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With a church aid convoy to the West Bank

Christian Century, May 8, 2002 by Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The food convoy has been stuck for over an hour at the first Israeli military roadblock between Jerusalem and the Bethlehem Christian suburb of Beit Jallah. Ramzi Zananiri, executive secretary of the International Christian Committee and leader of this humanitarian procession on wheels, is becoming increasingly agitated.

Juggling two cellular phones--one for West Bank Palestinian destinations like Bethlehem, and one for Israel--Zananiri tries to find out why a lone, scowling Israeli soldier is holding up the five trucks laden with provisions, led by our minivan.

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"Captain Roy," says Zananiri, phoning the Israeli military officer with whom he's been coordinating this food aid dispatch. "Captain Roy, there is a checkpoint here and the soldier has stopped all of the trucks. He is a very mean soldier in comparison to the ones that we met last week going to Nablus." Captain Roy assures Zananiri that he is on his way to find out what the problem is. As minutes pass, Zananiri phones the drivers of the semi-trailer trucks behind us to explain the situation.

A little later, Sister Hortense, an elderly Palestinian nun sitting next to our van driver, pulls her own cellular phone out of a black habit and begins chattering with someone at the Rosary Sisters Convent in Bethlehem. The convent is to be our third food drop-off.

Members of a National Council of Churches delegation accompanying this aid mission to Bethlehem are amused by the concentrated display of high-tech equipment. Little do they know that along with mutual fear, animosity and sense of victimization, Israelis and Palestinians share a few more mundane cultural traits--including an extreme dependency on cell phones.

Time passes; the vans remain stuck at the roadblock. Zananiri doesn't get out and talk in person to the soldier in front. Since a number of Israeli soldiers were killed a few months ago by Palestinians in roadblock ambushes, the soldiers at roadblocks are suspicious of anyone approaching. They issue instructions with hand signals.

"Standing here, you can see how easily some sort of misunderstanding can occur and can lead to shouting and shooting," said Mark Brown, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America representative with the NCC delegation in the van.

After more than an hour, Captain Roy's white military jeep appears. He is bearded, bare-headed and about 20 years old, with a serious demeanor. Speaking in Arabic to Zananiri, he informs him there is a problem entering Beit Jallah and the convoy will go to Bethlehem. Slowly the convoy turns around `and parades back to the main Jerusalem-Bethlehem highway.

As Israel launched what it calls Operation Defensive Shield, Palestinian and international groups that work in the West Bank began their own humanitarian effort to cope with the economic and physical dislocation caused by the violence. Millions of dollars in aid pour from Europe, the United Nations, the United States, Israeli Arab communities and rich benefactors in the Arab world. A few left-wing Israeli kibbutzim and Jewish peace groups have also collected food and goods, although humanitarian aid at times carries with it political baggage.

When a UN aid convoy arrived in Jenin refugee camp in late April, items marked with U.S. and Israeli labels were rejected, according to Bob Edgar, general secretary of the NCC, who spent a day helping to deliver aid to the area. All along the West Bank, church-linked organizations have played a vital role in the effort.

Though only about 40,000 Christians live in the West Bank today--about 2 percent of the population--Christian charities, schools and hospitals are represented in far greater pro portion. Every local church institution is, in turn, part of a broader, international network--Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Quaker or Mennonite. In addition, there are Christian groups specifically devoted to aid and development work. Five of the largest joined to coordinate the shipment of some $750,000 worth of food and medical supplies across the West Bank. Also, our convoy to Bethlehem was sponsored by the International Christian Committee, a relief agency associated with the Middle East Council of Churches.

Our truck caravan distributed 600 cartons of basic foodstuffs at a seminary, a convent and a hospital. From there, local residents pick up the boxes during breaks in the curfew. In other areas, boxes are passed house to house. Each carton has supplies to sustain a family of five people for two to three weeks.

Beyond immediate needs, the challenge of rebuilding Palestinian institutions looms large in the uncertain political atmosphere. The World Bank estimated recently that it would cost $2 billion in 2002 alone in humanitarian aid and efforts to restore the Palestinian economy. Officials estimate that $300 million worth of infrastructure damage was inflicted over four weeks of Israeli incursions.

"It will take at least three years to rebuild what has been destroyed over the last 18 months," Zananiri added.

With a church aid convoy to the West Bank

Christian Century, May 8, 2002 by Elaine Ruth Fletcher

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