Statement from the Bishop of Chelmsford on his Visit to Israel and Palestine, November 2007

We began our visit in Hebron and we ended it in Yad Vashem – the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.  In both places people stand out and symbolise the story and the tragedy.  In Hebron, where approximately 400 extremist Jewish settlers (not at all representative of the people of Israel) are being defended by the Israeli Defence Force through the effective shuttling down, and blocking off, of most of the once economically vibrant Old City to Palestinians,  we met a Palestinian family living in the shadow of one of these settlements.  They had suffered intolerable abuse.  “All we wish for,” they said with a deep graciousness, “is to live at peace with our neighbours”.  That message was repeated over and over again.

A friend of Jewish friends of ours guided us through the Holocaust Memorial. She had survived Belsen as a child having lost all her family in those nightmare years of our 20th century wickedness.  “If only we had had Israel in the 1930’s we might have had somewhere to flee to and escape” – the words of an extraordinarily brave and warm-hearted woman.  Surveys and opinion polls indicate that the vast majority of Israeli people are committed to peace and the establishment of the two state solution.

Israel and Palestine, however, are locked into a dangerous, divisive and potentially explosive political context.  Behind that is the tragedy that Israeli people have little or no experience of Palestinian life and Palestinian people little opportunity to encounter their Israeli and Jewish neighbours.

Almost everyone said to us that only pressure and help from the international community had any hope of unlocking the conflicting stories and the complexities of what appears to be an irresolvable situation.  Yet, such is the despair of Palestinian people especially, that they do not hold out a great deal of hope that this will bring real results.  The Government of Israel is weak.  The Palestinian leadership divided.  The Bush Administration in its last period and not held in high regard across the Middle East.  People have lost confidence and with it hope is dying.

We visited the UN, the World Bank, the British Consulate, the Palestinian Authority, key figures in the Orthodox Jewish community, Muslim Leaders and our Christian brothers and sisters.  Key phrases that came out of these conversations included:

• “Gaza is one big prison”
• “We live under structured domination by the State of Israel”
• “If you do not come to our aid there will be no church left in the Holy Land”
• “Attend to the facts on the ground – the occupation has broken the back of the Palestinian economy”.
• “Friends talk of light at the end of the tunnel – I have not yet found the tunnel”

These messages did not come from ‘extremists’ but from the lips of the international agencies and the leaders of the churches and faith communities.

What needs to be done?  We are approaching the midnight hour for the two state solution.  There has to be agreement to achieve it however long and difficult the road will be to get there.  Failure opens the door to a nightmare.

For this two state solution to happen the following are basic:

• The establishment and maintenance of the universally agreed human rights of all the people.
• Self determination and political freedom for all the people
• Freedom of religion for everyone
• Liberty to pursue economic and social development equally for all
• Acceptance and fulfilment of international agreements and law
• Particular attention to the needs of refugees and all displaced persons and families.  
• An end to all forms of violence and the abuses of power.

Everyone knows that this opens up a huge, complex and difficult agenda – including the future of Jerusalem, the settlements (now over 400.000 people in East Jerusalem and on the West Bank), the viability and security of both Israel and Palestine, the ending of occupation and the lifting of restrictions, building political, economic and social capacity.  We met an almost universal voice asking that we press the UK Government and through them the Quartet to hold on to this agenda and address root causes rather than tackling superficial symptoms.

There were special themes we bring back concerning the churches and religious life.  Through our ecumenical partnerships the churches have need to come to the aid of our sister churches in the Middle East.  The secular agencies told us that the Christian community is very important to economic development – Christians though a tiny minority often have the skills needed for the future.  These people are, however, leaving.  The churches are feeling very vulnerable and  Christian Aid can, I am sure, help with appropriate  capacity building programmes.  This cannot happen effectively in the absence of the support of our own churches.

A further important part of this was the often repeated theme that the leaders of the religious faith communities needed to be alongside the political process.  A criticism of the Oslo Accords we heard on a number of occasions was their exclusion of the religious communities.  That will require a level of maturity and mutuality which will be good for the future not only of the religious faiths but of the whole Israeli/Palestinian culture and society.

Is there hope?  In the lives of the people across the divergent histories the answer must be ‘yes’.  We must pray that our political leaders have the courage to honour the faith of the people and that Annapolis produces substantial results.  The outcome of failure is too awful to contemplate.

John Gladwin
Chair of the Board of Christian Aid
Bishop of Chelmsford