Page 34 - Presbyterian Connection

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PRESBYTERIAN
SUMMER 2023
presbyterian.ca
An Interview with Jeanie Lee
Connection
By the Rev. Gordon Timbers, participant of the EAPPI program in 2016 and member of the International Affairs Committee. Gordon is also a member of
a Canada-wide ecumenical
and interfaith team of people advocating for Canada to appoint a special envoy to address the treatment of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Welcome home, Jeanie! You have recently returned from your second placement with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). Could you say what the EAPPI is, and why you partici- pated?
The EAPPI is a World Council of Churches initiative that sends peo- ple from churches and countries around the world for three months to Palestine and Israel. Volunteers are trained to be a protective pres- ence and make observations about the human rights situation
of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. The Ecumeni- cal Accompaniers (EAs) also con- nect with Israeli peace groups working alongside Palestinians to end the occupation.
In November 2022, our team attended the EAPPI’s 20th an- niversary celebration in Jerusa- lem. The program was created in response to the request by the Heads of the Churches in Jeru- salem to send an international presence into the country. Twenty years later, the need is still there.
EAs are often the first to re- spond to incidents of human rights violations by Israeli soldiers or armed settlers. Teams of four or five in each placement monitor, report and provide a protective presence from harassment or at- tack by offering accompaniment for school children, shepherds, farmers and others.
Also very important is our ad- vocacy work when we go back to our home countries. The Canadian members of the team serving in
Bethlehem (an EA from the United Church of Canada) managed to have a meeting at the Representa- tive Office of Canada to the Pales- tine Authority in Ramallah. As a re- sult, Representative Officer David Da Silva and Charles De Bock, a political officer, visited Bethlehem to witness the situation in the Aida Refugee Camp and the restrictions imposed by the Bethlehem separa- tion wall.
I felt blessed and want to thank the PCC for the opportunity to be an EA twice in Bethlehem. My first EA trip was in 2009 and was an eye-opening experience to wit- ness life under the military occu- pation. I was grateful to be back with the people whose lives are so difficult and who always ap- preciated us for being there.
How have things changed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) from your first placement in 2009?
My first observation was the large increase of Israeli illegal settle- ments in the Bethlehem region. There are now 22 settlements en- circling the city. The change was quite shocking to see. Some set- tlements are like huge cities, with high-rise apartment buildings and major roadways that are restrict- ed for Israeli-use only.
Conditions of life in the refugee camps are not much different than before, except for some progress on a new school building built by United Nations in Aida Camp. But the night raids and armed clashes inside and outside the camps by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) seemed much more frequent. The Israeli military sends groups of newly drafted soldiers to raid refugee camps as part of their training. Many residents are hav- ing nightmares due to the raids at night four or five times a week. The people are frightened by the use of tear gas, sound bombs, shooting live ammunition, home invasions, arrests of children and occasional killings. It is sad and frustrating for the EAs because we cannot do much more than to be there with the people and try to find help from organizations such as the Red Cross, UN, other in- ternational aid organizations and even from Israeli peace activists.
Another change from 2009 was the layout of Checkpoint 300, the foot-traffic entry point between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. There
Jeanie Lee in Palestine during an EAPPI trip.
A demolished house Al Walaja, Palestine.
is now a heavy presence of digital technology surveillance devices, including the use of facial rec- ognition for Palestinians wanting to go into Jerusalem for work or worship. These innovations have been criticized by Palestinian and even Israeli activists as another form of humiliation and systemic human rights violations.
Bethlehem has a special place in the hearts and minds of Chris- tians. We all know the words of the Christmas carol: “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.” How would you describe the current reality of life there?
I love the imagery of the Christ- mas carol, but the reality of life is far different. Instead of sweet and peaceful sleep, many Palestinian familiesaregoingthroughcontinu- ing nightmares because of what is happening in the refugee camps inside the city, and in the wider area, house demolitions, land confiscation and daily harassment from extreme and often armed settlers. Bethlehem is in Area A, supposedly under Palestinian ad- ministrative and police controls, according to the terms of the 1995 Oslo Agreement, but the city and surrounding area of the West Bank of the Jordan River are under mili- tary occupation and, in reality, IDF activities are unrestricted.
It was good to see that after Covid many tour buses were com- ing through the Car Checkpoint, which is a different entrance from the CP300. But many gift shop owners say that there are fewer customers than before. One prob-
lem is that tourists are unneces- sarily afraid. I had two occasions of visitors asking me if it was safe to walk on the street as they had been warned by their Israeli tour guides about the possibility of terrorist attacks. The reality is the opposite of what they were being told. Most of the guided tourists coming to Bethlehem are visiting without knowing the reality of the occupation.
One of our EA team’s important duties was to monitor the safety of school children, as Israeli soldiers would often harass and intimidate them, sometimes even firing tear gas and sound bombs to scare them while on their way to school, which is itself a form of terror- ism. We monitored two to three schools three times a week to help ensure the safety of students and their teachers, who were always grateful for our suppor t.
We also provided accompani- ment and protective presence for local shepherds and their flocks. Settlers from the illegal settle- ments, like Ma’al Amos, located on hilltops and built on Palestinian land, would often come down and harass us, while soldiers arrived by military jeep to order us, at gunpoint, to leave.
These incidents are increasing, and even include physical harm to shepherds and their animals. It was devastating to witness shep- herds losing their pregnant sheep due to stillbirths, which was cruel in itself and also a significant eco- nomic loss for their families. The villagers have nowhere to turn for
help or to complain about these
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