A few months ago through Women Wage Peace I had gotten
to know Peta Jones Pellach, an educator and activist. We had a good meeting
with her in the Mamilla Mall near the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. She
has been the Director of Educational Activities with the Elijah Interfaith Institute for 15 years. She had been an online guest
speaker for Earth Day, April 22, at the University of the Incarnate Word sharing in a panel "War is not green. Sign the Mothers' Call." She explained that also she invited us to learn from their Climate Repentance initiative that
developed in conjunction with the 2022 UN climate conference COP 27 which took place
on the Sinai Peninsula, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. “Religious communities and
religious leaders have a key role to play in addressing climate change and
climate justice, which requires deep transformation within society. The
knowledge of what changes are critically needed to diminish long-term harm to
the planet is readily available. However, bringing about change in action
demands deeper changes in attitude, a change of heart.”
Peta is from Australia and having
that passport gives her freedom to visit the West Bank. Israel has big signs warning people with Israeli
passports not to enter the Palestinian area saying that it will be dangerous. After I prayed at Rachel’s tomb on the north
edge of Bethlehem, I was asking for directions of where to cross the massive
wall into Bethlehem. Both an Israeli man and an Israeli woman told me not to go
there. The people there would kill me. I insisted that I had been there last
week, that I had friends there, and hotel reservations. With great sincerity
they urged me NOT to go.
How can people get to know each other as fellow human beings if they are blocked from seeing each other.
We were very grateful that Karen
Kisos, an Israeli Women Wage Peace leader, came from where she lives north of
Jerusalem by train to have a visit with us. We (Julie and Martha) in the US
have been attending online meetings with her trying to build support for
justice and peace in the Holy Land. We are hoping that as we help US people in
our area know about and meet with Women Wage Peace, we can also have online
meetings with Women of the Sun. Since
the two groups have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize together, we'd like to try to build support for both groups.
In Bethlehem we had the opportunity to
visit the office of Women of the Sun who
have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize with their partners Women Wage Peace
Palestinian women make up more than
half of Palestinian society yet make up less than 12.5 of leadership positions
in Palestine. They say, “We have the ability to exist despite the difficulties,
pain and obstacles to lay a new path filled by life, we are the women who stand
in the face of the wall of obstacles and difficulties that we as
Palestinian women face.” They want to increase the number of women in political
participation and decision making. They
are raising women’s voices demanding recognition of the law. As women, they
seek social, political, and economic independence. They are creating a
generation that is intellectually and culturally empowered and supportive of
women's rights. See https://womensun.org/about-us/
We not only saw rooms where they met
and some of the arts and crafts they
create and sell, we also learned about sustainability
projects. Johanna
explains what is growing in the garden and the gray water project. She
explained species of plants including the iris
which is in their logo.
(Image from the Jewish Community Council
of Greater Boston)
We had been grieving with Women Wage
Peace who on Oct. 7, 2023 lost one of their important leaders Vivian Silver. Over
the years she had been a leader in many groups working for peace. Where she lived
near Gaza, she was known for driving cancer patients from Gaza to get treatment
in Israeli hospitals.
In the garden we were grieving with
Women of the Sun who have lost 44 of their members in Gaza and other women who
have worked for justice and peace. We reflected in the garden as we saw the little
memorial with the sculptured sun shining on the pictures of the women killed.
a 
I recognized Rachel Corrie, a young
woman from the US who stood in front a bulldozer that was coming to demolish
the home of a Palestinian family. The driver continued and killed her as he was
demolishing the home. I also recognized the Palestinian-American journalist
Shireen Abu
Akleh who had been writing about the suffering in Jenin. She had been
killed. We were invited to write a prayer and to pin it on the tree.
So Vivian Silver and the women of
Gaza are together now begging all of us to see that thousands of people of
Gazan are currently starving to death and the Israeli hostages are with them
close to death. We are one family of God.
