CPTnet
April 27, 2004

HEBRON REFLECTION: Thoughts upon recovering from settler attack

by Mary Yoder

On January 8, 2003 Christian Peacemaker Teams photographed Israeli settlers
bulldozing large blocks of Palestinian land in the Baqa'a Valley. Several
team members and I were giving a tour of the area to consulates from other
countries. After I took several photos, the armed driver jumped from his
bulldozer and came towards me. He grabbed my camera, and threw me to the
ground. Then he boarded the bulldozer and continued his activity with my
camera in hand.

I had a stiff neck the next morning but assumed it would heal with time. The
stiffness lingered as I left Israel a week later with luggage weighing in at
fifty pounds. Several days later, the stiffness turned into excruciating
pain.

After a year of seeing chiropractors and other specialists, a neurosurgeon
told me that I needed a type of "fusion" surgery for two herniated neck
disks. As a nurse, I had read numerous unpleasant reports from patients
after fusion surgery. With more research, I found a surgeon, Dr. Schiffer in
California, who removed only the herniated part with a laprascope and
saved both disks. Today, I am cautiously pleased with the results. Perhaps
one could say the surgeon performed a miracle.

This year, as I spoke with friends from home of my deep concerns for Hebron,
some of them shook their heads and said, "Oh when Jesus comes it will all be
better." Many of them said that they want the Messiah to perform miraculous
events and bring peace.

Before my eyes, I saw their concern turned into apathy. Some have read
popular new books blue-printing the Jesus' Second Coming. They wait for
miracles. In the very first teaching of Christ, the "Sermon on the Mount,"
he told his followers to earnestly seek justice and peace (Matthew 5:6,9.)
Advocating for justice and peace is difficult work. I visualize a thousand
years of peace in which swords are joyously turned into plowshares
(Revelations 20.) I believe peace will come as Christians are led by Christ
from apathy to activism. Perhaps this is the miraculous event.