Gaza Update: Part 2 (from BBC)

Gazans despair over blockade

Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Ramallah

Many Gazans are dependent on food aid

"People in Gaza are waiting in lines for almost everything, and that's if they're lucky enough to find something to wait for," says Bassam Nasser, 39.

An aid worker in Gaza City, he, like so many others there, including the UN relief agency, says living conditions are the worst he has ever seen in the strip.

"People queue for two or three hours for bread, but sometimes there's no cooking gas or flour, so no bread.

"People wait in line for UN food handouts, but sometimes there aren't any. The suffering is reaching every aspect of life."

As well as working for an American development agency, Mr Nasser is a Gazan, and a father.

"I've got three young children. It's difficult to explain to them that it's not my fault we don't have electricity and that it's not in my control."

'Severely stretched'

Since June 2007, Israel has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

Many there hoped that policy would change, five months ago, when Hamas and Israel agreed to a truce.

Gazans describe life under blockade

But while there were some increases in the amount of aid allowed in, Israel's strict restrictions on the movement of goods and people into and out of Gaza largely remained.

Two weeks ago, an already fragile humanitarian situation resulting from the mounting effects of months of shortages, saw a dramatic downturn.

The fighting resumed, with an Israeli army incursion into Gaza and a retaliatory barrage of militant rocket fire. With that, Israel all-but shut the Gaza Strip.

Although there are some goods being smuggled into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt, little else is reaching the territory.

Serious fuel shortages have led to widespread power cuts across Gaza City. That, in turn, has caused problems in pumping water to homes, and sewage to treatment plants.

Israel is preventing many aid workers, and all journalists from entering Gaza too, so our interviews have had to be conducted over the telephone.

It's so hard to see where the hope is, and so hard to stop these conditions breeding more hatred Bassam Nasser, aid worker, Gaza

"I never thought we would see days like this," says Monther Shublak, head of Gaza's water authority.

"The water system was severely stretched even before this crisis, but now, things are much worse.

"For the last four days, around 40% of people in Gaza City have had no access to running water in their homes at all."

"People ask me 'When will we get water?' I simply can't answer them," Mr Shublak says.

"But we are putting all of our resources into sewage pumping. The health consequences of that system totally failing are too worrying to think about, but it could happen unless things change."

Alongside attacks by its military, Israel's government says its Gaza closure strategy aims to deter Palestinian militants from firing rockets across the border at Israeli towns.

It also wants to choke Hamas, the Islamist faction in charge of Gaza, an enemy Israel sees as one of its most deadly.

But the rockets keep being launched and Hamas shows few signs of losing its grip on power.

Question of blame

There is much discussion among Palestinians as to why this sudden increase in pressure on Gaza is happening now.

Some say Israel is preparing for a big invasion; others feel there is an element of political posturing ahead of an Israeli general election in February.

Guide: Gaza under blockade

Many will tell you that they feel a time of deep division in Palestinian society is being taken advantage of.

Few take Israel's explanation, that it is only protecting its citizens from the horror of rocket attacks, at face value.

"Isn't it enough that their army kills the people who fire rockets?" asks Mr Nasser.

"We are not responsible, so why are we all being punished? It makes no sense."

He talks of the long-term impact on children in Gaza, including his own, aged six, five and two.

"It's getting harder for us to answer our childrens' questions about the situation, without instilling hatred in their minds about the people responsible for our suffering," he says.

He does not just mean the Israeli government.

"People here see everyone as responsible for their miserable lives. They see Israel closing Gaza, but they also see people around the world doing nothing.

"They see Hamas making things worse by using the blockade as an excuse not to be accountable, and they do whatever they like.

"People see the silence of the PA, [the Fatah-dominated Palestinian government in the West Bank] and blame them too," he says.

"It's so hard to see where the hope is, and so hard to stop these conditions breeding more hatred."

Gaza Update

A personal update is coming soon, but until then please read the following from CNN about the humanitarian crises in Gaza:

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A U.N. agency in Gaza will stop distributing aid to more than 750,000 Palestinians because Israel has halted border crossings into the Palestinian territory, the agency's director said Friday.

Palestinians protest Israeli sanctions Thursday evening in Gaza City.

"We have run out of food. Our warehouses are empty," U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said.

