Advent Sumud Reflections: Voices for Peace
Last month over a dozen friends of CFOS joined the Sabeel Solidarity Pilgrimage. Below are some of their reflections on how they encountered Sumud while they were there. Read more here.
Five members of the group were from the Mennonite Church of Canada PIN (Palestine Israel Network). They are pictured here on a visit with Rev. Jack Sara of the Mennonite Church of Canada’s partner Bethlehem Bible College. Left to right: Byron Rempel-Burkholder, Dan Epp-Tiessen, Kathy Bergen, Chloe Bergen, Jack Sara and Jo Hiebert Bergen.
David Knoppert:
Meeting Dalia Qumsieh, a human rights lawyer, and a landowner in Bethlehem, I felt that she demonstrates Sumud, She and her neighbour have lost direct access to their olive trees which are now behind the wall that Israel has built. Much of the surrounding land has been made into a wasteland as a result of the wall and highway that stands behind. Dalia has spent many years going through the Israeli Judicial system, which continues to throw curve after curve and draws the process out.
Jo Hiebert Bergen:
Herod, occupier of the Roman Empire, lived with enough fear that even children posed a threat. As part of our solidarity pilgrimage we stood on a hill in Sderot, Israel, at a USA-funded ‘look out’ with a view to the northern Gaza border (see photos). Smoke was visible. It rose and drifted.
Within besieged Gaza, as terror rains down and necessities of life are denied, I know one family who cannot even find shoes to fit the growing feet of a 3-year-old and a 5–year-old. Little food or water, the cold of December--and no shoes for the children of Gaza as the cold and rain of winter sets in.
Chloe Bergen:
When I was in the West Bank, I reconnected with Caritas Baby hospital where I did a practicum placement in the spring of 2023. As the only hospital in the West Bank with the sole focus on pediatrics, families travel from all over the West Bank to receive care for their children. Today, my former colleagues informed me that less than half the number of out-patients can come for treatment. Either restricted in their movement across Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank or restricted by their financial situation made worse by the apartheid system. I am deeply touched by the Sumud of my colleagues as they return to work day after day to provide essential services for any child who manages to pass through the increasing number of checkpoints and the fear and uncertainty in the increasingly dire situation in the West Bank.
Dan Epp-Tiessen:
A personal highlight of mine was a tour of the Al Aqsa Mosque complex which includes the famous golden Dome of the Rock and its colourful mosaics, and the less decorative yet impressive Al Aqsa mosque. Our Muslim guide warmly welcomed our Christian group, highlighting important biblical figures who are also venerated in Islam. In contrast, we saw a badly damaged side door leading into the mosque, which the Israeli military had battered down two years ago when raiding the mosque. The door remains in shambles because Israel refuses permission to repair it. Our guide also told us that for six years he has been trying unsuccessfully to obtain an Israeli permit to repaint his office.
Byron Rempel-Burkholder:
On our pilgrimage, some of us visited Issa Amro, a champion of nonviolent Palestinian resistance. His house and yard in Hebron are wedged between his olive grove and an illegal Israeli settlement abutting his house. Days before our visit, settlers had come in the middle of the night and picked his olives. In the past they have damaged or uprooted trees while the Israeli security forces turned a blind eye. ”These trees are our family” Issa told us. These actions must be deeply hurtful, yet Issa continues to care for his trees. He is pictured here with our group under a mature olive tree in his yard.
Kathy Bergen:
Through my past work and as a regular Pilgrimage leader, I have lived in Palestine and visited many times. My last visit was in late 2019. The changes in the five years since have been huge. The settlements have grown and many new ones have been established. The suffering of Palestinians has increased. More homes are being destroyed and Israeli prisons are fuller than ever with Palestinians, including administrative detainees. The decimated economy of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is affecting every Palestinian. Especially in Gaza, but throughout the West Bank, every Palestinian is facing uncertainly, which was difficult and very scary for me to hear. The overall picture for Palestinians is unpredictable and frightening, yet Sumud persists. For me, I left with anger for what is happening and resolve to do what I can back in Canada to promote a different path forward.
Debbie Hubbard:
During my time in Palestine with the Sabeel Solidarity Pilgrimage in Jerusalem and the West Bank, we met Budour Hassan from the Amnesty International Office in Jerusalem. She opened our Pilgrimage by acknowledging that ‘continuing to hope was an act of resistance’. Throughout my time in Palestine, I witnessed ‘hope’ in action over and over again: Representatives from five of the six civil society organizations labeled as terrorists by Israel continuing to do their work knowing that they have ‘targets on their back’, the congregation of the Christmas Church in Bethlehem celebrating the opening of a chapel in Beit Jala, the people of Um Al Kheir, an agricultural community in the South Hebron Hills, continuing to remain in spite of increased settler violence and home demolitions, and Alice Kisiya and her family continuing to work to regain their land that was taken over by Settlers living illegally in the West Bank. I came away from the Pilgrimage with a much stronger commitment to live into the ‘hope’ of the Palestinian people not only through prayer but also through action and advocacy.
Some Memorable Quotes/Paraphrases From Dan Epp-Tiessen
Christ did not die in order for us to be quiet.
With the current government in Israel, anything is possible.
We must be a resisting church, which resists non-violently.
As long as I know that there is a living God of hope, that is my hope.
By retired Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan
We will not sell our heritage.
We will act in positive ways under the slogan “We refuse to be enemies.”
Following in the footsteps of Christ, we will not respond to evil with evil but with good.
We try to transform the enemy into a friend.
Hope builds bridges; fear builds walls.
By Amal Nassar, from Tent of Nations
The Nassar family has worked for years to hang onto their land despite decades of harassment by the Israeli government and Jewish settlers.