Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:38:22 -0500
Sender: ELCA Mid-East Networking List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Ann Hafften <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Three Women's Voices 050719
July 19, 2005
Three women speaking out for peace are getting some good media attention. Rana Khoury, the Christian woman in this Partners for Peace tour, is on the staff of the (Lutheran) International Center of Bethlehem.
Here's the link (you may have to retype it) to a story in the Baltimore Sun. Below is a link to an interview on the satellite program "Democracy Now" and a portion of the transcript.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.notebook09jul09,1,4790123.story?coll=bal-opinion-headlines
Baltimore Sun
Editorial Notebook
Three women
July 9, 2005
ON THE SAME DAY that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lectured Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about how to deal with terrorists, Michal Sagi, Jumana Odeh and Rana Khoury were on an East Coast road trip to promote peace. The women - a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian - may seem as unlikely a trio as the gruff, retired general and the circumspect chief operating officer. But think again: They come together for different reasons, with a common goal - a just and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are neither politicians nor diplomats, militants nor settlers; those are the voices that have dominated the decades-old standoff over land, security and sovereignty.
Theirs are the voices often unheard in this conflict - three women of three faiths from Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem. They are trying to make themselves heard above the conflict's distracting din and polarizing rhetoric.
Although the violence of the past four years has subsided since a cease-fire was forged with Palestinian militants this year, the women argue that the recent calm is a temporary respite because the military occupation remains entrenched. Checkpoints, settlements and the security wall dominate their conversations from Baltimore to New York, Philadelphia to Fort Worth, Texas.
"We feel occupation should be ended for both nations," says Dr. Odeh,
a pediatrician. "It's not healthy for both nations. ... If we share the same pain, why can't we share joy too?"
Perhaps they are saying nothing more than what has been said by groups such as
Peace Now, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Palestinian Human
Rights Monitoring Group. But Dr. Odeh, Ms. Sagi and Ms. Khoury offer a perspective uniquely their own, from personal narratives that reflect the lives of others.
Dr. Odeh, 49, chronicles the time it takes her to travel from her West Bank home to the medical school outside Jerusalem where she teaches. A 20-minute car ride has become two hours because of the checkpoints through which she must pass. A question often asked in her medical school ethics class is, "If you found a wounded Israeli solider, what would you do?" She has treated a wounded soldier and has never regretted it. She also had a former patient who, once grown, joined the ranks of suicide bombers. Her view, echoed by Ms. Khoury, is that militancy is not the way to achieve Palestinian aspirations.
Ms. Sagi, a director of a family planning center in Jerusalem, has studied the system of Israeli checkpoints, from their locations to their impact on security to the dimensions of their turnstiles (smaller than those in the New York subway). She focuses on "internal checkpoints" - those located between Palestinians villages, far from the border with Israel: Why are they there? Who do they protect? She joined an Israeli group that monitors checkpoints for instances of abuse and intimidation. "I'm trying to do something to change this situation. I want to live in peace with myself," says the 36-year-old Israeli.
Ms. Khoury, 35, who runs an educational-cultural organization in Bethlehem, wants people to understand that the conflict is not about religion: "People of different faiths and of both nations can agree on the fact that ending occupation is the first, last and only solution to getting peace."
Their road trip may seem naive considering the failures of the peace process and
the thorny issues that must be resolved before peace is realized for 6 million Israelis and 3.4 million Palestinians. They are, after all, only three women, and they never spent any length of time together until this trip, which is part of a U.S.-based peace program. But their conversation, their interaction and their relationship is a reminder that there are Israelis and Palestinians who are willing to consider the other and come together - without malice, and with respect.
