Scott Kennedy, coordinator of the Middle East Program of the Resource Center for Nonviolence and member of the Santa Cruz City Council, is the leader of a seven member Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) delegation which left Friday September 27th for Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip of Palestine.

Report #5 - Oct 10 - Meeting with Arafat
Report #4 - Oct 8 - Jerico & Jerusalem
Report #3 - Oct 7 - South Lebanon
Report #2 - Oct 5 - Beirut & Southern Lebanaon
Report #1 - Oct 1 - Amman, Jordan, Beirut, Lebanon
More Mid East Info - research, news, perspective

Monday Oct 21, 7PM
MID-EAST UPDATE -- Scott Kennedy & Delegations Members
Recently Returned from Lebanon, Jordan, Israel & Palestine
RCNV, 515 Broadway (@ Ocean); Information 423-1626

REPORT #5, Received Oct 5 -- FOR Delegation meets with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on final night in Palestine and Israel

Visit www.forusa.org to see photos.

Wednesday October 9

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Interfaith Peace Builders Delegation met with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat late Wednesday afternoon October 9th in his heavily damaged office compound in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine. The delegation rushed from their hour-long meeting with President Arafat for the Kalandia checkpoint before the 6:00 PM military curfew came into effect in Ramallah.

The delegation's appointment was arranged by Dr. Sami Mussalam, Arafat's Chief of Staff in Jericho. A week after Israeli Prime Minister Sharon lifted the siege of Arafat's "muqa'a'tah" or "district," the delegation's bus was able to drive directly into the compound and up to the front door of the sole remaining building in the Palestine Authority's headquarters. Other buildings have been reduced to piles of rubble by Israeli bulldozers after two suicide attacks in Israel. A pile of wrecked and flattened cars, four to five layers deep, loomed directly across the courtyard from the entrance to Arafat's building. In between, a small skip-loader and a half dozen laborers worked feverishly in a large hole. New reinforcement bars could be seen across the shattered façade of the other building facing the courtyard, an apparent part of reconstruction already underway.

Our delegation was greeted by a security official and watched by a dozen uniformed Palestinian police and security officers carrying weapons. We soon were ushered past a 20 foot pile of sandbags into the front door and up two flights of stairs to the rather drab rectangular conference room where Arafat awaited us. President Arafat sat humped over a writing table. To his right rose an 18" pile of papers. As we entered he was rapidly writing his signature or notes in red pen on correspondences and reports taken off the stack to his right and set to his left on the table.

Arafat wore his black and white kufiyeh and olive green military uniform. Each breast pocket sported a small metal Palestinian flag pin. I noted an emergency oxygen tank and mask at each end of the room. Arafat looked frail. But he came alive and became more animated as we spoke. He addressed us in English, only occasionally turning to his press spokesman Nabil Abourdeineh, who sat to his right, when he was at a loss a word or needed a gentle prompt to recall a name or place.

After introductions and learning that we had visited Gaza Strip two days previously, President Arafat said his sister had just entered Gaza from the Egyptian border. It had taken her twelve hours to cover the 25 kilometers (15 miles) to Gaza City due to the Israeli's military checkpoints. It was fitting that our conversation began with reference to so mundane a matter as travel time. We have seen that the lives of Palestinians are dominated by the 250 checkpoints now peppering the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The checkpoints come up in nearly every conversation. Arafat spoke of the horror of women in labor being stopped at checkpoints and losing their newborn children.

President Arafat gave a detailed analysis of the likely destabilizing consequences of a US war on Iraq. Touching on each country bordering Iraq, he predicted that overthrowing Saddam Hussein would result in Iraq breaking into three parts. The northern Kurdish dominated section would threaten Turkey and the former Soviet republics to the west and north. The Shiite south would impact Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The remaining central section would destabilize Jordan and Syria. He said this prospect of vivisecting Iraq is why George Bush Sr. adamantly prohibited any country from pursuing Hussein in the Gulf War.

In response to various issues raised by the delegation, Arafat gave remarkably detailed accounts of his role in brokering agreements in the region to maintain the peace and prevent war, including Afghanistan and India/Pakistan. "I am concerned about what will happen from a war . it will be a big disturbance in the whole area: for the Kurds in the north and the Shiites from the south." He emphasized that he was "speaking as an expert" and as the permanent Vice President of the Islamic Conference.

In response to a question about the setback in terms of US public and government opinion about the Palestinian cause as a result of the second or Al Aqsa Intifada, Arafat gave an equally detailed summary of his attempts to prevent the uprising. He described a meeting at the home of Ehud Barak at which he pleaded with the Israeli Prime Minister to not allow Arik Sharon to visit the "Haram el Sharif," or the Temple Mount area in the Old City of Jerusalem. He said he had reminded Barak that on June 17,1967, Israeli General Moshe Dayan had ordered troops to remove the Israeli flag that had been placed in the Haram El Sharif after Israel conquered the Old City. He further ordered that no Jew was to visit the Haram el Sharif. "Why now is Sharon making this visit?," Arafat pressed Barak, when he hadn't done so under previous Israeli Prime Ministers.

When Sharon visited the Temple Mount two days later, "with large support from the Israeli army," Palestinians rallied against his presence. Shots were fired during the Muslim prayers and 19 Palestinians were killed. As the violence spread, Barak immediately re-occupied all the areas which had been "liberated" on 28 September 2000. Arafat made it clear that he considered Sharon's visit and Barak's reoccupation of Palestinian territories to be part of a joint or coordinated plan. "The Palestinian lands had been liberated according to the 'peace of the brave' which had been negotiated with our pattern in peace Yitzhak Rabin." Sharon's provocation served as the pretext for Israel to reoccupy the same territories.

President Arafat said the Palestine National Authority (PNA) was prepared to proceed with elections, but that elections could not be held until Israel withdraws from these reoccupied territories. He said that training of Palestinian security personnel was already taking place in Jericho with Egyptian and Jordanian participation under US supervision.

In response to a comment about a strong perception in the US Congress that Arafat has not done all he can to stop suicide bombings, Arafat reminded us that "Hamas was established by the Israelis to compete with the Palestine Liberation Organization" during the first Intifada. He described a meeting with President Mubarak of Egypt, former King Hussein of Jordan, and former Israeli Prime Minister Rabin with Arafat at which Rabin acknowledged that Israel had created Hamas and allowed funding of the Islamic extremist movement in a futile effort to create an alternative to the PLO. Arafat's assistant, Nabil Abourdeineh, for the first time separated himself from his role as occasional translator to comment, "It was the same with Ossama Bin Laden, created by the United States - the snake comes back to bite." Just as Bin Laden had destroyed an agreement that he had brokered in Afghanistan, according to Arafat, "the suicide bombings done by these fanatics" had destroyed the peace process.

In response to our concern that the Palestinians were not effectively communicating their cause to the people of the US, President Arafat detailed efforts to increase and improve communications. It was clear from his response, however, that Arafat's focus is communication between states (the PNA and the US government), rather than outreach to the US public being a priority.

Arafat commented, "We are not asking for the moon. We are only asking for the Tenet and Mitchell agreements to be implemented. Why doesn't the United States force both of us [Israel and the PA] to enforce their agreement?"

Discussion continued twice as long as we had expected and included the Palestinian Right of Return. Given that 60-70% of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union are estimated to not be Jewish, "How do Muslim Russians have a right to come here, and how do Christian Russians have the right to come, while Palestinian Muslims do not have a right to come here?" He referenced agreements reached with President Clinton's support to relocate 200,000 "displaced refugees" from the 1967 War from Lebanon to the West Bank or to provide them compensation.

Rimon indicated to me that we really had to leave due to the imminent curfew. We excused ourselves, thanked Arafat for meeting with us, and stood. Arafat suggested a group photo and one of his aids took photos with cameras belonging to each member of our delegation as well as his own. As we filed out of the room, President Arafat grasped my left hand. I thanked him for our meeting and released his hand as I followed the rest of the delegation out the door. He continued to squeeze my hand. At the top of the stairs, I again thanked him and released my hand. He held tight and indicated he motioned for me to proceed downstairs. At the foot of the second flight of stairs and as we approached the door, uniformed guards with machine guns stomped their right foot and offered a crisp salute as President Arafat passed. We pushed past other members of the delegation who had been instructed to wait inside the door. Still clasping my left hand, Arafat moved me towards the door. We stepped into the night air - to be greeted by two dozen photographers and cameramen.

