Holy Land Reflections
Chuck Lindquist
July 23, 2006

It is a great pleasure to be here today and to share with you my experiences during the trip to the Holy Land earlier this spring. Let me say now that this is one side of the story- the Palestinian side -- our news media covers the other perspective more than adequately.

In today's first reading we heard Jeremiah proclaim (verse 5) "the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land."

This has the same ring as we heard last Sunday from the prophet Amos, when he said "let justice roll on like a river righteousness like a never-failing stream".

This theme of justice and righteousness is what I attempt to proclaim today.

This is what I heard the Palestinian Christians pleading for: justice, self-determination, an end to the oppressive occupation they have lived under for over 50 years. Their quest is freedom, peace and an opportunity to live side by side with their neighbors of different faiths. They say it can happen, and are convinced that it someday will happen.

I don't need to spend a lot of time in pointing out what a marvelous country we live in. Yes, we have our short- comings -- we sometimes make bad decisions -- but compared with most of the rest of the world, we have it very very good and in some respects, so very easy.

Now, in your mind's eye, consider living in a society void of personal freedom, where movement and travel is restricted, where your water supply is controlled by the occupation force, where the occupation force decides if you can go to school or to work on a daily basis by controlling the check points leading in/out of all communities. Imagine if you will, that we are residents of Livonia under Israeli occupation. All roads leading in or out of the city would be blocked at the city limits. One road -- we will say Farmington Road, will be open with a check point at the city border on the north and south city line. Let's say 6 Mile Road is open both east and west, with a check point at each end to control traffic. All other roads end at the city limit. Armed guards (6-10 persons) occupy each check point and determine who passes. Here you see many double standards -- if you have the right license plate, you probably get waved around traffic and through the check point. All others wait in line in the hot sun. If you don't have a permit to visit Farmington Hills, Garden City, Redford or Northville, you won't get through you're turned around. No one leaves or comes in without a permit and permits are not easy to come by. You may work or go to school in Northville -- you, of course, must apply for a permit -- when and if you get one, you should be able to pass through the check point -- but that is not always the case -- if the check point guard has a bad day, they may say "no entries today" and turn you around. There is no appeal or legal recourse in these matters. The guards have the guns and, of course, are always right.

You might live in a rural area where your family has lived for hundreds of years, maintained and harvested a large grove of olive trees on the farm that supports them. One day the occupiers move in bulldozers and other heavy equipment and begin to construct a wall or fence in some cases, that effectively cuts you and your home off from the olive groves that support you and the family. You are told that there will be a gate for you to enter your fields. All you need to do is apply for a permit and you and the family can cross at the gate into the groves. They don't tell you all the red tape involved in getting your permit. When you do receive the permit, the next obstacle is when do they open the gate? The answer is when they choose to open the gate. The sign says "open at 7am, noon and 6pm, but that is propaganda for the news media. Some days the gate never opens. You never know how long you will wait in that hot sun until the guards show up to unlock the gate. Some days they never show up. You complain to the area military leader but rarely get an answer. Again, it depends on the guards that patrol that section of the barrier.

We live in a society that takes running water for granted. Maybe some of you are old enough to remember pumping and carrying water into the house as a youngster living in rural parts of our country early in the 20th century. This used to be a daily chore for some of us of that generation. But, not today -- we walk to the faucet and expect the water to flow, not only cold, but hot water as well. You recall earlier I mentioned that the occupation forces control all the water sources in Israel and in the West Bank. This is fine for the settlers and the Israelis because theirs is just like we enjoy -- water when you want it. 80% of the available water is diverted to the settlers and Israeli's uses. 20% is left for the larger Palestinian population, but is available only when the occupiers turn it on. Maybe once a week or at least once every 2 weeks. To cope with this, all homes have large water tanks on their roof to hold water so that they do have running water available. For this inconvenience, the Palestinians get to pay about 4 times what the Israelis pay for water. Some deal, don't you think? But, of course, double standards are not publicly admitted.

It is my belief that the occupation is designed to frustrate and humiliate the Palestinian population with the hope that they will pack up and leave the area. It is a brutal humiliation of a people in an attempt to confiscate their land and become a regional super power.

This is evident with the continual development of settlements within the West Bank. These land grabs are illegal, but the people have no legal recourse under the oppressors control.

You may or may not be aware that olive groves are the biggest farm product in Palestine. A favorite land grab trick of the settlers is to sneak into an olive grove at night and cut down all the olive trees. You see, it takes 4 years to grow a new crop of olives. There exists an Israeli law that you can seize and claim as your property, any land that has not been worked in the past 2 years. The Palestinians are a resilient group -- a creative people -- always with hope - they have even developed a new industry that caters to mainly tourists, but utilizes those destroyed olive trees to create a variety of products made from olive wood -- Christmas tree decorations -- religious statues -- candle holders and many, many more items.

What most impressed me during my visit? First was visiting all the religious sites that are the birthplace of our Christian tradition. Secondly, the faithfulness and commitment to peace of all Palestinian Christians who live under conditions that we have difficulty in under- standing and believing. And, finally, the example of Christian commitment on the part of Peace Corps volunteers and other peace organizations who send "observers" to this area to become watchers/observers at all check points, at airports and other public places where injustice can take place. They have no authority -- they only observe and daily report to their agencies the days happenings. Reports are filed daily with the occupation forces. Not a lot of things change because of their presence, but many believe things are more just when the observers are on the scene.

Examples of injustices, intimidation, brutalities are daily happenings in this oppressed society. Their cry is for peace and for the chance to live like others.

Our visit to our partner synod was hosted by Bishop Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran church of Jordan and Jerusalem. He and his pastors were most gracious hosts. For me, this was a humbling experience being with people who daily risk their lives, their families, to be faithful witnesses for peace in the land that birthed our saviour, Jesus Christ.

My dream, my prayers, my hope is that one day peace will come to this land of tension and hate and then justice will "roll on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream." I invite you to share this dream with me.

Amen

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