"These interruptions on the crossing points affect us immediately," Ging said earlier. "So the immediate impact is that on Saturday morning, we won't have any food to distribute."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel "to allow urgently, the steady and sufficient supply of fuel and humanitarian assistance," according to a statement from the U.N. chief's spokesman.

Ban also called on Israel "to resume facilitating the activities" of UNRWA and other relief agencies by allowing U.N. officials and humanitarian workers unimpeded access to the region, the spokesman's statement said.

The Israeli military said it was forced to shut down the border because of rocket attacks on Israel and security threats.

The Israeli government denies that its actions have interfered with UNRWA's ability to provide assistance to some 80 percent of the territory's 1.5 million people.

Don't Miss

• Israel cuts off Gaza City's fuel

Hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza continued for an 11th day Friday, bringing an effective end to a five-month cease-fire and creating what one U.N. official called a "desperate" humanitarian situation.

The Israeli military carried out airstrikes on a suspected militant rocket-launching site in northern Gaza early Friday, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said.

The strikes targeted militants who had been firing rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel. Five militants were wounded, according to Palestinian security forces.

Around a dozen rockets have been launched from Gaza in the last 24 hours, according to the IDF, with about 80 fired over the last 10 days. Shrapnel lightly wounded an Israeli woman in the southern border town of Sderot in one of the attacks.

Fighting between Israel and Palestinians flared up last week when Israeli troops entered Gaza to blow up a tunnel that the military suspected militants were going to use to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

That incursion set off a wave of fighting and rocket attacks in which 10 Palestinian gunmen have been killed and one Israeli soldier was wounded. It also prompted Israel to seal its borders Thursday, halting the already limited aid from reaching Gaza.

Gaza City went dark Thursday as a result of a power shortage, according to Palestinian officials. The Israeli government maintains that Gaza's Hamas leaders purposely cause power outages in the Palestinian territory in an attempt to garner international sympathy.

Ging said UNRWA usually stocks two months' supplies of rations, but the organization had been prevented from maintaining its strategic reserve during the five-month cessation of hostilities.

He characterized the policy as "a deliberate political decision" to keep the civilian population on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.

But Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister's office, denied the allegation, saying, "We have been very cooperative with UNRWA."

Regev said, "We did not hear complaints that not enough aid" was being allowed to enter Gaza during the cease-fire.

He said recent Jewish and Muslim holidays probably had prevented the buildup of UNRWA's reserves.

Regev said the most recent round of fighting was instigated by Hamas, arguing that Israel's detonation of the tunnel was defensive and aimed at preventing a much larger escalation.

Regev said Israel was again prepared to abide by the truce if Hamas halted firing rockets.

from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/14/israel.gaza.humanitarian/index.html

Welcoming the Stranger

Matthew 25:43: I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

Last month my roommate and I drove Diego and his cousin Luis to the car repair shop. Earlier that month he had been hit by another car who pulled out of a driveway and ran right into him. His car was fairly damaged and one of his friends in the car with him was bleeding. He decided to call the police. The police came and within minutes Diego had a ticket and a court date. Why? He was driving without a license. It didn't matter that the other person claimed responsibility for the accident. Later, on the day of his court date, the court room was filled with Hispanics there for similar reasons. The root of the problem: Diego is an undocumented immigrant. He can't get a license.

Diego is 20 and came to the US to join his family here and to help support his wife and young daughter back in Mexico. He works at a restaurant in town and now rides his bike to work. He pays taxes off his paycheck (without any of the benefits, of course), is taking English classes, and plays soccer on Mondays at a local park.

In the last months my eyes have been opened to the glaring injustices of our American immigration system. My apartment complex, smack dab in the middle of the western suburbs of Chicago often noted for their wealth, is roughly made up of 40% Mexicans. Most of them are undocumented. What does this mean? It means among many other things that they can't work legally, they can't get drivers licenses, and they face the threat of, if caught, being deported and forced to leave everything here behind, often including other family members. Just think how crucial it is to have a driver's license (the main form of ID) and social security number here in the US. Without one, everything is more difficult and much is simply impossible.

Everyone—the government, the businesses, the police--- knows that there are undocumented people all around. Take the court room scenario described above. The judge knows that all these Hispanics are illegal. The same thing goes for the police officer who gave him the ticket. The system, which benefits from them, turns a blind eye. The truth is we all benefit from them and our system depends on them. Their low-cost labor, the taxes they pay, etc, all contribute to the American way of life and economic system. They, due to their undocumented status, however, do not reap the benefits from that system (health insurance, retirement, legal protection…) that they contribute to uphold. This is a glaring injustice to which many of us "documented" people are blind.