- Ann LoLordo
Jerusalem Women Speak interview with Amy Goodman of âDemocracy Now!â
Dr. Jumana Odeh
Michal Sagi
Rana Khoury
Click below to watch or listen to the interview aired on July 18, 2005 with the
participants on the 10th "Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths,
One Shared Vision" tour hosted by Partners for Peace.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid= /07/18/136258
AMY GOODMAN: Today we turn to a conversation about the daily realities
of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Three women -- a Christian, a Muslim
and a Jew -- traveled throughout the United States last month to share
their experiences with American audiences. Dr. Jumana Odeh, a Muslim
Palestinian, lives in Jerusalem, is Director of Palestinian Happy Child
Center. She supervises child health programs in the West Bank, Gaza
Strip and Jerusalem. Michal Sagi is a Jewish Israeli who serves as the
Executive Director of SHILO, Jerusalem's Family Planning, Educational
and Counseling Center. She's active with Checkpoint Watch, a women's
human rights monitoring group, which monitors reports on its
observations at Israeli military and police checkpoints in West Bank
and East Jerusalem. Also, Rana Khoury, a Christian Palestinian, lives
in Bethlehem, Deputy General Director of the International Center of
Bethlehem, a Palestinian NGO. Her father died in January of 2004 when
he was denied passage at an Israeli checkpoint on the way to the
hospital because he was not holding a sickness permit to attest to his
massive heart attack. Even his American passport was not able to get
him to a Jerusalem hospital. We began with Dr. Jumana Odeh, Michal Sagi
and Rana Khoury. When they came into our firehouse, Dr. Odeh began by
talking about the situation of the children she works with.
DR. JUMANA ODEH: Although it sounds happy [reference to her
organization, the Palestinian Happy Child Center], Palestinian children
are going through very difficult circumstances, and to be a doctor, the
most frustrating, actually, is when you feel that you can't do anything
for a sick baby or a sick child coming to your center. And the minute
they arrive with their parents, or mainly with their mothers, you don't
ask the regular questions any physician on earth will ask ? `How are
you doing?' and then you go directly to signs and symptoms and ask
about the health of the child ? you ask how did they arrive, how many
checkpoints and roadblocks they had to go through, how many hours it
took them to reach the center, and much more question than any other
doctor will ask in other situations. Besides that, you have to be aware
of their psycho-social, other aspects, rather than only medical, pure
medical aspects. How much did it cost them to reach? Because of the
long distances they have to go through, it is becoming so hard for
people to reach. Beside that, the economical situation is too harsh for
Palestinians. Then you go to the core issue, which is the health.
>From -- I wrote once a story about a child during the invasion of
Ramallah, because actually I'm from Jerusalem but I live in Ramallah
and Jerusalem, not only in Jerusalem. And I work mainly in Ramallah, so
I have to go and come from Ramallah to Jerusalem and the opposite
direction. And once when Ramallah was under seige, I had to stay in
Ramallah all the way through, because I'm needed there. Like many other
doctors, we were needed in the city. And I remember that the curfew was
lifted. There was a long curfew for almost three weeks, then the curfew
was lifted for only two hours. And you imagine what can you do within
two hours. And I got lots of calls from my patients, especially that
particular child, who was around six, and he had epilepsy. And they ran
out of their anti-epileptic drugs, and they lived in a village next to
Ramallah. So his father was calling, pleading for help, that they tried
to enter Ramallah because the curfew was lifted only for two hours.
They were not allowed to enter Ramallah within those two hours. And he
was asking for medication. And he told me that `My child is seizuring,
he's fitting; he's having his seizures on the checkpoint, right on the
checkpoint while the soldiers were watching, and they are not allowing
me.' So I had to jump into that checkpoint, run to that checkpoint,
give him the medication, calm down the child. And I remember him saying
to me, "Please, I don't want to fall down again! I don't want to fall
down again!" I'll never, ever forget this story.
AMY GOODMAN: How old was the boy?
DR. JUMANA ODEH: He was around 5 1/2, six.
AMY GOODMAN: What happens at the checkpoint? Can you describe when it's
a family trying to get to the doctor?
DR. JUMANA ODEH: You know, first of all, I can give another story about
what does it mean for me very personally. You know, yes, I'm a doctor,
yes, I have special permits to pass. Yes, I am Jerusalemite so it's
much easier for me to go from one place to another. And I can't compare
myself with other people who suffer much more than I do. And always I
compare myself with somebody, with a mother carrying her disabled child
and going through hell.
But lately, my father, 1 1/2 year ago was diagnosed with
having cancer. And he's from Ramallah, so he needs a special permit to
go to Jerusalem. Because his treatment wasn't available in Ramallah, we
have to go to Jerusalem. And only in one of the Israeli hospitals we
found his treatment. So hopefully, that I could do this permit for him
to go and come. And this permit is supposed to be only for patients,
only for him as a patient and only for one day. Then later on, I could
make -- with the help of the hospital, I could make it for two months
or three months. And hopefully, that the professor that is treating him
-- and I really admire this woman, and I want to acknowledge her name.
