CPTnet
November 29, 2004

AT-TUWANI DIARY: On enemy love and building a clinic

[Note: the below are excerpts taken from CPTer Joe Carr's diary that cover
the work that people living near At-Tuwani are putting into building a
local clinic. Carr has been sending his diaries to friends and
supporters.]

November 2, 2004

Today I tied rebar together with wire.

At 6:00 a.m., we once again watched the children come the long way without
event. Eleven Palestinian men from Tuwani and the surrounding villages
began working on the clinic like Eyal had promised they could.[ See November
1, 2004 release, "Tuwani villagers meet for first time with senior Israeli
occupation official.] Shortly after they began, an Israeli Army hummer drove
up and made them stop while they radioed their commander. The men patiently
waited, and twenty minutes later the soldiers drove off without a word. The
men went back to work, only to be interrupted again fifteen minutes later.
The hummer returned, and this time [soldiers] demanded they stop work
completely, and hung around to enforce the order for about a half hour.

See soldiers block construction:
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album82&id=04_11_02_soldiers_block_work_on_clinic1

I was on to lead worship today, and I'd planned a piece on fear since I'd
been having some lately. But my anger at the soldiers and the occupation
made me change my plans to a piece on enemy love. Check out Luke 6: 27-42
for Jesus' ideas on not just loving those who are nice to us, and looking
at the log in our own eye before trying to remove the speck in our
brother's. We concluded that the soldiers harm themselves with their
oppressive behavior, so our opposing them is out of love for them and for
the Palestinians who are also harmed. We concluded with the song "Let
Justice Roll" and then headed back down to the clinic site.

The men decided to go ahead and work without permission. They posted
lookouts on high ground and started the concrete mixer. They asked us to
maintain a presence and de-escalate violence should the army return and
find them working. Fortunately, they never did, I doubt this group of
soldiers really wanted to enforce this ridiculous order.

I was not keen to merely watch work being done, so I joined in the best I
could. While wiring together pieces of supportive rebar, I explained in my
improving Arabic that in the U.S. I do this for my father, who makes
retaining walls. I must say I found the work much more fun when it's
forbidden by an occupying army. Most of the men quit after a couple of
hours, vowing to return that night (after they'd eaten), giving a new
meaning to "Midnight construction."

See me work:
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album82&id=04_11_02_clinic_building_joe_helps

November 9, 2004

We observed a little work on the clinic, which is coming along
beautifully. What was a hole in the ground when I came now has a
foundation and supportive pillars, and they've begun laying forms for the
roof. It should be finished by mid-December.