Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Dome of the Rock

On of the highlights of our trip last November was to spend time in East Jerusalem in the old city. We stayed at St. Thomas guesthouse and frequently walked about the old city.  One of the most peaceful parts of the city is the courtyard outside of the Dome of the Rock.


The court links the Dome with the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  This is considered the third most holy site in the Muslim world.  We enjoyed watching the beehive of activity as Muslims and tourists mingled in this area.  We were disheartened to learn that the Israeli Government has recently closed off this site to Muslim access.  The last time this was done was during the 1967 war.  This move is sure to heighten tensions which are already high.  The Israeli government has been slowly and surely choking off Palestinian access to this site and the latest move closes it off entirely.

This appears to be another carefully calculated decision to tighten the noose around the Palestinian people.

Today is my birthday.  I received a greeting from Matts Nilsson, one of the members of EAPPI group 37.  He sent along a picture taken at St. Georges in Jerusalem at the beginning of our service.  It stirred many memories of our work to support peace with justice among the people of the area.

Susanne

EAPPI Group 37




Thursday, December 12, 2013

Returning to Tulkarm



It was the fulfillment of a dream come true to once again return to Palestine and specifically to Tulkarm where I began my placement with EAPPI 3 years ago. This time I returned traveling with my husband, Obed, prior to our attendance at the SABEEL conference.

We traveled on the local bus from Jerusalem to Ramallah, another bus to Nablus and another bus to Tulkarm. Even though we had given our friend Sadi an approximate arrival time, we knew it would be dependent upon how long it would take to get through the checkpoints. Once I saw the first checkpoint tower, a flood of memories returned. Restricted movement was my thought as I braced for the bus to be stopped and the IDF to come on board with their AK-47s.





The Palestinian people are very familiar with this inconvenient and scrutinizing effort on the part of Israel's military to control their lives. It comes in the form of disrespect and intimidation. The Wall was very visible as well as we continued our journey. The Wall is an apartheid system built by Israel because of their belief that separation will increase the security of the Israel population. This isn't just a simple structure but rather a 30 foot high chunk of concrete winding its way inside the green line on precious Palestinian farmland.

The 3rd realization was the rapidly expanding settlement system built illegally and in violation of International Law on Palestinian land. Along with the growth of settlements has come a total guaranteed infrastructure for the Settlers, roads only for settlers, guaranteed security from the IDF, guaranteed water source coming from Palestinian aquifers, etc. The settlements are expanding at such a fast rate and in doing so they gobble up Bedouin communities, olive groves and Palestinian communities.

Since tourists rarely come to town, we were obviously outsiders. But as we stepped off the bus we were met by smiles and greetings. A coffee merchant on the corner recognized me and said "It is good to see you again. Most everyone we met said: "you are welcome." Sadi and Dalbah soon found us and the rest of our visit was spent renewing friendships and engaging in significant conversations.




The two men were very important contacts for our EA team 38 of EAPPI and they continue to be community leaders who are very engaged in non-violent resistance to the Occupation. Since there are no tourist accomodations in Tulkarm we were graciously housed and fed by our friends and their families. It was so enjoyable to share a meal of exquisite Palestinian cuisine while visiting with Sadi, Dalbah and their families. Rather than focusing on how they have suffered through the continuing years of Occupation, they shared their hope of the future of Palestine.


                                                               Inshallah


Susanne

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Eyewitness Views of Palestinian Life

I was privileged to be a part of a group of international ecumenical accompaniers who served on the West Bank in early 2011.  One of our group was a woman from Norway who was a videophotographer who spent most of her time in Hebron.  She interviewed many Palestinians, accompaniers and others who were engaged in non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation. 

Anne Skaardal has produced a wonderful video that is well worth watching.  As Christmas approaches my memories of celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem become more vivid.  I invite you to watch this 14 minute video of life in occupied Palestine.

Susanne

 http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10151347424426031&set=o.2309402802&type=2&theater


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Animated Israeli-Palestinian History

I came across a very interesting u-tube video put out Jewish Voice For Peace ( jewishvoiceforpeace.org) that I thought should be part of my blog.  It certainly captures how I view the present conflict after having spent three months with the Palestinian people on the West Bank.

