The Asian News Blog

Day 6: THE Israeli-Palestinian peace process remains a top priority for the UK Government.
That was the message from deputy general consular at the British Consulate in Jerusalem, John Edwards during a meeting with some members of the Building Bridges team.

The meeting was arranged by Blackburn based Faz Patel to get a better understanding of the situation in Palestine, its peace policy and humanitarian support in Gaza.
Mr Edwards told the group that Britain was committed to a solution for a lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
He told us the consulate did not interact with Israelis as it felt that Israel occupied East Jerusalem is under illegal military occupation by Israel.
He said: “Our Embassy to Israel is in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. In East Jerusalem we have a Consulate General, with a Consul General who is not accredited to any state, this is an expression of our view that no state has sovereignty over Jerusalem.
“This means the work of the consulate in Jerusalem is with Palestinians only.”
He said: “The UK believes the city’s status is yet to be determined and we believe it should be settled with an overall agreement with all parties and that the city should not be divided.
“Our aim for the future is to see a two state solution which will not only see an end to occupation, but also the exchange of ‘land for peace’ leading to a viable state of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.”
He said the problems in Palestine was not a humanitarian, economic or social problem but a political one and one that was at the heart of the work at the consulate.
He said: “This is a very divided and complex city and over the last 10 years there hasn’t been much interaction between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
“Dialogue we believe is very important but it needs to be addressed fairly from all sides.”
As for humanitarian aid, the Department for International Development has committed £250million over three years to the people living in Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The money is used for sustainable projects run by Palestinian organisations making them responsible to generate growth.
The money is also used to meet humanitarian needs through effective assistance.
The DFID has also committed £26 million aid to Gaza after the Israeli onslaught in December and January.
Said Mr Edwards: “There are many states that fund projects which are one off and are not sustainable and often bring in workers from outside the country.
“We don’t find that this benefits the Palestinians as they need work as well.
“Our projects are therefore Palestinian lead and we don’t tie our aid with British companies or stamp projects with a British flag.”

Day 7 – Final day: THE city of Hebron was our last visit during the trip.
It is the largest city in the West Bank located 30 kilometres south of Jerusalem and the second holiest city in Judaism after Jerusalem.
Though both the Arabic and Hebrew name for it may mean ‘friend’ it’s far from it.
The town is home to nearly 160,000 Palestinians and 500 Jewish settlers.
Hebron is the only Palestinian city with Jewish settlers actually living inside it and according to the locals, the Israeli citizens maintain a privileged existence, alongside majority Palestinians who are denied fundamental civil and human rights.
The history between the two communities has been one of bloodshed especially since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada or uprising in September 2000 and tensions between the two communities has been high.
The most famous historic site in Hebron sits on the Cave of the Patriarchs. Although the site is holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam also accept it as a sacred site as it’s believed that the site contains the tomb of Abraham, his wife Sarah, his sons Isaac and Jacob and their wives Rebecca and Leah.
Over and around the cave itself churches, synagogues and mosques have been built throughout history. The Isaac Hall is now the Ibrahimi Mosque and the Abraham Hall and Jacob Hall serve as a Jewish synagogue.
The mosque also has its own bloody history. In 1994 Baruch Goldstein, a US-born doctor from Kiryat Arab, a nearby Jewish settlement, burst into the mosque and shot dead 29 Arabs and injured 300 at prayer during Ramadan when the mosque was expected to be full.
The Jewish settlers treated Goldstein as a saint, establishing a shrine to him that was forcibly removed by the Israeli Government in 1999.
The settlers have frequently been criticised by moderate Israelis for acting as a law unto themselves and for provoking tensions with their Palestinian neighbours.
The mosque and burial shrine are divided and under overall Israeli military control. Muslims and Jews enter the site from different sides and even now there is very heavy security at both entrances as we experienced entering the mosque.
Christians however are allowed to enter both sides of the shrine.
There are no-go areas open only to Jews and those with Israeli-registered cars.
There are barricades and Israeli-manned checkpoints – separating Palestinian traders from the settlements.
Where Palestinians have been forced to move out Jewish settlers are now moving in causing even more enmity between the two.
This is a town that is the worst example for occupation say the locals, poor and desperate for peace.
One local we came across, 83-year-old Mohammed Jabbar who once worked as a translater for the British Army in 1941 was a witness to the Goldstein Massacre.
He said he came out of the mosque and didn’t now where he was.
“You can smell the blood of the martyrs as I escaped from the mosque,” he told us.
“It was a bloody massacre yet the world waited and watched.
“The situation here hasn’t improved.
“The Muslims live in poverty and under constant security watch. There is no life here for the Muslims,” he added.
After our visit to the Ibrahimi Mosque we were guided to the old Arab market, now almost desolate, with hardly any passing trade, the stall holders were desperate for business whilst young children came out begging for money.
As a group we spread ourselves out to different shops, and though we would have probably bartered back in Jerusalem, we paid for what they asked as it was quite clear to see there was much need for money here than anywhere else we had been to.
As we walked back to our taxi to head back to Jerusalem, we fell into silence feeling sad not only for the Palestinians but also for its history.