May 16, 2025
At the University of
the Incarnate Word Peace Day in October, 2024, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyah,
scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability and
the Palestine Museum of Natural History at Bethlehem University shared
about their work. Then he helped me with Artistic Bridges getting the children
who go to the nature center there on Fridays to share in a partnership with St.
Anthony Catholic High School. See the exhibit book from
the Palestinian children with pink flowers on the cover.
The museum is impressive with both
displays inside including some of Mazin’s books and with plants and birds outside.
They seek volunteers and this could be a great learning experience. Here is information in regard to volunteering palestinenature.org/volunteer
and a short video about the work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt8OTGoS198.
We met volunteers from England, Ireland, and the U.S. and had a
lovely lunch---Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and atheist uniting in conversation
on sustainability in Palestine. (See the picture near the top of this blog.)
Mazin is president of the Rotary
Club in Bethlehem and we first connected through the
Rotary Peace on Earth
by 2030 organizing team.
Perhaps, Mazin’s wife Jesse from
Taiwan has shared eastern wisdom with him. He said “We try to live the Buddhist
idea of joyful participation in the sorrows of the world.” Listen to some
of his wisdom
for life No wonder he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize.
The Artistic Bridges Global Education Project in Beit Hanina, Tel Aviv, Beit
Sahour, Bethlehem, and in the international Compassionate Action
Conference
https://charterforcompassion.org/what-we-do/support-kids/artistic-bridges/artistic-bridges.html
Sharing the global education
project Artistic
Bridges which came from my work at the University of the Incarnate
Word originally teaching Art Education has filled much of my time this past week.
Since Julie worked here for four years with the Lutheran Church she connected
me with a class of students preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation led by
Pastor Sally. The eleven and twelve year old’s did thoughtful art aware of
challenges around them and also the beauty of God’s creation.
Then we were with a lively group of
first grade students at the Lutheran School in Beit Sahour. Since 1919 the
Lutheran Church has been ministering in health care and education in
Palestine. Being on the playground a little while was so much fun, watching
the quick recess soccer game and being asked a million times “Where are you
from?”
President Dwight D. Eisenhauer
praised “Sister City” partnerships as a type of citizen diplomacy. During the
cold war citizen diplomacy became more and more important. Some believe that
refusing to communicate with other people or governments with which you
disagree is the best approach. Others believe that communication is a better
way to build understanding.
Late May 2024, I was with the
Charter for Compassion displaying information on Artistic Bridges at the All Americas
Sister City Summit in San Antonio. Tel Aviv is a Friendship City
with San Antonio, which is one step before a “Sister City Relationship.” In our
“City of Compassion” movement in San Antonio, I had asked for contacts with Tel
Aviv.
The office of Mayor Ron Nirenberg in
San Antonio made arrangements for me to meet with the Director of International
Exchanges of the Municipality of Tel
Aviv. I am impressed by the priorities of this modern city.
“The municipality invests in modern
and advanced education for the city's children. 45% of the city's annual budget
is dedicated to the community and the educational system. The City's education
system is oriented toward innovation. The city schools were designed to provide
pupils with the best tools and environment to help them succeed. Tel Aviv has a
modern approach to education that includes entrepreneurship, gender, ecology and
more. The city offers a wide range of schools – art and nature schools, state
education schools, religious schools, special education schools and democratic
schools. Most schools are in walking distance from your house - no need to
travel.”
I was graciously hosted by Yonit
Stern who has both worked in Atlanta in the U.S. and in Israel developing
exchanges. While she sets up many opportunities in all fields, she
happens to be an artist and has been in charge of art programs in schools.
She said that currently there are 24 schools in Tel Aviv with art programs that
could potentially be partners with classes becoming friends with classes in the
U.S.
I went to and from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem by the commuter train which is inexpensive and comfortable. Israel
could feel like the “best of countries” if there were not the reality of
conflict. Yonit was worried about me because rockets from Yemen had been
hitting the country that morning. Most airlines have canceled flights to Tel Aviv in
light of this danger.
