Peacemaking

O God of Earth and Altar

O God of earth and altar
From all that terror teaches, from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation of honor, and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation, deliver us, good Lord!

-GK Chesterton

Passover began for the Jewish community in Hebron on Saturday evening.  There are posters in Jerusalem announcing busses every 15 minutes to Hebron next week.  It's an opportunity for Jewish people of faith to visit one of their sacred sites - the cave where the patriarchs and the matriarchs are buried.  The site is also sacred to Muslims and to Christians - Abraham is their ancestor as well.  And it's an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Israeli settlers of Hebron who live in four small enclaves in the midst of the majority Palestinian population.

On Saturday morning, six members of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron headed out for Shabbat school patrol.  Shabbat is the day off for the Jewish community.  For the Muslim community, it is a day for work and for school.  On many Shabbats, and particularly on those marking a major holy day or season, Israeli settlers and their guests are out in greater numbers moving on foot between their settlements and the synagogue located above the Cave of the Patriarchs and next to the Ibrahimi Mosque.  Over a long block, there is opportunity for.  Israeli settler children and Palestinian schoolchildren  to confront one another.  CPT watches and often gets between the two groups to divert or diffuse the possibility for physical violence, or to walk with the children as they pass by the settlers.

Three interactions stand out for me from the morning's Shabbat patrol.  First, two of us greeted a group of four Jews walking to the synagogue, "Shabbat shalom."  Three greeted us back, "Shabbat shalom."  The woman with them said to them, in an American-accented voice, "They're a bunch of Nazis."  Next, we greeted another group, one of whom was a settler in prayer shawl and kippah.  The people with him returned our greeting of Sabbath peace.  The man spat at us.  Last, we watched a group of children -several boys and a little girl who danced and skipped down the street.  As they skirted a barrier in the street along a narrow space of sidewalk, a Palestinian boy came out of his house to walk to school.  One of the settler boys hit him and the Palestinian child hit back.  The Israeli border police rushed over and broke up the fight.

How will this assault play out for the little girl skipping and dancing down the street?  What did she learn in watching this interaction?

Chesterton's text popped into my head, or maybe the tune Kings Lynn.  I seem to remember there are more verses to this hymn, and I seem to associate it with the British Empire, which didn't do such a great job with its mandate in Palestine.

I keep hearing 'from all that terror teaches, deliver us good Lord'.  That is my prayer.

Saturday 23 April 2005

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