Here it is – the beginning of our last day in Israel! My head is spinning from all I have seen and heard. Reflecting on what stands out for me from the trip some things come to mind. First, the land. This is my second trip to Israel but I am still mesmerized by just looking at the land. To see what Jesus saw when he stepped out of his doorway each day as a child, what David saw as he climbed the hill that we call Mt. Zion, to overlook the hills upon which the Crusaders and Muslims fought so long ago and more recently the war of independence and the Six Day War – to see all of this feels like being in a vortex of time and brings those events so much more alive for me.
The second major impact of this trip has been the amazing array of people to whom we have been introduced. Just yesterday we began the day speaking with a Holocaust scholar before seeing Yad Vashem, from there to the Foreign Ministry to meet with two division heads before visiting the settlement of Efrat and finally dining with the former Executive Editor of the Jerusalem Post! My head was spinning by the end of the day. I am so grateful for this unique opportunity to discover so many facets of Israel’s history and present. Yesterday, our six days of traveling and experiencing this rich trip together erupted into a rich discussion on the bus.
Our wonderful mix of theological perspectives has been an integral element in this this whole week and is the third impact of this trip for me. We have worshiped, prayed, and argued together – all of us growing in our understanding aand appreciation of the richness of the heritage we all share and of the uniqueness of our differences. Out of all of these experiences has come a new sensitivity to the importance of the use of language in the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
For instance, I have discovered the importance of remembering that Palestine was never a nation in this land – rather Palestinians were residents in the occupied territories (subject to the Turks, British and French). So to speak of giving the West Bank back to the Palestinians is itself inflammatory language. For many with whom we have spoken, the demand that the West Bank be given to the Palestinians is actually a demand that Israel give away territory to a people who never held it in their own right before. I have become aware of how much more I need to learn
And so our last day begins…
So, the argument is that if a people group have always been subjugated by others (Turks, Brits, etc), they should never have the opportunity (not a right necessarily) to have a place they can call their own? Seems like you might have been drinking the Kool-Aid!
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