CPTnet
February 20, 2004
HEBRON: Is there hope?

by Art Gish

The situation around Hebron becomes more desperate as The Wall approaches
and both Israeli settlers and the Israeli government are confiscating
massive amounts of Palestinian land.

Every day I ask people in Hebron, "Is there any hope? Do you see any hope?"

An armed Israeli settler told me, "No. There will never be peace. That is
why we need guns."

When I questioned one young Palestinian on where he sees hope, he replied,
"In me."

One man told me, "There is no hope for peace from governments. Governments
bring war and destruction. Peace can come only
from God and the people; otherwise there is no hope."

A common answer is, "I don't see any hope. Everything keeps getting
worse. We are losing everything." Some say there is no hope for at least
the next one hundred years. Maybe after that, they say, there might be
peace.

When challenged on their lack of hope, my Muslim friends talk about their
faith in God. "God will have the last word," they say. I then ask them,
"If you believe in God, doesn't that imply there is hope?"

"Yes," they admit, "it does mean there is hope. But we do not see it."

  Many Muslims compare Bush and Sharon to Pharaoh of Egypt who claimed to
be God, but is now dead.

One person said, "It is too scary, too awesome, to say there is no
hope. We have to cling to hope. We can not surrender to hopelessness."

I hear a lot of grieving over a desperate situation, but under all that
despair I sense strength and a faith in God that is likely to carry the
people through more suffering. In all the hopelessness, the people are
finding hope. The farmers are doing their spring work on their remaining
land, even though it is uncertain if they will be allowed to harvest their
crops this year or ever again. Parents are having babies. Children are
going to school.

And The Wall continues to snake through the land.

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