The Living Church

Year Article Type Limit by Author

The Living ChurchJune 28, 1998Faces of Anger in Jerusalem by MARY PAGE JONES216(26) p. 8-9

On Cyprus, the island of love - home of Aphrodite - I am aware there is war to the north. But here, the war doesn't shred all the inhabitants and visitors. The tension is on the surface, not buried in the earth like it is in the Holy Land. In Israel/Palestine the earth yields war and hatred. It is almost impossible to find peace in that land. Almost. I find individuals who yearn for peace. People from all faiths - Christians, Muslims and Jews. So I wonder what feeds the war and hatred.

The longer I live in Jerusalem the more I grow to love it. At the same time the more discord I see. It is as if there were invisible poisonous barbs coming up from the earth. Everyone who visits or lives in this land is poisoned with these. Some overcome them and refuse to be drawn in. Others join forces to make life for Palestinians unbearable and still others are so overcome with the anger they shoot with rubber bullets. Others do suicide bombings in busy market places.

I was given a copy of a magazine insert from the Sunday, April 12, Los Angeles Times, celebrating Israel's 50 years as a nation. The centerfold was an article about a friend of mine - a Palestinian, born and raised in a refugee camp, a camp that was begun with people like his parents whose village has been sacked and burned in 1948. These people live in hope that one day they will be free. For them the hope of returning to their village has faded but the hope of living freely keeps them going. My Palestinian friend isn't bitter or angry, even though he spent 16 years in an Israeli prison as a political prisoner. He wants peace.

As I hear stories today - settlers, police, soldiers, government, all raping or taking land, all being oppressors, re-enacting what happened to the Jews in Germany - I get angry. As I look at the humiliation they impose on the Palestinians, I get angry. There is little I can do beyond helping one-on-one encounters to take place.

Human rights abuses continue and the U.S. government turns its face. Al Gore in his speech at the anniversary celebrations applauded Israel's humanity and democracy. lsrael doesn't have a constitution. How can the Palestinians even think that the U.S. government will be fair at the negotiating table?

Anger piles on anger.

A mother and her two young sons live in Hebron over the family factory. Her home faces the mosque ... the mosque where her husband and 35 other Muslim men were gunned down while they prayed. The settlers, who live in the Palestinian part of Hebron, have built a shrine and memorial to the gunman.

Anger piles upon anger.

Vineyards and orange groves and homes are being uprooted and demolished all through the West Bank so roads can be built to connect the illegal settlements. So settlers don't have to drive through West Bank villages.

Anger piles on anger.

A man in Gaza broke curfew to get his ailing father medicine. As he returned to his home, unarmed, a soldier opened fire and shot three rubber bullets into his chest. The Israeli commanding officer knew this Palestinian man and knew the good work he does in Gaza for people. The Israeli CO had him flown to Tel Aviv for care. Weeks in the hospital and finally he went home. He now needs surgery to remove the bullets. The soldier who opened fire was never disciplined.

Anger piles on anger.

Her daughter lives in America and has an American passport. The daughter comes home to visit her family. When she enters Israel she is asked why she is visiting. Rather than lie and say she is vacationing, she says, "I am visiting my mother and father." They take her passport, put her name in the computer and cancel her Israeli identity card. She will be permitted only to visit the land of her birth, the land where her family lives, once a year for a maximum of three weeks.

Anger piles on anger.

He has a physical disability and requires physical therapy three times a week. He lives in Bethany, one mile from the Palestinian hospital that gives physical therapy. He lives in the West Bank and cannot get a permit to cross the checkpoint. He lives without the physical therapy.

Anger piles on anger

She was born in Jerusalem and now lives in the West Bank with her husband. Her job is in Jerusalem. She has to give a Jerusalem address. If the Israelis find out, they will take her Jerusalem identity card and she will lose her job and not be permitted to come into the town where she was born.

Anger piles on anger.

A beautiful neighborhood is built. Israeli Arabs are denied the right to purchase a home in this new neighborhood. The Israelis don't want Arabs living in the same community with them.

Anger piles on anger

The young Israeli soldier visits the Holocaust museum. There he sees a description of what happened to his people in Nazi Germany - identity cards were taken, only those with permits were allowed to cross from one town to the next, houses were confiscated. He said to his friend - That is what happened to us in Nazi Germany and we are doing the same thing to the Palestinians.

As I gaze out from the balcony in Cyprus to the Mediterranean and the mountains, as I watch a lazy salamander sunning itself, I wonder why it is I love Jerusalem. And I know deep in my soul it is because God became incarnate there. God became man - Jesus - and walked and talked and laughed and cried. I can still see the footsteps, hear the laughter, feel the breath. God was there.

In a room somewhere in that land Jesus said, "Follow Me."

Mary Page Jones is an American who lives in Jerusalem.