More Precious Than Food
Is this not the fast I have chosen;
to lose the chains of
injustice and untie the chords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed
free and break every yoke?
(Isaiah 58:6)
It is in the wilderness
that he experiences his vocation's power and divine energy. It is here on a
barren mountain top that he is tempted and ministered to by angels. It is here that he resists the temptation to
feed himself or to have lordship over earthly
kingdoms.
As a way of purifying himself
so as to get closer to God, to trust totally in God, Jesus fasts
and prays. And so this is why Christians throughout the word fast during Lent. They feel called to model themselves after Jesus. They feel they too must give up their dependency on food and trust in God's providence to provide enough.
Here in Jerusalem I have learned that many of my fellow Catholic and Orthodox
Christians do indeed fast. The Orthodox will fast from dairy and meat for 50 days
while Catholics might just do Wednesdays and Fridays with the most pious
fasting every day except Sundays. When I was a young Episcopalian I gave up
chewing gum one year and swearing another until I realized I could also give up
things I didn't really like too like cauliflower. This was a win win for me. I
was practicing my faith and not eating this ghastly white vegetable that made me gag.
Back home I see calls for
Carbon fasting, lowering one's consumerism as to minimize one's carbon footprint.
I hear about friends choosing to leave their cars at home and ride the bus or
use their bikes. I have also heard about
a call to fast from guns and violence as a response to all the shootings and
skyrocketing homicide rates our cities. People are refusing to go to movies
where there is violence or allow their kids to play video games where violence
is a common theme. It appears that Giving up Guns for Lent is not so much about policy or legislation as it is
about examining how we “posture ourselves toward a world full of death,
violence, and pain.”
And then there are the feminists like Amy
Laura Hall who caution that calls to fast from food must be tempered by who you are talking to. For example asking
women who have eating disorders to fast from food may in fact exacerbate their disease.
Hall suggests that women like these should rather “ eat their fears”, eat
chocolate dipped strawberries or cookies. Her view is that the point is not
deprivation but preparing oneself to live with a greater openness to God's
grace. Her point is that social location
is essential.
Finally in addition to
these fasts, I have also just learned about the solidarity fast issued by Pax
Christi called Bread is Life---Fast for
a Just Peace in Syria. Many Syrians are literally starving right now due to the
violence and the bombing of their bakeries. Fasting is a way to show solidarity
with those suffering.
As important as all these kinds
of fasts are there is another fast going on here in Palestine that I wish to
call your attention to. It has been going on for quite some time, over 200
days for some of the detainees, with increasing urgency and attention. It is the fast of the Palestinian
detainees
who are on hunger strikes. Currently there are four detainees, prisoners of conscience who have been on a hunger strike. They are: Samer Issawi, Tareq Qaadan, Jafar Ezzedine, and Ayman Sharawna. Samer and Ayman are long term prisoners who were originally released during the prisoner exchange and then re-arrested. They have been fasting for over 200 days each. According to B'Tselem 4,500 Palestinians were held in Israeli jails in 2012. About 178 of those are said to be political prisoners who are being held in administrative detention without charges or a trial. Some of these administrative detainees are children.
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| men praying outside Ofer Prison |
For the past few weeks people throughout Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem have been protesting this unlawful imprisonment of Palestinians which is against international law. Two days ago Samer's family home was raided again and his brother taken into custody. Yesterday he was brought to a Magistrate Court in Jerusalem where the judge ruled that he should remain in custody for at least another month. On hearing this bitter news his mother collapsed. Meanwhile outside the Ofer Prison in Bituniya in the West Bank hundreds of demonstrators gathered in protest while inside over 800 prisoners joined the hunger strike in solidarity with these long term hunger strikers.
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| Children in Gaza protesting |
Is this not the fast of justice that Isaiah calls us to? To loose the chains of injustice?
In addition to the hunger strikers and their supporters, a few others have been speaking out. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakt wrote the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urging action, "We believe it is no longer acceptable to merely request better treatment of Palestine in Israeli occupation prisons but to demand an end to arbitrary system of Israeli detention. The UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk called on the release of these detainees saying,"Israel must end this appalling and unlawful treatment of Palestinian detainees. The international community must act with a sense of urgency and use whatever leverage it posses." Furthermore he said that Israel will be responsible for this "permanent harm." And I am wondering hasn't harm already happened? Do you mean death?
Some consider the actions around the hunger strikers the beginning of the third intifada, the shaking off of oppression. Whether there is enough momentum for a true uprising is not for me to speculate. But what you need to know is that if one of these prisoners dies then...
So dear ones, I invite you to consider how you join Jesus in his fast in the wilderness with all its temptations, how you join Isaiah in his call for letting the captive go free. I invite you to consider the many ways you can act to support these political prisoners. The first action is to lift up them up in prayer and in your circles of influence. Let people know that this is going on especially since the mainstream media is not covering these events. Obama will not be visiting these men in prison when he comes in March. Lift up also this nonviolent struggle for justice as a way to counter the ongoing perpetuation of Palestinians as dangerous terrorists.
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| protestors in Haifa |
Here are some resources and some suggested actions you can take.
Join Global Campaign Free Samer Issawi by asking for his immediate release. Here are the numbers to call: Secretary of State, John Kerry at 1-200-647-4000 or Office of Near East Affairs 1-202-647-7209.
Check out Accompanying Naomi on facebook for more articles about solidarity actions in Palestine and Israel.
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