Arafat clasped my hand and greeted the crowd. He then kissed me on both cheeks and gave me a warm smile. Each delegation member in turn was similarly sent on their way down the stairs.

During the hour-long bus ride back to Jerusalem, we debriefed our visit with Arafat. George observed that Arafat tended to look to the past rather than to the future and that he didn't communicate a strong vision. Still, he evidenced a lot of commitment to the continuing struggle of the Palestinians. Michael noticed that throughout his comments Arafat never bashed either Sharon or Bush, even though we might have expected harsh words about them. Several commented that Arafat was very gracious toward us and that he demonstrated to us a very strong feeling of identity with and empathy for the Palestinian people. I was made aware how much easier it is to hate and demonize Arafat in the abstract than in person. I think we all were surprised to find him so personally engaging. Rimon remarked at the family style meeting that seemed more a discussion among friends than other gatherings he had observed.

As a delegation, we definitely enjoyed meeting President Arafat. As a result of our time together, we could more readily understand the way in which and the extent to which Arafat symbolizes the Palestinian movement for national self-determination.

Arafat may well be past his prime. The Palestinians definitely need a new generation of leadership. And it was difficult to know whether to credit his frail appearance to advancing age, his struggle with Parkinson's disease, or the weeks that he has been interned and besieged within his Presidential Compound.

Nonetheless, when Bush and Sharon demand "regime change," most Palestinians rally around Yasser Arafat as the embodiment of their struggle as a people to be counted among the world's nations.

Tuesday October 8:

The delegation traveled on Route 60, the North-South by-pass road connecting Jerusalem the settlements around Hebron, on Tuesday morning. Lisa Nissan, who is currently working with the International Solidarity Movement and co-led our July 2001 IFPB delegation, joins us at the Tantur junction.

Our mini-bus has yellow Jerusalem license plates, so we are able to traverse #60; Palestinians from the West Bank are prohibited from using driving on designated by-pass roads that enable Jewish Israelis to travel from within "the Green Line" to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza without passing through Palestinian communities.

We stopped at Efrata, a large Jewish settlement on the hills stretching on a North-South axis paralleling Route 60 to the East. Efrata is large enough that it is a municipality. We met with a former member of the town council who said he was speaking as an individual and not as a spokesperson. He began with an account of his own journey, fulfilling a destiny interrupted when his grandfather fled Europe for Palestine in the 1920's but left for the USA a year later after a bout with cholera. Moving to Israel and then to Efrata was a natural outgrowth of his Jewishness, "walking the talk as a Jew." He and his American-born wife and their six children consider the town just another Jewish "community." He said he resented our use of the words "settler" and "settlement" as pejorative terms comparable to calling someone "nigger."

"It's impossible for me to separate the historic ties to this piece of real estate - this is where I have to live." "The problem is not at the local level but at the higher level. Every time the siege [of Palestinian communities by Israeli forces] was lifted, there are more suicide bombers and more deaths in Israel.. They've made it a situation of our lives or their lives. Very unfortunately, until this changes it will stay the same. We don't have to allow them to kill us."

On the other hand, he sees coexistence with the Palestinians as entirely feasible - if not in the near term. "They're not going any place, and we're not going any place.. The majority of Israelis today would accept the creation of a Palestinian state alongside us - but not in the immediate future and not with the current corrupt regime. I hope our problem is not with the Palestinian people" but with the corrupt Arafat regime.

Back on our bus, we stopped several times to photograph the barricades of massive concrete blocks and piles of dirt and rubble used by the Israeli authorities to block every road off Highway 60 to the numerous villages and individual farms of Palestinians. We passed through several military check points before entering the "H-2" - the area of Hebron given to Israeli control by the Oslo Peace Process. Israel controls H-2 despite it being in the center of an Arab metropolitan area with 120,000 Palestinian inhabitants. Before the Al Aqsa Intifida, or "uprising," that began in September of 2000, 2,000-2,500 Israeli soldiers provided protection for 200-400 Israeli Jewish settlers in the heart of the City. When the settlers want to walk to the Tomb of the Patriarchs on the Sabbath, the Arab neighborhoods are put under curfew (which means they are unable to exit their homes, look out their windows, stand on their balconies or be in their rear courtyards if they are fortunate enough to have one). Curfews are also imposed following any clash with the Palestinians as well as for all Jewish holidays. Locking 40,000 Palestinians in their homes for every Jewish holiday seems as sure a way of teaching anti-Jewish sentiment among the Palestinains as any textbooks they may be using.

Our delegation left our bus and stopped briefly at two small shops for snacks and beverages. We then walked through the deserted streets of Hebron to Shuhada Street. We went to Beit Hadassah, the Jewish settlement dating back to the 1970's. At Beit Hadassah we visited the museum and memorial for Jewish residents of Hebron killed by Arabs during rioting in 1929. At that time the Jewish residents abandoned Hebron. Beit Hadassah and the other settlements are renewing the Jewish life in Hebron cut off at that date. The memorial includes photos of all the Jewish people who were killed and an account of the pogrom against them.

We were met by representatives of the Christian Peacemakers Team, a group of volunteers who provide accompaniment for the Palestinian residents of Hebron under Israeli occupation and human rights observations. They gave us a tour of the old vegetable market, first burned and then taken over by Jewish settlers. We photographed doors of Arab shopkeepers with graffiti ("Death to the Arabs," "Arabs Out," and "Revenge") then went to their apartment for an orientation to the CPT program and the situation in Hebron.

A Palestinian called up to the CPT and told them that a car of Jewish settlers had been ambushed by Palestinians on the road to Yatta south of Hebron. Several settlers were badly wounded and perhaps killed, and we had best return to our bus as a curfew was to begin in a few minutes. The few Arabs still in business after two years of curfews were closing and securing their shops. We were also told about an incident where we had earlier sipped coffee and tea and soft drinks at the Arab shops in the area around the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Soon after the delegation left the storefront, a car with two Jewish women and their children pulled up and stopped. They jumped out and proceeded to pull over stands and knock over tables, breaking glasses and spreading merchandise across the sidewalk and into the street, apparently in revenge for the shooting several miles away in which the shopkeepers had no part. According to the shopkeepers and eyewitnesses, three Israeli soldiers standing nearby at a checkpoint, did not intervene to stop the vandalism.

When we returned to the shops on our way back to the bus, a dozen young boys in school uniforms were on their hands and knees gathering up the spilt merchandise and putting it back on tables and onto display racks.

When entering the market street earlier that day, a soldier had asked to have has picture taken with a woman in our delegation. I obliged and offered to send him a copy (he declined). I went up to him and asked how a soldier could just stand by as vigilantes rampaged through the two shops. He turned beet red and turned away in shame. A commanding officer nearby instructed him to walk away and not to talk with me. (In the next morning's English-language version "Jerusalem Post," we read that the soldiers had tried unsuccessfully to restrain the women. This report flies in the face of everything we heard from the shopkeepers and eyewitnesses.)

We left Hebron and returned north to Bethlehem.

Scott Kennedy, Delegation Leader
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REPORT #4 Received Oct 8

From Beirut to Jerusalem
Saturday October 5:

THE LEBANESE (a poem)

From here
From the coast of Lebanon
They traveled across the seas;

They loaded their sailing ships
Over the waves and the roaring seas;

Exploring the planet:
West, North and South.

They carried their merchandise
The fruits of hearts
Alpha, beta and theta,
A fire and a light unto the world.

From here
From this land,
They left their motherland.

Elias Abu-Saba
10/1/2002

We were up early and packed our bags, said our good-byes to Elias, and left the Daouk Apartments at 6:00 AM for the airport. The streets and highway were almost empty and we completed the airport process without difficulty. A new security twist was added as we were asked to identify our bags on the tarmac before they were loaded on the plane.

An hour later we were in Amman, met by Iyad of Guiding Star, and back on the bus. It was also a pleasure to be greeted by Mohammed Nablusi who had been our guide during our initial time in Jordan.

The descent to the Dead Sea is very dramatic. Mohammed pointed out the "Sea Level" marker and then we continued another 1,300 feet down. We stopped briefly at a souvenir shop to leave several of our bags - both to reduce our load and avoid possible difficulties at the border by carrying in materials from Lebanon and Jordan.

An hour and forty minutes after our arrival at the airport, we were at the Allenby Bridge border crossing. Mohammed dealt with the bureaucracy. It is very convenient to have a tourist agency representative expedite our passage through the airports. We had Mohammed's cell phone in the event we faced difficulty and had to contact Guiding Star after we boarded the bus to go to the Israeli side of the river.

