The Israel-Palestine trip: Why you should go
There are still places available on the May trip to Israel-Palestine (as previously featured on the blog), with Greenbelt and Amos Trust. Whether you're a newcomer to the issues in the region, want to build more on what you learnt at Greenbelt over the past few years, or whether you're a seasoned activist, there is no substitute for seeing the region and meeting the people yourself. Apply now!
To help you make the decision, we thought we'd share a couple of people's perceptions of their first trip to the area, and how it changed their perspectives...
First up, check out this extract from Alison Richards' account on the Amos Trust website:
Many Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are under threat of demolition or have been demolished by the Israelis. We visited the home of Salim and Arabiya who have seen their home demolished four times and now have a court order for its demolition again. The devastation to lives and communities is heart breaking and now they are being ordered to demolish their own homes in some cases.
In contrast, visiting an illegal Israeli Settlement in the West Bank was like entering a different country with the immaculately laid out houses and apartment blocks surrounded by green parks, shopping malls and beautifully kept amenities. Being invited to hear an Israeli settler tell his story in a settlement synagogue was an opportunity to try and understand his position and listen to the other side of the story. His belief that both communities now have a better standard of living than twenty years ago and the direct links made between the Muslim faith and Palestinian extremism suggests that the separation of communities is fuelling, at the very least, a lack of understanding between them.
The sad fact was that years before the settlements and the separation wall, this man and his family had Palestinian friends and was open to living and working together in their community. Advice that he was given: ‘don’t be so open minded that your brains fall out’, suggests that he was open to hearing the others story, but now separation is building barriers in people’s minds as well as on the land. This man’s surname was the same as my uncle’s family, so I shook his hand and extended our love to his family as I left the synagogue, and then stood outside by a kindergarten where children were laughing and playing in neat school uniforms and I wept.
The full account can be read by clicking here.
Our Literature co-ordinator Ben Whitehouse went on the last trip to Israel-Palestine in 2009. Here's his reminiscences, as published in the last issue of Wing & A Prayer:
The phone call came early in the day when I was at my desk at work. “Ben, a space is available on the trip to Israel/Palestine with Greenbelt, do you want it?”
Without any thought of anything I said “Yes” and then “When is it?”; in very short succession my boss had given me the time off, I’d checked my passport was up to date and I was getting vaccinations arranged with my Doctor. I was really going; this wasn’t one of those ‘get-to-it-one-day’ ideas, I was really going to get on a plane and see the places I’d seen on the news and read about in the Bible; I was excited and scared.
The trip was organised for members of the Greenbelt team- volunteers and staff members and coordinated by the Amos Trust. The tour would take in significant locations associated with the life of Jesus, meetings with various partners of the Amos trust and witnesses on both sides of the Israel/Palestine situation. I loved the chance to walk where Jesus walked, meet with inspiring human rights activists, peace campaigners and ordinary, holy people. The history is fascinating, the welcome warm and the knowledge of our local Palestinian guide, Wisam, allowed us to connect the stories of then with the reality of here and now.
My significant memory of the trip is of the “barrier”, the “security fence” or the “apartheid wall”. It may have many names but the impact on the landscape is devastating. To really understand the wall and the impact it has you have to see it at four in the morning. One morning a small group of us got up to see the experience of the daily commute from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Imagine a snaking queue of around 3000 people for one turnstile. People are sleeping, prayer mats are unrolled, conversations are held, and food is sold. At an unseen signal and a seemingly random moment the queue changes suddenly into a rushing mêlée, the checkpoint is open, people run, climb and clamber. It was sobering to see the systematic humiliation of these workers and know that it goes on every day. People sleep in the street to queue for hours and have their papers checked. Even after all of this they could still be refused entry by the Israeli soldiers and if there’s a security lockdown no one will go through, potentially jeopardising their source of money.
I was struck by how many graffiti artists had used the wall as a canvas for art, small acts of resistance in the blank face of occupation. Interestingly the TED prize for 2011 has been awarded to photographer JR. In 2007, with business partner Marco, he staged the project “Face 2 Face,” which some consider the biggest illegal photo exhibition ever. JR and a grassroots team of community members posted huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities, and on both sides of the security fence/separation barrier. I like that this terrible concrete scar on the landscape is turned into an art gallery in places, a restaurant menu at another both acts of resistance reminding us that there are other possibilities.
To apply for the May trip, click here.
