May 8th, 2012 |
Palestinian residential structures in Area C of the the West Bank, east of Jerusalem, are under looming threat of immediate demolition. Structures include EU-funded residential structures provided in response to previous demolitions in the area. The Palestinian-Bedouin communities living in the hills to the east of Jerusalem are at an exceedingly growing risk of forced ethnic displacement. The communities have been informed by the Israeli authorities that they have no option but to leave the area, as part of a larger plan to forcibly tranfer, in defiance of international law, Bedouin communities living in Area C (Jerusalem periphery, Jordan Valley, and south Hebron Hills), where Israel retains control over security as well as planning and zoning.
For those of you who have been following the loose threads of my posts, you will see I am returning to the thread of displacement and the ethnic cleansing of the areas surrounding Jerusalem. As an Ecumenical Accompanier for life, I continue to keep track of what is going on with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program and our partner organizations. This week I received an alert from the EAPPI Advocacy officer and ICHAD about impending demolition orders in areas close to Jerusalem classified under Area C. I received this news while attending a conference on sexual health for adolescents in Peoria, Illinois. I am in the heartland of not only the US but the headquarters for Caterpillar, the multi-national and multi-purpose beast that is being used to destroy people's homes and lives.
The synchronicity is too much to bear. I want to stand on a tabletop in the bar of the well dressed businessmen making international deals with Caterpillar and scream out the the facts and figures about how this company violates international law; how these bulldozers have become weapons of mass destruction. Do they know? Do they care? The churches don't seem to care enough to follow through on divestment but what about the business community? Do these nicely dressed men speaking in multiple tongues want to be associated with a company that abuses its workers or sells its products to the Israeli government to be used to destroy people's lives? Has the bottom line of profit making made us blind to the suffering of others? Do we really believe that our investments in Palestinian organizations or churches can ever outweigh our investments in apartheid structures like the Separation Wall or in a military that hoards nuclear weapons or uses bulldozers as weapons to destroy people's lives?
The Methodists lost the battle for divestment at their General Assembly but they and us have not lost the war. They did pass a bigger resolution, ironically enough, that calls for sanctions and boycotts of all companies and products that are profiting from the Occupation. And they have called into question US military aid to Israel. Divestment may not have ruled the day but boycotts and sanctions were approved as well as a call to withdraw our military aid until Israel complies with international law.
I don't know if this was their "morning after pill" or plan B or that they simply had two resolutions but I think we should heed their call and continue to exert pressure where we can and use economic leverage to do so. Perhaps instead of shouting at the men in suits, I should return to the bar and begin some conversations about bottom lines. Perhaps the time has come for Lady Wisdom standing and screaming on a street corner to come in and figure out creative ways to enter into the boardrooms so that others can simply have rooms---rooms to cook meals in, deliver babies, or sleep and perhaps to dream of a future free of violence and destruction. Time is running out for actions to resist the total judaization of Jerusalem. Furthermore,
the loss of Area C is the end my friends of a meaningful or just peace process, for a two-state solution and, as some have argued, of a one state solution. Soon all this land will be annexed to Jerusalem and all the remaining Palestinians made to become second class Israeli citizens. So what is there for us to do?
First, become aware and informed. Read ICAHD's wonderful and disturbing reports and join with others in your country who are working to end this madness. For more information on the growing risk of displacement faced by Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin, please refer to the ICAHD publication 'Nowhere Left to Go'. For a normative and political analysis of Israel's displacement policy and practice in the Occupied West Bank, please find the ICAHD publication
'Demolishing Homes, Demolishing Peace'. Watch the video Nowhere Left to Go about the Jahalin Bedouins.
Challenge the dominant narrative of peace through security by asking, "Security for whom?" Challenge the authorities who say "engagement" is more productive than resistance or that boycotts are counterproductive. Let us instead listen to those like BishopTutu who said in his letter of support to the Methodist resolution for divestment, "The human community cannot be silent in the face of the gross injustice being meted out to the people of Palestine...This is a moral position that I have no choice but to support, especially since I know of the effect that Boycotts, disinvestment and Sanctions had on the apartheid regime of South Africa."
We cannot be silent. Let us not be afraid to live resurrected lives. Let's stand with those suffering but also let's stand against those who stand in the way of love, justice, equality, and freedom. In nonviolent training, we talk about the need to use both our hands. One hand reaches out in peace and the other hand says "N0." This endless occupation, this imprisonment or warehousing of a whole population needs both hands and all of us working together in all the ways we can think of.
We cannot be silent. Let us not be afraid to live resurrected lives. Let's stand with those suffering but also let's stand against those who stand in the way of love, justice, equality, and freedom. In nonviolent training, we talk about the need to use both our hands. One hand reaches out in peace and the other hand says "N0." This endless occupation, this imprisonment or warehousing of a whole population needs both hands and all of us working together in all the ways we can think of.
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