"Reflections on the Israeli-Conflict"
Fr. George Wertin, Julie and Michael Madden
Sunday, October 20th, 2002

Julie, Michael and I found our trip to be more intense, demanding and eye-opening than we ever expected. The gap between what our media says and what is really is is much wider than we thought.

PURPOSE: We went for 4 reasons:

1. to search and ask questions
2. to support the victims of war
3. to explore possible solutions
4. to report back what we experienced

The 7-day war of 1967 was an Israeli victory with the occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. After the war these territories were put under Palestinian Authority. There have been numerous conflicts and uprisings since - most recently beginning with the intifada two years ago with Ariel Sharon’s entering the Hamar el Sherif mosque and the beginning of the suicide bombings.

We met people of every spectrum in Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories:

• we visited Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and the Territories
• we met with United Nations (UNWAR) leaders and relief workers
• we met with two members of the Lebanese Parliament
• we toured occupied Hebron, Jericho and Gaza
• we met with PLO leaders including Pres. Yasser Arafat
• we visited Israeli settlements in the Pal. Territories and met with a settler
• we met with graduate students from Hebrew Univ and Bethlehem Univ
• we stayed with families in Lebanon and Palestinian families
• we met with Human Rights activists for both sides
• we met with people affected by the violence on both sides

• refugees and right of return: There are 450,000 Pal. Refugees in camps in Jordan and 300,000 refugees in camps in Lebanon. All are preoccupied with ‘the right of return.’ Many still keep the keys for their houses and dream of returning one day. They cause great dislocations for the host countries.
• settlements: 200,000 Jewish settlers have been located in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza in violation of int’l law and UN resolutions
• Occupation and suicide bombers: Suicide is always an act of desparation.
• Iraq: everyone is opposed to the U.S. intended attack on Iraq. It would destabilize the region.

The settlements are often built on olive groves or on land that was previously declared off-limits by the Israelis to be green space. Roads are being built to access the settlements that Palestinians are not allowed to use - different colored license plates distinguish settlers from Palestinians.

The settlements create another source of conflict in terms of water. The settlers are allotted at least 3 times the water allotted to Palestinians and water is a highly coveted resource in the Middle East.

The settlements are the nexus of violence on both sides of the conflict. Almost everyone we spoke with - Palestinians and Israelis - acknowledged that dismantling the settlements will be crucial to achieving peace.

In addition to a new vocabulary, I felt that while we were in the Middle East we had to acquire a new skin.

This was most evident to me the day we went into Israel. While we were in Lebanon and Jordan we had been coached extensively on potential difficulties crossing the border because the previous Fellowship of Reconciliation delegation had been denied entry, detained and sent home. As we entered a couple of delegates were stopped and questioned - questions like “Where have you come from?” “Why did you fly into Amman instead of Tel Aviv?” “Where are you going?” “Who are you with?” Where are you staying?” - but we got in.

That afternoon we were scheduled to meet with Arafat’s Chief of Staff in Jericho. Because curfew had been recently been lifted and travel was still restricted at night, our objective was to get in and get out before evening. We attempted to enter on the two main roads but were stopped and denied entry at checkpoints on both roads. We decided to go in the back way.

The back way was a road clinging to the side of a mountain. It had been bulldozed and blocked with gates and boulders. Our guide decided that the best way over it was to fill the bulldozed trenches with the boulders and drive over those. At one point the bus was balanced precariously on one of those boulders at a 45-degree angle and I was looking over the side of the mountain several thousand feet down thinking “I really didn’t want to go this way.” We met many others using this same route - it was the only access into Jericho.

We made it in and after our meeting decided to risk going out on a main road because it was getting dark and traveling on the road we’d come in on would be risky at night. Our luck wasn’t good. The soldier who stopped us going out was the same soldier who had denied us entry earlier in the day. Our guide was led off the bus. We waited many moments for him to come back and when he did he just said quietly “They’ll be at my house later.”

He was composed. I was a wreck.

To live in a constant state of fear and anxiety on both sides of this conflict requires that you develop a new skin. A way to function and filter your experiences without falling into despair, resorting to violence or losing your mind.

These experiences were totally alien to us and our own skins did not equip us to live in the Middle East. I am sure that many people at St. Joan of Arc who have come back from South Africa and Guatemala would say the same thing.

It is this new, raw skin that makes re-entry so difficult and painful. When you leave the Middle East you don’t shed that skin. And when you come home with a much bigger idea of home than you had before, your old skin doesn’t fit anymore.

Solutions: It is clear: a two-state solution brokered by the U.S. with a new Palestinian State made up of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and a portioned East Jerusalem with qualified right of return for Palestinian refugees

What can we do? First, we must recognize that we as the Superpower are players. We must become political and participate in shaping the policies of our government. Everyone there is politically involved. And it is our responsibility in our democratic society. We must also become better informed and go beyond the superficial coverage of mainstream U.S. media.

Somewhere in my readings in Israel I read a simple, poignant quotation from the 16th Century Christian humanist Erasmus. He said it succinctly: “War is sweet for those who know it not.”