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International Teen Program Fosters Hope and Builds Bridges in War-Torn Palestine
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Stacy Severson, W A M M
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This summer I had the great fortune of traveling to the Middle East. I was in Palestine for two weeks, teaching for a program called Arts Resources for Kids (ARK). I don’t necessarily consider myself a peace activist. I am a single mom and an elementary school teacher. I am still trying to figure out whether I can change the world, or just change myself in the world. The movement in my life tends to be in small circles rather than huge sweeping gestures.
ARK is a peace-based leadership program that brings together youth from three countries. We gathered for two weeks each in Guatemala, Minnesota, and Palestine. This summer was the third gathering for this group.
Upon entering Bethlehem, I was immediately struck by the absolute lack of tourism. The tourist economy, upon which this city has relied so heavily, came to a standstill with the Al-Aksa Intifada – the second uprising in 2001. From what I had heard, tourist travel is still relatively safe in the West Bank. The soundest advice I received was to not watch any news in the two weeks prior to leaving.
The terrain around Bethlehem is very hilly, so you can see sections of the Separation Wall in the distance, from nearly every vantage point in the city. It was a quiet but continual reminder of the daily struggle with which the Palestinians deal. I met a woman named Clements, who lost most of her seven acres of olive trees due to the 30-foot tall wall dividing her land. She was left with five trees that were slowly dying in its shadow and a daughter whom she hadn’t seen in two years. Clements’s daughter lived 50 feet away, but now they had a wall separating them from each other.
At first I was nervous to tell people I was from the U.S. It was explained to me on several occasions that “we like Americans, but we don’t like your president.” A few key sentences in Arabic go a long way. “Bush mazhnoon” – Bush is crazy – always elicits a smile. Putting all formalities aside (i.e., once it was established how I felt about “my” president), I was struck by how friendly people were and how desperately they wanted to talk about the current situation.
When they realized that I agreed with them about what they saw as 2 billion U.S. dollars wrongly spent (this year alone) to fund the building of the wall, they were very open. Time and again, I heard how the vast majority of Palestinians desire peace. Another recurring theme was the fears they had about hopelessness and apathy, and how the completion of the wall would all but strangle the city’s economy. Some estimates place Bethlehem’s current unemployment rate at 70 percent. As it stands now, to get a shipment from Bethlehem to Hebron, barely an hour away, requires unloading one truck and reloading another a total of seven times due to various checkpoints.
Coming and going can be cumbersome for tourists, and is impossible for most residents. A pass is granted, or not, seemingly on a whim by the Israeli guards. Because the Palestinian ARK members were denied passes, we only left Bethlehem once without them. We went to Jerusalem on what was the first day of the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. The Old City was a ghost town, except for hundreds of Israeli protesters pouring in, in a sea of blaze orange – the color of those against the pullout. We decided the safety of the 30 Guatemalan and Minnesotan youth came first, so we “saw the sites” and quickly left. When we reentered Bethlehem, we got off the bus and walked through the checkpoint, to get a feel for the experience. Granted, we had American and Guatemalan passports, so the guards nonchalantly waved us through. Apparently the process isn’t nearly so quick for the Palestinians. They sometimes stand waiting for hours to enter.
Most of the time we were there, we worked at the International Center of Bethlehem. The building that houses the ICB was erected in the throes of the Second Intifada, and contains reminders thereof – a hole in the floor left from a missile and graffiti on the wall. The ICB is an organization that serves many functions. They provide space, training, and a sales outlet for artists, many of whom have lost spouses or the ability to provide for their families. There is a state-of-the-art auditorium, hosting an occasional cultural event, for which the community is starving.
One of the key components of the curriculum we’ve developed for ARK involves discourse with the community. Curiosity was definitely piqued by 69 people, all clad in the same color T-shirt, descending upon the city full of zeal. It’s very empowering to see excitement in the eyes of people who feel hopeless and forgotten by the rest of the world.
This empowerment is at the root of ARK. Our Peace Charter (written by the youth) sums up the work we’ve been doing: “We, the participants of ARK, people from San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala, Minnesota, U.S.A., and Bethlehem, Palestine, unite to build a better world. This is a world full of hope, tolerance, solidarity, and understanding, equality, traditions, religions, feelings, and thoughts. In order to create peace, we need to listen, share, and help each other. Living in peace, we will have a different world filled with love and joy.” While it sounds utopian, the students, who range in age from 12 to 19, are tomorrow’s voice. They have been handpicked as leaders in their communities. In sum, it is my belief that the children of this planet must be nurtured in optimism, for this is what will drive them to action. They need to know that, yes: they can change the world, and their place in it
ARK’s website: www.arkforpeace.org |
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WORD UP
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of
prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must
be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle
of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself
a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
— Albert Einstein
Survival is a form of resistance.
— Gerda Lerner
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© 2005 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete November 2005 Index - click here
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