Artistic Bridges at the SOS
Children’s Village in Bethlehem
A picture from the SOS webpages
My next Artistic Bridges opportunity
was on May 16 with about 30 children from 5- to 9- years old at the SOS Children’s Village in Bethlehem.
These children were both from that area and some were refugee children from Gaza. Sixty-eight children
had been evacuated from the danger in Rafah in southern Gaza. As I planned the
art activity, I kept in mind that some of the children had gone through the trauma
of war. Dana Osaily who had been an exchange student at UIW was such a good translator for me.
Abdula at SOS Children’s Village
Bethlehem told us of their approach trying to create a family atmosphere. Over
the years they have helped 4,500 Palestinian children and he was one of them.
“Hermann Gmeiner, a child welfare
worker, founded SOS Children's Villages in Tyrol, Austria 1949. Witnessing the
suffering of orphaned children after World War II, Gmeiner was dedicated to
creating nurturing families and supportive communities. Thanks to the generous
support of donors, sponsors, partners, and friends, Gmeiner's vision of
providing loving, family-based care for parentless children and assisting
families to stay together has flourished over six decades. Today, SOS
Children's Villages International operates in over 136 countries and
territories worldwide. In 1966, SOS Children's Villages was established in
Palestine, and the Bethlehem village was constructed in 1968. The SOS
Children's Village in Bethlehem currently accommodates 87 children in 14
houses, making it the first SOS village in the Middle East.
Additionally, the SOS Children's
Village in Rafah was founded in 2000, but unfortunately, it was destroyed in
May 2024 during the war on Gaza.”
Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(who is so popular here)
I have a dream.
Every child in Gaza like every child
in Tel Aviv is a priority getting good education, can walk to school, and has
opportunities to create art and music.
I have a dream that they are
developing their imaginations. They are sharing their feelings and creating
beauty, They are sharing around the world. I have a dream that we are all
dancing in a circle of compassion.
Homes of Hospitality and
Creativity
What a joy to have an opportunity
visit a Jewish home in Jerusalem and a Muslim home in Hebron, to be with caring
people who want to live in peace, to experience the warmth and wisdom of a 96
year-old and the abundant love of a family with five daughters, one of whom,
Dana, had come to our university in 2023.
Dr. Jo Milgrom, faculty in the Jewish Center, taught in the
Theology and the Arts area at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley,
California. She opened a whole new world to me in her classes in the early
1980's. Her care and creativity in teaching continued as we visited her home in
Jerusalem and she taught us as she explained the mingling of midrash and
materials in art piece you see around us.
I wondered with all the students
she had over the years and the time that had passed if she would remember me.
When we arrived one of her books was open on the table and there was my name
and a reflection on the writing that I had done in her class. My grandfather
had died and her class gave me a chance to journalize and work through some of
the pain.
She has been working through some of
the pain there creating a series of strong pieces in an exhibit, "WAR WAR
GO AWAY. LET PEACE AND BLESSINGS SING TODAY" which we found displayed in
the Hebrew Union College Library in walking distance from her home.
The catalogue of the exhibit reveals
some of the profundity of the pieces, "The Tree of Life is Sick." One sees branches bandaged up "Attached to the branches of my sickly
Tree of Life, they acquire their dreaded identity, symbolic of our bitter
indigestible spiritual life in 2024". In piece after piece she shows how
both Israelis and Palestinian suffer, the terrible separation wall, deaths on
both sides. "A kafiyeh and Israeli flag hang together: unmistakable signs
of the challenge and the hope of nearness."
She taught us a whole semester course
on the story of Abraham ready to slay Isaac, the Akeda. She wrote a book The Akeda One can find many
meanings in the story and she brought out the idea of the old ready to slay the
young by allowing war. In her
class I learned of the sculpture at Kent State, Ohio, remembering the young people
protesting the Vietnam war who were killed by the police there.
Reflecting on the idea of war sacrificing the
young, Jo created “On a Silver Tray” a long ribbon of pictures of Israelis
killed in the Gaza war. Now is the time to work
on preventing war instead of sacrificing our youth in it.