Her name is Professor Dina Ben-Yehuda, and she works ? she's the head
of the Hematology Department at the Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital. She
was of a great help. She saved the life of my dad. And again, I will
never forget her and what she did to my dad.
And she's -- the minute we are in the hospital, as my -- as a patient
and daughter, and everybody is taking his chemotherapy, we sit
together, Arabs and Israelis, in one room. By time we become like
family, you know? If somebody is complaining, everybody will go and try
to help and ask about his or her health. And everybody is so friendly
with my dad: the nurses, the doctors, everybody. And always, I wonder,
if we can share this pain together, why don't we share joy, too? So
these are very painful stories, yet I do believe that peace will come
one day, because there are some people, and many, I believe, within the
Israeli system and the Israeli community, like Professor Ben-Yehuda and
many other friends, and like Michal, like many other friends who go to
Machsom Watch, which is the Checkpoint Watch, and they are very
helpful. And many other doctors and professors that I know within the
health community in Israel.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Jumana Odeh lives in Jerusalem, works in Ramallah, and
back and forth, is a physician, and describing going across the
checkpoint, Muslim-Palestinian woman. The checkpoint, which brings us
to Michal Sagi, who is an Israeli Jew who spends a lot of time at
checkpoints. Why?
MICHAL SAGI: I need to go there. I cannot ignore the things that are
happening, the things that are being done by using my name, my
citizenship. I feel the need to witness and not to be able to say, "I
didn't know. I didn't see," so --
AMY GOODMAN: Describe a checkpoint for us.
MICHAL SAGI: A checkpoint is not like here in the airport where someone
wants to go in and is being checked for security, but nobody questions
his or her right to go on board. In the military checkpoints around the
West Bank and around Jerusalem, the soldiers can decide who is going to
pass and who is not going to pass. On top of that, the majority of
checkpoints are not between Israelis and Palestinians. Most of the
checkpoints are separating a Palestinian village from a Palestinian
town. So if -- let's say that you're living in Hewara village, which is
southern to Nablus, and you want to get to Nablus in order to get
dentist treatment or for shopping or for university, school, whatever
the daily needs that one need, they should go out in the morning,
early. They would stand at the checkpoint, sometimes for hours, without
knowing if they're actually going to make it, if they're actually going
to pass it, because the rules are keeping the -- they keep changing the
rules. One day everybody are allowed in, and the next day only people
over 35 are allowed. One day students can go inside to university, and
one day, no. People are being detained for hours, for checking, but
also as a mean of punishment. (â¦)MICHAL SAGI: It's MachsomWatch.org And all of our reports, we report twice a day from various checkpoints, we have two shifts a day. And after a few days it's on the web.
(â¦) We're also joined by Rana Khoury who is in Bethlehem, lives
there, but did her college and graduate education here at University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor. Here the three of you are. You're a Palestinian
Christian. Dr. Jumana Odeh is a Palestinian Muslim. And Michal Sagi is
an Israeli Jew. Why are you in the United States? Why did you come
back?
RANA KHOURY: You mean on this tour? I think for a number of reasons.
One, is to show that the conflict is not about religion. The fact that
three faiths are presented here, the stories are different, but there
is a common aim, which is to end occupation, end the Israeli occupation
of the Palestinians. And the fact that it's not about religious
differences. It's about land. It's about the denial of human rights for
a nation, a people.
AMY GOODMAN: Rana Khoury and Dr. Jumana Odeh, Michal Sagi, with us in
the studio.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: We return to three women, an Israeli Jew, a Palestinian
Muslim and Christian. Rana Khoury is the Christian Palestinian who
lives in Bethlehem. I asked her if she was an American citizen.
RANA KHOURY: It doesn't matter. There are different classes of an
American. I have a Palestinian ID, and once I enter into Israel and
Palestine, I cease to be an American citizen. And so I cannot choose my
American passport to travel freely. And so, I am basically in the town
of Bethlehem. If I need to go to Jerusalem, I need to apply for a
permit, and that's very difficult to get. Not too many people get those
permits. And so, even if I wanted to meet with Michal or to go to
Ramallah, for example, a city that is 40-minutes drive away from
Bethlehem, it would take me four to five hours. So I have to really
think about going. And that's the situation. And so, even if we want to
meet after this tour, it's going to be a very challenging experience.