It’s not everyday when you get to lead the congregation at Islam’s third holiest mosque but that’s exactly what happened when a Blackburn imam went to pray at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Fazlurrahman Hassan, chaplain at Blackburn Hospital had gone to the Dome of the Rock to pray when there was some confusion about where the mosque’s imam had gone.
Taking the opportunity to lead the prayer, Fazlurrahman volunteered.
“It was an opportunity not to be missed and I felt blessed that I happened to be there,” said Fazlurrahman who was in Jerusalem on an inter-faith visit with a group of 21 Muslims and Christian from Building Bridges in Burnley
“Me and my friends were there to pray when there was some confusion about the whereabouts of the regular imam.
“Eager to get on with the prayers, the muezzin asked if anyone else was able to do it.
“So I decided to take up the opportunity and stepped forward and then the regular imam turned up.
“Seeing that I had already volunteered he asked me if I could read Arabic, I told him I can and I lead the congregation.”
The mosque is considered a holy site for Muslims because it’s believed Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven from a rock inside the mosque.
It’s also sacred to Christians and Jews as they believe it is the place where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.
The congregation at the Dome of the Rock was so happy with Fazlurrahman’s service they asked him to stay another hour and lead the late evening prayers as well.
“I’ve been here for a week and to pray here has been an overwhelming experience but to lead the prayers here has been a very special occasion.
“It felt a bit surreal and I still can’t believe it has happened.
“This is something I would always remember.
“Our Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) descended from heaven from this very mosque and for me to lead a congregation here was a truly blessed occasion.”

Day5:
IN BETHLEHEM, the director of the Arab Educational Institute, Toine Van Teeffelen took us to meet two women who have been affected by the separations walls.
Antoinette Knesevich (pictured) and Mysara Shaker Zahdieh are both neighbours and who are both passionate about creating peace in the Holy Land.