She gifted me with her latest
book, Jo & Jacob's House & Garden at the Navel of the
Earth with an inscription "Remembering Torah study together.
Blessings for Martha Ann, Jo." Jo is a mother and a teacher. Judaism
is the mother and teacher of Christianity and Islam.
Not too long after October 7, 2023,
I got an email from a Palestinian exchange student at UIW and we immediately
became friends. She came with me to the Thanksgiving Interfaith Service at San
Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, met our mayor and our archbishop, both of
whom wanted for her to stay safe by remaining in San Antonio rather than
returning to Hebron. That probably could have happened, but the legal
manipulation would have tarnished her opportunities for getting graduate
scholarships in the US in the future.
She got to know the Jewish president
of our Student Government Beni whose father is Israeli. Both of them want for
their people to live side by side in safety. Human rights can be
respected, ownership of land can be respected. People can get to know
each other as human beings and be friends.
Dana graduated in the area of
finance from the highly respected Birzeit University in Ramallah, north
of Jerusalem, and got a prestigious internship from the Palestinian Authority.
This gives her opportunities to get experience in four main areas and
possibilities for jobs in the future.
She was delayed an hour and a half
at a checkpoint as she tried to get to Bethlehem, but arrived just in time to
present on our "Creating Artistic Bridges" panel in the international
"Compassionate Action Conference, Transforming the World Together."
She initiated the global education project in Palestine both inviting her
younger sister Jude to participate and making contacts with the School for the
Blind there in Hebron.
We went to Dana's home in Hebron
where I spent the night. I felt so wrapped in love with Dana's mother whose
father is a physician, Dana's father an optometrist coming from one of major
Palestinian business families, her two younger sisters working hard in high
school, the little sister Jude bringing out her art work to add to the exhibit
book, and stories of the oldest sister who is finishing a master's degree in
Human Development in Malta right now.
We enjoyed a delicious feast and
Jude helped set the table. Her sister helped roll the stuffed grape
leaves. Her father made the salad with delicious mint. Her mother is a
wonderful cook.
May 10, Saturday
The Summit ended with her concert. She sang the Mother's Prayer which you can see in a previous recording. We ended dancing in a circle. These are my kind of people!
May 8, Thursday
As I walked away from Liberty Park, I saw this sign of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The People's Peace Summit today had many tours and programs in different parts of the city. We joined one organized by Ir Amim, a organization "For an equitable and stable Jerusalm with an agreed political future." We visited four main areas and tried to visualize how Jerusalem could be a bi-national city respecting the human rights of all citizens. We began in Beit Safafa which has Jews and Arabs side by side. When I lived at Tantur, I could walk down the hill to a little grocery store in Beit Safafa and hear the call to prayer from the mosque there. At the end of the tour we were given booklets Hope from Jerusalem: 13 Principles for Future Israeli-Palestinian Peace in Jerusalem as the Capital of Two Peoples.
I needed hope because parts of the tour were very painful. In Silowan, a social worker told how many families have had their homes demolished and how many have notices that soon their houses will be destroyed. They are told that this area will be a nice national park and they can come back and visit and remember where their family homes had been.
Bulldozers show up---this is where 35 people have lived. Bits of their possessions can be seen under the rubble.
Some sessions took place on the lovely campus of Hebrew Union College where I have enjoyed synagogue services in the past. While I could not understand the content in Hebrew and Arabic, I had an opportunity to learn from some of the presenters ahead of time about their organization that works for trauma healing. They had a letter from a colleague in Gaza speaking of the extreme pain there.
Both people attending that session and others I met with children on the campus were very interested in our Artistic Bridges project and took information to try it.
May 7, Wednesday
We
went to the village of Nabi Samuel near Jerusalem to learn of EAPPI. The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine
and Israel (EAPPI), initiated by the World Council of Churches, places
international volunteers in Palestinian
communities to provide protective presence and document human rights
violations. In Nabi Samwil, we were with a family whose property was being
taken from them. We met a volunteer from Columbia who is studying Political
Science and has come here to serve for three months and also an attorney from
Argentina who had come for a second time because he believes this work is so
important.
