A Prayer for Prisoners and Jailers

For Prisons and Correctional Institutions

Lord Jesus, for our sake you were condemned as a criminal: Visit our jails and prisons with your pity and judgment. Remember all prisoners, and bring the guilty to repentance and amendment of life according to your will, and give them hope for their future. When any are held unjustly, bring them release; forgive us, and teach us to improve our justice. Remember those who work in these institutions; keep them humane and compassionate; and save them from becoming brutal or callous. And since what we do for those in prison, O Lord, we do for you, constrain us to improve their lot. All this we ask for your mercy's sake. Amen.

(from the Book of Common Prayer)

This last week, as I mentioned, I found out while chatting with one of my buddies from the camp that two of my close friends had been arrested by the IDF. Two days later (see the comment posted on my last blog entry) I found out that that same kid I was chatting with was also arrested! He was also a close friend who I played guitar with a lot when I was there. Today I chatted online with his brother. They don't know why they took him and he isn't even able to call home to tell them what's going on. I can't imagine. "it's ok" his brother told me, "we are all in one big jail anyway." I promised we would be praying for him and his family.

According to B'Tselem. an Israeli human rights group (http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Detainees_and_Prisoners.asp) there are currently 8,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, furthermore there are an additional 850 held in
administrative detention." This is a fancy word for arrests that take place without trial. Individuals are held indefinitely and are not informed the reasons for their arrest. This is most likely what my most recent friend is under.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is a quick note to thank all of you who have played a role in my life this year, especially in my trip to Israel/Palestine this last summer. God has done much in my life, much thanks to you!
This last semester was a time of healing and redemption. My time in Israel/Palestine was one of the hardest experiences of my life, but God has brought great good and growth from it. Thanks to mentors and friends at Church of the Resurrection and at Wheaton I have been able to look back and process my experience. I am a different person because of it.

On a different and sadder note, I was chatting online with one of my Palestinian friends from the refugee camp where I stayed this summer and found out that two of my closest friends during my time there were arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) this last month. They were cousins, both 19, who had just graduated from high school and had begun college. I spent many hours with them playing soccer, joking and messing around. One of them I interviewed (if you have heard one of my presentations he is the one I have recorded on tape). This hit me hard and brought it all close to home again. One of them had just had his brother come out of prison (after 2 1/2 years) while I was there. Now him. Why were they arrested? Who knows really. These kinds of arrests are daily occurrences in Gaza and the West Bank (click, for example, on the Palestinian News link on the right sidebard). Sometimes they are because someone threw a rock at a soldier, sometimes because someone went to a non-violent protests, often for no reason at all. Please pray for mercy for Moatez, Fadi and there families during this hard time and for a quick release. (click here for the press release of this: http://www.imemc.org/article/51786 )

Thank you again for your prayers, notes, and encouragements this last year. Blessings to you in this new year!

PS. You can sign up on the right to receive an email each time I update this blog

First Steps Back to Israel/Palestine

It's been quite an eventful week! A lot of the things that I have been praying all semester about were answered in one week.

All semester I have been thinking and praying about the possibility of getting ordained through my Anglican church here, Church of the Resurrection (Rez.), in order to eventually go back to Israel/Palestine as an ordained minister sent out from Rez. This last week I was finally able to meet with the pastor of our church who is in charge of the ordaining process. He asked a lot of questions about my vision to work in Israel/Palestine and ended up getting very excited about the possibility of partnering with Rez. in this work. Rather than go through the lengthy process of getting ordained now, he said that his and Rez.'s priority was getting me out in the world to do ministry. He said he would love to see me in the Middle East and soon. Later after some years of experience I could come back and get ordained. Wow! He recommended some next steps including writing a proposol to give to church leaders as well as getting together with another one of the pastors.

I sent this other pastor an email asking if we could do lunch in the next couple months. The next day I heard back saying "how about tomorrow?"! I then ended up having lunch with him on Thursday and he got really excited about the possibility of ministry through Rez. in the middle east as well. He committed to praying as well as talking with some of the big Anglican leaders to see how this could work out, given that it's pretty uncharted waters for Amia (the Anglican Mission in America of which Rez. is a part).

The last big thing that happened was finally hearing back from the Grad. school at wheaton and getting all my classes registered and everything for next semester. I hadn't heard back from them since i had re-applied in October. Long story short, I'm in and good to go next semester!

So in many ways the first steps in my journey back to the Middle East began this week. In around 18 months, God willing, I will have an intercultural studies degree and be back in the Middle East sent out from Rez. One part of this whole picture, that I haven't mentioned yet, is that after this last summer which was so hard and so isolating, I decided to not go back to the Middle East alone. Who I plan to go back with is Justin, another latin american MK who also is at Rez and who also has spent time in the Middle East. We have nearly identical life histories, though he is several years older. Our plan is to go together as a team sent out by Rez and to minister together in the Middle East. So here we go!

One thing that is still hanging in the air is sub-letting our city apartment for next semester when we move back to Wheaton. If we don't sub-let it, we can't move back. This would be a disaster. Please be in prayer that we would sub-let our apartment and be able to move back to Wheaton after Christmas! Thanks so much.

Jonathan

PS. Here's a link to one of my close friends' blogs: www.elhaya.blogspot.com
He is also in the West Bank doing a lot of the same things that Idid when I was there. He has some informative posts about the situation there now.

