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JOURNEY TO PALESTINEby MPT Long-Term Team Member Joe MulliganMy journey to Palestine, to work for six weeks with the Michigan Peace Team accompanying the Palestinians, began with a visit in Spain where I had been invited to give some talks on "active non-violence." On the Lufthansa flight on Nov.19 from Madrid to Munich, where I was to change planes for Cairo (my first stop in the Middle East before heading on to Palestine), I was struck by the fact that about forty passengers on the German plane were Japanese and that I and several others were either U.S. or British citizens. Fortunately, the hatred and demonization of one side by the other which characterized World War II are now hardly felt or remembered. Could the Palestinian/Israeli conflict someday be resolved with justice and thus pass into the history of a bygone era? In Egypt two good friends showed me wonderful hospitality and arranged my five-day visit. I found the pyramids and the sphinx very impressive, especially considering that they were constructed thousands of years ago. In the Egyptian museum I spent some time looking at the mummified corpse of Ramses II, the pharaoh known for his repression and exploitation of the Hebrew people. (Some are of the opinion that, while Ramses II was the "Pharaoh of the Oppression," his son and successor, Merneptah, was the "Pharaoh of the Exodus.") His clinical history is printed on a plaque on his coffin: he, like some other pharaohs, suffered from arteriosclerosis, dental abscesses, and arthritis. (Ramses V suffers the indignity of having a plaque on his coffin proclaiming to all future generations that modern scientific methods have revealed that he had an enlarged scrotum probably due to a hernia!) As I looked at old Ramses II, I felt inspired by Moses and the Hebrew people who stood up to him, demanding that he let the oppressed go. My friends and I also went to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, where we visited the Church of St. Mark the Evangelist, who founded a Christian community there in 61 A.D. Tradition has it that Mark was persecuted -- tortured and decapitated -- and that his head is in an enclosed area in the crypt of the Church. I spent some time at that spot. Egyptian Christians also believe that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph sojourned in various places in the country after fleeing from persecution by King Herod. Perhaps the most celebrated place is in the Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus in Alexandria. A Jewish synagogue in the same city reveres a spot where the baby Moses is thought to have been found by the pharaoh's daughter, while another version claims that he prayed in the same place for strength to convince pharaoh to let the Hebrews go free. On my last day in Cairo we enjoyed a beautiful sailboat ride on the Nile. From there I flew to Amman, Jordan, to visit two friends of mine who are working with Iraqi refugees, whose situation is dire indeed. On my one day in Amman I toured the Roman amphitheatre and forum, which house several very nice museums showing Jordanian life and customs. My entry into Israel/Palestine on Nov. 26 was a very pleasant one. On the bus to the border a little Arab boy kept offering me corn curls. I accepted some with a smile and felt grateful for his kindness. On the bus crossing the border at the Jordan River, I had the good fortune to meet some Daughters of Charity (one from Grand Rapids, Mich.) who live in Jerusalem. They were very helpful in showing me which line to get on and in advising me about procedures. We arrived in Jerusalem after passing through a tunnel under the Mount of Olives and passing near Jericho. Then their driver dropped me off at St. Stephen's Gate (Lions' Gate), close to the church called Ecce Homo which is believed to be the place where Pilate condemned Jesus and presented him to the crowd. I spent my first night in Jerusalem in the guest house at Ecce Homo, enjoying the hospitality of the Sisters of Sion. In Jerusalem I saw the Wailing Wall, where many Jews were praying, and the Basilica of St. Anne where it is said that Mary was born. Behind the basilica one finds the pools of Bethesda, where it is possible that Jesus healed the paralytic. This was one of many healings which Jesus performed on the Sabbath, thus violating (in the name of human compassion) the prohibition, according to a strict interpretation of the law, against working on the Sabbath. Therefore his enemies "started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath" (John 5:16). I am living just outside Bethlehem. Yesterday I saw the Shepherds' Field, where it is said that the angel proclaimed the good news of Jesus' birth to the shepherds. Here I am living in a nice apartment with 3 other members of the Michigan Peace Team -- David (a priest from Minnesota), Martha from Michigan, and Brenna from Massachusetts. I am happy to be here with them and learning from their experience. On Nov. 28 we journeyed to Tuba in southern Palestine and stayed overnight with a shepherd family in a cave. Austere living! The people were very hospitable and generous, offering us tea and bread. According to Luke, the good news of Jesus' birth was first proclaimed to shepherds. Now I have seen that they are indeed the poorest of the poor and that Jesus represents God's option for the poorest. We were there to monitor the Israeli soldiers' accompaniment of a group of Palestinian children on their way to school on a road which is reserved for the Israeli settlers, who in the past have thrown rocks at these kids and beaten them up. The "settlers" are Israelis who occupy land throughout Palestine and who then receive Israeli social benefits and military protection. We saw the soldiers fulfilling their duty by accompanying the kids. But in a nearby village a mosque is slated for demolition by the army soon! Peace, Joe Mulligan |
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