One of the things I liked about this short film clip is its emphasis on what each of us can do, in our own way, to bring about pressure for a non-violent end of the occupation and a resolution to the long overdue struggle for justice and peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y58njT2oXfE&feature=youtu.be

I am also attaching a letter I received that I thought was worth sharing:

Susanne


I wear many hats. I’m a dad, a videographer, a Jewish Israeli, a veteran. But I’m telling you my story, and asking you to forward this email and ask your friends to sign this letter to President Obama about US military aid to Israel, as a human being, as a citizen of the world, and as someone who deeply cares about the people in Israel and Gaza.

My wife, kids and I live just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, where life during the past weeks for the most part carried on as normal.
There were four sirens in the eight days of the Israeli operation, which means we had to move into a room in the house that has reinforced concrete walls. In our case, we went down to our apartment building’s bomb shelter for 10 minutes—as far as I know every apartment building in Israel has one. Fortunately, the kids took it well and were not scared.

In the south close to the border with Gaza where I’ve been working, life is much, much different. People who could do so temporarily moved northward and stayed with family and friends out of rocket and mortar range.

Being outdoors when the siren goes off in the south is quite scary. Most rockets are relatively small, up to 12 pounds of explosives, and cannot bring down a building. But in the open space they splatter lots of metal fragments.

The bigger long distance rockets that were fired at lower intervals were the "Fajar" Rockets that carry 90 lbs of explosives. They cannot bring down a building but can destroy an apartment and killed 3 people in an apartment building. People in bomb shelters are considered to be safe.

And of course, the Iron Dome defense system reportedly destroyed 85% of rockets headed towards Israeli populated areas.

Still, in the south, the sirens went off many times a day and there was no school and no work because parents naturally wanted to be near their kids.

In contrast, in Gaza, the bombs dropped by the Israeli military ranged from 500 to 1,000 pounds, and in the past, also 2,000 pounds. Ten or 20 times more powerful than those which they have sent our way.

When I’d go to our bomb shelter with my family, I would think of families like mine in Gaza. They had no sirens, no Iron Dome defense, no shelters, and because they are essentially trapped, nowhere to go.But mostly, I thought about how terrified I'd be during the bombings.

There is no safe place to go in Gaza.

It wouldn’t matter if buildings had shelters since the Israeli bombs often flatten the building they hit. There's literally nothing left. 
 
I want you to ask your friends to sign this letter to President Obama asking him to make aid to Israel contingent on not using it to target civilians because there is no military solution. Not for Palestinians. Not for us Israelis.

To reach a true peace for all of us, Israeli and Palestinian, our governments must choose diplomacy over more bombing. The Israeli government must end its terrible siege of the Palestinians.

And the US must stop sending my government weapons they know will be used to violate the law and harm civilians.

I am happy we've reached a cease-fire and I hope this will lead to negotiations with the Hamas government. I remind myself that the British in pre-state Israel also considered the Israeli political groups terrorist entities.

With hopes for a fair and lasting peace for both of our peoples,

Amir Terkel




 
 
 
 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Israel-Palestine: What is the U.S. National Interest?

I discovered an article by Ralph Nader written on November 20th that I felt was well worth putting on this blog.  I encourage you to read it.


Susanne
 
Israeli elections are coming up in January so it is Palestinian hunting season again. Israeli cynics call it a time “for mowing the grass.”

Out comes the well-worn playbook by Israel’s militaristic government that has worked to silence Israeli politicians and citizens who want a two-state solution. This is an opportunity to use and test advanced weaponry from the U.S., compliments of U.S. taxpayers, and squelch ongoing peace efforts, small and large, by Palestinians, Israelis and international peace advocates.

The playbook’s first chapter is provocation to upset a tense but workable truce with Hamas, the elected government of Gaza. Hamas was encouraged at its creation years ago by both Israeli and U.S. backers to counter the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Bit of a blowback there.

Israeli government leaders are expert provocateurs when they wish to seize land, water or prisoners and upset any movement toward a peace that would create a viable Palestinian state back to the 1967 borders, which includes East Jerusalem. When Israel came into being in 1948, it soon broke a UN truce and doubled its territory by taking the large area known as the Negev desert, whose refugees ended up in the Gaza Strip. Now 1.6 million encircled and impoverished humans, blockaded and under siege by Israel, try to survive in an open-air prison little more than twice the size of the District of Columbia.

Israel’s strategy of breaking cease-fires and truces over the years has been documented by Princeton University history professor emeritus, Arno J. Mayer, in his scholarly book “Plowshares into Swords: From Zionism to Israel.” (Verso, 2008).