Scott was first through the security gate, and told the Israeli security that we were traveling as a group, had just come from Lebanon, and had been in Jordan. Rachel and Zack faced the most rigorous questioning, verifying who was traveling together and where we had been. After passing through passport control, we waited for a half hour or more while our bags cleared security. Several of us had to go into a side room, identify our smaller hand bags, and open them for closer scrutiny.

There were very few other people coming across the border; at most stages our group was alone.

I commented that I didn't recognize the room in which we were waiting, and wondered why there were so few other people; the few passing through seemed to be Palestinians. It was odd seeing them going through the same facility as tourists from the US. I spotted Salim Tamari, a Palestinian who heads the Institute on Jerusalem Studies, with whom some past delegations had met. When I went up and introduced myself, Salim immediately commented, "What are you doing in here?" We were in the facility for processing Palestinians.

By 12:15, but for having to go back to pick up the laptop computer that we left by mistake (again!), we had completed entry procedures and were greeted by Rimon Makhlouf, our guide, and Issam Salaymeh, who had been our driver in April.

Jericho:

We had arranged to meet with Dr. Sami Mussalam, President Arafat's Chief of Staff in his Jericho office. Dr. Mussalam had met with our July and April delegations in Arafat's compound. Jericho is a "closed" area, into which you need permission of the Israelis to enter. Jericho has not been "re-occupied" during the Second Intifada, but Israeli authorities have isolated the town by digging a 10 x 10 trench all the way around the city and putting a checkpoint or digging a trench and blockading each of the roads into the city. We had a formal letter of invitation from Mussalam, and attempted entry into Jericho at two different checkpoints. At each point we were denied entry and told, because it was the Sabbath, that it was impossible to appeal to anyone from the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO) to seek approval to pass the checkpoint. One of the Palestinian officers at the Palestinian DCO suggested we take the "by-pass road" that follows the route of the old Roman Road from Jericho to Jerusalem.

So we headed up towards Jerusalem and took the Wadi ("valley") Qelt road North off the main highway, twisting our way through arid desert hills, passing occasional Bedouin encampments and several new Israeli settlements. Rimon stopped to point out the Monastery of John Goziba, a Greek Orthodox monastery tucked up against the wall of one of the deepest parts of Wadi Qelt. It is a dramatic site from across the canyon.
Several other cars, mostly yellow taxis and minivans from Jericho, pass us along the way. A short while later we came to a huge ditch that had been cut through the single-lane asphalt road, with large boulders placed to prevent vehicles from passing. The Israeli authorities had cut the road to prevent people from doing what we were attempting to do - to avoid the checkpoint and enter Jericho. We were able to pass, with Issam carefully negotiating the bus between two large boulders that had been pushed aside, with inches to spare as we inched past a 10 foot ditch to our right. The bus' bottom right side was slightly damaged as we squeezed through.

We came by a large metal gate also placed to prevent passage. It was swung open.

A half mile later we came to a second huge ditch, partially filled with rubble and dirt. Rimon jumped out and placed several large rocks in various ruts to help the bus to pass. The driver of another vehicle that had driven past us hopped out of his car, knelt low to the ground to observe the bottom of the bus passing over large stones and around large divots. He seemed to have done it before.

Having successfully cleared this second major obstacle, we soon were in Jericho and ready for lunch. All the tourist restaurants that Rimon and I knew were closed due to lack of business. So we drove to downtown Jericho and stopped at a restaurant for an excellent lunch with salads, falafel, chicken, lamb or beef. The proprietor sat with us after the meal and said that because his business is mostly local; his business was "only" off 50%. Most restaurants and other tourist-serving commerce were down 90% or more. Tourists simply don't come to Jericho anymore, given the Intifada and the checkpoint.

We met with Dr. Mussalam in his office, since there were only ten of us including guide and driver. He observed that it is easier for him to travel to Amman than to Ramallah, where his wife and daughter live. To visit Ramallah, because of the checkpoints he must walk a long distance, which he cannot do having suffered from polio. Those in Jericho enjoy a strange "normalcy" while other Palestinian towns are being battered by Israeli "incursion" and "re-invasion." Dr. Mussalam spoke of the ongoing need for reform of Palestinian political systems, a need identified long before it became the centerpiece of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's attacks on Palestinian collective identity. He answered questions about allegations of Palestinian textbooks teaching hatred of Jews and the need for Palestinians to more convincingly make their case to the American public. Mussalam said they would take the refugees who wanted to return into the Palestinian state. "I want my right to be recognized as a refugee. I was not born a refugee. I was made a refugee." Of suicide bombers, "Some Palestinian mad people are trying to kill the peace process. Because they are not ready to make peace with the Jews, they are ready to destroy everything." He called replacement of Arafat as president, by a vote of the Palestinian people, a "far fetched or remote possibility."

After an hour's conversation, as we were readying to leave his office, one of the delegation members commented on the several photographs of horses that were on Mussalam's office walls. We soon were off to the Equestrian Center east of Jericho that he and others had built. He took us from stall to stall, introducing each horse by name, stroking their necks and noses, holding their heads next to his or greeting them through the stall doors. We met the staff of the Equestrian Center and then visited the adjacent community center where we watched children and youth practicing fencing, a women's physical fitness center, the soccer field and basketball court (the last of which was paid for with donations from the US).

We left for the checkpoint and were allowed to exit on the main road, rather than having to go back by the by-pass road. The Israeli soldiers took down Rimon's name and identity card # since they recognized him from earlier in the day when we were denied entry. After we had passed the check point Rimon went back to the Palestinian DCO office where they promised to try to have the problem resolved without Rimon having to pay a $5,200 fine for illegally entering Jericho. We were not bothered by the soldiers, though they asked to see our passports at one point.

TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE DELEGATION'S TIME IN JERICHO, PLEASE VISIT: http://www.forusa.org/Programs/IPB/IPBDelegation100102.html

We drove up to Jerusalem as the sun was setting.

Jerusalem

We were greeted at St. George's Guesthouse by Johnny Khano of Guiding Star. He gave us a brief orientation to our time on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. We then went to dinner and to our rooms, relieved to rest after a long and demanding day.

Sunday October 6:

We began the day with a walking tour of the Old City of Jerusalem, led by Rimon. We entered through Damascus Gate, passed through the Christian Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and then through the Jewish Quarter to the Western Wall. A highlight was the view from the rooftop café where Rimon took us before approaching the Western Wall.

We then walked quickly along part of the Via Dolorosa and then North just inside the Eastern Wall from St. Stephen's Gate to the North East corner of the Walled City, where we met with Dyala Husseini Dajani. Dyala heads the Burg al Laq Laq community center, including a fitness center, preschool, assembly rooms, offices, and soccer and basketball fields, on a site that settlers and the Municipality of Jerusalem attempted to seize in 1990. A sit-in by local residents and supporters prevent construction of 200 luxury apartments in this Moslem Quarter of the City. At one point she stated, "All we want to do is to live in peace, with the Israelis or with anyone. We just want an end to the occupation."

We walked back to Stephen's Gate and met Issam, who drove us to the Jerusalem Hotel where we had lunch. We were met there by two young women from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. We drove back to St. George's Guesthouse for an orientation and then drove by bus around the North and East of Jerusalem on the "settlement tour," including squatters or "sumu" refusing to be displaced from Al Quds University, the Route 1 "seam" between East and West Jerusalem, Kalandia checkpoint, meeting with Hisham Yameni who has had two homes demolished, and Ma'ale Adumim. Tanya and Na'ama provided us with excellent packets of material and maps of the "Matrix of Control."

After a rushed dinner we crossed by taxi to West Jerusalem to meet in the home of Jeremy Milgrom. Jeremy talked about the work of Rabbis for Human Rights and the Israeli peace movement. At 8:00 we were joined by a group of Israeli university students.

Merom Kalie, who had participated in the summer of 2002 program that the Resource Center for Nonviolence and the national Fellowship of Reconciliation had hosted in Washington, DC, called together the students. In addition to Micol Niza and Shimon Friedlich of the summer 2001 program, we were joined by Assaf Israeli, Doron Shulziner, Chanan Reichman and Lucia Pizar, a graduate student from Mexico City visiting Jeremy.

