Aaron
Chan, 27, is back in the United States after a three-month stay in the
Middle East, where he worked as part of an ecumenical accompaniment
group. Chan, of Oakland, Calif., stopped by the United Methodist
Building in Washington to visit with Board of Church and Society staff.
The agency helped fund his trip through a Peace With Justice grant. A
UMNS photo by Vince Isner, United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
Photo number 03-208, Accompanies UMNS #318, 6/6/03
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Aaron
Chan poses in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in this
file photograph. Chan, 27, a member of Oakland (Calif.) United Methodist
Church, spent March through May in Palestine, primarily in Bethlehem,
as part of an ecumenical accompaniment group. A UMNS photo courtesy of
Aron Chan. Photo number 03-209, Accompanies UMNS #318, 6/6/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Two
members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and
Israel pass an Israeli checkpoint near Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
The program, an initiative of the World Council of Churches, monitors
human rights and supports local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and
Israeli peace activists with nonviolent presence and advocacy. A UMNS
photo by Aaron Chan. Photo number 03-210, Accompanies UMNS #318, 6/6/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Palestinian
children cross through a gap in a temporary wall that separates the
town of Abu Dis from Jerusalem. Aaron Chan, 27, a member of Oakland
(Calif.) United Methodist Church, spent March through May in Palestine
as part of an ecumenical accompaniment group that monitors human rights.
A UMNS photo by Aaron Chan. Photo number 03-211, Accompanies UMNS #318,
6/6/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - A United Methodist returning
from three months in the Middle East is troubled by Israel's
construction of a wall to separate its citizens from the Palestinians,
but he also came away with hope.
Aaron Chan, 27, a member of
Oakland (Calif.) United Methodist Church, spent March through May in
Palestine, primarily in Bethlehem, as part of an ecumenical
accompaniment group.
He was one of four U.S. participants in a
group of 12 people who were part of the Ecumenical Accompaniment
Programme in Palestine and Israel, an initiative of the World Council of
Churches. The other eight in his group were from Sweden, Norway,
Denmark and Switzerland. Participants monitor human rights, and they
support local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace
activists with a nonviolent presence and advocacy.
"In Bethlehem,
you have examples of many of the things that are plaguing the people of
Palestine because of the occupation," Chan said. He cited the wall
being built to protect the Israelis, and Israeli settlements' being
enlarged or created.
"Assassinations happen all over the place
but happened a few times in the Bethlehem area," he added. On one of
those occasions a 10-year-old Christian girl was killed in an
assassination attempt late in March.
"Previously there were a lot
of curfews but not recently while I was there." Still, he added, the
lack of freedom of movement is extreme. The people of the area are
"living in open-air prisons."
The lack of movement adversely affects the economy, health care and school attendance, Chan learned.
He
found the checkpoints that restrict movement to be inconsistently
obstructive. He spoke of being allowed to pass one point, then being
held at the next for two hours only to be denied entry. Several miles
and a few hours later, he and his companions were admitted at a
different checkpoint without the guards even looking at their passports.
The wall being built by Israel is a more permanent part of
that disruption. He wrote in an online journal of a visit to Jayous: "In
Jayous, where two EA's (ecumenical accompaniers) are placed to report
what's happening and where I stayed, around 75 percent of the town's
land will be taken away by this wall.
"Since nobody has been
able to work since the Intifada due to all the closures and curfews, a
majority of the people are now completely dependent on their land for
survival. The question is will they still be able to own that land and
will they have access to it when the wall is finished.
"Imagine
having to pay a tax to get to the other side of the wall, taking 3 hours
more than it would normally take, just so you can work on your own
land. That very well may be the situation when the wall is complete."
Water
rights represent an issue in many parts of the country, as the wall and
its nearby restricted space separate the wells from the homes or farms
they have traditionally served or simply take those wells away, he
explained..
The wall is affecting Bethlehem also. Rachel's Tomb
is one of the areas being annexed to the city. Once surrounded by a
thriving community, the shops that served tourists and others in the
area are gone, Chan said. The only people who go there now are the
Israelis who come under armed guard, "say their prayers and leave."
Despite
the problems, Chan was able to work with the International Center of
Bethlehem and in children's centers in two of the refugee camps.
"For
me, what was significant about working in Bethlehem was the positive
stories because I've been for years hearing all these reports from
international groups and peace groups about all the negative things
happening," he said. While an ecumenical accompanier, he saw people
working through the nongovernmental organizations to build or rebuild
the cultural and civil society in Bethlehem.
In the international
center, a wellness center is being built for rehabilitation, Chan said.
The international center also has a model school and a music
conservatory. It hosts lectures, concerts, and art exhibits by local
artists.
"Part of this is all about building the cultural and
civil society," Chan said. "For me, it was also just about having a
break from thinking about the occupation, from working on the occupation
or fighting against it - to express the anger and pain in different
ways through art and through music."
While at the international
center, Chan enjoyed playing his guitar with others. Whoever was
available would join in impromptu sessions that were mainly "oldies,"
jazz, Latin and American folk music - familiar tunes from earlier
decades. The grand opening of the center is set for September. Finland
is providing most of the funds for the current expansion of the center,
which is partially housed in a Lutheran church.
Chan worked with
people from many countries at the center, as well as United Methodist
missionaries Sandra Olewine and Bob May. He also came into contact with
the Rev. Alex Awad, who teaches at Bethlehem Bible College, and his
wife, Brenda, who are United Methodists.
He became an
accompanier, he said, because he was interested in "following the ways
of Jesus in the encounter of the stranger and the chance to love the
stranger." He added that he has come to realize that the program also
affords Palestinians a chance "to love the other, to love the stranger
because they are very isolated in these open-air prisons and towns that
they live in."
Chan, who has completed work for a master of
divinity degree at the Pacific School of Religion, said he can see how
hatred between Muslims and Jews in the area continues to build up
because they are very isolated from each other. Stereotypes build up
too, he added.
"Coming in as an American Christian to break those
barriers of what it means to be an American Christian - especially
during the war in Iraq when many of them were very angry about what
American Christians are doing and this is their perception about what
Christians are - to break those barriers down through the encounter" was
meaningful, he said.
Financial support for his trip was
provided by the California-Nevada Annual (regional) Conference,
individual churches in the conference and a Peace with Justice grant
from the denomination's Board of Church and Society. Such grants are
created from the donations of church members to the annual Peace with
Justice Sunday special offering, which will be June 15.
Peaceful
Ends through Peaceful Means is the U.S. coordinator for the
accompaniment program. It handles the application, selection,
orientation and debriefing of U.S. participants. Each participant must
raise $1,700 a month to cover all expenses for the three-month stay
except transportation to the country and insurance. Details about the
program, along with photos and journal entries from Chan and the other
U.S. accompaniers, are available at www.pepm.org.
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