In late 2008, Israel broke a months-long truce with Hamas with an attack that took half a dozen lives. Modern Israeli missiles and crude Hamas rockets started flying to and fro. Then Israel invaded the Gaza strip with soldiers to add to its previous incursions -  24/7 electronic and satellite surveillance, omnipresent spies, flyovers, and data mining (down to specific details on each extended family and neighborhood). With their avowed pinpoint bombing, the Israelis destroyed homes, schools, clinics, police stations, clusters of people at bus stops, farms, UN facilities and even hit the American International School – all with the blessing of President-elect Barack Obama.

Observers marvel at the precise knowledge by Israel of who was in what car traveling where in Gaza, before being vaporized. Yet somehow, the second-most modern military in the world could not detect and stop those garages assembling the rockets or the sites firing the crude missiles, which were the rationale for the Israeli invasion.

When the Gaza invasion-massacre ended, there were more than 1400 Palestinian fatalities, including around 300 children, and many thousands of injuries, a population surrounded by destruction and deprived by this illegal blockade-siege of medicines, food, water, electricity and the other necessities of life.

One large extended family in several adjoining homes was ordered by Israeli soldiers to congregate in the largest of the homes. Then the Israelis blew it up. This Samouni family lost about 30 of its members, or more than double the entire fatality toll in Israel, including those soldiers lost from friendly fire.

The current hostilities started in two stages. The first was a back-and-forth that saw an emerging truce broken decisively on November 14 when Israel pridefully blew up a car containing Hamas military chief, Ahmad al-Jabari who actually was leading the negotiations via Egypt with Israel for a longer-range truce.

Back to Israel’s playbook, chapter two can be called the instant, mandatory resolutions by the puppet show in Congress and the automatic one-sided mantra by the White House. “Israel has a right to defend itself,” said President Obama, from the occupied, besieged, defenseless Palestinians, whose lands, water, homes, businesses and freedom of movement are being taken relentlessly by the raiding Israeli government that is not content with possessing 78 percent of traditional Palestine.

More than 1500 Israeli reserve combat officers and soldiers signed a declaration refusing, in their words, "to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people." The founder of Israel, David ben Gurion, candidly declared it “their (Palestine’s) land and we took it.”

So Palestinians do not have a right to try to defend themselves against their cruel, powerful occupiers. Israel is violating several UN resolutions along with international law, according to many experts including Richard Falk, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories. But the U.S. gives Israel its unwavering UN veto cover.

Finally, chapter three of the playbook is to make sure that the Israeli government advocates dominate the U.S. media – the talk shows, the news slants, and the opinion columnists. This is becoming less easy in an internet age. Which might explain that, along with homes, water wells, rescue teams, an ambulance, and other civilian installations, the Israeli air force already has bombed the office building housing Palestinian television studios and hosting media from the western world, including Fox TV. That is one indelicate way to tell these western journalists to get out of Gaza so that the truth about the immense civilian suffering and war crimes can no longer be told by them.

 Still, the heroic Israeli progressives and peace advocates would not be silenced, in spite of some Hamas rockets nearing Tel Aviv. A few hundred of them demonstrated in this city, charging the Netanyahu government with provoking the fighting in Gaza to divert attention from conditions of social and economic injustices and civil liberty suppression in their country.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be resolved peacefully, without violence. During quieter times, more than half the Israelis supported a two-state solution. A few years ago, 61 percent of Israelis, polled by a prominent university there, favored negotiations with Hamas. A majority of Jewish-Americans, though unorganized, favor a two-state solution.

In 2002, the Arab League unanimously (22 countries) presented with great fanfare an across-the-board peace treaty with the stipulation that Israel would adhere to UN Resolutions and allow a viable Palestinian state. Again and again, sometimes in full-page ads in U.S. newspapers, this offer was repeated only to receive scoffing and abrupt dismissal by the Israeli government. So, predictably, Washington did nothing.

So what is the alternative? A one-state solution with both Palestinians and Israelis having equal rights? Noura Erakat, who teaches at Georgetown University, framed the dilemma back in August whenshe quoted former prime minister and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying, after leaving his former post, “If, and as long as between the Jordan (River) and the (Mediterranean) Sea there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or nondemocratic…. If the Palestinians vote in elections it is a binational state, and if they don't vote it is an apartheid state.” His rival, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the same thing.

Awareness of this pathway is leading some extremist Israeli politicians who call Palestinians “vermin” and “rats” to think about the day when they can, with suitable provocations, drive the Palestinians into the desert.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Israeli Attack on Gaza

I have been very concerned about what is going on in Gaza.  The following article is very insightful and I urge you to read it.

