SABBATICAL 11: "For the Children in the Streets Tonight"

Thursday Late Night

Church of the Nativity

This evening I climbed the steep hill from my quarters here to Bethlehem's Manger Square, and spent a quiet few minutes inside the Church of the Nativity, an ancient site believed to mark the particular place Mary of Nazareth gave birth to her first son, Jesus.  I've been several times before, but always with touring groups; and it was lovely to be alone for a while, in the great nave, and then in the cave itself--where an inlaid star designates the particular place, the particular moment, the incarnation of God.  Does the specificity really matter?  I'm not sure.  But reverance for embodiment and gladness in life...surely these are holy matters now.

Returning down the great hill to my home away from home, I sit down to prepare tomorrow's lesson for the staff at Wi'am.  These occasions are a great privilege for me and an extraordinary opportunity for my own formation in faith and discipleship.  That journey never ends!  Tomorrow's text: Mark 10:32-52, and Bartimaeus' call to discipleship.  This particular staff is intense, committed and curious about the gospel's promise in crisis and disintegration.  Is there a word from the Lord?   "Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant...."

As the night darkens, I hear, just outside my window, the sing-song merriment of children: maybe six, seven, eight of them in the street, playing some sort of childhood game.  I'm guessing that these are girls mostly, and maybe 9, 10 or 11 years old.  And their game goes on and on and on, the same song chanted happily, repeatedly, into the West Bank sky, their laughter punctuating occasional breaks.  

Art on the Annexation Wall

After thirty or forty minutes, thirty or forty minutes of chatter and song and laughter, their voices drift quietly away...leaving just the sweet memory of their joy, spirit, companionship and verse...and behind that memory the muezzin's call to prayer.  And it strikes me now that the significance of that star in Manger Square is fully revealed in the singing of eight Muslim girls, Arab muses, enjoying a warm spring night in the land of their ancestors, in the ciity of their own births.  Whatever else the Nativity is, it is a radically delightful and playful act of solidarity: God's solidarity with us, all of us, not just some of us, not just the ones who pray just so, but all of us.  Whatever else happens in Mary's womb, it's the choreography of grace, the passion of God-with-us, and God-in-us, and God-singing-our-songs.  As they scatter to their homes for a night's sleep, I praise the Unnameable for coming so close, for singing in the street below me, for the love that holds these children close and dear.

Quarter to Genocide

What we are seeing, in fact, is a green light of annexation so what is happening right now in the West Bank is de facto annexation of land.  In the North you have the Israeli army conducting its raids displacing more than 40,000 Palestinians in the span of 35 days.  In the areas of Tulkarm, Jenin, Tubas, as well.  And what we're seeing in the center, areas like Ramallah, Jericho, and in the south, areas like Hebron and Bethlehem are armed settler attacks, also trying to force Palestinians outside of their homes.  

So we're seeing a joint military, settler attack that is happening in tandem and at once against Palestinians.  And it is lethal.  We've had at least 57 Palestinians killed in the last 35 days alone, eight of whom are children.  And this is not counting the injuries that are being sustained either from live ammunition or physical beatings and the mass arrests that are happening including field interrogations by the Israeli army.  So what we are seeing is an intensified campaign aimed at annexation of the West Bank.

Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian Journalist, Ramallah (on "Democracy Now")

As helpful as it is to understand international law, and the definitions it offers, I'm moved tonight by the stirring of children in the street below, their singing and scattering; and what it tells me about genocide in Gaza, annexation in the West Bank, and the rightwing Israeli government's plan to ethnically clease Palestine itself.  Strangling the economy of the West Bank means silencing the voices of children, children like the joyful, happy girls below my window just a while ago.  Starving all of Gaza means starving, one by one by one, little girls and boys with dreams, little girls and boys with soccer balls in the street, mothers joking outside kebab stands, and bright eyed tutors fully committed to their people, their communities, their culture.  