The truth is, however, that they are not a "they" or a "them." Undocumented immigrants are not "illegal aliens," or the "immigration problem." They are beautiful people with names and faces made in the image of God. As Christians we are to remember that our loyalty is not ultimately to the nation-state with its artificial drawn borders and little pieces of paper that make claims as to who is to be welcomed or not. Our "status" comes from elsewhere. Our allegiance is to a foreign country, to a foreign King named Christ. It is to his higher law of hospitality that we are to submit. Ultimately, we as Christians are all strangers and aliens here on earth.

Some Quick Stats on Undocumented Immigrants in the US:

-Only 56% of undocumented immigrants are from Mexico. There are also 1.5 million from Asia and 600,000 undocumented Canadians and Europeans.

-The Social Security Administration estimates that 3 out of 4 are paying payroll taxes, accounting for $6 billion per year in Social Security revenue paid in the last year that does not match a valid Social Security number

- 1 in 3 live in “mixed status” families, with at least one member a US citizen

My roommate Matt has finished writing a book on the issue of immigration and how the church should respond. It is called "Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate." Click on this link to get more information on the book and to join the facebook group.

-See this link on the sanctuary movement among US churches working to protect immigrants facing deportation.

Anger and Compassion

This summer on leaving Israel/Palestine, Justin and I were given the special treatment by the Israeli airport security. The reason: they found out that Justin had taught in a Palestinian school three years earlier. It didn’t matter that this time we had come for a well publicized international Anglican conference that had been personally welcomed and sponsored by the Israeli minister of tourism (and that I had a badge to prove it). After this special branch of the Israeli military took every item out of my bags they then escorted me to a dark and dingy back room where I was given a very intimate pat down. Lastly, I was personally escorted to my gate by the same security guy. I was furious. A plethora of not so nice words describing these soldiers threatened to explode from my mouth.

For those working for peace and justice, anger is a common companion. Anger results from seeing the ugly face of injustice that causes suffering to others: a child dying in Gaza because he isn’t allowed to enter Israel to receive the necessary medical care, an old man denied entry to Israel for his Ramadan prayers. Our anger can become directed towards those that are perpetrating this injustice. “How dare those racist soldiers do this to me? Do they have no heart underneath that uniform?” (Think, for example, of all the bumper stickers you have seen railing on Bush.)

Quickly this “righteous” anger can turn us into the very same thing we hate. We begin to generalize and become racist ourselves. They become the “oppressors”, a nameless generalization. We see ourselves as the ones in the right, fighting the cause of justice, and we distance ourselves from “them.” “It’s all those racist, oppressive Jews out there who are the problem.”

This is clearly not the way of Christ, but what is the alternative? Compassion, a true seeing of the other. Nouwen in his The Way of the Heart (p.38) states that “the compassionate person is so aware of the suffering of others that it is not even possible for him or her to dwell on their sins.” With compassion one is able to see the pain that is the root of sin in the lives of others. Furthermore, I would add that the compassionate person is so aware of his or her own sins that it is not possible to dwell on the sins of others.

In my example above, compassion begins when I am able to see the fear in the eyes of airport security soldiers, the insecurity that lies behind the M16 in their hands. Compassion helps me to realize that they have been taught to fear from an early age; maybe even they have had family members hurt in the conflict, deepening their hurt and fear. Compassion also allows me to see my own fears and insecurities, my own tendency to distance myself from others, to stereotype.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese peace activist and spiritual teacher, makes a similar point in his beautiful poem below.

Call Me by My True Names by Thich Nhat Hanh

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

(For Han’s explanation of this poem see: http://www.quietspaces.com/poemHanh.html)

Prayer Requests:

-Please pray for Matt and me as we seek to minister to our neighbors in our community incarnationally. Pray especially for the children who are over at our apartment every day.

-Please pray for a partner in ministry, as I plan on returning to Israel/Palestine.

Back in Wheaton

Being back in Wheaton has been wonderful. In many ways it is truly home for me. Getting back almost two weeks before classes began allowed me to catch up with my friends, adjust to living in a new apartment, and prepare for a new semester. It is hard to believe that by May of next year I will have an M.A. in intercultural studies and truly have finished my studies at Wheaton College.

