I am forwarding the report below which talks about an Iowa congressional group's visit to Palestine/Israel with the thought that we might want to propose a similar trip to--and for--our congressional delegation.
It's heartwarming to see grassroots organizations similar to ours that have sprung up elsewhere.
Best,
Kris
---Forwarded Message---
Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 17:48:56 -0500
From: Ann Hafften <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Report from Iowa Congressional group 050523
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
May 23, 2005
>From the ELCA Middle East Networking List...
This report from the March trip to Jerusalem came from organizers of the
Iowa Congressional Accompaniment Project. Earlier we distributed some
bulletins from ELCA Pastor Greg Geier, who took part in the ecumenical
group.
A Report & Analysis
Congressional Accompaniment Project
March 20 - 29, 2005
On March 20, 2005, 12 persons from Iowa accompanied the Foreign Policy
Legislative Aide of Congressman Jim Leach of the Second Congressional
District in Iowa, for a week long fact-finding tour to Jerusalem. The tour
was conducted by the staff of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology
Center in Jerusalem.
The investigative tour was sponsored by the Presbytery of East Iowa, the
(Southeastern Iowa Synod, ELCA), the Eastern Iowa Coalition for Peace &
Justice in Israel-Palestine, the People for Justice in Palestine, Iowa City
Chapter and North American Friends of Sabeel.
A statement of the purpose of the trip and a full description of the
Congressional Accompaniment Tour along with the advanced itinerary is
attached.
In summary the tour group spoke with nearly twenty persons representative of
Israeli and Palestinian government, education, religious organizations,
courts, human rights groups, refugee camps and families. The Head of the
American Consulate was also interviewed.
The group traveled throughout Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramalleh, and Hebron and
smaller communities. It crossed many Israeli military "check points,
encountered the "Separation Wall," visited Israeli Settlements and
Palestinian Refugee Camps in the West Bank, toured the "Old City" of
Jerusalem and attended religious services and sacred sites.
The group heard both positive and negative assessments of the current
"window of opportunity" created by the cease fire agreement between the
government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The group discovered
wide contrasts of optimism - mainly from Israeli officials - and pessimism -
mainly from Israeli peace activists and Palestinians generally.
The poverty, humiliation and harassment of the West Bank Palestinians, as a
direct consequence of the Israeli military occupation, is evident on every
side. Yet an almost indescribable element of patient endurance that the
Palestinians call "samud" or steadfastness, continues to sustain the common
life among West Bankers in a remarkable way that is revealed in the
universal hospitality we experienced.
However, the imbalance of political, military and economic power between the
Israelis and the Palestinians is clear and obvious making the hope of the
Palestinians hinge in large degree on urgently needed help from outside,
particularly from the United States government. But those who follow the
winds of political policy making closely, hold little hope for change in the
one-sidedness of U.S. policy and therefore little hope for a fair solution
to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The rapid building and expansion of Israeli "Jewish only" Settlements on
Palestinian land along with the demolition of Palestinian homes and the
separation wall/fence that divides Palestinians from each other and from
their land, continue to aggravate the tension and rapidly lower the window
of opportunity for a viable Palestinian State to form.
Prime Minister Sharon's recent defiance of President Bush's request for
Israel to halt settlement expansion according to the terms of the Road Map
peace plan seems to confirm Sharon's plan to create a facade of a non-viable
and perpetually dependent Palestinian mini-state. Such an outcome is likely
to provoke, in the near term, a new outbreak of frustrated violence from
Palestinian extremists and reflexive violent retaliation by Israel, and in
the long term, continual unrest and resentment that will feed and sustain
terrorist efforts around the world directed largely at the United States,
which is widely perceived as Israel's chief sponsor.
It seems apparent that unless the US. Administration supported by the U.S.
Congress intervenes more aggressively on the side of fairness and
reciprocity between the Israeli officials and the Palestinians, there is
little hope for a just and peaceful outcome.
Darrell W. Yeaney
Iowa City, Iowa
Working for Peace, Justice and the Truth spoken in Love.
---- ---- ---- ----
If you have received this bulletin directly from us, it is because you
subscribed to the ELCA Middle East Networking List. Please forward this
bulletin to others who are interested in a just peace for Palestine and
Israel.
To Join (or Leave) this List, go to www.elca.org/middleeast
Ann Hafften
Coordinator for Middle East Networking
Division for Global Mission, ELCA
www.elca.org/middleeast
800-638-3522, ext. 6466
---End of Forwarded Message---
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