Young Friends of Sabeel (YFOS) supports the work of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem (www.sabeel.org) through education, advocacy, conferences, solidarity visits, partner-to-partner projects, and financial contributions. Young people, as a network of friends throughout the world, work in partnership with Sabeel to help bring about a just and durable peace for Palestine and Israel.
To find out more email us at youngfriendsofsabeel@gmail.com
The conference participants moved from Bethlehem to Taybeh, a Christian Palestinian village close to Ramallah in the West Bank. Taybeh is well known for opening the first micro brewery in the Occupied Territories. Watch the brewery's story below.
However, the participants weren't relaxing having a beer during their stay in Taybeh. They volunteered to do various kinds of work for the local population. For eight hours they worked on painting, cleaning, and fixing houses in the village.
After a long day of hard work, the participants went back to the Taybeh Guesthouse and enjoyed an evening of Palestinian music and watched a reenactment of a traditional Palestinian wedding.
Take a look at a couple pictures we've uploaded below of the conference:
Below is a picture of a participant, Elizabeth walking through a checkpoint.
On Saturday, the participants visited the largest city in the West Bank, Hebron. Hebron is the only Palestinian city to have a settlement inside of it. Because of the presence of these settlers, movement of Palestinians is greatly restricted in the name of the settlers' security. Certain major roads are specified for use by Israelis only. The Temporary International Presence in Hebron counted 113 checkpoints, roadblocks, and closures inside of the city. Because of these restrictions, the Palestinian economy in Hebron has become strangled. Watch this short introductory video below.
One participant from the United States, Alexandra writes:
The city is not being protected, the soldiers are plainly there for inconvenience. Blocking exists down the shops hallways, closing stores, allowing settlements to throw trash and bricks at the people below, taking homes, all in the name of security!
I do not see security, I see the basic needs of life stripped and I see prisoners in their own town. I see children living in filth much worst than third living world countries.
On Sunday, the participants attended church Beit Sahour, close to Bethlehem. After services, they had the opportunity to speak to local Christian families about the challenges they face living under occupation. One topic that was raised concerned water.
The scarcity of water is a major issue for Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly during the summer. Israeli citizens (those inside of Israel AND settlers in the West Bank) benefit from unlimited access to running water all year round consuming, on average, 280 liters a day. Palestinians, on the other hand, are able to utilize only 60 liters per a day. The World Health Organization recommends 100 liters per a day as the minimum quantity for basic consumption.
Israel has strong control over the area's water sources even though two of the major sources of Israel's water lie largely in the West Bank, the Mountain Aquifer and the Jordan River. Palestinians have a right to this natural resource and Israel has a responsibility as an occupying force to ensure that Palestinians receive it.
BTselem states:
The water shortage violates the basic human rights of Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories such as the right to health, to adequate housing, to equality, and to benefit from their natural resources. This harm results from Israeli policy, in effect since 1967, based on an unfair division of resources shared by Israel and the Palestinians.
Next the participants toured Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. They enjoyed shopping and listening to a story of a collective act of nonviolent resistance demonstrated by the local population during the first Intifada. In response to the Israeli authorities' increase in taxes imposed on the people and the lack of services provided, the local population refused to pay and disposed of their blue identity cards issued by the Israeli government. In reaction, the Israeli government took all of the possessions of the protesters in lieu of their tax money. However, those who took part are still proud of this nonviolent act.
This clip reporting on Peace Now's work documenting settlement construction in the West Bank was aired on TV in Israel. Members of the group experience difficulty on the job when a settler reacts violently. Take a look.
Peace Now is the oldest Israeli peace movement founded in 1978. Peace Now's project called, "Settlement Watch" monitors and creates awareness regarding settlement construction and the implications of the construction. The organization views the settlements as an obstacle to peace and as detrimental to the moral fabric of Israeli society because the construction of settlements necessitates violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people.
The Israeli construction of the Annexation Wall on the Khatib family land has rendered 24 members of the family on the Israeli side of the Wall, where they are being kept under house arrest. No members of the family have committed any crime, but the Israeli military keeps them under house arrest because the Israeli military constructed the Wall with the family on the Israeli side.
Reuters news service had a pretty good article about Palestinian Christians on Monday, specifically about the effect of the Wall on the West Bank village of Aboud:
"Aboud's parish priest Father Firas Aridah blames the Israeli barrier for decimating the income of Aboud's Christian community and forcing 34 families since 2000 to leave in search of more stability and security."
Welcome to the Young Friends of Sabeel blog!
Young Friends of Sabeel (YFOS) was organized out of the desire by memebers of the international community to support the work of Sabeel Ecumencial Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. Sabeel, an ecumenical grassroots movement among Palestinians, seeks to make the Gospel contexually relevant, and strives to develop a spirituality based on justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation, and reconciliation for the different faith communities. The word "Sabeel" in Arabic means "the way" and also a "channel" or "spring" of life-giving water.
YFOS supports the work of Sabeel through education, advocacy, conferences, solidarity visits, partner-to-partner projects, and financial contributions. Young people, as a network of friends throughout the world, work in partnership with Sabeel to help bring about a just and durable peace for Palestine and Israel.
Interested in joining YFOS? Want to request specific resources? Let us know what you are looking for from the YFOS network. Tell us what you want to see on this blog. Get in touch with us at Youngfriendsofsabeel@gmail.com
Whatever your gifts are, we need you!