Susanne

Top Ten Myths about Israeli Attack on Gaza
Juan Cole-University of Michigan
 

posted on 11/17/2012 by Juan
1. Israeli hawks represent themselves as engaged in a ‘peace process’ with the Palestinians in which Hamas refuses to join. In fact, Israel has refused to cease colonizing and stealing Palestinian land long enough to engage in fruitful negotiations with them. Tel Aviv routinely announces new, unilateral house-building on the Palestinian West Bank. There is no peace process. It is an Israeli and American sham. Talking about a peace process is giving cover to Israeli nationalists who are determined to grab everything the Palestinians have and reduce them to penniless refugees (again).
2. Actions such as the assault on Gaza can achieve no genuine long-term strategic purpose. They are being launched to ensure that Jewish-Israelis are the first to exploit key resources. Rattling sabers at the Palestinians creates a pretext for further land-grabs and colonies on Palestinian land. That is, the military action against the people of Gaza is a diversion tactic; the real goal is Greater Israel, an assertion of Israeli sovereignty over all the territory once held by the British Mandate of Palestine.
3. Israeli hawks represent their war of aggression as in ‘self-defense.’ But the UK Israeli chief rabbi admitted on camera that that the Gaza attack actually ‘had something to do with Iran.’
4. Israeli hawks demonize the Palestinians of Gaza as “bad neighbors” who don’t accept Israel. But 40% of the people in Gaza are refugees, mostly living in refugee camps, from families in pre-1948 Palestine that had lived there for millennia.
They were expelled from what is now Israel in the 1948 Zionist ethnic cleansing campaign. Israelis are now living in their homes and farming their land, and they were never paid any reparations for the crimes done to them.[pdf] “Israel’s failure to provide reparations to Palestinian refugees over the past six decades is in blatant violation of international law.” Israel does not accept Palestine’s right to exist, even though it is constantly demanding that everyone, including the displaced and occupied Palestinians, recognize Israel’s right to exist.
5. Israeli hawks and their American clones depict Gaza as a foreign, hostile state with which Israel is at war. In fact, the Gaza strip is a small territory of 1.7 million people militarily occupied by Israel (something in which the UN and other international bodies concur). Israelis do not allow it to have a port or airport, nor to export most of what it produces. Palestinians cannot work about a third of its land, which is reserved by Israel as a security buffer. As an occupied territory, it is covered by the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 on the treatment of occupied populations by their military occupier. Indiscriminate bombing of occupied territories by the occupier is clearly illegal in international law.
6. Israeli hawks see themselves as innocent victims of bewildering Palestinian rage from Gaza. But Israel not only has kept Palestinians of Gaza in the world’s largest outdoor penitentiary, they have them under an illegal blockade that for some years aimed at limiting their nutrition without altogether starving them to death. I wrote earlier:
“The food blockade had real effects. About ten percent of Palestinian children in Gaza under 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition. A recent report [pdf] by Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians found that, in addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants, 58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers. “
If any foreign power surrounded Israel, destroyed Haifa port and Tel Aviv airport, and prevented Israeli exports from being exported, what do you think Israelis would do? Oh, that’s right, it is rude to see both Palestinians and Israelis as equal human beings.
7. Israeli hawks demonize the Palestinian residents of Gaza as followers of Hamas, a party-militia of the Muslim religious right. But half of Palestinians in Gaza are minors, who never voted for Hamas and cannot be held collectively responsible for that party.
8. Israeli hawks justify their aggression on the Palestinians on grounds of self-defense. But Israel is a country of 7.5 million people with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, helicopter gunships and F-16s and F-18s, plus 400 nuclear warheads. Gaza is a small occupied territory of 1.7 million which has no heavy weaponry, just some old guns and some largely ineffectual rockets. (Israelis cite hundreds of rockets fired into Israel from Gaza in 2012; but until Israel’s recent attack they had killed not a single Israeli, though they did wound a few last March when fighting between Palestinians and Israelis escalated.) Gaza is a threat to Israel the way the Transkei Bantustan was a threat to Apartheid South Africa. As for genuine asymmetrical threats from Gaza to Israel, they could be dealt with by giving the Palestinians a state and ceasing the blockade imposed on them, or in the worst case scenario counter-terrorism targeted at terrorists rather than indiscriminate bombing campaigns.
9. Israeli hawks maintain that they were provoked into the attack. But actually Ahmad Jabari, the Hamas leader the Israelis assassinated earlier this week, had been engaged in talks with the Israelis about a truce. Assassinations achieved by the ruse of openness to peace talks are guarantees of no further peace talks.
10. Although most American media is a cheering section for the Likud Party,in fact the world is increasingly done out with Israel’s aggressiveness. Boycotts and sanctions will likely grow over time, leaving Israeli hawks with a deficit…

