Letters from the Holy Land - Introduction

Melanie Nazareth

I am recently returned from Israel and occupied Palestine where I was for two and a half months with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.

EAPPI is an international programme coordinated by Quakers in Britain on behalf of churches and NGOs in the UK and Ireland. The programme brings people from around the world to the occupied West Bank to serve as human rights monitors and to provide international protection from human rights abuses. What I write however are my personal thoughts and words, and not official statements of the programme.

Palestine was an emotional place to be, particularly at this time. The people we met were stoic and extraordinarily generous in the face of hardship, but it is no exaggeration to say that each and every week things get harder for them.

On the street, in the shops, in their homes, everyone said: 'it was bad before, but now …'.

We saw it everywhere. The increasing numbers of gates and checkpoints, pop-up flying checkpoints and barriers that isolate communities and fragment the people; the increasing frequency of random military raids on homes in the middle of the night; the presence of armed soldiers where schoolchildren pass; the use of tear gas and sound bombs; and above all the unchecked settler violence.

For the agencies that provide support, and the Israelis that work alongside Palestinians to provide protective presence, legal and other assistance, the task is bigger every day.

It's one thing to know know the statistics, the facts, and the broad sweep of history, quite another to hear, and see and taste the ashes of their stories, so I hope that you will allow me to share with you some of the stories of the people I met.

I wrote these stories in the form of letters home while I was in the West Bank so they are sometimes raw and from the heart. I make no apology. It is important however for me to say that my accounts are bearing witness to what I saw and heard. They do not seek to be anti-Israeli, though they are critical of the state failing to meet its obligations under international law as an occupying authority, and I am not advocating for any particular solution to the long term issues - the situation is complex. I, and the EAPPI programme, do however take very seriously the international law framework set up to protect people under occupation and I am profoundly pro-human rights. I believe that the military administration should comply with its legal obligations. Because of this I have included in my letters some information about international humanitarian and human rights obligations.

Besides praying for all involved, I think one of the strongest things you could do in this situation is to engage in dialogue with your MP on this issue. If the UK is to be a real friend of Israel, it must be a critical friend. A real friend can not stand by in the face of systemic injustice - in this case, when the state is significantly violating its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. This doesn't just harm Palestinians, it causes harm to Israel and Israelis too in so many ways.

Hope for the future in this, as in all things, is rooted in our trust in God's purpose. But that trust requires us to play our part as instruments of God's purpose. I hope that together we will be instruments of peace and justice.

(We will be publishing each of Melanie's letters over the next few days.)

LINK

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel: www.quaker.org.uk/action/palestine-and-israel/eappi