farm is part of a parcel of land, including eight
nearby Palestinian farming villages, that Israeli authorities
hope to annex in order to expand the Gush Etzion settlements,
whose population is around 50,000.

Many West Bank families do not have the official documentation
required to prove ownership of their land, let alone the
resources to be able to fight lengthy court battles. 

Since their first court appearance in 1991 to challenge the
confiscation order, the Nassars have surprised the courts not
only with the thoroughness of their documentation, but with their
persistence. Daoud Nassar estimates that the family and
supporters of the project have spent around 145,000 US dollars in
legal and other fees, and attended numerous court hearings – with
the result that, for now, the land is safe.

>"We refuse to be enemies"

The Nassar farm is already surrounded by Israeli settlements,
and like many Palestinians, the Nassars have endured harassment,
threats and attacks from nearby settlers. In one such attack,
Daoud Nassar's mother was threatened with a gun. In another,
settlers uprooted 250 olive trees from the property. 

It is acts like this, Nassar says, that can easily fuel violence
among Palestinians. For many others, the only possible options
seem to be to resign themselves to the situation, or to
emigrate.

The Nassar family decided there should be another option – to
refuse to be enemies. So they established on their land a project
called the Tent of Nations ( http://www.tentofnations.org ). Its
overarching aims are to build bridges between people of different
backgrounds, and between people and land.

"We wanted to move away from a circle of blame, and channel our
frustration into something positive," Daoud Nassar told the
Living Letters team.

The Israeli authorities have forbidden any permanent
infrastructure development on the site, as well as access to the
electricity grid and public water, so the Nassars have
refurbished seven underground caves, painting them, fitting them
out with comfortable rugs and cushions and connecting them to
electricity from a generator so that they could be used for
meetings and other gatherings. There are now plans to install
solar panels and build wind turbines on the farm.

Since the establishment of the project in 2000, the Nassars have
garnered significant local and global support. Children from
Bethlehem are given the opportunity to reconnect with the land
through tree planting and helping with the grape and olive
harvest. 

A women's project equips women from the nearby village of
Nahalin with English, computer and craft skills. Restrictive
permit systems prevent many women from leaving the village for
education or work, so the women's project provides a rare
opportunity for women to pursue an education.

Each year, the Nassars run a tree planting campaign on the farm.
In 2009, the goal is to plant 1000 trees on the land, with the
help of the hundreds of people – including local Palestinians,
Israeli peace activists and international supporters – who visit
the site. 

Volunteers also visit the farm throughout the year to help with
the grape, almond, fig and olive harvests, and to take part in
artistic projects.

>Building bridges

In a show of solidarity, members of European Jews for a Just
Peace visited the property in 2003 and planted 250 olive trees to
replace those ripped out by settlers.

At the local level, Nassar says, the activities of the Tent of
Nations have gone at least some way towards promoting
understanding between Palestinian and Israeli people. In early
2008, a woman from a visiting group of peace activists invited
her friend from a nearby Israeli settlement to come and visit the
Tent of Nations. The woman had been living in the settlement for
nine years but was not aware that there were Palestinians living
in the surrounding areas. The visit gave her a powerful insight
into the living conditions of the Palestinians in the region. 

Actions like these may not change the reality of the Occupation,
but they are a small step towards better relationships between
these deeply divided groups, said Daoud Nassar.

He hopes that his project will encourage other Palestinians not
to see themselves as victims, but rather to look at the future
with some hope. "What we are trying to do here, in a simple way,
is to motivate our people, and show them there is a future," he
said.

>[957 words]

(*) Emma Halgren, WCC Communication intern, is a member of the
Uniting Church in Australia.

>Tent of Nations:
>http://www.tentofnations.org

Feature: "Israeli occupation puts strain on Palestinian
Christians":
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/israeli-occupation-puts-s.html

Photo gallery (high resolution versions available upon
request):
http://www.overcomingviolence.org/index.php?id=6727

Sixty Years of WCC Policy on Palestine/Israel, 1948-2007 (in
brief):
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3628

>WCC member churches in Israel/Palestine:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4746

>### 

>SIDEBAR

>Letters of love in Christ

"Living Letters" are small ecumenical teams traveling to
locations around the world where Christians strive to overcome
violence. The team members, who are themselves involved in
ecumenical activities and peace building in their home countries,
express the solidarity of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
fellowship, which comprises 349 churches worldwide. 

In order to prepare for the International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation (
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/public-witness-addressing-power-affirming-peace/overcoming-violence/international-ecumenical-peace-convocation.html
)in 2011, several Living Letters visits take place each year
throughout the world in the context of the WCC's Decade to
Overcome Violence ( http://www.overcomingviolence.org/ ).

Members of the team that visited Israel and Palestine, 7-14
March, were: 
Metropolitan of Transylvania Prof. Dr Laurentiu Streza, Romanian
Orthodox Church 
Fr Dr Emanuel Clapsis, Ecumenical Patriarchate, USA 
Prof. Dr Nancy Cardoso, Igreja Metodista do Brazil 
Mrs Nancy Adams, Scottish Episcopal Church 

WCC staff: 

Dr Aruna Gnanadason, executive director for Planning and
Integration 
Ms Emma Halgren, WCC Communication intern

Interpreter: 

Mr Ciprian Ioan Streza, Romanian Orthodox Church

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect
WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing
credit is given to the author. 

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.