Antoinette said she died the day the wall went up.
An Anglican Christian, her family, friends and even her work with the churches were on the other side of the wall.
And now she says she lives a lonely existence.
“I can’t live like this anymore,” she said.
“We are Christians but we are also Palestinians and both Muslims and Christians live here together peacefully. Before the wall we even lived in peace with our Jewish neighbours.
“But now I feel as though I am dead. We are buries alive and living in a tomb.
“We also have rights and if they give us our rights we will be more than happy to live in peace. This is the view of the Palestinian people.”
She added: “They want our land. I had land I inherited from my family and intended to pass on to the next generation, but I cannot access my land as it’s on the other side of this wall. After a while they Israelis will take that land for themselves and I will have nothing.”
Antoinette also expressed her anger at the massacre of innocent lives in Gaza.
She said: “Every time a Palestinian was killed in Gaza apart of my own heart died with them.
“So many women and children died and they showed no mercy, no mercy at all.
“We as Palestinians are in this together and together we mourned the deaths in Gaza.”
Antoinette also said how she saw the international support shown by communities in the UK in January during the Gaza atrocities and she thanked the British for showing solidarity.
Mysara said she will giver her heart for peace.
“We don’t even get permission to see doctors in the city.
“Many people have died at the checkpoints and they do nothing.
“One pregnant woman even had a baby at the checkpoint, still they did not let her go through to see doctors, in the end the mother died at the checkpoint. No mercy was shown.
“Many sick people die like this and we are helpless.
“We don’t need fear we need peace. We need a bridge to build peace but they are not willing to even talk to us.
“They also try to cause internal fighting with Muslims and Christians. Sometimes at the checkpoints they will call the Palestinian Christians to the front of the queue and show Christians favourism so this causes anger amongst Muslims. But we are all strong and they cannot separate us.
She added: “There are no problems between Muslims and Christians. The problem is the occupation.
“The walls have created huge barriers. Imagine you are stuck on one room all the time. You will go mad. This is what they are trying to do to us.
“For 60 years we have lived like this. But for how long can this carry on?”
Another Palestinian who lives within the walls was Claire Anastas who now runs a gift shop from her home as a means to look after herself and her three children.
The walls surround three sides of Clair’s home.
She said: “At one time we were able to look out the windows and see fields and olive trees. But now, no matter which window I look out from I see grey walls, a constant reminder of the state we are living in.”
We were then taken to Aida Refugee camp.
Aida camp was established in 1948 following the creation of the State of Israel where many Palestinians found themselves dislaced.
It lies between the towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jala. United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) installations in the camp also provide services for the refugees in Aida and nearby Beit Jibrin camp. Health services are provided by the UNRWA health centre in the sub-area office in nearby Bethlehem.
As with other camps in the West Bank, Aida camp faces severe overcrowding. There is no vacant space in the camp to build a badly needed community centre.
Tione works closely with the refugees at Aida.
He said: “The refugees first arrived in 1948. The keys to their homes and their paperwork were all taken from them
“Since then they still live in hope that they will return. A huge key structure was created and is a symbol of their hopes.
“Though when they first arrived here they lived in tents. The UN agency UNRWA then took over their care and slowly the refugees started building homes. But even to this day this is still their temporary home.”
There are 4000 refugees at Aida. Summer is often a struggle as their water supply gets cut off by the Israeli authorities.
Said Toine: “Water supply comes from the West Bank but is controlled by the Israelis and whenever there is a shortage, the refugees are the first to get effected as their supply is cut off.”
Throughout our visit we met many Palestinians telling us the same stories about how the occupation is affecting them on a daily basis.
Students feel education is the way but those who have had their education still feel there is no chance in improving their future because they still can’t get jobs.
Economically they are suffering terribly and though they try hard to be optimistic, daily life in Palestine makes them see a different future and that of continued living in occupied territories.
And how has this experience left me? As I write this it’s quite hard to compose my words. I feel hurt, upset and upon leaving the West Bank, I feel I am bereaving. I have never met these people before but they have left quite an impact on me but also the rest of the group. It’s been such an eye opener and their injustice lies right in front of us yet the solutions to the problems seem far far away.

Day 5:
TODAY we had our first experience at a checkpoint on our way to Bethlehem.
The checkpoints are found along the 25ft separation wall raised in 2002 following the second Intifada. This concrete cage cuts Palestinians off from their agricultural land necessary for their survival and prevents people from travelling outside of the walls even to the city.
A single gate opens at the whims of the occupying army.