As a delegation, we were most appreciative of and impressed by our conversation with the university students. Most identify themselves with the peace camp to one extent or the other. Doron spoke up strongly on behalf of the Labor Party. Shimon lives in a settlement near Hebron, in "the territories" he explained, using fingers of both hands to indicate quotation marks to highlight the words. He explained that his "settlement" was reestablished on land first purchased by Jewish settlers from Jordan in the 1943 but abandoned during the 1948 war. Shimon has moved to Jerusalem after having seen bullets whistling over his car while commuting home after classes one night. His story helped us appreciate the complexity of the situation that tends to polarize into a black-and-white oversimplification.

It was very moving to talk about issues with this group of bright, engaged university students. They differed among themselves on many points. There was one moment that was particularly striking, when Micol (who works for the Israeli human rights group Btselem) challenged Merom and Chanan with the observation that the Israelis always speak of "peace" and "security" while the Palestinians speak of "justice." She said this reflects the different perspective of the oppressed and the dominator, and that it wasn't acceptable for Israelis to focus on "security" without reflecting on what that means to the Palestinians.

Doron said that Sharon is definitely an obstacle to peace, but that he wasn't sure the Palestinians were sure of what they want either. All agreed that the vast majority of Israelis, while differing over the details, fully expected there to be a Palestinian state in the future.

All were discouraged and demoralized by the current state of affairs, and spoke of the devastating affect that the suicide bombings had had on Israelis willingness to consider a political settlement with the Palestinians.

Micol lamented how far away a political resolution seems now, when an agreement seemed so close two years ago. She said the Israelis must push to develop their civil society as a counterpoint to the prevailing despair and reliance on force.

Chanan said there can't be a peace "like with Egypt," a cold peace between two states, because the Israelis and Palestinians live too close to one another. "It can't be a peace that soldiers make possible, it requires a cooperative approach." He characterized the Israeli government's position at Camp David II in 2000: "All the land is ours. If you want this part, here it is. Say thank you and shut up!"

The students unanimously rejected the idea that US war with Iraq would provide a cover for Sharon to "transfer" Palestinians out of Israel or the West Bank. If anything, Israelis consider it more likely that they'll be forced to the sidelines by the US, as happened during the Gulf War.

Michael and Jeremy challenged this analysis, pointing out that the "transfer" is in many ways already underway, with living conditions made so difficult that thousands of Palestinians are simply forced out of the country for economic and family survival. "Just think of Nablus," Jeremy said, "where children have been out of school for more than a year. If you had children, would you accept another year without them being able to go to classes. If you had the chance, you'd leave."

Jeremy challenged us to take the discussion to a deeper level. These discussions, he observed, tend to be like playing cards. We sit around and talk but, after all, nothing changes. He said we must confront the issues, "We have to decide how we're going to live. What are we going to do."

Merom said there needs to be a time of calming things down. He asked us to realize that right now the Israelis are doing things much more out of fear than out of hatred.

Shimon gave an example: the head rabbi had instructed people not to sleep outside in booths during "Succoth" because of the fear of attack by terrorists.

Micol said the role and contribution of groups such as the FOR are crucial. We need third parties who are concerned for the welfare of both parties to the conflict, not just taking sides and stigmatizing the other. She said it is crucial "to show that we Israelis are not all monsters and that Palestinians are not all terrorists."

As the conversation drew to a close and we waited for taxis to arrive, animated conversations continued between individuals and in small clusters. The delegation really enjoyed engaging with these young Israelis. They are grappling with the hard questions facing Israel and each of them as individuals.

Recent months have taken a tremendous toll, not only in human life, but also in deflated hopes and the ability of people to envision a viable future for Israelis and Palestinians.

Monday October 7:

We left at 7:00 by bus for Gaza. Our departure was delayed by news of a major Israeli attack in Khan Yunis, and questions whether we'd be able to enter the Gaza Strip at all. But a round of phone calls encouraged us to try.

An hour and a half later we were passing through Erez Junction into Gaza. The border crossing was abandoned. While we were there, one group and one individual also crossed into Gaza. There was no sign of Palestinians entering Israel or returning to Gaza.

We completed Israeli passport control without any issues and walked several hundred meters to the Palestinian border where we were greeted by Rami Humarna who served as our guide. Because we had arrived a bit later than planned, we drove directly to our first appointment. We were able to view Palestinians sitting on the curb with their pant legs rolled up to reveal their ankles and shoes before entering the industrial zone next to the Erez Junction. We drove past Beit Hanoun and Old Gaza to Gaza City where we visited the site of the Israeli bombing last month that killed a leading Hamas militant plus 14 other people, including nine children. Two major apartment buildings were destroyed, and others badly damaged. We met a young boy who had lost several members of his family. The buildings are being rebuilt, with funds from UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority.

We then drove on to a tour of the Atfaluna School for deaf children. This is an impressive facility that demonstrates the care and resources that should be made available for children. The assistant director, Suad, gave us a tour of the classrooms, vocational training facilities, lecture hall and library. The delegation enjoyed a chance to support the center by purchasing some gifts at the gift shop.

We then went to meet with Dr. Haider Abdul Shafi, a founding member of the PLO and founder of the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Abdul Shafi gave a succinct and clear analysis of the failures of the Oslo Peace process. By neglecting reference to such basics as continued Israeli settlement building, the settlements doubled during the Oslo peace process. He called for the Palestinians to form a unified leadership and strike a more proactive approach to the Intifada. He said he favored a consistent approach of strictly defensive military actions, defending Palestinian lands and homes, and rejected the suicide bombings and attacks on civilians. The current Intifada not only has provided Sharon with the pretext for killing innocent civilians. It has also provided him excuse for destroying historic structures, lands and trees and Palestinian civil society.

Abdul Shafi was especially critical of the Palestinians' failure to commit adequate resources to speaking to the American people. Abdul Shafi studied for five years in the US and knows the American people to be fair-minded. He said a two-state solution is still possible, but thinks there will eventually emerge a single bi-national state.

After a leisurely lunch on the veranda of the Beach Hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, we drove through Beach Camp, viewing the narrow alleyways and crowded streets. We were especially struck by the graffiti on the walls by various political factions. We stopped to photograph one wall emblazoned with the words, "Yes to tolerance. Yes to coexistence. Yes to altruism."

We stopped at the PLO flag shop for souvenirs. The shopkeeper encouraged us to buy two-flag pins. When I asked him if he had Palestinian-Israeli flag pins, he said, "That's a funny one." And then he reached over to the counter next to the basket with flag pins of many nations. He picked up a pin sitting face down next to the basket and held it up for me to see: crossed Israeli and Palestinian flags. I said that he should put them out that the Israeli peace movement sells them in Israel. "One day, we hope," he smiled.

After a brief stop at the Craft Village we were back on the bus. All day we had been hearing reports of Israeli attacks, assassination of a highly place Palestinian official, a dozen Palestinian casualties. As we left Gaza, we saw the aftermath of a clash - riot police from the Palestinian Authority with long wooden batons, rocks strewn all over the intersection, crowds of people milling about. We sped through the intersection and to Erez junction. Twenty minutes after arrival, we were through passport control and into Israel. A long line of Palestinian workers stretched from the border facility along the roadway bordering the huge parking lot, almost all the way to the highway. We wondered aloud about the cost to the Palestinian economy of the many hours that tens of thousands of Palestinians waste just standing in line each day.

The sunset over the Mediterranean was bright red and pink. Several of our heads drooped to sleep. More than one embroidered pillows bought for gifts souvenirs were put to good use.

The image of the Palestinians lining up to return home to Gaza stuck with me as we drove back to Jerusalem.

Scott Kennedy
10/8/02
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Report #3 - Received Oct 7

Southern Lebanon:
Thursday October 3

It took us an hour and a half to drive from our overnight stay in Mia Mia to the Village of Khiam in the Southeast corner of Lebanon. We drove through several small towns and villages adorned with photos of various Muslims clerics such as Ayatollah Khomeini or various personages from the Civil War period, such as Nabih Berri, head of the Amal movement. The area is dominated by the Beaufort Castle, built by the Crusaders but occupied in turn by Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli military outposts.

As we turned off the narrow two way highway to ascend to Khiam, poles every hundred meters had large colored portraits of various “martyrs” who had been killed in resistance to Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. Large character posters hung over the streets. The bright yellow flags of Hizbollah and the dark green flags of Amal flapped from commercial buildings, poles and houses.

