Pilgrimage for Peace: Part 2a - To Bethlehem

The Friday of the Pilgrimage saw us in the coach driving south past Mt Tabor through the West Bank to Nablus.  Passing through our first military checkpoint and having to put our cameras away led to a sense of foreboding, but any fears were soon dismissed by an unscheduled comfort break at a petrol station and the welcome from the friendly locals offering coffee.  We heard all about the different zones: A (under the Palestinian Authority), B (PA have civil control & shared security control) & C (full Israeli control, leaving just education and health to PA).  We quickly learned to recognise the Palestinian areas from the water tanks on the roofs, essential as their water supplies could be quite intermittent, as opposed to the Israeli settlement areas where no such contingency seemed necessary.  Indeed, it became clear that control of the water supply would be another bone of contention standing in the way of a two-state solution.

The only real investment on the Palestinian areas was the occasional new mosque, at huge expense from a Muslim neighbour, but in surroundings of such poverty that street cleaning, education and health care seemed to be a more pressing need.  We would also spot sporadic signs indicating Western charitable investment, but the basic infrastructure (water, electricity and roads) had not changed since Jordanian rule in 1967.  Why?  Palestinian development had to be approved by Israel and unauthorised developments would face demolition.

After quite a long journey in the coach, we were glad to disembark at Nablus, formerly Sychar, to seek the relative oasis of Jacob’s Well.  This was one of the highlights of the pilgrimage for me, perhaps because this was off the normal tourist trail.  The practicality of lowering the galvanised metal bucket to raise cool fresh water which we all drank meant that we were living the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, both physically and spiritually.  After a short act of worship, which included a most moving rendition “I heard the voice of Jesus say”, I managed to sneak back down to the now unlit “grotto” for my own sit down by the well.

Then, it was a short journey to St Philip’s Church to be met by Fr Ibrahim Nairouz to see the church being redecorated, to hear about St Philip’s mission there (both in Acts 8 and today) and then to enjoy a wonderful lunch prepared by members of the congregation.  It was great to be able to support them in their work by offering the going rate for such a feast.

Our last stop that day was at Taybeh, once a city near the wilderness called Ephraim where Jesus took refuge after bringing Lazarus back from the dead (John 11:54) and now the only remaining Christian community on the West Bank.  By the church, a traditional dwelling house has been preserved and its layout makes more sense of the nativity story, with the separate spaces for animals below.  Unfortunately, we didn’t stop at the brewery, but I was pleased to know that I had already been supporting this aspect of the local Christian economy.

Having driven past Jerusalem’s walls, and passing back through yet another checkpoint, we eventually arrived at our hotel in Bethlehem, right next door to the Church of the Nativity.  Having a little free time, I popped next door that evening to get a feel for the atmosphere among the long queue of international pilgrims.  I was approached by an Orthodox priest and ready to greet him, only to discover he was only interested in teaching me that crossing my legs was not correct etiquette!  As ecumenical exchanges go, this was a disappointment.  With Andrew, a fellow priest from Wales, we wondered around the surrounding streets of Bethlehem, which quickly became quite oppressive and depressing as we tried to decline the goods on offer for some increasingly desperate sellers.  Once back in the tourist area, where conversation was easier, an extended discussion with “John” (one of the few remaining local Christians) and another with the Bedouin-son owner of the (not quite!) Starbucks made us aware of how bad business was, but also how few other options they had open to them, not least because of the travel restrictions resulting in the sense of imprisonment.

I was beginning to feel the frustration and helplessness of the Palestinians, but trying hard to remain impartial, knowing that we had yet to hear the other side of the story.  The peace of Galilee from that same morning felt a long way away, but as a follower of Jesus, we too had to set our face towards Jerusalem and find our hope in Him.  As I took in the view over the Manger Square from the hotel (there was a room!) and sniffed the cool breeze, I was reminded how this "little town" had previously known that same sense of occupation, resentment and struggle against a much stronger and dominant regime.  So much for a "deep and dreamless sleep", there was a lot to process here...

Pilgrimage for Peace: Part 1 - Galilee

"So, did you enjoy your pilgrimage?", people ask.  How to respond?

Well, yes, certainly some bits were enjoyable, although others were disturbing.  It started well at 4.15am on Tuesday to discover that my taxi driver, Max, was a local Pentecostal preacher so we had a good conversation about prayer styles and sermon lengths which was a shame to end when we arrived at Luton!  Then a good flight out with morning shadows over the Alps, and eventually arriving in the early evening (having lost 2 hours across time zones) at the lovely Pilgerhaus Hotel on the shore of Lake Galilee, to meet the rest of our fine group of pilgrims.

