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TIME TO SHARE JUST PEACE
The Chronicle (Toowoomba, Queensland)
October 7, 2014 Tuesday
OH JERUSALEM - if you only knew the things that would bring you peace!
These are the words of Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem just before
he was crucified. However, this lament seems just as relevant more
than 2000 years later.
In 1947, the UN in its partition plan envisaged Jerusalem as an
international city to be shared by all; however, this has not come
to pass.
Israel took military control over East Jerusalem in 1967, a move
that is celebrated as the reunification of the eternal capital of
the Jewish people in Israel, but condemned by the international
community who maintain that East Jerusalem is under an illegal
military occupation. In Jerusalem, there are two starkly different
narratives about the hopes and dreams for this city. And underneath
every political story is a human one.
Whilst Israel has control of all of Jerusalem, most of the Palestinian
residents do not have citizenship, leaving 300,000 Palestinians
stateless and holding only flimsy residency permits that are often
revoked.
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, over
three-quarters of Palestinians in Jerusalem live in poverty, with
grossly inadequate public infrastructure - a shortage of 2000
classrooms; only 50kms of sewage lines; inadequate health, water
and other services. Most Palestinians are prevented from accessing
Jerusalem, which is hemmed in by a wall more than twice the height
of the Berlin wall on the West Bank side.
Arda Aghazarian, in Toowoomba this week, is one of those
Jerusalemites. She lives in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City,
which was established in the Fourth Century by Christian pilgrims.
The Christian Quarter sits beside the Armenian one, housing the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified.
However, the Christian population of Jerusalem has decreased rapidly -
from 20% of the population 70 years ago to only 2% now.
One of the greatest challenges for Christian Palestinians is that they
feel invisible to most of the many thousands of Christian pilgrims
who visit the city.
They watch the bustling crowds walk the Via Dolorosa (translation:
Way of Sorrows) - marking the last steps of Jesus.
However, most pilgrims do not stop to hear from the Palestinian
Christians and their current day Via Delorosa.
Many visitors only hear one narrative of the situation, the Israeli
one.
As Palestinian Christians were the first-ever Christians, they have
many stories to share - of life and faith and hope.
West Bank Baptist minister Alex Awad said: "The Christians in the
west, most of them, they don't know the realities here. They don't
know who is occupying who, who is oppressing who, who is confiscating
whose land, who is building walls to try and separate people from
one another."
Each year the World Council of Churches sponsors the World Week for
Peace in Palestine and Israel, which has just been marked globally.
The message from this week is that the time is now for Palestinians
and Israelis to share a just peace - which must include freedom from
occupation and equal rights. Then we can heal together.
We invite you to hear from Arda this week as she shares her vision
for a peaceful future in Toowoomba.
She will be giving a public talk at 7pm tomorrow at St Patrick's
Cathedral Parish Centre.
The Chronicle (Toowoomba, Queensland)
October 7, 2014 Tuesday
OH JERUSALEM - if you only knew the things that would bring you peace!
These are the words of Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem just before
he was crucified. However, this lament seems just as relevant more
than 2000 years later.
In 1947, the UN in its partition plan envisaged Jerusalem as an
international city to be shared by all; however, this has not come
to pass.
Israel took military control over East Jerusalem in 1967, a move
that is celebrated as the reunification of the eternal capital of
the Jewish people in Israel, but condemned by the international
community who maintain that East Jerusalem is under an illegal
military occupation. In Jerusalem, there are two starkly different
narratives about the hopes and dreams for this city. And underneath
every political story is a human one.
Whilst Israel has control of all of Jerusalem, most of the Palestinian
residents do not have citizenship, leaving 300,000 Palestinians
stateless and holding only flimsy residency permits that are often
revoked.
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, over
three-quarters of Palestinians in Jerusalem live in poverty, with
grossly inadequate public infrastructure - a shortage of 2000
classrooms; only 50kms of sewage lines; inadequate health, water
and other services. Most Palestinians are prevented from accessing
Jerusalem, which is hemmed in by a wall more than twice the height
of the Berlin wall on the West Bank side.
Arda Aghazarian, in Toowoomba this week, is one of those
Jerusalemites. She lives in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City,
which was established in the Fourth Century by Christian pilgrims.
The Christian Quarter sits beside the Armenian one, housing the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified.
However, the Christian population of Jerusalem has decreased rapidly -
from 20% of the population 70 years ago to only 2% now.
One of the greatest challenges for Christian Palestinians is that they
feel invisible to most of the many thousands of Christian pilgrims
who visit the city.
They watch the bustling crowds walk the Via Dolorosa (translation:
Way of Sorrows) - marking the last steps of Jesus.
However, most pilgrims do not stop to hear from the Palestinian
Christians and their current day Via Delorosa.
Many visitors only hear one narrative of the situation, the Israeli
one.
As Palestinian Christians were the first-ever Christians, they have
many stories to share - of life and faith and hope.
West Bank Baptist minister Alex Awad said: "The Christians in the
west, most of them, they don't know the realities here. They don't
know who is occupying who, who is oppressing who, who is confiscating
whose land, who is building walls to try and separate people from
one another."
Each year the World Council of Churches sponsors the World Week for
Peace in Palestine and Israel, which has just been marked globally.
The message from this week is that the time is now for Palestinians
and Israelis to share a just peace - which must include freedom from
occupation and equal rights. Then we can heal together.
We invite you to hear from Arda this week as she shares her vision
for a peaceful future in Toowoomba.
She will be giving a public talk at 7pm tomorrow at St Patrick's
Cathedral Parish Centre.