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Church Challenges US Congress over Funding for Israel

It’s now October 2012 and I’ve been back in the US after being in the EAPPI program in the West Bank of Palestine for a 3 month period during Dec. 10 through Feb. 2011.   Having an opportunity to be in the EAPPI program was an eye-opening experience for me.  I continue to read information about what is happening in Palestine.  I read the English edition of Maan News to keep up on events.  http://www.maannews.net/eng/Default.aspx
Families Protest Treatment of Imprisoned Family Members
I  am encouraged by groups and individuals who continue to question and speak out about human rights violations that are constantly conducted against the Palestinian people.  I made a promise that I would tell their story when I returned.   For too long the citizens of the United States have not questioned the vast expenditures of support for Israel, much of which is used to fund the occupation. A call for an investigation as to why Israel continues to violate International Law seems in order.
Last week a number of religious leaders in the United States wrote a letter to Congress to voice their concern over the continuation of funding which supports the occupation.  My own church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America posted this article:
CHICAGO (ELCA) - Concerned about the deteriorating conditions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and the commitment for a just peace, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and other U.S. Christian leaders are urging Congress to conduct an investigation into possible human rights and weapon violations by the government of Israel.
     In an Oct. 5 letter to Congress, the religious leaders cited possible violations by Israel of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which respectively excludes assistance to any country that engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations and limits the use of U.S. weapons to "internal security" or "legitimate self-defense."
     The leaders also urged Congress "to undertake careful scrutiny to ensure that our aid is not supporting actions by the government of Israel that undermine prospects for peace. We urge Congress to hold hearings to examine Israel's compliance, and we request regular reporting on compliance and the withholding of military aid for non-compliance."
     U.S. churches and religious organizations have been deeply involved in the pursuit of peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. The religious leaders shared in their letter that they have witnessed the pain and suffering of Israelis as a result of Palestinian actions and of Palestinians as a result of Israeli actions.
     "When as Lutherans we say that all the baptized will strive for justice and peace in all the earth, it means that we will be immersed in complex issues. While we do not all agree on the best way to establish justice and bring peace, we will be involved in lively, respectful, passionate conversations," said Hanson.
     In their letter, the U.S. Christian leaders were clear in their recognition that Israel faces real security threats and that it has both "a right and a duty to protect both the state and its citizens," but the "measures that it uses to protect itself and its citizens, as in the case with any other nation, must conform to international humanitarian and human rights law."
     The leaders further said it is unfortunate that "unconditional U.S. military assistance to Israel has contributed to (the) deterioration, sustaining the conflict and undermining the long-term security interests of both Israelis and Palestinians. This is made clear in the most recent 2011 State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices covering Israel and the Occupied Territories, which details widespread Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinian civilians, many of which involve the misuse of U.S.-supplied weapons."
     Examples of human rights violence related to U.S. military support were included as an annex to the letter and, in addition to specific rights violations, the Christian leaders expressed their concern that Israel continues to expand its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, claiming territory "that under international law and U.S. policy should belong to a future Palestinian state."
     "From Palestinian Lutherans, I hear discouragement about the lack of progress and questions about where the voice is of American Christians," said Hanson. "Our letter seeks to be a partial answer to such questions, that we are clear in our resolve to continue to work for a just and lasting solution for Israelis and Palestinians."
     The U.S. Christian leaders wrote that it is "our moral responsibility to question the continuation of unconditional U.S. financial assistance to the government of Israel. Realizing a just and lasting peace will require this accountability, as continued U.S. military assistance to Israel -- offered without conditions or accountability -- will only serve to sustain the status quo and Israel's military occupation of the Palestinian territories."
     They requested that Congress hold Israel accountable to these standards by "making the disbursement of U.S. military assistance to Israel contingent on the Israeli government's compliance with applicable U.S. laws and policies. As Israel is the single largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II, it is especially critical for Israel to comply with the specific U.S. laws that regulate the use of U.S.-supplied weapons. We also encourage Congress to support inclusive, comprehensive and robust regional diplomacy to secure a just and lasting peace that will benefit Israelis, Palestinians, and all the peoples of the region and the world."
     Through an action, the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly expressed concern over continued U.S. military aid to Israel. Concerned about the deteriorating conditions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and the commitment for a just peace, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and other U.S. Christian leaders are urging Congress to conduct an investigation into possible human rights and weapon violations by the government of Israel.
     In an Oct. 5 letter to Congress, the religious leaders cited possible violations by Israel of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which respectively excludes assistance to any country that engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations and limits the use of U.S. weapons to "internal security" or "legitimate self-defense."
     The leaders also urged Congress "to undertake careful scrutiny to ensure that our aid is not supporting actions by the government of Israel that undermine prospects for peace. We urge Congress to hold hearings to examine Israel's compliance, and we request regular reporting on compliance and the withholding of military aid for non-compliance."
     U.S. churches and religious organizations have been deeply involved in the pursuit of peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. The religious leaders shared in their letter that they have witnessed the pain and suffering of Israelis as a result of Palestinian actions and of Palestinians as a result of Israeli actions.
     "When as Lutherans we say that all the baptized will strive for justice and peace in all the earth, it means that we will be immersed in complex issues. While we do not all agree on the best way to establish justice and bring peace, we will be involved in lively, respectful, passionate conversations," said Hanson.
     In their letter, the U.S. Christian leaders were clear in their recognition that Israel faces real security threats and that it has both "a right and a duty to protect both the state and its citizens," but the "measures that it uses to protect itself and its citizens, as in the case with any other nation, must conform to international humanitarian and human rights law."
     The leaders further said it is unfortunate that "unconditional U.S. military assistance to Israel has contributed to (the) deterioration, sustaining the conflict and undermining the long-term security interests of both Israelis and Palestinians. This is made clear in the most recent 2011 State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices covering Israel and the Occupied Territories, which details widespread Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinian civilians, many of which involve the misuse of U.S.-supplied weapons."
     Examples of human rights violence related to U.S. military support were included as an annex to the letter and, in addition to specific rights violations, the Christian leaders expressed their concern that Israel continues to expand its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, claiming territory "that under international law and U.S. policy should belong to a future Palestinian state."
     "From Palestinian Lutherans, I hear discouragement about the lack of progress and questions about where the voice is of American Christians," said Hanson. "Our letter seeks to be a partial answer to such questions, that we are clear in our resolve to continue to work for a just and lasting solution for Israelis and Palestinians."
     The U.S. Christian leaders wrote that it is "our moral responsibility to question the continuation of unconditional U.S. financial assistance to the government of Israel. Realizing a just and lasting peace will require this accountability, as continued U.S. military assistance to Israel -- offered without conditions or accountability -- will only serve to sustain the status quo and Israel's military occupation of the Palestinian territories."
     They requested that Congress hold Israel accountable to these standards by "making the disbursement of U.S. military assistance to Israel contingent on the Israeli government's compliance with applicable U.S. laws and policies. As Israel is the single largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since World War II, it is especially critical for Israel to comply with the specific U.S. laws that regulate the use of U.S.-supplied weapons. We also encourage Congress to support inclusive, comprehensive and robust regional diplomacy to secure a just and lasting peace that will benefit Israelis, Palestinians, and all the peoples of the region and the world."

