City of...

This is from a recent update from Christian Peacemaker Teams in the Hebron area. Just to clarify, it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to get a permit to build even in East Jerusalem, much less in the South Hebron Hills deep inside the West Bank. At-Tuwani is a small village whose land is being enroached upon by an illegal settlement. CPT is there to accompany children on their way to school so that they won't be attacked and harrassed by settlers, and hopefully to reduce settler violence against the village. For more information see www.cpt.org.


CPTnet
26 November 2007
AT-TUWANI: Demolition order issued for mosque

On 26 November at 2:30 p.m., an Israeli army jeep and a white pickup truck,
belonging to the Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO),* drove into the
village of at-Tuwani and left an order for the demolition of the village
mosque.

Israeli officials did not speak with anyone from the village.  They placed
the written order under a stone near the mosque and then drove out of the
village.  The demolition order gives the villagers five days either to
demolish the building themselves or obtain an Israeli court ruling to
suspend the order.

The villagers built a mosque in 1987, but the Israeli military demolished it
that same year.  Although they were unable to obtain building permission
from the Israeli authorities, the villagers decided to rebuild their mosque
at the end of 2006.  In May 2007, the Israeli authorities issued a 'stop
work order' for the mosque.  This communication generally precedes a
demolition order.

As of this writing, the villagers have not decided on their response to the
demolition order.

The Israeli authorities have also recently issued demolition orders for two
homes in the village of Imneizil, close to the Green Line and the route of
the southern section of the Separation Barrier/Annexation Wall.

* The DCO is part of the Civil Administration, the section of the Israeli
army that deals with Palestinian civilian affairs in areas of the occupied
Palestinian territories under Israeli control.

_______________

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained
peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict.  Originally a violence-reduction
initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren
and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of
Christian denominations.

Coming back from Beit Jalla the other day, our bus was stopped at the checkpoint. Even after only a few times, this becomes routine--everyone gets off, unless they are elderly or are nursing a child. We stand in line while the soldiers search the bus and check the ID cards of those sitting on the bus. Then we pass by, one at a time, the Palestinians somehow seeming less nervous than me, stone-faced by the routinization of oppression, hoping that the soldier will find no fault with their ID and their permit. The other day at Sabeel, a Muslim professor giving a talk to a group pointed out that even if a soldier doesn't abuse you, doesn't hit you or shoot you or verbally harrass you, the searching and the profiling is an act of violence, a violation. It's banal violence, structural violence, non-overt violence....but violence nonetheless.

This time, one of the soldiers spoke to me directly, and asked me how I was doing. "I'm fine," I said, "and you?" And I noticed that he wore a silver cross necklace over his black military vest.

There are several explanations, and I'm sure that I don't have all of them. Perhaps he is a Messianic Jew, a recent convert who believes in Jesus as the Jewish messiah. Perhaps he is a Christian Zionist who was somehow able to claim the right of return through a Jewish relative, eager to serve in the military of the state 'promised' by Biblical prophecy. Or perhaps it is none of these.

But it made me think, as I got back on the bus after the other soldier was unable to find my visa--several tense moments as I showed him the visa, he shook his head at me, the other soldier pointed out the 3 month stamp, I was allowed back on the bus. These crosses that we wear--what do they mean? What are they? What are they doing around on our necks, on our churches, on our publications?

The cross was used by the Romans to execute political criminals--revolutionaries, critics, trouble makers. It was a painful death, a method of torture, death by asphyxiation, in shameful, naked public space. So that's one meaning.

Many Palestinian Christians that I meet here wear crosses. It identifies them, in a society where they are a minority among a minority. It says "I am Palestinian, I am Arab, and I am Christian. You cannot deny my existence." And so that's another meaning.

I remember in Mostar, Bosnia, my friend Fritz putting his arm around my shoulders, and pointing up to the top of the hill looming over the city. There, a massive stone cross had been built by the Croatian Catholic residents of the city. "Do you know what that means?" he asked me. "No," I said, knowing that although I knew the obvious meaning, I was missing the meaning he was referring to. "That cross," he said, "has nothing to do with religion. It has nothing to do with Christ. What that cross says is 'we are better than you. We are not one people with you Bosnians, you Muslims. We are better.'" And so, that is another meaning.

Here, I wear a cross almost every day. This is not normal for me. I wear my Methodist missionary cross, the anchor cross that we received when we were commissioned (see one of my first entries). I wear it for several reasons. The significance of the anchor cross is that it reminds us that we are anchored in faith, hope, and love. That is another meaning.

The cross also reminds me of my commissioning, of the sermon that Bishop Devadhar gave on the risks and cost of discipleship, of the fact that we must give all if we are to commit ourselves to following this disident, this homeless rabbi, this executed prophet, this lover of the unlovable. And that is another meaning.

Perhaps most importantly, the cross reminds me of the wonderful community I am part of, of the support and encouragement and advice and prayers that surround me. I need to be reminded of this, daily. And that is another meaning.

Of course, sometimes there is the cynical reason for wearing the cross here, back to that ever-important issue of identity. The cross around your neck says "I am not Jewish or Muslim. I am Other. I am a tourist or a student. I don't belong here, and I am not dangerous." And that is sad. But it is another meaning.

Many of my friends believe that the cross means that God is very angry at humans, and that God needs to punish us, and that Jesus stepped in and took the punishment for us, and that by believing that, we are saved from punishment, but by not believing that, God is still mad at us, and so we will get punished after all. That is another meaning.


But the cross that Jesus carried didn't come on a necklace. It didn't, to paraphrase a famous Biblical scholar, have handles by which to carry it. And it didn't fit neatly into a doctrine or into a belief system or into a religion. It was heavy and ugly and it meant death and pain. And so what it means to carry that as your symbol, as a symbol of victory, is that this is how we conquer. We don't conquer by using more violence than the other side. We don't gain victory by winning. Our victory is found in loss, in pain, in moments in which anybody who knows anything would say, "might as well give up."


The other day in Bible study, one of my Palestinian friends argued that it is silly to talk about forgiveness unless you have a position of power. And I understand what he is saying. I understand when the people here say that justice must come before forgiveness. I do understand.

But the cross says otherwise. It says something very foolish that it was on the cross that Jesus prayed for forgiveness for his executors, not after the resurrection.

We are engaged in foolishness. That is what the cross says. People like quoting Gandhi. He is easy to quote. People like to say "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." But anybody who knows anything will tell you that this is foolish. You don't change the world by changing yourself. You change the world by getting to the people in power, the opinion makers, the policy makers. You change the structures of power, you convert the politicians, you gain power over others, and then you can make change.

Jesus is easy to quote, too. Like Gandhi, he is harder to follow. Like Gandhi, if we're honest, we consider a lot of what he says to be foolish.



And that is what the cross says. It says that our path is the path of foolishness. It says that our victory is in defeat. It says that we forgive even as we are killed. It says that we conquer not by the power of the lion but by the power of the slain lamb. And that is a tough thing to say, no matter where you are.




"For we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to the church-goers and foolishness to the secular folks, but to those who are called, both church-goers and secular folks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." (Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, with a little bit of Clarence Jordan-esque interpretation involved)


Here's to the foolish. Here's to the cross. Here's to the Path.

I've been sick all week, so I thought this was appropriate:

"If you like undressing, please let me find out
and
if you like large intenstines
please let me
please let me find out."

--Jonah Matranga



Let's be vulnerable.


Please let me find out.

Friends, I'm going to post a more reflective and, inshallah, interesting post soon, but for now, here's a copy of the update that I sent out to my home church and other supportive communities back home.