By artist Ramone Romero

There is no way to describe such things.  There are no words to capture the crushing of spirits, the silencing of voices, the cruelty that plots the destruction of whole communities.  In Gaza now it's happening quickly, dramatically.  To be clear, it's been the slow, slow, deliberate strategy along: talk about a two-state solution for a while, buy some time; argue about Hamas for a while, buy some time; insist on antisemitism as the cause of all evil, buy some time.  And all the while, these dear children--who are just that, children--are singing their songs, whooping it up late into the night, giggling at stumbling internationals, playing childhood games for hours on end.  Awaiting whatever it is the armies of the world, the tyrants of the world are cooking up.

And it breaks my heart.  And yours.  And still it goes on.

Certainly, these same tyrants will try to wrap this up eventually, when they've achieved their goals and crippled Palestine forever.  They'll come up with something.  Some kind of Netanyahu-Trump thing.  It's probably mapped out already: tens of thousands to Tunisia, more to Jordan perhaps, hell, maybe South Sudan.  Settlements will expand and expand, around Bethlehem, within and around Hebron, circling and then terrorizing East Jerusalem.  Gaza will be annexed; most of the West Bank, too.  Mission accomplished.

Jubilee, Human Rights and a Shared Future

But no.  This is where civil society--within Palestine and beyond--says no.

Zoughbi Zoughbi at Wi'am

We who affirm the value of all life, we who cherish the play of children, we who see in every human community and culture the vibrant image of the divine--we now must CLEARLY AND WITHOUT EXCEPTION INSIST ON HUMAN RIGHTS as the one and only foundation of international coexistence and our shared future on planet earth.  The question, then, is not: Where shall we "send" the poor Palestinians?  Or even, What kind of dimished, eviscerated state will they accept?  It is, instead, How shall we collaborate with these dear ones to rebuild Gaza, to welcome all her refugees home, to dismantle every last piece of Israel's illegal and immoral occupation, and THEN TO BUILD A MULTICULTURAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY in which constitutional law protects all citizens of all backgrounds, races, religious beliefs and dreams?  All the children.  ALL the children.  ALL THE CHILDREN.  This, and only this, is the work ahead of these dear ones, and their allies in Israel and the wider world.  A MULTICULTURAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY.  

For all the children.

(In this regard, I highly, highly recommend Jonathan Kuttab's marvelous book "Beyond the Two State Solution"--which offers a practical and actionable vision that challenges both Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism. Jonathan invites readers to begin a new conversation based on urgent realities: that two peoples will need to live together in some sort of unified state, drawing on vibrant traditions from their many cultures, deepening in respect for one another and shared institutional life.  A very timely and hopeful read!)

Issa Amro, Omar Haramy

The good news is that I continue to meet exceptional spirits committed to just this kind of project.  Right here in Palestine.  I'm thinking of Omar Haramy and Lareen Abu Akleh at Sabeel, Zoughbi Zoughbi and Tarek Zoughbi and so many colleagues at Wi'am, Rifat Odeh Kassis and Mays Nassar at Kairos Palestine, Dahlia Qumsiyeh at the Balasan Initiative for Human Rights, Issa Amro in Hebron, Mazin Qumsiyeh at the Palestine Natural History Museum, and so many more at Rabbis for Human Rights and B'Tselem.  (Issa and Mazin, by the way, are both nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year!)  This is a fantastic list of individuals and collaboratives, and these are just the folks I've met!  So I know they exist here in the West Bank, and they're in Israel too, and all over the world.

But the global community--and that means YOU, my American friends--cannot and must not let Israel off the hook.  We may be weary.  The news may be horrific.  VIolence may spiral out of control as frustration becomes rage.  But we must not give up on this struggle and let Israel or our own rightwing government off the hook.  The only way to a sustainable future is a just peace.  The only way to heal the world of bigotry, militarism, apartheid and antisemitism is a radically restored land of many peoples, a jubilee of return and abundance, and a shared and disciplined commitment to human rights and international law.  It's up to us.  It requires our will and our action.

For all the children in the streets tonight.