The US has allocated billions of dollars to Israel over the next few years.  I saw how those dollars are being spent to keep the Palestinian population totally at the mercy of Israel.
One of Hundreds of Checkpoint Scattered Throhout the West Bank
 I felt very safe and respected as I lived among Palestinians on the West Bank.  I heard over and over:  “you are welcome” and “please tell the world we are not terrorists.”  No one can live a normal life under occupation when daily activities are completely hindered.  A child facing an IDF soldier with full combat weapons just to get to school every day can never develop a sense of trust.

One of the responsibilities of an E A was to be present at the early morning checkpoints.  There were several agriculture gates in the Tulkarm area that we monitored and reported statistics to the UN.  As I think back on it now, it seems almost to the point of ridiculous that a farmer would have to have permission to access his own farm land. 

The Israeli Defense Forces conducted the daily checking of permits at checkpoints where people were just traveling to  work or school.  There was never respect shown to those who were waiting so patiently at the checkpoints.  One day as I was taking my turn at the Taybe checkpoint I was hungry, tired and cold.  A Palestinian woman who was also waiting came up to me and gave me a delicious orange.  She told me it was a gift just for standing in solidarity with her and the thousands of others who were daily humiliated by being under occupation.  

To read the letter sent to Congress, you can find it at this website:

Susanne