Making Rough Ways Smooth
Marla Schrader – Palestine
It has been more than three years since our family left Bethlehem during the Spring 2002 series of IDF military incursions into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I left after a decade of mission service, while Leo, Jonathan and Anna Grace left their homeland. I will never forget that late May morning and how it took three adults to pry Jonathan’s grip off the front door. So desperate was my three-year-old son’s desire not to be uprooted from his home. We all left with the plan to return in 18 months, for surely the situation could not worsen. And then…it did.
It has been more than three years since our family left Bethlehem during the Spring 2002 series of IDF military incursions into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I left after a decade of mission service, while Leo, Jonathan and Anna Grace left their homeland. I will never forget that late May morning and how it took three adults to pry Jonathan’s grip off the front door. So desperate was my three-year-old son’s desire not to be uprooted from his home. We all left with the plan to return in 18 months, for surely the situation could not worsen. And then…it did.
Dear friends & colleagues,
Autumn, my favorite time of the year, is upon us. The leaves are beginning to change colors here in the DC metro area. In Palestine, it is olive harvesting season. And, throughout the world Eid al Fitr (the three day feast at the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan) has just begun. These days, I find myself missing the sacredness, the collective spiritual exercises in which I used to engage during Ramadan, even as a Christian who would marginally keep fast. A whole community striving for continuous spiritual contemplation and understanding of mutual well-being (e. g. how my accumulation/consumption effects your scarcity and how all of this impacts our relationship with God). My thoughts turn to one of my favorite passages in the Koran, taken from the 24th Surah. It speaks of God’s light kindled from the oil of the olive, glistening with the very brilliance of a star, and that it cannot be confined in any one direction.
What a bold statement: that God’s light cannot be confined (to one particular people or place nor excluded from one particular people or race or country, either). Quite personally, for my family in our most recent journeys, it has meant that God’s light has indeed been present as we moved multiple times seeking safe shelter from the shells and bullets and then as we moved to find our place here in the US, and now as I continue to find meaningful ways to continue my “mission in exile”.
It has been more than three years since our family left Bethlehem during the Spring 2002 series of IDF military incursions into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I left after a decade of mission service, while Leo, Jonathan and Anna Grace left their homeland. I will never forget that late May morning and how it took three adults to pry Jonathan’s grip off the front door. So desperate was my three-year-old son’s desire not to be uprooted from his home. We all left with the plan to return in 18 months, for surely the situation could not worsen. And then…it did.
After nine months of staying with family in the Midwest, we moved to the DC area and here we still sit. I have been able to complete my current term as mission personnel from our new home in DC, primarily supporting the ministry of Jean Zaru (Palestinian Feminist and Non-Violent Peace Activist) and to a dwindling extent facilitating educational/human rights tours to the region. I am glad for this, primarily, because it is a sign of our churches’ commitment to our international partners that we will not let the oppressive forces that create unsafe, emergency situations define our mission and force us to discontinue our witness and service together.
February 2005 saw the end of my most recent term of service and the beginning of four months of interpretation in the DC – Baltimore area. It was a packed speaking schedule and, as usual, the crises and challenges in the Middle East don’t stop when I want them to and thus I also continued my work with Jean Zaru during this period. I was warmly received at each and every local church. Most questions from congregations were basic and accentuated the need for more deliberate and timely Middle East peace education.
With the conclusion of interpretation, I was left pondering: What better tools can we provide our local congregations to be peacemakers and advocates of human rights and justice for all in the Middle East, and globally? How can the resolutions passed at General Assembly and General Synod this past summer be used as catalysts for education and activism? And most specifically, how might we best pass on the understanding to everyone in our churches that the military occupation of indigenous Palestinian lands is immoral, illegal, inherently violent, de-stabilizing the world, and the main obstacle to a just and lasting peace?
During my time with local congregations, I overviewed the history of Disciple and UCC mission work in the Middle East, described in what we are engaged currently and how these efforts/programs respond to the current political realities and our priorities of presence and peacemaking at the point of greatest need. I showed power point images of the realities of displacement and occupation. And I ended with describing the real, tangible hope of a growing, grassroots non-violent peace movement in Palestine with the support of Israelis and internationals.
This phenomenon is significant because it comes at a time when the Wall is cementing the occupation, fragmenting Palestinian society and hemming in the peace work of those on the ground. It is coming at a time of settlement expansion in the West Bank and particularly, East Jerusalem. Poverty, travel restrictions and rights violations are all taking their toll on the social fabric of Palestinian society. It should not be underestimated how all of this damages one’s psychological well being, as well as familial and other social structures that are the basis of identity and self-esteem in Palestinian culture.
This non-violent movement is significant because it is articulated by Palestinians engaging in broad based networking with courageous Israelis and internationals, who know their humanity to be linked. All of who, quite literally, risk their lives for peace.
It is very important for our churches to know about this because for decades we have patiently voiced concern for a just resolution to the conflict. Indeed, we must, despite our fears, continue to keep up the watch and be as faithful and enduring with our accompaniment as the women at the tomb (Mark 15:40). But then, my friends, there surely comes a time when we are required to, in addition to all we have done before, collectively affirm that (as did Jo Ann Robinson of the Montgomery Bus Boycott):
“the time ha(s) come…to stop ‘waiting on the Lord’
and to help God to ‘make rough ways smooth.'”
With the death of Rosa Parks this past week, I am reminded of how with one woman’s act of claiming her humanity in one particular instance, on one bus, in one city millions more people were moved to help God make the rough ways smooth. And in dear sister Rosa’s memory, I pray, we might find the strength to join hands to keep on claiming humanity and smoothing out the rough.
