The Greenhorn is now a Hill People

The summer plans are in: I'll be a fellow with the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Summer Internship Program in Washington DC. I'm looking to ship out the last week of May and return in early August. In addition to working at a foreign policy shop or some sort of MidEast-related organization (though I don't know where yet), NCUSAR arranges lectures, meet-and-greets, embassy visits, etc., with some serious movers and shakers in the academic and political spheres. What went down last summer? We're talkin' Colin Powell, Homeland Security subcommittee meetings on the Hill, Richard Clarke (counterterrorism czar under Clinton and Bush 2), the State Department, Daniel Levy, ARAMCO and ConocoPhillips execs, yada yada yada. So, what does this mean for the Greenhorn? A perfectly good excuse to stock up on new suits, that's what. Oh, and maybe some networking for kicks.

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NPR photo-documentary, Israel's Barrier. An excerpt:

Most every Palestinian in the West Bank says the biggest obstacles to a better economic life are the hundreds of military roadblocks and barriers that separate the West Bank from Israel. Israel's wall and fence project has dramatically reduced suicide bombings and other attacks inside the country. But the barrier, which will stretch some 450 miles when completed, also has had a severely negative effect on the lives of ordinary Palestinians.

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From the gold mine: a letter distributed August 25, 2006 by the patriarchs and heads of local churches in the Levant responding to Christian Zionism.



"THE JERUSALEM DECLARATION ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM"

- Statement by the Patriarch and Local Heads of Churches In Jerusalem

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9)

Christian Zionism is a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel. The Christian Zionist programme provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it laces an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ's love and justice today.

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We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation.

We further reject the contemporary alliance of Christian Zionist leaders and organizations with elements in the governments of Israel and the United States that are presently imposing their unilateral pre-emptive borders and domination over Palestine. This inevitably leads to unending cycles of violence that undermine the security of all peoples of the Middle East and the rest of the world.

We reject the teachings of Christian Zionism that facilitate and support these policies as they advance racial exclusivity and perpetual war rather than the gospel of universal love, redemption and reconciliation taught by Jesus Christ. Rather than condemn the world to the doom of Armageddon we call upon everyone to liberate themselves from the ideologies of militarism and occupation. Instead, let them pursue the healing of the nations!

We call upon Christians in Churches on every continent to pray for the Palestinian and Israeli people, both of whom are suffering as victims of occupation and militarism. These discriminative actions are turning Palestine into impoverished ghettos surrounded by exclusive Israeli settlements. The establishment of the illegal settlements and the construction of the Separation Wall on confiscated Palestinian land undermines the viability of a Palestinian state as well as peace and security in the entire region.

We call upon all Churches that remain silent, to break their silence and speak for reconciliation with justice in the Holy Land.

Therefore, we commit ourselves to the following principles as an alternative way:

We affirm that all people are created in the image of God. In turn they are called to honor the dignity of every human being and to respect their inalienable rights.

We affirm that Israelis and Palestinians are capable of living together within peace, justice and security.

We affirm that Palestinians are one people, both Muslim and Christian. We reject all attempts to subvert and fragment their unity.

We call upon all people to reject the narrow world view of Christian Zionism and other ideologies that privilege one people at the expense of others.

We are committed to non-violent resistance as the most effective means to end the illegal occupation in order to attain a just and lasting peace.

With urgency we warn that Christian Zionism and its alliances are justifying colonization, apartheid and empire-building.

God demands that justice be done. No enduring peace, security or reconciliation is possible without the foundation of justice. The demands of justice will not disappear. The struggle for justice must be pursued diligently and persistently but non-violently.

"What does the Lord require of you, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

This is where we take our stand. We stand for justice. We can do no other. Justice alone guarantees a peace that will lead to reconciliation with a life of security and prosperity for all the peoples of our Land. By standing on the side of justice, we open ourselves to the work of peace - and working for peace makes us children of God.

"God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Cor 5:19)


His Beattitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah
Latin Patriarchate, Jerusalem

Archbishop Swerios Malki Mourad,
Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem

Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal,
Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East

Bishop Munib Younan,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

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Making maps real

The above map shows the practical outcome of the Interim Agreement, essentially the transfer of power from the Israeli Civil Authority governing the occupied territories to the Palestinian Authority in September 1995. Cities in black denote areas of PA control over municipal affairs and internal security, constituting a non-contiguous 3 percent of the total surface area of the West Bank. The PA was granted municipal authority in some 400-odd towns and villages, denoted by the dashed-line covered areas of around 27 percent of the total surface area, while Israeli forces maintained responsibility for overall security. The shaded grey areas, 70 percent of the total surface area, remained under direct Israeli control and included settlements and their accompanying infrastructure (bypass roads, etc.), military outposts, and "closed zones," particularly along the fertile Jordan Valley, where Palestinians were prohibited from entering.

Now, pretend that the "autonomous" and semi-autonomous Palestinian areas constitute actual land, while the remaining territory is suddenly flooded, creating a Palestinian archipelago. And you get this:


































Now pretend you're a garage owner in Hebron who needs to order a part. The cheapest distributor on the archipelago, way up in Jenin, will cut you a deal at 25 shekels (NIS). The cheapest supplier in Hebron offers the part for 50 NIS, meaning a 25 NIS cut from your profits after the job is complete. So naturally, you buy from the Jenin man and hire out a boat driver to fetch it for you. Time is money, so the boat driver wants to be paid hourly wages at 3 NIS/hr. plus transportation costs, a flat 6 NIS. But wait: the routes to and fro are not controlled by Palestinians; rather Israeli gunboats patrol the waters, and thus the shipping lanes. The boat will have to dock no less than seven times before it picks up the order and another seven times on the way back. Today's trip comes out to three hours each way for the boat driver, a day's take of 24 NIS. Not bad, you saved a buck and helped a brotha with a boat out. Way to support your local economy.

Two weeks later, you get the same job at the garage, meaning you need to hire out the boatdriver to make his way to Jenin and grab the part. Only this time, the Israeli gunboats hold him up between docks on the way back, stretching his trip home out to four hours. Upon returning to Hebron, the driver asks for 27 NIS. With the cost of buying the part in Jenin, the total cost amounts to 52 NIS, 2 NIS more than you could have paid had you just walked down the street. After another two weeks, same job, same part, only this time you ask yourself, 'is it worth risking the trip if I might lose even more shekels?' So you decide to buy the part in Hebron, denying the boat driver and the parts supplier in Jenin a day's income.

And that is the fatal flaw of the Oslo process: inter-Palestinian isolation. "Bantus," to borrow from the South African apartheid literature, with no territorial continuity that revert to economic independence rather than inter-dependence for survival. Try building a viable state out of that.

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