Sue Plater – March 2001

At the FACT Christmas prayer meeting, I tried to convey the pain currently being experienced by Palestinian and Jewish peacemakers in the Holy Land. As Advent was in full swing we remembered the people of Bethlehem who were facing a grim Christmas under siege.

As Lent approached I was privileged to visit those friends there, on behalf of Amos Trust, as part of a large delegation of North Americans and Europeans aiming to show solidarity with the churches. The four days were organised by the Sabeel Ecumenical Centre, and we were based at the Catholic conference centre in Jerusalem, where we heard from Anglican, Catholic, Coptic, Melkite and Greek Orthodox church leaders, as well as Muslim and Jewish analysts and journalists.

As most Palestinians are barred from entering Jerusalem, we travelled out into the West Bank most days to reach those trapped in their villages and towns, including Bethlehem.

We joined Israeli peace demonstrators (the 'Women in Black') on their weekly Friday vigil, sharing with them the abuse of passers by who call their fellow Jews traitors and Nazis.

Getting seven coaches through the checkpoints created a problem for the (heavily armed) Israeli border police, who spend their days ensuring that Palestinians cannot move around. It took over an hour and a half to get the authorities to let us through, and on the day we split into small groups to go to different places we were refused entry, and had to join the Palestinians on the crowded back roads. This is a slightly risky venture, but is the only way Palestinians can get to work, school, meetings, family.

At Bir Zeit University (completely cut off since we returned) the students were trying to sit their final exams when we visited, each having spent literally hours getting in to the campus by the back routes. In Beit Sahour and Beit Jala, the suburbs of Bethlehem, we visited houses blasted by constant shelling. It was happening each night while we were there.

The Church of the Nativity was empty when we went in – an amazing concept for anyone who has been on a pilgrimage there. One mother showed us the hole in her children's bedroom wall and told us how ten minutes before the blast they had moved the youngsters into their room. Now they leave the house each night at five to stay with friends. Keeping a routine for children is difficult – many are suffering from bad dreams, bedwetting and behaviour problems with their lives so disrupted.

Several Palestinian groups do activities for the youngsters, not far removed from the type of work FACT has done over the years for those with special needs – to try to reassure them of their worth in God's eyes, when all around them there is conflict and grief.

Please pray for the peace and justice to prevail so that their lives can return to normal, and they can once again share in the basic human rights to live, work, study and travel in their own land.

SP

Amos Trust is a small charity working for justice and hope for the forgotten. It works with partners in six developing countries, telling their stories and raising funds.

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Canon Naim Ateek of Sabeel Centre negotiates to let us through a checkpoint.

Damage from shelling to a house in Beit Jala.