A Christmas Message of No Hope and Hope

The Christian Peacemaker Teams office in Hebron will be closed for a few days around Christmas. Bethlehem is only a 30-minute bus ride from Hebron and there is lots going on there at Christmas time, so I will take advantage of the opportunity and spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Bethlehem. 

A Banksy Image

Christmas is a time of new beginnings and hope. It comes as the year turns toward longer days and it celebrates the birth of a child in Bethlehem who brought a promise of peace and joy to the world.  So Christmas in Bethlehem seems like a good time and place to ask where hope lies for Palestinians.

I once heard the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe say that he would never participate in a conference that had “hope” in the title. Pappe is anti-Zionist and highly critical of Israel’s multifaceted and decades-long denial of Palestinian human rights. He is the author most recently of “The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories.”

There are many good reasons for Pappe’s pessimism and avoidance of “hope” and I review a few of those reasons here.  But then I part company with the pessimism and draw attention to reasons for hope.

Why hope is hard to find.

Israel can bring overwhelming military power to bear against Palestinians and its power  is  backed by the military power of the United States. When I look at one of the large steel checkpoints in Hebron I see Moloch. I see not only the soldiers who sortie out against protesters and stone throwers with tear gas, sound grenades, rubber bullets and live ammunition but I also see the full power of the Israeli military behind them. Israel’s wars on the people of Gaza show that power, and we witnessed some of it ourselves in the South Hebron hills when we stood beside flocks of sheep and demolished homes as US-made Israeli helicopters and fighter planes flew over our heads.

Checkpoint into the Tel Rumeida Neighborhood of Hebron

Israel has developed a sophisticated and pervasive technology of control. Whenever a soldier asks a Palestinian for ID at one of the many checkpoints, he phones in the ID number and checks the person against databases that include most Palestinians.  Cameras at checkpoints in Hebron appear to be linked to face recognition software, so a child who throws a stone can be identified for later arrest and detention. One can also be sure that Israel monitors cellphone conversations and email messages. 

Decades of excellent and reliable reporting documenting the human rights abuses suffered by Palestinians has brought no change in the conditions of their lives .  Every year there is a steady stream of reports, books, articles and documentaries.  Daily and near daily reports of deaths, arrests, demolitions and other abuses can be found on many different websites including those of International Middle East Media Center,  Palestine News and Information Agency, United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Occupied Palestinian Territories and B’Tselem. B’Tselem is an Israeli organization that reports on human rights abuses in the occupied territories. The recent  statement by B’Tselem’s Executive Director on the 30th anniversary of the organization and their presentation “Just the tip of the iceberg” reflect on Israeli avoidance of culpability and show how ignorance  can be willful.  

Governments and international organizations have taken no real action in the form of sanctions against Israel in spite of all the human rights abuses and all the defiance of international law. Many resolutions condemning Israel have been passed by the UN Security Council and other bodies over the years, but no action has ever been taken. Reasons for this include: the diplomatic and political support of Israel by the United States; the ability of the US to put pressure on other countries to refrain from action; the military and technological importance of Israel to many countries; and the continuing feelings of guilt of Western powers about the holocaust. Inaction remains and the abuse continues. 

People in Western countries feel an emotional bond to the people of Israel that they do not feel for Palestinians. There is a complex of racist, historical and cultural elements to this, as well as a few myths. The founders of Israel came from Europe and the current leaders of Israel are of European origin. The West is traditionally Judeo-Christian and Israel shares that tradition. Israel is a settler colonial state as are the United States and Canada, and Europe has a lingering sympathy for colonialism. There is a mindset in the West, carefully nurtured by Israel, that Israel is a modern Western democratic state and a bulwark against barbarian hordes of darker skinned people with alien ideologies and hatred for the West. Settlers in Hebron have stated that they should be supported by the West rather than criticized because they are fighting on the front lines of the battle against radical Islam.

So where can hope be found?

Hope can be found in the strength, steadfastness and resourcefulness of the Palestinian people.   They have not been cowed by the many years they have lived under Israeli oppression. Just living one’s life as best one can, maintaining one’s family and friendships, keeping the shop open, teaching the young, and refusing to leave in spite of harassment by settlers or the military are forms of resistance, a statement that I am not going away  Palestinians also engage in more active forms of resistance such as building community organizations, speaking out, creating art, participating in non-violent protests and documenting human rights abuses.

I am always struck by the energy, and warmth that I feel around me as I walk through the streets of Hebron. Welcome is the most common word one hears and coffee is often offered. The warmth between members of families and between friends is palpable, and an indication of deep reservoirs of mutual support. Families and friends take care of each other.  I have never seen homeless people sleeping in the streets of Hebron which is in strong contrast to the many homeless people in the streets of Portland Oregon where I live. 

Last month members of our Christian Peacemaker team witnessed the destruction of four family homes in a suburb of Hebron.  The homes were destroyed by the Israeli military in response to the killing of a soldier near a settlement close to Hebron. Young men of the families had been accused but not convicted of involvement in the murder.  The homes of their families were destroyed as a form of collective punishment that is both acknowledged as such and widely practiced by Israel.  The destruction left 23 men, women and children homeless. But they were immediately taken in by relatives and friends.

The resilience, strength and solidarity of Palestinians show that Israel has not succeeded and will not succeed in suppressing the spirit of resistance among the Palestine people.

Hope can be found in the active conscience of the world, including the conscience of Israelis.

Palestinians are unbowed but the forces arrayed against them are too great for them to end their oppression on their own. They need the active conscience of people around the world and that conscience is growing. Students on US campuses are active in support of Palestinians, Jewish people in the US are no longer monolithic in their support for Israel as shown by the rise of groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now, and a majority of Democratic voters now hold Israel responsible for the situation in Palestine. This growth in fellow feeling and activism in support of Palestinians has not yet had much influence on governments. But changes are occurring there too,  as  shown by the recent introduction of a bill by Representative Betty McCollum of Minnesota calling for an end to the use of US military aid to Israel for the detention and abuse of children.

Many Israeli organizations and individuals oppose their country’s oppression of Palestinians. The organizations include: B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Zochrot, (De)Coloniser, Gush Shalom, Rabbis for Human Rights, Machsom Watch and others.  Part of the hope we see lies in the possibility that these organizations and individuals can persuade  their fellow citizens to recognize that the current  system will bring neither peace nor real security - to recognize that a system in which half of the people from  one ethnic group  oppress the other half of the people from  another ethnic group can only end in disaster.

In conclusion.

The forces that give rise to despair and the forces that give rise to hope are well matched. They are locked in a Manichean struggle and the outcome will depend on us.

Christmas in Bethlehem