The EAPPI accompaniers support residents facing movement restrictions, home
demolitions, and limited access to services due to the area's designation as a
national park and its location within the Seam Zone. After learning from the family we walked over
to the school. The principal warmly
greeted us. They cannot get a permit to
build classrooms so they are meeting in “containers,” large shipping
containers. The sister of the English teacher had painted a bright mural. The children were laughing and happy to see
us.
The World Council of Churches office is located
within the area of St. Ann’s Church, a beautiful Gothic structure that dates
back to the Crusaders. George Sahhar, a Palestinian Christian and advocacy
officer with the World Council of Churches in Jerusalem, is a leading voice for
religious freedom in the city. He actively campaigns for unimpeded access to
holy sites, particularly during major Christian observances like Easter,
highlighting the increasing restrictions imposed on Palestinian worshippers.
On Holy Saturday, the day
before Easter, local Christians who tried to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
as Christians have done through the ages were blocked. The Israeli government seeks to push out or
kill the indigenous Christians and Muslims of the area and this policy is
getting stronger and clearer.
George is Greek Orthodox
and his brother-in-law is among the people in Gaza City who have been walled up
in the church compound since Oct. 7, 2023. He talks to him on the phone every other
day. They have suffered having little
food and water, but NOW they only have enough for about two weeks because
Israel has blocked these. The cousins of
a friend of mine in San Antonio are also in that church compound.
May 6 Tuesday
We drove south to Hebron and visited
the famous tomb of Abraham in a building started by Herod in the first century
and then continually used by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Sadly this
family of Abraham does not get along as a family and Hebron is a place of
struggles.
We climbed up to the home of Issa Amro who
has been nominated
this year for the Nobel Peace Prize with Jeff Halper, a prominent Jew
working against the demolition of Palestinian homes whom I have known on past
trips. “The Norwegian MP Ingrid Fiskaa has nominated them. Issa
founded Youth Against Settlements. He has often been arrested and tortured, but
remains firm using nonviolent tactics to call attention to the land which is
being taken from the indigenous people. Ms. Fiskaa, said the nomination was to
be “a powerful rebuke of the current violations of the Palestinian people and a
powerful and necessary defense of the rules-based international order which is
now being torn apart. She says that these nominees bring a light of hope in
times of total darkness. ‘As the political and military conflict between Israel
and Palestine seems deeper than ever, it is incumbent upon us to highlight the
alternative voices who work and advocate for universal human rights and a
common future on the ground.’”
We visited Umm Al Kheir and South Hebron Hills - Eid Al Hathaleen. On
June 26, 2024, Israeli forces demolished 11 homes in Umm Al Kheir, leaving
families without shelter in the heat of summer. The
demolitions were just the beginning of what became one of
the most violent weeks in the history of the small agricultural community.
He pointed out olive trees they have been planting.
In the middle of the night settlers come and uproot them.
They have since faced a sharp escalation in settler violence, with subsequent attacks, seeing settlers shoot live ammunition in the village and destroy the water system during a severe heat wave. We heard from Eid Al Hathaleen, a community leader and an artist there.
They would like to have a summer camp for 62 children there and seek supplies and help. I am in contact with him on WhatsApp if you would like to help them.
May 5, 2025
We had the privilege of visiting Al Aqsa Compound.
This is a sacred and historic place for
Muslims. And is the place where Prophet Mohammed is said to have ascended into heaven. Israeli Police have normalized allowing
Jewish worship at the Temple Mount, despite the traditional status quo
prohibiting it. Extremist Jewish groups are attempting to take control of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque and are exerting pressure through the Israeli Army and police to
limit Muslim access to the area. Our guide
who is the director for international visitors in the area said that they had
worked so hard to get a new sound system in the mosque and it was installed
last Wednesday. Before Friday prayers,
Israelis had cut the wiring so it would not work.