One of the best parts of being back has been my new living situation. Matt (a friend from church and a Wheaton grad.), Theo (a refugee from Rwanda) and I live in an apartment in a little enclave of immigrants, refugees and poor folk in the midst of suburbia. It is loads of fun. After lunch a friend asked me if it was hard for me to be back here after my adventures in the Middle East this summer. Honestly I replied that I haven’t left adventure behind. In the past two weeks we have had a window in our apartment broken, overheard a couple late-night fights in the apartment below us ("should we call the cops?"), had several people arrested from another apartment (they stole from Wal-Mart and from the gas station where one of my roommates works), and have had Mexicans, Rwandans, Sudanese, and African-American children and adults pop into our apartment at all times of the day and night.

Matt, Theo and I are seeking to live as salt and light in this community. One specific way we are hoping to this is by hosting a weekly gathering in our apartment for worship, prayer, and community organizing to deal with common challenges facing the community. Doing this across the barriers of multiple languages and cultural/ethnic backgrounds will be quite a feat. We are going to need the Spirit’s help. This coming Sunday we are kicking this off with a large community-wide meal. Please be in prayer.

Up to now my plans have been to finish grad school this year and then to head back to Israel/Palestine that summer (of ’09) or soon after. All of a sudden this seems very soon. One hitch in my plans is that I have committed to not going back alone and the person I have been planning to go with can’t now. This leaves me in a bit of a quandary. I would appreciate your prayers for guidance and discernment in all of this.

Also, by the way, my new website is up and running! www.awakeningpeace.net seeks to educate Christians on the situation in Israel/Palestine and to spur Christians to work for justice and peace in the Middle East and in their respective communities. Check it out.

Christian Nonviolent Resistance

“True non-violent resistance is…a courageous confrontation of evil by the powers of, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflictor of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of share in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.”

Martin Luther King Jr., “My Trip to the Land of Gandhi”

Earlier this year I received an email from one of my Palestinian friend’s living outside Bethlehem. Abdullah sent me an email asking if there was any way I could help him. Why? Because his uncle’s home had just been demolished by the Israeli military (click here to learn about this issue). As a Christian living in the midst of such injustice what is one to do? Zooming out to the larger picture, what is a Christian to do in the midst of a whole societal conflict in which a whole people are oppressed and subjugated by another? In the following I would like to make the case for Christian non-violent resistance, something often quite misunderstood and caricatured. It is from within this context that some passing comments on the pacifism vs. just-war theory debate will be made.

What would you do if you were Abdulla’s neighbor? Usually two options are offered: a) violence (grab a shot-gun and defend the home) or b) acquiescence (let them destroy it while you sit and watch). This is the same in larger situations of conflict. The classic example usually given is that of World War 2. Usually in discussions of violence people say, “well, what about WW2? Either you do as Neville Chamberlain did and abdicate to Hitler or you stand up to him like Churchill.” (Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler and signed a treaty with him in an attempt to avert war--to no avail). There is another way, however, a way to fight without bombs: Non-violent resistance, the “third way.” This is a way to oppose evil without mirroring it (by responding also with violence). It is the way to resist, whether as a third party or one intimately involved in the struggle, without acquiescing and thus becoming complicit to evil by one’s inaction.

Non-violent resistance is not well understood within Christian circles. Often there is some general association with people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., but this is almost to its detriment as it is thought of as some saintly or otherworldly practice only able to be used by such great people. “It may work for saints, but in the real world it’s the gun that works.” This, however, is not the case. Gandhi and King largely succeeded in their goals, not because they practiced non-violence, but because they led movements where thousands and millions of common everyday people chose it over violence. (Furthermore it is a myth that violence actually works. Violence multiplies itself; it is the mythical beast medusa that if you cut off one head grows two in its place.)

So what is nonviolence? Non-violent resistance is a means/method of balancing power between two parties, of seeking to bring about change in a specific situation of injustice. Some famous examples are the lunch counter sit-ins and the bus boycotts during the civil right’s movement. Each were used successfully to counter specific elements of racial segregation. Non-violence is not to be confused with pacifism, the belief that all violence is morally wrong. It can be practiced by those who believe all violence is wrong and by those who believe violence isn’t necessarily morally wrong. There are two kinds of non-violence: 1) pragmatic non-violence believes simply that non-violence is more effective in bringing change than violence. It doesn’t necessarily believe that violence is morally wrong. 2) Principled non-violence believes that violence is wrong ethically and that it is ineffective.