Non-violent actions for a just peace in Palestine are building, one upon the other:
- Increasing discourse in both Palestinian and Israeli societies about non violent peace work;
- Key coordinating meetings among grassroots Palestinian groups have taken place recently and often include training sessions in non-violent strategies;
- Regular non-violent rallies, marches and direct actions to stop the Wall, challenges to travel restrictions and other human rights violations are on-going;
- Continuation of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (EAPPI), International Solidarity Movement and other groups in lieu of an international protection force for Palestinian civilians (most mainline denominations support EAPPI and some of our church members have courageously served in these protection forces, see www.eappi.org);
- Non-participation in the violence of occupation through Israelis and internationals adopting boycott and morally responsible investment strategies directed against settlement products, the infrastructure of occupation, military equipment, as well as some academic and cultural institutions;
- Three Friends of Sabeel ecumenical regional conferences this Fall and an international Friends of Sabeel conference to coordinate efforts on Morally Responsible Investment;
- The strong, ongoing education & advocacy work of the European churches and Palestinian church related organizations is a witness and model for us in North America;
- “Shaping Communities in Times of Crisis: Narratives of Land, People and Identities” is an international, ecumenical theological conference that will take place this November, sponsored by the International Center in Bethlehem; this will surely add momentum to progressive religious reflection and involvement for a non-violent resolution;
- Also, in November the local and worldwide ecumenical community was scheduled to celebrate the opening of the Jerusalem Ecumenical Center (JEC); WCC president Dr. Kobia was present for this event which also marked an acceleration in the global church community’s commitment to non-violent initiatives to end the occupation and bring about a just peace;
- “Celebrating Nonviolence” is an international conference that will gather together religious and secular advocates for non violence for a first of its kind meeting, scheduled for late December at Bethlehem University;
- Recent denominational and regional/conference resolutions in North America have pursued a greater level of engagement and bold initiatives to end any assistance, direct or indirect, that support the occupation;
- Our Disciple/UCC short and long term mission personnel are still able to support our ecumenical partners in their respective ministries. Most recently this has included: training Palestinian mental health professionals in emergency trauma situations, assisting the international advocacy desk of the YMCA/YWCA, enabling Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center to continue with its international programs; and supporting the establishment of a peace center in the heart of Ramallah;
- An International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel (March 12-19 2006, coordinated by the WCC) is being organized out a concern that after decades of patient advocacy, churches worldwide are increasingly concerned and feel compelled to take new actions for peace.
My friends, this is the short list! I am certain to have left out other initiatives that are contributing to this movement. And it almost goes without saying that all of this stands on the firm foundation of samoud. Samoud might be best translated as steadfastness. It is rooted firmly in Palestinian culture and self-identity. To be samoud means to remain steadfast on one’s land and more generally, to one’s homeland and to the struggle for freedom. For example, given the current grave circumstances, just waking up every morning with the determination to carry on, attempting to walk your children past military check points, driving to the market with the knowledge that you might be the next civilian casualty in a targeted killing, or taking your herds to graze despite the risk of physical attacks from settlers– is to have samoud.
No doubt, the situation is horrible and continues to worsen.
Yet, the good news is that the non-violent coming of God is on the horizon.
For now, I begin a new two year term of service (in exile!) and will continue to focus my energy in supporting Jean Zaru in her international, ecumenical work, as well as her many local activities including the recently established Friends International Center in Ramallah (FICR). The Meetinghouse has historically been a welcomed Quaker witness to the community in the center of Ramallah. During this past year, it was repaired, re-dedicated and now open, providing for inclusive worship and dedicated space of hospitality to encourage broad-based networking to build a culture of peace and non-violence.
I am proud that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ continue to enable me to assist in this endeavor. For it includes the four priority areas I believe we should earnestly address by: 1) supporting Middle Eastern Christians; 2) articulating a rights-based framework that clearly calls for active efforts to end the illegal occupation and bring about a just peace; 3) promoting peace education and indigenous efforts for non-violent change in Palestine; 4) creating broad based coalitions of groups with similar priorities that include Christians, Muslims and progressive Jews.
To be sure, having one foot in the US and one in Palestine offers up its challenges, to one’s perspective and even to parenting. During last month’s peace march in front of the White House, while we were so causally (it was almost a picnic like atmosphere) marching on Washington with some 200,000 plus other people who were all demanding an immediate end to the war in Iraq, the Israeli occupation forces were in Bilin (a West Bank village) carrying out orders to stop Israelis and internationals from joining Palestinian organized non-violent demonstrations against the Wall. The remnants of those who were eventually able to gather at this demonstration, as in countless other cases, were met with tear gas, shootings, and beatings. Demonstrations in the context of military occupation, often and quite literally, mean risking your life for peace.
Meanwhile back in DC, my seven-year-old son held up a sign that declared, “Occupation: Wrong in Iraq, Wrong in Palestine”. Admittedly, with some pride, Leo and I smiled at each other. Then I noticed that two helicopters were flying over us. They seemed too high to shoot rounds into the crowd, although I suppose air to ground missiles would have been a possibility. Strangely the security personnel were relaxed and not taking aim. And then one of kids squeezed a juice box in my hair-reality check! Yep, no doubt about it, this was definitely not Palestine! If sticky hair is my biggest worry, then we really are back in the States. Nevertheless, the whole incident brought back the realization that although risks may vary considerably, we all share the rough places together and we all share the responsibility for making them smooth.
Yours faithfully,
Marla
Marla Schrader lived ten years in the occupied Palestinian territories. She continues to support the theological work of Jean Zaru, Clerk of the Ramallah Friends Meeting.