Saturday, April 27th, Ramallah

Today's Notes are from Pam Engberg

Today we visited Ramallah. We entered the West Bank through the Kalandia checkpoint, which we had to pass through on foot. There were two lines: one for men and one for women and families. Fortunately, Pastor Arnesen was able to go through with us, or we would have been waiting for over two hours for him. On the other side we found a taxi to take us past the Kalandia United Nations Refugee Camp and into Ramallah.

Even now it is a beautiful city. It has graceful homes of cream-colored stones and terraces and gardens. We came to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hope and were met by Pastor Ramez Ansara and David Tannous, a church council member. Both of them described the days of incursion and their reactions to the damage done to the school and parsonage. In the parsonage, said Mr. Tannous, the soldiers urinated on the walls and floors, stole the communion wine, and vandalized the library. They brought us to the school where we witnessed the remains of blasted doors, shattered windows, and walls with bullet holes. We saw photographs of the widespread vandalism of classrooms and offices. We also visited the school children, starting with the kindergartners who were eager to have their pictures taken, smiles radiant. Later, the 5th and 6th graders wanted to shake hands and show off their English. It was so familiar, and so typical of our children - we suddenly felt like they were ours, and the school was ours, and what happened to them could have happened to us.

We met with a couple, both of them teachers, whose home had been occupied. On Tuesday, April 16th, six soldiers searched their house. At 8:30 pm two tanks and two armored personnel carriers stopped near the house and the soldiers went to their door. "Tonight we're going to sleep in your house; take what you need and get out," one of them said. But Nabil, the husband, was eventually held for twelve hours on his kitchen floor bound and gagged with plastic wrap and adhesive tape while his wife spent a frantic night with the neighbors.

Pastor Ansara arranged for us to meet the mayor of Ramallah, Ayoub Rabah, a Malachite Christian. The mayor estimated that "all that we have achieved in the last 10 years has been completely destroyed. The most immediate needs are for food. Jobs are really essential," he said, and he mentioned "a Marshall plan on a smaller scale" where the activities to restore and rebuild could create employment for some of the currently 50-60% of the population now unemployed.

We then also met the Rev. George Al-Kopti, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. He described the searching of the church grounds and sanctuary and observed, "it is not only we who are suffering. Those boys - they were not more than 18 or 19 years old - they should be spending their time in a university and living a normal life. This violation - it is not normal - for us or for them."

After a tour of downtown Ramallah and a brief approach to the unrestricted area, we returned to the checkpoint for reentry to Jerusalem. Our attention was divided between a Palestinian family with four beautiful children and the Israeli soldiers who were becoming increasingly agitated and nervous. We finally made it through the checkpoint and back to the city and Damascus gate.

What was most vivid about this day's experiences for me was the sudden apprehension of the people as people. I looked at the town and the churches and schools, and at the way the people moved in them, and suddenly the Palestinians weren't "them" anymore - they were "us." They are shocked and frightened and outraged for all the reasons we would be. Suddenly the injustice was real.

And just when it was about to be too overwhelming for me, Pastor Ansara reminded us of our hope. He reminded us that we are a Resurrection people, and that once before when all seemed lost, it was really won. He spoke of our God who loves all people, sinner and innocent alike, and who will not abandon us to despair. As we left Ramallah, his words and his face were before us like a light.

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