There are three main categories of non-violent action: 1) non-cooperation: such as an Israeli soldier who refuses to serve in the military and goes to jail (see: the refuseniks) or the Palestinians who refuse to pay taxes to Israel. 2) protest and persuasion: such as in the first Intifada or uprising (which was largely nonviolent) of Palestinians against the occupation. It was illegal to fly the Palestinian flag or to sing at weddings and yet Palestinians did both and often went to Jail with pride 3) Non-violent intervention: getting in the way of a home being demolished. (see: http://www.wagingnonviolentstruggle.com/)

For Christians there are really only two ways to look at war and violence: the just-war theory and pacifism. What many Christians forget is that the Just-war theory still views war and violence as evil, though at times a necessary evil, a tool to bring about justice. To be true to the theory and to church tradition from which it comes, a Christian should go to war with fear and trembling and with a tear in their eye. There is no room for the glorification of war and violence for Christians. This is still speaking from the perspective of just-war theory. What non-violence offers to both pacifists and just-war theorists is another option to resist evil. If nonviolence as an option is an effective method then there is no excuse for Christians of any kind to use war or violence.

[There is much more that could be discussed here related to pacifism and the just-war theory. One more point I’ll quickly mention is that just-war theory only legitimates violence done on behalf of the state and those in power. The theory offers no justification for violence by the powerless and oppressed who, as in the case of Palestinians, have no state to legitimate their violence for the sake of justice. This is a major weakness in the theory.]

Non-violence offers a way for all parties to avoid violence. It is a tool that can be used by the weak and the powerful to bring about change. It is not a fanciful, utopian or impractical method. It works in the real world. As has often been said of Christianity, it is not so much that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it is not really been tried very often. Generally, though more research needs to be done, when it has been tried it has proven more effective than violence. See here for historical examples where non-violence has worked: http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/.

So as a Christian living in situations of injustice one is called to resist. Whether this be Hitler in World War Two or Israeli bulldozers coming to demolish Palestinian homes in Israel/Palestine. Silence and passivity are not options. Neither is violence.

Quick Update

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially in Israel/Palestine and in the US], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
(Book of Common Prayer)

It’s been an amazing summer. Thinking back over it, I can’t believe that I have had these three experiences: three weeks studying peace at Eastern Mennonite University, two weeks in Israel/Palestine at a global Anglican conference, and then three weeks at a Trappist monastery (not to mention the great times in between at home with my family). These have definitely been undeserved gifts.

These three experiences may seem disconnected, but in actually are very integrated. At EMU I studied peace and gained key skills in peacework. In Israel/Palestine I put my new knowledge into action and began to see how this work could take shape. Finally, at the monastery I sought to become peace, in silence and solitude to have the Holy Spirit root out the violence in my own heart and to bring me the peace of his presence. I sought to become the kind of person that can be used by God for peace. I am still learning how much of my own work for peace and justice is simply a projection of my own insecurities, pain and inner violence on others.

I will be in North Carolina with my family until the 16th. Then I’ll be heading back to Chicago for my last year in my graduate program (Intercultural Studies, with an emphasis in community development).

One of the most exciting parts of this next semester will be living with Matt, a good friend of mine from Wheaton and from church. He lives in an apartment complex, which is made up of mostly refugees and immigrants. One of our neighboring families is from Rwanda and the other from Mexico. We will be living simply and seeking to get to know our neighbors. I’m excited to get to use my Spanish and Arabic!

Check it out:

Good News. Some Palestinians are going to the Olympics, against all odds!! Check out the encouraging story at: http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-03-voa23.cfm

Famine in India: One of my Indian peaceworking friends is currently working in India with famine relief where there is a really bad famine. This famine is in the Manipur South Districts and in the state of Mizoram. Are you in a position to help in any way? He can be contacted at: immanuelvarte@gmail.com

Great Book: “A book to provoke the Christian political imagination.“ If you haven’t read any of Shane Clayborn, you should. Here is the site of his new book: http://www.jesusforpresident.org/ His blog is great too, http://jesusforpresident.org/blog/