AMY GOODMAN: What about you as two Palestinian women, one Muslim and
one Christian? Is your experience in the West Bank of the occupation
any different in terms of are you treated differently?
RANA KHOURY: No.
DR. JUMANA ODEH: I don't think so.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Odeh.
DR. JUMANA ODEH: Actually. I don't think so, that there's any
difference between Muslims or Christians in a way the occupiers treat.
They treat everybody alike. So even maybe, maybe I don't know, Rana's
experience is really sad. And I have lots of friends in Bethlehem, who
can't reach Jerusalem. And from many other towns of the country, they
can't go to Jerusalem. So maybe I'm a bit lucky that I am Jerusalemite,
beside that I'm a doctor. It's a bit easier for us to fight for the
right of a doctor-patient relation in order to pass. But there's no
difference because of the religion.
RANA KHOURY: I mean, the image in the United States is that there is a
persecution of Palestinian Christians by the Muslim Palestinians, which
is completely ridiculous. I mean, the fact is -- and the perception is
based on the fact that there is a very high immigration rate amongst
Palestinian Christians, but that goes back to other factors, but mainly
it has to do with Israeli occupation and not with the fact that
Palestinian Christians are being persecuted. They're not.
And Dr. Odeh perhaps was referring -- I mean, when we talk about
checkpoints, it's a very personal experience with myself, because I
feel that the checkpoints were responsible partly for the death of my
father, again, an American citizen. And a year and a half ago, he had a
massive heart attack, and he was to be transferred for a hospital in
East Jerusalem because there are no good health system in the West Bank
or in Palestinian cities and areas. And at the checkpoint, he was held
for four hours, trying to -- I mean, the man was almost dead.
And the reason why he was held was the fact that he had the wrong
permit. He was -- he's a hotel owner, and he has a permit that -- as a
merchant, meaning he goes into East Jerusalem or in Israel as a
merchant. And on that day, because he was not -- there was a closure
that merchants could not go in Jerusalem, he needed a medical permit.
The man was in an ambulance. For four hours he was held at a checkpoint
between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. And then the only way to solve the
matter after four hours of trying to connect to people was to call an
ambulance from Jerusalem, where he was transported from that ambulance
of the West Bank to an ambulance in Jerusalem in order to go to a
hospital.
AMY GOODMAN: How do you get a medical permit if you're in a crisis?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, that's another challenge, as well, because in order
to get a medical -- in order to get a permit, you need to travel on a
bypass road, bypass road meaning mainly it's for Jewish-only settlers.
And you need to travel on that road in order to get to a military
headquarters, an Israeli military headquarters, in order to apply. And
that in itself is a long, long procedure. You can go from 5:00 in the
morning and get back at 5:00 in the evening, several days in a row in
order to get a permit. And to get a permit, it's not very easy. It's
not like -- you need medical reports, you need -- for a medical. If you
need a permit to go as a worker, you hardly get that, and so on and so
forth. So there has to be a very valid reason why would you need a
permit to go into a place like East Jerusalem.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Jumana Odeh, how many people die at checkpoints?
DR. JUMANA ODEH: You know, there were -- many women give birth at
checkpoints. The latest statistic that there were 39 babies died on the
checkpoints.
AMY GOODMAN: Died?
DR. JUMANA ODEH: Died. Died. Not only delivered. I mean, around, I
think, 70-something, they were delivered at the checkpoints. This is
from the beginning of intifada, but many -- the reason why it is not
only checkpoint. As Rana mentioned, medically speaking heart attack
might be tackled in good hospitals, it might be tackled. But there was
one reason, which is the heart attack for death, but another reason why
to hold a patient for four hours, this is no explanation. I can't
explain, you know.
Again with the -- some cases or women who delivered on checkpoints
because they needed more help. That's why they had to reach the -- to
try to reach hospitals. Otherwise they deliver in their homes or with
the help of a TBA, traditional birth attendants, or doctors or nurses
within their community. It is available those days, and we had to
adapt, actually. When Rana was talking in medical community we are
having new phenomenas, like back-to-back ambulance; this is
back-to-back, which means from -- one ambulance will come from the West
Bank and one from Jerusalem, and then you transfer your patients from
one on the checkpoint.
AMY GOODMAN: So they don't care about the patient, they care about
which ambulance the patient is driving in?
DR. JUMANA ODEH: Yes, so you have to transfer your patient from one
ambulance to another back by back.
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