A letter from Doug Dicks in Jordan
March 23, 2009
Dear Friends and Relations,
Like many of my friends, I went to Bethlehem for the Christmas celebrations in 2008. After all, it’s like going home, as I had lived there for nearly 12 years. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and experience the atmosphere leading up to the Christmas festivities, which reach their climax on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem’s Manger Square.
December 24th begins with the local scout troops, marching up Star Street — an old, narrow street with an ancient archway, said to be the traditional entrance into Bethlehem centuries ago. Here, the scouts parade in front of family, friends and tourists from the world over and await the arrival of the Latin Patriarch from Jerusalem, whose entry into Manger Square heralds the start of the Christmas season.
Sitting in the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church for the Christmas Eve service brought back many memories of past Christmases. And singing one of my favorite Christmas carols, “Lailat tal milad” in Arabic (“On the Night of Christmas”), the words resonated with a renewed sense of joy. Even the words of the verses are incredibly simple, yet poignant:
On the night of Christmas … Hatred will vanish
On the night of Christmas … The Earth blooms
On the night of Christmas … War is buried
On the night of Christmas … Love is bornWhen we offer a glass of water to a thirsty person, we are in Christmas.
When we clothe a naked person with a gown of love, we are in Christmas.
When we wipe the tears from weeping eyes, we are in Christmas.
When we cushion a hopeless heart with love, we are in Christmas.
Little did I know that Christmas would be in short supply that year. Three days later, on December 27, Israel launched “Operation Cast Lead,” a military offensive against Gaza, in response to the firing of homemade rockets by Hamas militants into the Israeli communities of S’derot, Ashkelon and other cities.
For 22 days, this tiny enclave along the Mediterranean Sea that is “home” to more than 1.4 million Palestinians and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, bore unrestrained bombardment from land, sea and air.
On December 28, when the Christian calendar marks “Holy Innocents” day, both Israeli and Palestinian children were living in constant fear of bombardment. The psychosocial support needed by these two communities is unprecedented. The Palestinian population of Gaza suffered enormous fear, a sense of total bewilderment at being targeted with no safe refuge. Thirty-one percent of Palestinian children witnessed a friend or family member being killed.
Ruins of the Middle East Council of Churches’ Shi’jaia clinic, destroyed in an Isareli air raid during the 22 days of bombardment that began on December 27, 2008. This well-baby clinic was a project of the Near East Council of Churches’ Committee for Refugee work and a partner of the PC(USA).
With Gaza’s borders sealed, there was little condemnation of Israel’s unprecedented and disproportionate use of military force against Gaza’s largely civilian population.
Only when the ceasefire began on January 18 could the scope and magnitude of the conflict emerge. For the entire 22 days, media were barred from entering Gaza. Until then, they had to broadcast their reports from a hillside just north of the Gaza Strip. Many Israelis flocked to the same hillside on the Jewish Sabbath, viewing the bombardment of Gaza as if it were a tourist attraction.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains a conflict of dignity denied. According to statistics from aid agencies, over 56 percent of the population of Gaza were “food insecure” prior to the hostilities. And with 54 percent of the population under the age of 18, Gaza remains largely a population of children.
Statistics from the aid agencies who were first on scene tell a grim story:
- 1,400 dead, mostly innocents and noncombatants; 431 of these were children
- More than 5,000 injured, many of them severely
- 19,000 homes need to be repaired, after suffering partial or total destruction
- 207 schools need to be rebuilt
- 500 factories damaged or destroyed
- 1.5 million tons of rubble need to be removed
A church leader from Jerusalem recently reminded a visiting Presbyterian group that “the issue is not one of relief, but one of justice.” He went on, asking “not to make our blood a commodity for commerce."
Immediately, of course, the day-to-day needs of the Gaza Strip’s civilian population need to be met: food, water, sanitation, electricity, sewage treatment, etc. This vicious cycle of construction and destruction must end. Clearly, Hamas has an obligation to its people that it needs to fulfill. The international community also has an obligation to fulfill. And, of course, Israel has obligations under international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention that it must fulfill.
Aid must be given according to need, and not according to political motives. The rights of people and of children must be safe-guarded, irrespective of the political environment in which they live. Finally, the international community must persevere in its demand for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Only when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in dignity and security will peace begin. Only then can the world stop mourning the loss of holy innocents in this land called “holy.”
In hope,
Doug
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 349