Lake Galilee is wonderful, whether:

1)      on it - in a boat (no walking!) on which we sang “Dear Lord and Father of mankind”, starting the week by acknowledging our own faults and the British involvement in the area, e.g. the Balfour Declaration, (perhaps an apology is due in 2017?); this was a healthy tonic after the boat operator had insisted on playing our National Anthem – we had already counted so many Israeli flags on the way from the airport that we could have done without further reinforcement of national stereotypes blasting from the loudspeakers out over the waters, in contrast to the still, small voice of calm that we were seeking.

2)      in it - for a refreshing swim, including a chat with a long-distance hiker from Denmark which we continued over dinner about the spiritual power of places, which reminded me of old OS maps, tumuli, ley lines and dowsing;
 

3)      on the shores – including:

                                 i.            a Eucharist near the Church of the Multiplication of the Boy’s Picnic, and great to receive Bishop John’s familiar invitation, “Come to this table, not because you must but because you may…”

                               ii.            time at the Church of the Primacy of Peter – beach mission, Catholic style… an authentic feel here with very old steps leading down to the beach – could almost smell the broiled fish!

                              iii.            the archaeological remains of Capernaum and a later synagogue – didn’t really do it for me, too touristy, so much better later that evening on my 7 mile run around the northern shore (my own prayer space!);

                              iv.            the Church of the Beatitudes – an early morning visit after a rain shower with great views, not least of the Horns of Hattin, which I had only known from Microsoft’s “Age of Empires” game.  It was good to be reminded that “Blessed are the Peacemakers”, before we left for Nablus via the Jezreel Valley.

4)      or for Trips out, with a sense of returning back to the disciples’ home/base camp, from places such as:

                                 i.            Banias, in the disputed Golan Heights – name comes from the god Pan’s grotto/cave, but Arabic has no ‘P’ so became ‘B’an instead… but in the Bible Caesarea Philippi was here by the pure spring which feeds the Jordan where we renewed our baptism vows.  Looking at the caves and hearing of the Jews fear of sea and water, we understood Jesus reference to the “gates of Hades” not overcoming the rock, after Peter’s declaration (Matt 16:13-18).  Such explanations from our brilliant story-telling guide, Hani, made me realise why people call such a pilgrimage the “5^th Gospel”.  Anyway, I now have a bottle of this pure Jordan spring water (rather than the mucky stuff further down) which I hope to add to the next few baptisms I take, as long as no-one drinks it first…

                               ii.            Haifa, where we met Hatem, the Palestinian Anglican priest and his wife and heard a bit about their award winning Church School and its Peace Studies program.  It felt great to be in an ordinary church, where the attraction is the “living stones” rather than those inert, geological varieties with their claims to great events of the past - we had also visited a church which claimed to be on the site of Elijah’s cave on Mt Carmel, but as with many of these over-done pilgrimage sites, it didn’t really work for me with by low church upbringing.     

On a more positive note, the views over Haifa were superb, and, as an aircraft spotter, I didn’t mind the Israeli Independence Day fly past of several waves of jet fighters – these are not the sort of weapons that they use against people living in “their” land.  Interestingly, as we looked down on Haifa’s submarine museum, we would hear that Germany had “donated”(?) another nuclear sub to Israel during our visit – I wonder whether this is some strange manifestation of guilt for the Holocaust, but as this article suggests, the tide may be turning in Europe, especially since last year’s Gaza statistics…

                              iii.            In Nazareth, we met Mohammad Zeidan, the General Director of the Arab Association for Human Rights.  He represented the many non-Jews who have always lived in Israel (pre-1948), as opposed to the later occupied territories, but without the same rights that we would expect.  Sadly, I didn’t detect much hope here and came away feeling frustrated – a 2 state solution which we promote from afar wouldn’t improve the lot of the native Arab/Palestinian people, and why should they be ethnically cleansed from Israel to make it a purely Jewish nation – that’s about as welcome as asking the many Jewish settlers to give up their new homes on the West Bank.  Time for a reality check for our politicians, because while we and the UN do nothing to enforce resolutions, the settlers continue in the race to carve up the West Bank and the Palestinians are… hmm, how shall we say this… “encouraged to emigrate”.

Part 2 (Bethlehem) to follow in a while…