It was farmer’s market day in Khiam as our two-car convoy slowly wound its way through the village and up to the Khiam detention center, located atop a rise overlooking the village and surrounding area. We noticed Druze among the shoppers. Established by the French as a military barracks, the Khiam center was used later by the Lebanese for the same purpose. After the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon in 1982, Khiam became in 1984 a major detention and interrogation center. While operations at Khiam were under immediate control of its Lebanese allies, primary responsibility for what happened there clearly rested with the Israelis who visited periodically and militarily dominated the region.

When we arrived we were immediately escorted to a conference room for our meeting with Sheikh Nabil Kawouk. Elias Abu Saba described the Sheikh as the chief political spokesperson for Hizbollah in Southern Lebanon. A news article about him in the next day’s “Daily Star” that included reference to our visit described Kawouk as “Hizbollah’s commander in the South.”

We were seated at two rows of tables with pink table cloths forming an “L” at the end of a large rectangular conference room. Each place for us had a cold juice and bottled water. No Smoking signs were posted on the walls. The area in the center created by the “L” was busy with a half dozen or ten photographers, television cameramen and reporters. We had been asked the previous day if we had any objection to the press covering our visit and forewarned that Hizbollah would use our visit for its own public relations purposes.

Kawouk greeted us “In the name of God the most merciful we welcome you; in the name of Jesus Christ the prophet we welcome you; and in the name of Hizbollah the Lebanese Resistance Movement we welcome you as witnesses to the Israeli aggression and occupation.” He spoke for ten minutes or more, calmly and forcefully laying out Hizbollah's views about the emergence of Hizbollah and the effect of Israel’s occupation of Southern Lebanon. He clearly is an accomplished public speaker.

Sheikh Kawouk said that “Israel has left its fingerprints all over the Mid East region,” and observed “Israel unfortunately invaded and occupied Lebanon with a Green Light from the US.” The Sheikh was adamant in distinguishing between “the American people and the American Administration.” But he was unrelenting in laying out his observations that “Israel used weapons even prohibited by US law,” and that “the American Administration sided blindly with Israel, protected Sharon against charges he faced for his war crimes, and blindly sided with all aspects of Israeli's occupation of Lebanon.”

After responding to a few questions it was clear the time for the interview was over. The Sheikh arose and was escorted out of the room, pausing for photos with those who asked. We were invited to watch a 10 minute video tape about the liberation of the Khiam prison. Elias provided a soft-spoken translation of the Arabic narration of the film. It began with a somewhat crude and propagandistic description of the cruel and inhumane purposes to which the facility had been put during the Israeli occupation. (It reminded me of a black and white film I had seen at the Chu Chi tunnels in Vietnam, that left me feeling very uneasy.)

The film concluded, however, with raw video footage taken by several individuals with cameras after Israel unilaterally pulled back from Southern Lebanon in 1985. The South Lebanese Army forces had abruptly abandoned the facility, leaving the inmates locked in the cells. The image of hundreds of Lebanese rushing through the gate and down the hallways of the prison, opened to the sky, with the camera jostling and images bouncing about, was at first jarring and somewhat confusing. People banged the locks with large metal objects or tried to pry the doors open with metal poles. In several pictures, people fumbled desperately with keys trying to unlock the doors. Prisoners’ hands squeezed through the narrow slot with the sliding door of heavy metal doors. Others pressed their faces to the bars, kissing the prisoners who were shouting and pushing towards the light. Women were in the second wave entering the prison yard and hallways.

Soon, prisoners flowed out of the cells, immediately grabbed and hugged and kissed by their liberators. Husbands, sons, fathers and brothers were greeted by friends, wives, mothers and daughters. One man swung another in circles, embracing him tightly under the arms and kissing him on first one cheek then the other. Women scattered rice in greeting and celebration for their release.

“Allahu Akbar,” “God is greater!” was shouted again and again by liberators and liberated alike.

Elias’ voice cracked as he tried to translate the Arabic for our hearing. Zach later commented that the sheer joy at the release of the prisoners was palpable and transcended the specifics any politics, ethnicity or religion. We sat stunned and silent as one of the local men pushed the button in a matter of fact manner to stop the film.

The Biblical call for release of the captives had never had more power.

After a few moments as we stood from our chairs and gathered our cameras and notebooks, we drifted with few comments out of the reception hall. Ali, a former detainee, was to give us a tour of the prison. For the next 30 minutes we walked from building to building, poking our heads into cells stripped bare but for graffiti on the walls, peering through small slotted doors into isolation cells, squinting in the bright sunlight at simple signs reading “Room used for Electric Torture,” “Sleeping Area for Traitors who ran the prison,” etc.

Ali said that the facility had been built by the French in 1932, used as a military barracks by the Lebanese in 1943, and after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 was turned into a detention and interrogation center in 1984. It continued in this use until 2000 when Prime Minister Barak pulled Israeli troops out of Lebanon.

Ali was jailed at Khiam when he was 15 years old. He was detained for three years. Ali spoke in a soft voice, that Fr. Tomeh translated from Arabic for our hearing. Ali often dipped his head slightly to touch the top of his nose with his left thumb. I noticed a scar there. As he spoke, he touched or rubbed the fingers of his right hand with his left. At one cell he showed how round copper rings at the end of two wires were placed over the fingers during electric shock treatments. Detainees were then splashed with cold water. He says 10 died from torture and twelve others later died in hospitals from their torture at Khiam.

More than 3,000 had been detained at Khiam, including women, the elderly and children. They were allowed outside to enjoy the sunlight for ten minutes every ten days. A separate section was used for women detainees. The history of the facility is divided into two periods – pre-International Red Cross visit (1984-1995) and post-International Red Cross visit 1995-2000. Before the IRC visit, for example, there were no visits and only religious books allowed. After the IRC visited the facility, and in response to stinging reports by international human rights organizations, the Khiam facility began to permit parental visits, enlarged the area of both solidarity and collective detention cells.

The jailers roughly reflected the demographics of the area, with 70% of them Muslim “mercenaries of Israel.”

Ali concluded his presentation by thanking us for our support, “morally, and by prayer or other means.” He said, “We are thankful to God and for the blood of the martyrs… because of the blood of the martyrs, the Israelis left, victory was at hand, the detainees were liberated and Lebanon was victorious.”

PostScript:

Reflecting on Sheikh Kapaau’s comments and the raw human drama of the liberation of Khiam, I was reminded of Thomas Friedman’s analysis of the naïve and ill-informed assumptions about the Mid East that guided and enabled the Reagan Administration as it sent US Marines into Beirut during the Civil War in Lebanon. They soon were withdrawn, battered and bewildered after 60 people were killed in a suicide bombing of the US Embassy and 241 Marines slaughtered in a suicide bombing of their barracks in Beirut.

Quoting a Lebanese friend, Friedman wrote: “The Lebanese, like all Mid Easterners, are a people with a vivid imagination. That is why a great power should never wink at anyone in the Middle East. Small winks speak big things there. You wink at Ariel Sharon and he goes all the way to Beirut. You wink at Amin Gemayel and he tries to invade the Shiite suburbs of Beirut. They all want America’s license, its resources and its green lights. And they all want to implicate you in their schemes. They like you big, but they want to send you back small; they like you a virgin; but they want to send you back a whore.”

In Friedman’s own terms, “… the United States found its power check in a thousand different ways, but as the marine encounter with Lebanon demonstrated, it had not yet generated a vision of the world, or of the exercise of power and diplomacy, that was as subtle, nuanced, and cunning as the world itself. The world had changed, and America was not ready when it did.” (From Beirut to Jerusalem, p.209 & p.206)

Friedman writes about the USA’s “arrogance of power.” Bush’s move to war against Iraq seems a bullying move, rooted in the arrogance of power and similarly shallow in terms of its understanding of Mid East politics. It is short-sighted in terms of a war’s likely destabilizing affect on the Mid East region. And it is utterly naïve in terms of its likely impact on the perception of the US by many people in the Mid East and elsewhere.

The potential blowback against the US and its interests and people is enormous and daunting – though that seems of little concern to Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney, Wolfewitz and Bush.

