CPTnet
October 21, 2002
HEBRON: Soil in Sandals and Souls. A Reflection from the September
Delegation

By Sylvia Metzler

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein."

The earth of Hebron and its surrounding villages has begun to fill our
sandals, our minds, and our hearts. After reading and hearing about the
Palestinians' love of their land, we were able to experience firsthand
their passion for the land that they inherited from their parents and
grandparents going back many generations.

On September 22, we traveled to the Jaber farm in the Beqa'a Valley on the
eastern edge of Hebron. The large, extended Jaber family has worked farms
and cultivated orchards for hundreds of years. To them, their land is
sacred. When it is vandalized, destroyed, and confiscated, they feel more
than a loss of livelihood and security. They feel that the loss of the land
of their ancestors, which they want to pass on to their children, is a loss
of their very lives.

These brothers, wives, their elderly parents have and their young children
have seen their homes bulldozed to rubble in front of their eyes. They have
seen their terraced hillside gardens replaced with a mammoth stone wall to
protect the settlement of Givat Harsina, which towers above them. They have
watched their established orchards of olives, apricots, figs, and grapes
uprooted. They have seen roads for the settlers run through their fields of
tomatoes and cauliflowers. They have found their water pipes for home and
irrigation use smashed. They have experienced stone throwing, beatings,
arrests, and shootings as part of Israeli soldier and settler attacks.

One might expect to hear nothing but bitterness and hate as a result of
these decades of abuse. Yes, we did hear anger and fear from the Jaber
family but we also heard incredible expressions of resilience, hope, and
forgiveness.

The family helps each other to rebuild their homes; they tend each others'
wounds; they replant their trees, vegetables, roses, and snapdragons. They
are friends with some of their Jewish neighbors.

When Atta, one of the brothers, was asked if he wanted all the Jews expelled
from Palestine, he replied, "Oh, no. They need their land too. I just want
our life to be fair, and for everyone to live in peace."

We are taking some samples of their good soil home with us to the United
States and Canada. When we are tempted to retaliate for injuries and wounds
to ourselves, we can dig our fingers into this earth and remember the
patience and forgiveness exhibited by some of our Palestinian brothers and
sisters.