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Religion Forum Index » Christian Methodist Forum » UMNS: Jerusalem peace center stands
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 Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:20 am |
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Close Up: Despite demolitions, Jerusalem peace center stands
Mar. 18, 2004
A UMNS Feature
By Jan Read*
Against the odds, the Beit Arabiya Center for Peace in Jerusalem's West
Bank is still standing - longer than it has in its history.
Four previous incarnations of the building have been jackhammered into
the ground by Israeli forces, but a demolition ordered last September by
the Israeli forces has not yet happened.
The peace center was resurrected from the rubble of the family house of
Salim and Arabiya Shawamreh. The project was funded largely by 400
United Methodist churches in Minnesota, built by an international
coalition of volunteers and supported by hopes that the Israeli
government's policies about Palestinian home demolition may be changing.
The repeated demolition of their home has been hard on the Shawamrehs
and their seven children.
"One of my sons dreams of soldiers and demolitions," Salim said. "My
oldest son left school at 16. My daughter who is 15 is very afraid. They
wonder, 'How can you protect me when you can't stop them from tearing
down our house?'"
The most recent demolition order unleashed a flurry of phone calls,
letters and personal visits to U.S. leaders in an effort to bring
international pressure on the Israeli policy. That persuasion stayed the
bulldozers when nothing had before.
In 1990, the Shawamrehs, a Palestinian couple, bought the land where the
center now stands. Both were raised in refugee camps, and a home of
their own was a lifelong dream. Despite having full rights to the land,
the Shawamrehs were twice denied building permits by the Israeli
government. Finally, the couple decided to build in 1993, despite not
having the permit.
A demolition order was issued a year later, and that house was torn down
in 1998 as the family sat down to lunch. The Shawamrehs enlisted the
help of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions and became the
first family to rebuild their house.
The build-and-demolish scenario was repeated three more times during the
next five years. In one instance, the family had 15 minutes to get out.
Two other times, the house was torn down the day after it was completed.
After the final demolition, the Shawamrehs leased their land to ICHAD
and other groups to rebuild their home as a peace center. The idea was
to build a center to tell the stories of the demolitions, a symbol of
nonviolent resistance to Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian
homes.
Activists say the Shawamrehs' experience "illustrates the political
agenda of the demolition policy, as well as the trauma and suffering
caused by such a policy."
The Israeli government says it issues demolition orders for houses that
are constructed without building permits or are in the way of planned
development.
Aviv Ezra, deputy counsel general of the Consulate General in Atlanta,
part of the Israel Diplomatic Network, said the Israeli government has a
policy of house demolition in the West Bank "if we feel it will stop a
'ticking bomb,' a terrorist who is about to commit murder-suicide and
kill innocent civilians. We will also take down houses after a
suicide-murder of the dispatcher or family members as a deterrence to
further violence."
Asked about the Shawamreh home in particular, he said that if the house
was in legal dispute he could not comment on the specifics of the case.
After the last demolition order was issued for the Shawamrehs' home, a
wide network of supporters, including United Methodists, used phone
calls, letters and personal persuasion to key U.S. political leaders to
bring pressure on Israeli officials. So far, it's been effective.
The Shawamrehs visited the United States last fall, and Salim recalled
the trip fondly. "In Minnesota, we met many kind people," he said. "Many
of them are supporting us, talking to their senators. It's given me a
lot of hope. And they promised us that if the Israelis demolished our
home again, they will come help us rebuild it."
In 2003, the Minnesota United Methodist Annual (regional) Conference
voted to donate a majority of its annual love offering to the rebuilding
project, earmarking more than $60,000 for the peace center. That
donation spurred the family to go ahead and rebuild the Shawamreh home,
this time as a home base for education efforts to stop the bulldozing.
The center is dedicated to the memory of two women killed in 2003 during
house demolitions: Rachel Corrie, an American volunteer, and Nuha
Sweidan, a pregnant Palestinian woman who died when the wall of a
neighboring home being demolished fell on her.
Longstanding policy
The Israeli policy of bulldozing homes has been going on since the start
of Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967. About 10,000
Palestinian homes have been demolished since then, with the demolition
policy escalating in the last two years. Activists say that, currently,
between 75 and 100 homes are torn down every month.
The Israeli government often cites expansion needs as a reason for
demolitions, in addition to tearing down homes that have not been issued
permits through the murky bureaucratic system. Only about 5 percent of
demolitions involve the homes of suspected terrorists and their extended
families, according to activists.
But Ezra, the Israeli deputy counsel general, disputed the claim that
about 5 percent of the homes that are demolished are
terrorist-connected. On the contrary, he said, "most of the homes" that
are torn down are terrorist-related.
Salim and Arabiya have decided they will not return to live in their
home until they have been issued a building permit. The family now lives
nearby in an apartment. The process is slow and progress sometimes
impossible to measure.
The effort to halt the demolition policy has support within Israel and
the United States. Spearheading efforts is the Israeli Committee Against
House Demolitions, led by former Minnesotan Jeff Halper, and the
Palestinian Land Defense Committee.
These groups began rebuilding homes - like the Shawamrehs' - that had
been demolished for lack of a building permit. Eighteen homes and a
kindergarten have been rebuilt through this effort.
Another organization, Rebuilding Homes, was formed in June 2002 as a
partnership of Israeli, Palestinian and American groups. The group's
goal is to raise awareness and funds to "rebuild Palestinian homes and
Middle East peace through strategic Palestinian and Israeli
cooperation."
Working for change
The Minnesota Conference has been active in the area since 1947, when
Methodists helped set up tents for displaced Palestinians. Now the focus
is on education and working to bring both sides of the situation to
light in hopes of an eventual peace in the region.
The Rev. Dwight Haberman, a retired pastor, just returned from a trip to
the troubled region and found the effect of the house demolition policy
is widespread.
"The numbers are stunning, and it's so hard for the families, especially
the women," he said. "Home is everything to them. This is just so
tragic."
The Rev. Lyle Christianson, another retired Minnesota pastor who has
been to the region seven times in the past 30 years, echoed Haberman's
thoughts.
"The general feeling that people have is that the Palestinians are the
cause of all the trouble, all the acts of terrorism, in the Middle
East," he said. "We are trying to show the other side of the story."
On his trips, he said, he has found that there is support from Jews and
Israelis to stop the demolitions. He recalled a Palestinian shop owner's
description that "my Jewish neighbors are wonderful but the Israeli
government is cruel."
He expects the work to continue. "We've established a prayer program in
each of our 400 churches. Each church is asked to spend 24 hours in
prayer and have a program about the issue," he explained. "It hasn't
been perfect, but it's improved their understanding."
*Read is a freelance journalist based in Nashville, Tenn.
********************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org |
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