October 27, 2005

WEST BANK/GENEVA – "Travelling to a conflict zone, to meet people and understand the way they live was a privileged moment. It has deepened my own faith," is how Canadian Lutheran pastor, Dr David Pfrimmer, summed up his visit to Jayyous, a small Palestinian village near Tulkarem in the West Bank.

Pfrimmer and other representatives of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches attending the August 31-September 6 annual Council meeting, had taken part in a three-day exposure visit with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The LWF Office for International Affairs and Human Rights had organized the visit prior to the Council meeting in Bethlehem and Jerusalem to enable interested persons to learn more about the complex conflict between Israel and Palestine, and to experience the living conditions of the Palestinian people.

An initiative of the World Council of Churches begun in 2002, the EAPPI currently brings international visitors from a wide range of ecumenical backgrounds to live and work in seven places across the West Bank (Bethlehem, Hebron, Jayyous, Ramallah, Tulkarem, Yanoun) and Jerusalem. Alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, the EAPPI focuses on supporting non-violent resistance to the conflict. The international visitors, so-called EAPPI "accompaniers," by their very presence on site offer protection to the Palestinian population.

A Complex Structure Hinders Movement

Of particular interest was Israel's barrier or separation wall, built to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Israeli territory. Under construction since June 2002, the wall is expected to reach at least 650 kilometers inside the West Bank, according to Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel (VTJP), a local organization promoting the equality and safety of both Palestinians and Israelis through education, advocacy and action.

At a maximum height of eight meters currently, with shorter sections at six meters, the barrier is a combination of high concrete sections for areas perceived as especially vulnerable, and a shorter fenced-only part. The VTJP notes that in addition to the concrete wall and fencing materials used to build the structure, some sections also include electric fencing, roads for patrol vehicles, electronic ground/fence sensors, thermal imaging and videotape cameras, among other things.

The tasks of the EAPPI accompaniers include monitoring human rights abuses, witnessing and reporting house demolition, working with refugees, and accompanying Palestinians, including children on their way to school, to checkpoints at the fence or Israeli separation wall.

Trust in International Accompaniers

"It was most impressive to see the trust that people put in international presence for the sake of their own security," said LWF Council member, Rev. Chandran Paul Martin from India who, like Pfrimmer, joined the EAPPI for three days, and was based in Yanoun. The small Palestinian village is surrounded by mountains, where Israeli settlers have erected buildings and patrol cameras. Settlers used to frequently come down the mountains to intimidate the Palestinian population. The EAPPI began their permanent presence in Yanoun in 2004. Since then, there have been no major assaults against the local Palestinians.

Youth members of the LWF Council and stewards, who met for a separate Pre-Council Workshop in Jerusalem, joined the EAPPI for one day. They visited Jayyous, Yanoun, Hebron and Bethlehem.

Twenty-nine-year-old Milita Poskiene from Lithuania was particularly shaken by a story about Israeli children coming down from the settlements to Yanoun carrying machine guns. "We were told that some of them were as young as 10 years, and not much taller than their guns. They threatened the Palestinian farmers. But being under age they cannot be prosecuted for any act of violence. This disposition toward violence is really scary," she said.

Broadened Horizons

LWF Council meeting steward from Iceland, Gudmundur Björn Thorbjörnsson aged 19, joined an EAPPI team to Hebron, where about 450 Jewish fundamentalist settlers had settled among a majority Palestinian population occupying the upper levels of houses right in the middle of town. As the settlers had taken to throwing stones and garbage onto Palestinian passers by in the streets, it had been necessary to put wire mesh over the streets. The visit not only broadened the young Icelander's "horizon" in relation to the conflict, but also compelled him to "spread the word" about what he had experienced.

Pfrimmer, a member of the LWF Council's Program Committee for International Affairs and Human Rights, was shocked by the oppression the Palestinian people face in Jayyous. The village is fenced in on one side, so the farmers experience great difficulty in reaching their plots of land, which are on the other side of the fence.

He cautioned against being misled by biased media reports on the conflict in Palestine and Israel, noting that the Church had a role to play in making the Palestinian story heard.

Martin compared the situation of the Palestinian people with the living conditions of the Dalit people in India. "Oppression, exclusion and discrimination are the same here as in India," he said. Inspired by the EAPPI, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India executive secretary plans to initiate a similar program back home: "I would like to replicate the EAPPI in India in the Dalit context, because without international presence the perpetrators are not afraid. EAPPI could serve as a model for a new program in India." (890 words)

Lutheran World Information
By Julia Heyde, youth intern, LWF Office for Communication Services.