Another speaker, Budour Hassan works for Amnesty International and
has been gathering information in Gaza and documenting human rights abuses. They
have documented the mistreatment of the Israeli hostages and of the
Palestinians. Budour told heart breakingstories of the suffering and starvation going on. She spoke of a nursing mother
who has not had enough food so her breasts have gone dry. She is watching her
baby starve to death. Budour's interview and careful research contribute to the Amnesty Reports. www.amnesty.org
What has
happened over the decades that the Jews and Palestinians who were neighbors,
who were friends, who nursed each others' babies, are now locked in separations?
As one educated in law and philosophy at Hebrew University, Budour
described what is happening in Gaza as a “crime against the legacy of the holocaust.”
Another one of our speakers David Neuhaus spoke of his Jewish German grandparents
who fled Germany in the 1930’s and went to South Africa. Many of his other relatives were killed by the
Nazis. When he was 15 he wanted to study
in Israel. He said, “How can our people who have gone through the ‘final
solution’ 1942 to 1945 where many of my relatives died be carrying this out in
Gaza?”
David thinks that most Jews today are not taught authentic ethical
Judaism, but are taught about the holocaust and that they need a "homeland" to be safe. He said that as he was growing up he was never
taught about indigenous people in the area now Israel, but he was taught there
were terrorist who wanted to kill Jews. When he was a student at Hebrew University he
became friends with an Arab, Ossama. He was concerned that David was so far
from family in South Africa and Ossama’s family welcomed David as another son.
Friendship can break down prejudice, friendship can break down fear. In the
last few days we have heard story after story about how Israelis and
Palestinians are kept apart from each other, how a wall has been built to
divide them. Jews, Muslims, and
Christians, the family of Abraham, have been friends, but a main dividing
influence was the colonialism brought by the British in 1882. David had a
chance to work on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. A Native American said
to him, “You are an Israeli. You are doing to the Palestinians what the whites did
to us.” David emphasizes that today all citizens
in the area need not only justice and peace, but EQUALITY. Second class
citizenship blocks progress towards peace.
Can our babies share the breat milk of love? Is there enough love in each of us that we do not poison the children? Can we all take care of each others' children with love? Dalia's grandmother and her Jewish neighbors did that. Ossama's family treated David as a son and he loves them as his family.
In the Bethlehem area we visited the “Tent of the Nations,” an ecological
family farm that educates and has children’s camps during the summer. In a lovely setting on a hilltop, we saw
almond, fig, apricot, and olive trees. Thyme was growing—so delicious in zaatar. Solar panels bring energy for electricity. The ecological toilet was a necessity since they don’t have water, only what
they can collect from rainfall. The
Nassar family bought the land in 1916 and has the papers of ownership from the
Ottomans, the British, the Jordanians, and the Palestinians. They are
constantly harassed to leave by the settlers who live around their land.
Their website shares an Easter letter: April 19, 2025
Dear friends,
As we celebrate Easter this year with heavy hearts, we are reminded that
light breaks through the darkness, that pain, injustice, and even death do not
have the final word, and that the empty tomb is not just a symbol of victory
over death, but a promise that love is stronger than hate, that justice will
rise, and that peace will prevail.
Jesus rose, not only to comfort the brokenhearted, but to challenge
systems of oppression, and to call for a new way of living. HE challenged both
the religious and political powers of HIS day, and HIS resurrection was — and
still is — a revolution of love.
At the Tent of Nations, we continue to embody this resurrection hope.
Despite years of legal struggle, and daily challenges, we still stand on the
sacred soil of our ancestors rooted in faith, nonviolence, and refuse to give
in to despair. We continue to plant seeds of hope even in rocky soil, and to
resist injustice with the same spirit that turned over tables and rolled away
the stone.
May we become gardeners of justice, may we walk in solidarity, not just
in thought, but in action as peacemakers, and bridge builders. Let us make
Easter not just a moment, but a movement, that continues through us.
Wishing you a blessed and powerful Easter, full of light, love, courage
and renewed commitment to justice.
With faith, Love and Hope, https://tentofnations.com/