Scott Kennedy
Delegation Leader

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Report #2 - Received Oct 5

Tuesday October 1:

Our first full day in Lebanon concluded with a walking tour through the city of Beirut with Elias Abu Saba. Dr. Abu Saba showed many of the historic buildings, neighborhoods and the only major city park. He laced his walk with comments on the history and politics of Lebanon. We stopped in a beautiful Catholic church for a brief rest and walked into the massively reconstructed downtown area. In one site, an ancient Roman bath was discovered when excavating to construct a new building; it remains the center piece of a beautiful park and pedestrian walkway flanked by multi-storied bank buildings. We stopped for refreshments at a sidewalk café in the downtown center. The night life here begins in serious about 9:30 PM, we were told. The stylish new construction and self-conscious lighting and other treatments left us wondering if it reminded us more of Rome or Disneyland. It had qualities of each. But the center of several streets angling off the square, highlighted by several public buildings, was an amazing confluence of public and private space and uses. A spectacular exhibit of enlarged photographs circled the square and carried down the street where our café was located. We determined to return another time to this site in the late evening hours.

We boarded taxis for a drive across town to the Bay Rock Café. Elias helped us order a delicious dinner as we sat on the outdoor veranda overlooking Beirut’s most famous landmark, Pigeon Rocks.

Wednesday October 2: Beirut and Southern Lebanon

Our second morning in Beirut again began with breakfast at Elias’ apartment. We were greeted by Eli Ajouz of MECC’s International Church Network for Development and Relief. Ali traveled with us in the mini-van as were traversed Beirut’s busy streets to Shatila Refugee Camp. We stopped along the way to pick up Laila Al Ali, Director of External Affairs for Najdeh. We entered the Shatila Camp and parked in a walled area, left our bags in Laila’s trunk and walked around the corner to the local Najdeh Center.

There we were greeted by a most impressive person – Nuhad Hamad who coordinates the Najdeh program in Shatila. She described the origins of Najdeh in 1976, after the people of Tel Zaatar Refugee camp were relocated to the former Christian town of Damour. Many of the men were dead or had to flee. Najdeh was established to help the predominantly women heads of households to gain some economic self-sufficiency. Najdeh now has 26 centers through the various refugee camps (one is outside the camps). They survive primarily from donations from European supporters. She described many ways in which Shatila is the worst of the camps. 12,000 of its 20,000 residents are Palestinian refugees from 1948. The remainder consists of poor Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Kurds and others who have sought out inexpensive housing from Palestinians who have been able to leave the camps for other homes. (“Misery invites company,” according to an Arabic proverb quoted to us.)

Nuhad described the dilemma of those working with the camps, with political resolution always receding over the horizon and the UN and its donor countries pushing for diminution of refugees’ dependence on assistance.

We stopped briefly to observe a vocational training classroom and then Nuhad walked us through the camp. We threaded through the narrow alleyways to a shrine at which 600 were buried during the 1985-86 War when Shatila was again besieged. The people were unable to take their dead to be buried in the cemetery for Shiites and had to bury them under an existing structure. The walls of the cleared ground floor list the names of those buried there while a mosque is located upstairs. We looked into the washed white room and memorial through barred windows.

Many of the walls had photos of “shaheed,” or martyrs, those Palestinians who have been killed, some in armed actions and others for no particular reason. Lots of the photos featured Abu Mustafa, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who was assassinated by the Israelis in the West Bank.

Nuhad then took us to the home of Um Mustafa, but she had left because we were about 45 minutes late. We met instead with her son, Mustafa, who described his family’s experience of losing their home and land in a small village near Safed/Zefat in the Galilee.

It is impossible to hear these people’s stories and walk through Shatila Camp without being impressed by the seeming hopelessness of their situation. The fact of the Palestinian refugees is a humanitarian disaster that has impacted all of the surrounding Arab countries and regional and global politics. But, at the core, are the hundreds of thousands of personal and family stories such as we heard again today. Surely any sustainable resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict must address this reality.

We next boarded the minivan to travel to the home of Bishara Mirhej, Minister of State (cabinet member without portfolio) and member of the Lebanese Parliament. Mirhej comes off as a real patrician – cultured, measured, elegant in his personal past and association with the Iraqi Ba’athis Party. He now is affiliated with the Syrian Ba’athis Party.

Mirhej spoke of the incalculable toll on the Palestinians wrought by lack of a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He had just returned from an international conference on the needs of handicapped persons and spoke of the 40,000 Palestinians wounded and seriously handicapped by Israel, including 2,000 children (many of whom were shot in the knee and will never regain normal mobility).

Mirhej complained that the Israelis have removed themselves from any dialogue towards peace. He spoke of the historic breakthrough of the Saudi Peace Plan and Arab Summit in Beirut last year in which every Arab state, including formerly intransigent parties such as Iraq and Libya, agreed to a peace treaty with Israel. This sea-change in the Arab nations’ political stance on Israel was dismissed by the Israelis and largely ignored by the US. To the region’s great peril Mirhej observed.

Mirhej sees Bush’s recently announcement establishing a 2005 time frame for establishing a Palestinian state as a positive development, but is skeptical of the US’s willingness to work to reach that goal.

He was clear in distinguishing between the US government and the American people, and expressed horror at the prospects of a US attack on Iraq. “Almost no Arab country accepts this position, including the Kuwaitis…. This campaign against Iraq, no matter how we look at Saddam Hussein and his regime, is unacceptable.”

We left Mirhej after more than an hour and debated on the sidewalk our next step. We eventually were able to use the bathroom of a local shopkeeper (a man who runs a laundry and tailor shop – who also invited us all to be his guest for lunch because he doesn’t want people to believe the idea that all Arabs hate Americans!). We decided eventually to take cabs to the bus station, and were soon aboard a bus headed south along the Mediterranean coast to Sidon (or Saida in Arabic).

Many of us napped as the bus droned along. But the trip was very beautiful, with views right and left accented by sweeping vistas of the Mediterranean and city after city rising up into the hills of Lebanon to the East.

Elias had the perfect place for us to lunch: the Sidon Rest House. We ate under a white canopy overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The Rest House had an amazing array of salads and the group enjoyed the break and view as well as the food. Elias then took us on a walking tour of Old Sidon, including the “Khan” that has been beautifully restored by Prime Ministers Hariri’s family foundation, and the “souk” or market. We walked back to the walkway along the sea, where we were greeted by Fathi H, Abu El Ardaat, and two others. Fathi, or “Abu Maher,” who is the head of the PLO’s Fateh faction in the area, member of the Palestinian National Council, and head of the Palestinian Popular Unions, welcomed us to his home in Mia Mia, outside the Refugee Camp. There we gathered in an ornately decorated sitting room. Fathi gave us more details about the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. His wife and son brought out plates of fresh fruits and pastries. He described the Palestinians’ historic compromise by accepting a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He also described the utter frustration and demoralization which set in after Oslo as Palestinian land continued to be lost, homes destroyed and lives taken as Israeli settlements continued and promised movement towards a Palestinian state were denied.

Towards the end of our visit we were joined by Amne Soulaiman, head of the General Union of Palestinian Women, Lebanon division.

One interesting anecdote was telling how, after the Israelis occupied Southern Lebanon in 1982, Fathi’s mother and sister were able to travel across the border and visit their former home in Haifa. They found a family of Soviet Jews living there. “Why,” he asked, “Can’t we return there? Let them keep half and we’ll share the house with them.”

When pressed for next steps, Abu Maher said there is no other solution than a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem. By accepting 22% of historical Palestine, the Palestinian people are demonstrating their willingness to live in peace with Israel. Abu Maher presented Elias and Scott with art work and each member of the delegation with a kuffiyeh and a pin with the flag of Palestine.

We next drove further up the mountains to the hilltop church and community center in Majedaloun. There we met with Monseigneur Georges Kuwaiter, Archbishop of the Greek Catholic Melkite Church for the diocese of Saida and Deir El-Kamar. Bishop Kuweiter gave several interesting anecdotes about Muslim-Christian cooperation, including a group of Muslim clerics who walked the last 15 minutes to meet the Bishop upon his appointment so that local Muslim villagers would see that they were coming to greet him.

We then traveled to the home of Elias’ niece Angeles Abu Saba for dinner and conversation. Elias’ brother Simon Abu Saba and Wait Abu Saba, his nephew also joined us. We were joined for the wonderful dinner by Eli Osseiran, Member of Parliament. I don’t think the Arak to which we were introduced was solely responsible, but we were very tired at the end of a long day and excused ourselves to go to our overnight guests.

We stopped en route at the cave and shrine commemorating the site where Lebanese believe Mary Magdalene and the Mother of Jesus waited while Jesus went to Sidon.

