Comments on: Machsom Watch at Rachel’s Passage

By: Anne C. Stephens

Anne C. Stephens — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:59:38 +0000

I first visited Israel and Palestine in March, 1976, while on a larger and longer trip around the Middle East. My hosts, staff members of the U.S. Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee, drove me down to Bethlehem along the old road now obliterated by Har Homa and other barriers. The hillsides were covered with the textured green of many olive groves and wheat fields and the military only occasionally evident.

On my second and third visits, during Sept.-Nov. ‘04 when I was a volunteer with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI-WCC) based in Ramallah,
the check point and half-finished barrier wall just before Rachel’s Tomb seemed like some not-quite-fully-operative no-person’s land on the moon, cross-bred with ‘Waiting for Godot’. If this is Holy Land, it has been violently desecrated; as a human being I am deeply ashamed to have been in any way party to the acts of aggression or hand-washing that have allowed such things to happen.

By: debbie schlossberg

debbie schlossberg — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:55:31 +0000

what did you see???????????????????

By: Shirley Gould

Shirley Gould — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:46:52 +0000

It is certainly moving to read about the conditions under which the Palestinians live, but I can’t remove from my mind the often repeated statements that “they” want to wipe Israel out. It is very difficult to summon sympathy.

By: aaa

aaa — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:19:38 +0000

I remember the days when people, both Jews and Arabs, could easily cross just about anywhere. (With few exceptions) people would travel both sides of the “the green line” or wander throughout Jerusalem without fear for their safety. It was a time of economic growth for both Jewish and Arab residents of Israel and the territories.

Now it is unsafe for Jews to travel and uncomfortable and troublesome for Arab to travel. Somehow now there is a belief that Jews do not belong in certian parts of Israel, or that the Arabs are not willing to live in peace.

Reconstructionist Jews recognize the centrality of Israel and the Zionist movement to Judaism. It was one of Kaplan’s central points. Reconstructionist Judiasm can also play a role in moving toward a just solution.

Many of us were in the peace movement. Many of us were early supporters of Peace Now, the Geneva Accords and various initiatives. But now many of us have now become very pessimistic. I’m hoping you return to Chicago with reason for optimism, with a sense that both sides will recognize the rights of the other national group. Not blame for one side or another.