CPTnet
30 May 2006

JERUSALEM: Delegation visits Israeli peace groups, Holocaust Museum,
Palestinian Christians

On Friday 26 May, twelve members of a delegation sponsored by Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) began their fact-finding tour by meeting with two
faith-based peace organizations that work against injustice and inequality
in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis
for Human Rights (RHR) emphasized the prominence of human rights in the
Jewish tradition and spoke of RHR's work against house demolitions. At
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, a grassroots Palestinian
Christian organization, Nora Carmi and Omar Haramy shared with CPT delegates
that they see the Gospel encouraging Christian Palestinians to work for the
well-being of all people.

Prior to their meetings with Rabbis for Human Rights and Sabeel, CPT
delegates had walked through Yad Vashem, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial
Center. The experience helped renew a commitment among the delegates to
resist violence perpetuated in the world by isolation, impoverishment, and
racist laws and policies. When members later learned that the beautiful
memorial was built on land originally confiscated from Palestinians, it
strengthened their resolve to end suffering that is still occurring today.

On Saturday, delegates witnessed the devastating effects of the separation
wall and settlement expansion on the Palestinian people living in East
Jerusalem. During a three-hour tour led by Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Action
Advocacy Officer for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
(ICAHD), CPT delegation members observed the "ghettoization" of the
Palestinian people, who have been isolated and alienated by the dividing
wall's irregular path. Godfrey-Goldstein began the tour by bringing
delegates to a major site of future expansion, the private neighborhood of
Nof Zion. The tour continued through Palestinian neighborhoods where
delegates could see the stark contrast between the impoverishment of the
Palestinian people and the buildup of relatively affluent settlement
communities, such as Ma'ale Adumin. In addition, CPT delegates viewed
Palestinian homes that have been demolished and learned of the bureaucratic
manipulations that create the "legal" means by which the demolition process
occurs.

Members of CPT's 24 May -5 June delegation are Anna Brown (Jersey City, New
Jersey), Daniel Coppock (Cincinnati, Ohio), Andrea Dalton, (Camp Hill,
Pennsylvania), Masaru Hatakeyama and Kiichiro Kobayashi (both of Obihiro,
Japan), Steven Heinrichs (Vancouver, British Columbia), Shelly McMullin and
Christa Savely (both of Waxahachie, Texas), Pieter Niemeyer (Stouffville,
Ontario), David Osborne (Hesston, Kansas), Jason Poole (East Rochester, New
York), and Claudette Roy-Boyle (West Lebanon, New Hampshire).