 ...George Wertin, Julie and Michael Madden A few weeks ago Julie Madden, our Social Justice Coordinator, walked into Peter Eichten’s office and blurted out, “We have to go to the Middle East. Somebody from here has to go so we can see what’s going on for ourselves.” This led to an extended discussion of which I became a part. We talked about the inadequacy of the media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian War. We talked about the way that the reporting of a war dehumanizes the suffering of real people. We talked about the intense desire on the part of the majorities of both Israelis and Palestinians for a brokered peace now. We talked about the horrible conditions in the Palestinian refugee camps and the threats of suicide bombers. We talked about how our tax dollars are fueling this war and how threats to attack Iraq are really distracting usfrom the horrors of this seemingly intractable war. This led to contacts with Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the oldest and largest interfaith peace organization in the United States, which many of us have supported for years. We entered into dialogue with them about their on-going series of peace delegations to the Middle East. After considerable discernment, it was decided that we should have representatives from St. Joan of Arc in the next FOR delegation to the Middle East, from Sept. 27 through Oct. 11. Deadlines had to be met quickly.. It was decided that Julie Madden and her husband and parishioner Michael Madden, who is active in our “Conversations on Peace,” and I would go as a part of this peace delegation. | |
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The delegation will be made up of eight persons led by Scott Kennedy of the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, CA. Scott has led a dozen delegations to the Middle East since 1975. We will go to Nyack, NY for a one-day orientation before flying to Amman, Jordan. We will then go to Beirut and Southern Lebanon to visit Palestinian refuge camps. We will travel in Israel and the Palestinian territories and meet human rights activists and political leaders on both sides. We will meet with political and religious leaders and expect to visit and stay overnight in Palestinian homes. It will be an intense experience in which we will witness the effects of U.S. foreign policy in the whole Middle East. It will give us an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those struggling to bring a sustainable peace to the region. It will give us an opportunity to bring home our experiences, to make this war more than just a clip on the evening news or a couple of articles in the newspaper. People ask Julie, Michael and me if we aren’t afraid to go into areas of potential conflict and bombings. I share the reflections of New York Times Foreign Correspondent Thomas Friedman who tells of living in Beirut during the civil war in the late 1980s when there were frequent attacks from all sides on the city streets. He said people either lived fearfully and in constant anxiety, or they went about their business in a calm and measured way knowing that the attacks were not directed at them personally. We have our strong St. Joan of Arc Statement on Peacemaking and our commitment to dialogue with our on-going “Conversations on Peace,” and our dialogue with our political leaders. We now have the opportunity to make a direct link with those who are involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is at the epicenter of all the unrest in the Middle East. We shall be sending back reports and photos. We will shall share our experiences when we return, so that we can all learn from these first-hand experiences and better commit ourselves to peacemaking. |
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