Julie and Michael then went to the home of Fathi H. Abou el Ardaat (Abu Maher) for overnight. Peggy and Donna went to the home Amne K. Souliman, Member of Palestinian National Council and head of General Union of Palestinian Women, Lebanon Branch, whom we had met at the home of Abu Maher. George, Zack and Scott stayed with Elias at his family home.

Thursday October 3: Southern Lebanon

Thursday morning we awoke to a light rain and overcast skies. The dip in temperature was a relief after several very hot days.

We had breakfast in our homes. George, Zack and Scott enjoyed a first round of Breakfast with grapes and tea made from the herbs of Lebanon’s mountains, and then stopped at the home of Simon Abu Saba for the main course: sweet cheese pie, Kanafe, served in a sliced role, plus tea. It was interesting to watch from Simon’s veranda as two young men climbed into the olive trees, hitting the branches to knock off the ripened fruit for harvest.

Rev. Dr. Nuhad of MECC met the first car from Elias’ house at the traffic circle in Sidon but a miscommunication about departure time resulted in a 45 minute delay before the other delegation members joined us.

We soon were traveling in Nuhad’s and Elias’ cars up the mountains towards the village of Khiam/Khyam.

I’ll end this report in order to send it off and begin the next update with our visit to Khiam.

PostScript:

Though it is perhaps early in our trip, I think a few more general observations are in order.

First, one cannot but be impressed by the dramatic impact of confessional identity on the politics of Lebanon. Lebanon, especially Beirut, gives every impression of being a vibrant and diverse modern society. But just below the surface is the question and significance of one’s identity as a Muslim or Christian, or a particular kind of Muslim (Shi’ite or Sunni) or Christian. This dynamic is quite distinct from the impact of 30-40,000 Syrian troops or 350,000 Palestinian refugees still in Lebanon. It seems by one’s name alone a person is immediately known to be this or that. And, from this or that, derives a whole series of assumptions. This is a reality with which we from the USA are not familiar. Confessional politics also underlies all political discourse and was a primary contributing factor in the devastating Civil War in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990.

Secondly, the affects of the Civil War are still powerfully evident in Lebanon – not only in the physical devastation evident despite massive reconstructive that is underway. As we walked through Beirut the lingering affects of the war are evident – the exterior of buildings pock-marked by bullets and shelling, piles of rubble. During dinner last night we learned of homes destroyed during the time the host family’s village was occupied by Palestinian and Lebanese Muslim forces during the war. They had perfected a means of burning tires in the homes to weaken the concrete which became brittle and could be broken by hammers. The reinforcing steel bars were then cut and removed for use elsewhere.

Enormous strides have been made in the infrastructure, such as wide new highways and bridges, and in construction, both residential and commercial. We learned that Elias’ mother had been killed in her home by unknown assailants after refusing to leave during the War. So the after affects are also evident in the inter-communal dynamic that informs and determines Lebanese politics. We hear lots about how well the Lebanese actually get along, how the war was caused by outside forces using Lebanon for their own purposes, (The Lebanese often refer to the civil war as “the War of Others in our Country”). But other Lebanese will tell you in lowered voice that the problems are real, the contrast in cultures, “openness” and tolerance between Christian and Muslim cultures makes for ongoing conflict.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I can’t help but think that part of the almost cavalier manner in which people in the US talk about going to war with Iraq, or against Iraq, reflects the worldview of a people who have not fought a war on their own soil for a century and a half. When you see what devastation war brings and how the fabric of society is so easily rent by the forces unleashed, I quake at the nonchalance with which people in the US accept war as a possible, almost preferred option. It is especially galling when it is Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld who surreptitiously avoided military service during war who are the most adamant in beating the drums of war.

Finally, it is worth observing that we feel perfectly safe here. Some concern was expressed by friends and families about us being in Lebanon. There are police and military around. Yesterday as we drove south to Sidon/Saida there were a number of Lebanese army checkpoints. But I remember 1985 when there were 9-10 check points just going from the airport to Beirut. Now, the checkpoints seem mainly to be at the entrances to the Palestinian refugee camps, as Lebanese authorities try to prevent or forestall the reassertion of Palestinian authority and armed forces in the camps.

The biggest inconvenience for some of us has been to get the latest scores from the Major League Baseball play-offs. (What with the time difference and the fact that people here seem to think there are bigger worries to focus on, we’ve not had much news on progress of the play-offs.)

We have been so warmly hosted by Elias Abu Saba and Nuhad Tomeh that we are brimming with information, new friendships and vital information. I think that the experience of this delegation thus far will create an expectation that future Interfaith Peace Builders delegations also visit Arab countries other than Palestine. It definitely broadens and rounds out the discussion of the issues

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REPORT #1 - Received Oct 1

Seven of us gathered on Friday September 29th at the national Fellowship of Reconciliation headquarters in Nyack, NY, north of NYC. Joe Groves and Gretchen Merryman, Director of and staff intern for the Inter-Faith Peace Builders Programs, and others on the FOR staff provided a warm welcome as we converged on the FOR over several hours from various airports. I’m disappointed not to have a larger delegation, but quality compensates for quantity. We have an excellent group with three people from Minneapolis, MN, two from Santa Cruz, CA, and one each from Berkeley, CA, Dickinson, ND, and Olympia, WA.

The orientation was compacted to one day due to additional travel time necessary to include Jordan and Lebanon in our itinerary. We covered the practicalities of the delegation, issues related to traveling together and functioning well as a group, background to the region’s issues, etc. Hassle line exercises gave insights into how we can assure that our interactions with people we meet are most productive. More importantly, a sense of common purpose and camaraderie grows through group discussions, informal conversations and over meals.

On Saturday afternoon we piled into a borrowed van and were on our way to JFK airport. We were pleased to discover that the plane had extra seats, enabling us to stretch out if we wanted.

No matter how excited we may be about traveling to the Middle East, the 10 hour flight to Amman is grueling.

Amman, Jordan:

We arrived safely and on time on Sunday afternoon at Queen Alia Airport a half-hour’s drive from Amman. We had survived the flight despite babies crying in stereo non-stop and some of what must be the worst movies the USA has ever produced. Most of us got some, if fitful, sleep nonetheless. And we all were excited about our arrival in Jordan. We were greeted by 97 degree weather and by Iyad Sweileh, representing our tour agency Guiding Star. Iyad escorted us quickly through passport control and we soon were aboard our bus for the a half-hour bus ride to Amman. Our guide Mohammad Nablusi gave a brief overview of Jordan, including current pressing problems such as water and the threatened war with Iraq. Jordan is still suffering the effects of the Gulf War and views renewed war with Iraq with profound anxiety. Mohammed said the tourism is now Jordan’s leading industry, and talked about the excitement in Jordan at discovery of the place of Jesus’ baptism. He explained his disappointment that the number of tourists had fallen off dramatically with onset of the Second Palestinian Intifada or “uprising” precisely two years ago in September 2000.

We checked into the Ammon Hotel, 10 Tunis Street in Jebel Amman, between the fourth and fifth circles. We learned that Fr. Nabil Haddad was on his way over to meet us. Fr. Haddad, a Melkite Catholic Priest, had sent several enthusiastic Emails in advance of our arrival. We enjoyed chatting with him and learning a bit about the relationship of various faiths in Amman. Fr. Haddad represented that Jordan is a model for religious tolerance and that he enjoys great latitude in conducting his priestly functions. He is pastor to the second largest church in Jordan. We hope to visit there tomorrow.

After brief naps and showers, we returned to the ground floor for supper. Vicky Khano, President of Guiding Star, was in the lobby to greet us. She warmly welcomed us to Jordan and encouraged us to bring ten times as many people next trip. She joined the chorus of complaints about the drastic drop-off of tourists visiting Jordan.

We were joined for dinner by Lilian Peters, Quaker Middle East Representative, and David Jackman, Associate Middle East Representative of the American Friends Service Committee.

Over dinner, Lilian gave a good update on the situation in light of her time in Jordan and recent visits to Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip. She observed that, in her contacts on the West Bank, she encountered more interest than ever before in nonviolence; recent violence had proven so disastrous for the Palestinians that people are actively exploring alternatives. Lilian also talked abut the region-wide fear about what would follow US attack on Iraq -- including possible attacks on Syria, Hizbollah in Lebanon, and refugees flowing into Jordan.

David Jackman talked about his work on small arms and the disastrous affect that a relatively small number of people with "light weapons" can have on an entire society and the damaging results of having no control on weapons streams.