The Bethlehem district is home to more than 180,000 Palestinians, 70 per cent Muslims and 30 per cent Christian and they are concentrated mostly in the three towns; Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour. The wall surrounding the Bethlehem district is a 15-kilometer shackle which also serves to isolate and annex the religious areas. Around Rachel’s Tomb and the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque, hundreds are isolated between two walls, further strengthening Israeli control of historic, religious, and deeply significant places and strangling the city economically.
According to the Israeli authorities the “fence” is a “defensive measure, designed to block the passage of terrorists, weapons and explosives into the State of Israel….”
Most of the wall does not run along the Green Line that separates Israel from the West Bank.
Close to 90 per cent of the route of the wall is on Palestinian land inside the West Bank, encircling Palestinian towns and villages and cutting off communities and families from each other, separating farmers from their land and Palestinians from their places of work and education and health care facilities and other essential services.
The construction of the wall inside the Occupied Territories also violates Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.
Palestinians living in the West Bank often come to the city for work purposes. For this they need permits which can be given from three months to six months but can take up to three months to be issued. Without these permits they will not be allowed to travel out of the Palestinians territories.
At the checkpoint we had our passports ready and followed the local Palestinians through to the other end. It’s the first time I have come across the separation wall. The monstrous 20ft grey walls do nothing but fear in you. The feeling of occupation hits you straight away as we watch the Palestinians looking fed up and tired queue to get through.
I was a bit nervous and so were the other members of our team, but in fact our access was pretty simple, we showed our British passports and no questions where asked.
But some of the Palestinians had body checks and we saw them either taking their belts off or putting them on as and when they entered or left.
On the other side of wall we entered the West Bank where we were met by Toine Van Teeffelen, a Dutch man who is married to a Palestinian Christian and has been living in Palestine for 10 years. He is also the director of development at the Arab Educational Institute based in Bethlehem. Their mission is to foster educational opportunities for Palestinians and in particularly the youth to share and communicate to the wider society about the reality of daily life in Palestine, which includes human right issues as well as the rich diversity of cultural and religious identities.
He told us that we had entered though what was once the main busiest road to Jerusalem. Now the road, blocked by the wall, is completely desolate, apart from a few taxi drivers waiting at the other side of the gate desperately looking for passengers.
The wall on the other side is also filled with graffiti artwork, mainly voicing injustice and hope for the future. One peice of graffitti read: ‘Fear builds walls….hope builds bridges.’ As this was the Building Vridges group, this statement stood out the most.
Toine explained how the checkpoint worked by describing the experience of his own wife who had gone to the checkpoint with his eight-year-old daughter who wanted to see Jerusalem.
He said: “After waiting for several hours, the security told her she must strip during a body search. This was in public. There was no concern for her dignity and was just complete violation of a woman’s right and honour and all this ion fromt og my young daughter.”
He told us how Palestinian workers with permits often had to join the queue at 4am, some even at 3am and they can be found sleeping until they are allowed to go through. Sometimes many aren’t even let through despite having passes as we were told the authorities have a certain quota of people they want to let into the city, yet another sign of trying to control movement of the Palestinian people.

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Day 3 – Ecce Homo Convent:
WE WERE given a detailed talk about the work of the convent in Jerusalem.
It is based in the Via Dolorosa, the route taken by Christ as he carried the cross to where he was crucified.
The convent is run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion (Zion) whose work involves inter faith dialogue between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities. They also run a school and Bible programmes which has attracted students from all over the world.

The Sisters of Sion have been running for over 150 years and have offices in Manchester and Birmingham.
The talk was lead by Sister Mary and Sister Rita.
Sister Mary told us that the group was started by a Jewish French man called Theodore Ratisbonne who went in search to find himself and after spending some time with a Christian he soon became Catholic and started dedicated his time to educating Jewish people about Christianity and converting them as well.
As a result of World War Two the role of the sisters changed and they felt it was more important to learn about each other’s faith in light of all the Jews that were killed by the Nazis.
Said sister Mary: “Today our sisters work towards understanding each other.
“Our deep belief is to build relationships between people of the three Abrahamic faiths.”
The sisters have also held Arabic and Hebrew classes for Jews and Christians so they may learn the languages so they can communicated with each other and help to created deeper respect between the people of the two faiths especially in the current climate.
The sisters also told us the staff at the convent were mainly Muslim Palestinian staff, they felt it was important to give jobs to local people who would normally struggle otherwise.
Sister Rita explained how they ended up in Jerusalem in 1855. She explained Theodore’s younger brother Alphonso came to the city looking for a historical building to start a pilgrim house and school.
He came across their building after discovering an arch over the Via Dolorosa and enquired whether the arch (pictured) had any historical importance. He was told it did as the arch had been originally created during Hadrian times in 135BC – during the Roman conquest.
Alphonso bought the building and incorporated the arch into its chapel. The arch in fact goes below ground level and you can see the original Roman street.
Beneath the Ecco Homo Convent you can also find The Strouthian cisterns which are from the time of Herod in 37 BC and archaeologists also discovered a pavement built from the stones from the ruins of the Antonio Fortress, which was built by Herod around 37 BC to protect the Temple and was named after his patron, Mark Antony.
It is also believed that as the pavement runs through the Via Dolorosa where Christ made his last journey, he may also have walked on these very same pavements and for our Christian members of the group this was a very significant part of their trip, to be stood where Jesus may have also stood many years ago.
Here Father Michael also read out a prayer, which signified Jesus’ last steps. A moment’s silence again made us all reflect on the history and the importance of where we were.

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