Nearing the end

(myself with my Palestinian friend, and Ryan, my roommate)

The end of the semester is near. Much has happened in the last weeks. Here are some quick summaries:

-It was my birthday yesterday and my roommates arranged a surprise party for me, including a home made cake in the shape of "the wall" in Palestine, that I quickly destroyed to everyone's joy ;)
-My parents and sister came up to my apartment for thanksgiving. With two of my roommates, a Palestinian friend and one of my roommate's Sri Lankan friends we made quite an interesting group.
-We are putting up our apartment for sub-lease, hoping to move back to Wheaton next semester where I'll be doing a church internship and starting grad school in intercultural studies.
-In December is my first meeting which starts my process of getting ordained through the Anglican Mission in America, the denomination my church, Church of the Resurrection is a part of. This is very exciting for me.
-Currently there is a Israeli/Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis. Expectations for results runs pretty low for both Israelis and Palestinians. We can be praying, however, that good will come from this.

Salaam/Shalom

Obsession: a Movie obssessed with fear and stereotypes

I am deeply troubled by the recent documentary film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” which is being shown around college campuses in the U.S. and on Fox News among other stations. In our post 9/11 world marked by fear and a “war on terror,” the last thing we need is a film which deepens stereotypes and fuels the ignorance we Americans (and Evangelicals) have of Islam, Arabs and the Middle East. This is exactly what this film accomplishes.
First, a note about the posters for this film (which show pictures of terrorists and a verse from the Koran about killing those who aren‘t Muslims). Imagine you are a Christian student visiting a Muslim campus and you see large posters everywhere of Christian crusaders waving American flags and below it the verse: “In the cities of these people that the Lord God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall utterly destroy them” (Deuteronomy 20:16-18)? This highlights two problems: that of taking another religion’s holy book and quoting it out of context and that of forgetting that there is much in our own history and holy book that is not so pretty. (As a side note, when Muslims see the U.S.-- in their minds a Christian nation-- invade Iraq they see a picture of the crusades repeating themselves).
Beyond the advertisements, the film itself is quite problematic. It is essentially propaganda with little discussion or analysis of the complexity of Islamic fundamentalism and of the fact that this represents a very small minority of the world’s Muslim population. This film is not without an agenda.
According to a New York Times article, Karyn Leffel, the person who is coordinating getting this film on college campuses works for Hasbara Fellowships, an organization that “educates and trains university students to be effective pro-Israel activists on their campuses” (Israelactivism.com). If you look closely on the webpage of the film (obsessionthemovie.com) you can finds links to organizations such as Campus Watch and Student’s For Academic Freedom, one of which was started by David Horowitz (a noted American Jewish conservative and strongly pro-Israel writer and activist) and the other an organization that works closely with him.
I have spent the last three summers in Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. During this time I have spoken, eaten and lived with many Arab Muslims who, despite the political tensions between my country and theirs, have treated me with the utmost respect, kindness and love. I must say loudly: Arab does NOT equal Muslim (there are lots of Arab Christians), and Muslim does NOT equal terrorist. This film, if only implicitly, states otherwise.
In the words of Hossam, a 18 year old Muslim Palestinian I met this summer: “I want you to come and see who is the terrorist and who isn’t …because all the media says Palestinians [here read: Muslims or Arabs] are terrorists.”

Humanitarian Disaster in Gaza

Today the BBC reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7061617.stm) that Israel approved to cut power to the Gaza strip in the case of future missile attacks. Israel presently supplies 60% of Gaza's electricity. While these missile attacks are terrible, this is NOT a proper response. This is collective punishment which is illegal by international law and only creates more terrorism and hatred due to the suffering of millions of innocent people. Gaza is already in a humanitarian nightmare due to a economic embargo by Israel and due to the fact that its seas, borders and air are completely controlled by Israel. Power cuts would only worsen the situation.

Just last year Israel bombed a power plant in Gaza, with huge repercussions on services such as hospitals, schools, etc. This was widely condemned by the international community as a war crime (see http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3308615,00.html). Now they are saying they want to encourage Gaza to develop its own power sources.

Please pray for the situation in Gaza and that Israel won't cut the power and that these rocket attacks would stop!

Looking ahead...

After much thought and prayer, it seems like I now have a decent idea what this next year will look like. I decided, after all, to start grad school at Wheaton in the spring in the intercultural studies program (probably with a concentration in development). This would allow me to continue at Wheaton and at my church, Church of the Resurrection. I have come to realize the importance of relationships; staying here for another year and a half would allow me to continue to build on the ones that I have made these last three years.

The program at Wheaton would give me an excellent background in mission/development work and in working with people of different cultures. Because it doesn't have much in the area of social justice/conflict transformation, I would love to attend the the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (http://www.emu.edu/ctp/spi/) at Eastern Mennonite University in VA this upcoming summer. Some of the credit from this would transfer towards my degree and I would be able to gain some valuable training in this whole area.

All this is on the path towards eventually working in Israel/Palestine, Insha'allah, God willing.

Meanwhile I continue to study and review my Arabic and to build friendships with Arabs in my neighborhood. About once a week I am able to visit some of them in their shops and restaurants and speak in Arabic. This has been SO fun.

On a side note, the US (surprise, surprise) is making a push for a Israeli/Palestinian peace conference in late November. Be praying that Hamas will be included in the negotiations (and negotiations without them is doomed to failure) and that other Arab countries would throw in their support.

Allah ykhalikom, May God keep you!
jonathan