Lilian and David agreed that it is very helpful to visit other countries in the region to try to understand the underlying relationships impacting and impacted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After dinner, we met downstairs for a more formal orientation to Jordan by Mohammed Nablusi. Mohammed presented a historical survey of Jordan, back to prehistoric times. He spoke of Jordan as a 'trans-country' or crossroads between three continents. After reviewing the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict, he stated several times that the Arabs are prepared to live with Israel, if the Palestinians only were given their own state. He expressed concern that the US intends not just to attack Iraq but to actually colonize the country. "This time Bush is Saddam Hussein."

The next morning we traveled by Bus to Al Wehdat Refugee Camp. (We are accompanied by a tourist policeman whenever we travel by bus in Jordan.) The camp is in the city of Amman, and to us virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding areas of the city. We visited several UNRWA institutions in the camp, including a health clinic and vocational training center. We visited two homes in the camp. The first was Saadeya Sialliadawi, a Palestinian woman from Gaza who described her difficulty not being able to return home to Gaza or to get assistance in Jordan. We were served tea and coffee in a second home, where several generations of one family talked about loss of their home near Jaffa and their desire to return to Palestine. We then walked through the main market area of Wehdat Camp and stopped at the Wehdat Sports Club, famous for many championship teams.

We were accompanied during our visit to Wehdat by several people, including Kamal Nassar, a former UNRWA official who retired in 1992, and Samir _____, an Evangelical Christian (Episcopalian) and Economic Editor, Jordan Times.

From Wehdat we boarded the bus about 10:30 and traveled across Amman to the US Embassy. The embassy is a beautiful and huge building complex -- fortress like. In better times it would be an attractive campus for a college or university. It is built to withstand attack -- a fact that its striking architecture does not accentuate, neither can it hide it.

We spent nearly two hours with Doug Silliman, political consular section. He said he would both express official positions and his own views. After 19 years in the region, he can a measured and articulate exposition of US policies and what he perceives to be Middle East realities. He said far too many -- almost all -- groups from the US with which he meets are interested in just marshalling arguments for one side or the other. Few take the time or make the effort to try to comprehend the nuances and complexities of the situation. He observed that US policy regarding Israel is not determined by foreign policy considerations --but is driven by domestic political considerations. He expressed some exasperation at trying to get his views heard back in Washington, DC, when all positions are shaped by Congress' sensitivity to pro-Israeli sentiment. He said that he thought US policy was influenced by conservative, mostly Christian, political opinion, rather than American Jewish opinion. Silliman spoke of his ambivalence about an attack by the US on Iraq. He said he thought "regime change" was a great necessity for the sake of the Iraqi people, but expressed moral and political reservations about the US initiating a war for that purpose. He said there was no doubt that Saddam Hussein was involved in producing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

Before we left, Doug encouraged to have other visitors call on him. He likes to talk with groups from the US. When asked if he might help us if we get some resistance to crossing into Israel, he strongly encouraged us to be in no way "confrontational" (the delegation with Congressional staff in June "had an attitude" that hurt their chances). He also gave us his cell phone # and told us to be sure to call if we encountered problems. He said helping in advance would probably be counterproductive, but that the Embassy specializes in responding to crises!

We left the embassy and arrived more than an hour late for our appointment with As’ad Abdul Rahman, a PLO Executive Committee member who recently resigned as Director for Refugee Affairs of the Palestine National Council. Abdul Rahman said he had been active attempts at reform within the Palestine Authority, protesting corruption and advocating for greater democracy. He said there is a tension between the two paths of national liberation and nation-building. The pursuit of national liberation has sometimes been at the cost of building a democratic Palestinian society, and more often is used as an excuse for anti-democratic actions within the PA. He referred to the Palestinian Declaration of Independence as the basis for any Palestinian nation-building, and observed that the current practices of Arafat and the PNA violated every basic tenant of the Declaration. Abdul Rahman pointed out that 69 Palestinians, including 11 children, had been killed during what the Western media and US government called a "period of quiet" before two suicide bombings triggered Sharon's order to surround Arafat's compound in Ramallah again. He said that replacing Arafat would make no difference in the Palestinian commitment to a peaceful settlement, but that attacks on Arafat had completely derailed the internal Palestinian reform movement that had been gaining momentum.

We returned to the Ammon Hotel for brief rest and to gather our bags. We stopped at the Black Iris Gift Shop en route to the Reem Albawadi Restaurant for a "Bedouin-style" dinner. Fr. Nabil Haddad joined us there and spoke enthusiastically of his efforts to build an interfaith peace movement. He wants to work actively with the FOR to that end.

Iyad from Guiding Star accompanied to the airport and through the airport procedures. We soon boarded the Royal Jordanian Airlines plane for the 48 minute flight to Beirut. The plane had very few passengers and the flight was uneventful.

We passed through customs and passport procedures (our passports were closely checked for Israeli visa stamps, but our bags were not opened or delegation members questioned about our itinerary or plans at any point).

Beirut:

Elias Abu Saba, our host and delegation organizer, met us at airport arrivals. He had rented a mini-van to carry us to Beirut, about 40 minutes' drive from the airport.

Elias lives in a 14 story building with furnished apartments -- the Daouk Apartments," that are run as a hotel with six days a week room service. We were relieved to check into our rented apartments after a full day of programming and the flight from Beirut.

Tuesday October 1:

We gathered for breakfast as Elias’ apartment on the 11th floor. He served us a special Lebanese food, "like pizza," consisting of mixed spices -- "za'atar" -- baked on flat bread, grapes, melon and herb tea.

George read passage from Thich Nhat Hahn on Walking meditation. At 8:45 a.m. we met in the lobby ready to begin our first full day in Lebanon. We walked about 15 minutes to the seaside campus of the American University of Beirut, stopping to buy newspapers and enjoying the smell of fresh cut flowers in the many shops along the way. We walked through AUB, which was founded by Presbyterians from the USA (and is still chartered in New York), including a brief stop at the Visitors' Bureau and at the memorial for AUB President Malcom Kerr who was killed during the Lebanese Civil War.

We waited along Rue Bliss for our minivan and driver -- people bought coffee or sodas from the various stores across the street from the main entrance to AUB. Armed military guards are deployed in front of the McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts.

Rev. Dr. Nuhad Tomeh, responsible for "international linkage" for the Near East Council of Churches, greeted us at the minivan and introduced us to Sylvia Haddad, who would spend the morning with us. Sylvia directs the Joint Christian Committee for Social Service in Lebanon and runs an interfaith school that we hope to visit.

We drove to the headquarters of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, that has 2,600 employees and a $50 million a year budget (plus an additional $20 million for special projects) in Lebanon. We had a stilted conversation with Alfredo Miccio, the Italian born director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon. He refused to "talk politics" but succeeded in making a series of passing observations to which the delegation took exception -- such as that the Palestinians were "Bedouin and peasants" and not as developed as the Lebanese when they arrived in 1948 as refugees. He described the free health care provided the 378,000 "registered" refugees in Lebanon, and UNRWA's success in extending free education through secondary school in Lebanon. He also described the inadequacy of funding to meet the health needs of the refugee population and the many restrictions that Palestinian refugees face in Lebanon.

We found the following conversation with Zein Seikaly, Chief of Field Relief and Social Services Progrm for UNRWA, far more insightful and helpful. Zein is a vivacious, committed person who truly understands what is going on in the refugee camps. She gave a more detailed but equally sobering description of the Lebanese laws that, for example, prohibit Palestinians from buying land in Lebanon.

Sylvia joined us for the ride back to Rue Bliss and lunch at the Socrate Catering Restaurant near AUB. We sat at two tables -- some talking with Sylvia and others with Elias.

We are taking a few hours off during the heat of the day. We'll renew our visit to Beirut with a walking tour at 4:00 p.m. In the meantime, a stop at the internet cafe has afforded the opportunity to submit this first report on our Interfaith Peace Builders delegation. Thus far the group has expressed gratitude for being able to visit Jordan and Lebanon, to provide background and depth to our understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict. We've been warmly welcomed at each stop. People are eager to make themselves understood to visitors from the USA. It is difficult to comprehend something like the 15 year long civil war in Lebanon (1975-1992) or the prospects of war with Iraq. But delegation members are eager to learn and making the most of our unique opportunity to be here. We'll send more news later.

Scott Kennedy
Delegation Leader

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