an Anglican experience of anti-terrorist terrorism (draw whatever parallels with us on your own) ====================================================== Ross Jones is the former rector of Trinity church in Tulsa. He is currently the dean of St. George's College in Jerusalem. UPDATE St. George's College Jerusalem 11 March 2002 If you look at what is happening, these are the worst of times for The Holy Land. If you listen to the shifts in political currents, these are certainly not the best of times but there are suddenly many signs of hope. Let us begin with what has happened. Gwin and I have friends in Deheishe Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, a camp that has historically been very low key in its politics but out of which came the suicide bomber outside the synagogue on 2 March. Israel had already occupied most of Bethlehem, and this took them into Deheishe. Since Wednesday night our friends and their children have been confined to a brother's home just outside Deheishe in which they took shelter. No one can leave home without risking being shot. Yesterday afternoon the confinement was lifted for one hour, so people can buy food (and our friends were without, by then). Our friend's father died (of natural causes) Wednesday night, and they were not even allowed to go to the cemetery to bury him, forced to bury him in their own back yard. All men in the Camp between the ages of 14 and 40 have been ordered to register (though our friends are not in the Camp at the moment). Fearful that the soldiers will trash their own home inside Deheishe if it stays empty any longer, wife and daughter this morning are going to risk walking back and living there. Husband other children will remain with outside with his brother. The family home of the suicide bomber has been bulldozed. The hospital in Bethlehem has been closed, and doctors/ambulances are no longer given access to the ill or wounded. There is no indication of any end to this. The same story is repeated throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Gaza is surely the worst, and Jenin, Tulkarm, Ramallah, etc. are at least as bad as Bethlehem. Several doctors and two UN guards have been killed, one even after getting Israeli permission to visit the hospital. Checkpoints are closed or strict everywhere. Some 150 have been killed in the last ten days. The Israeli cabinet met yesterday and endorsed a widening of the oppression. Please understand that this is done in the name of security even as virtually everyone agrees it has the opposite effect. The real reason is that Prime Minister Sharon's support is falling so fast that he has to do something to satisfy the right wing. Enter politics. This morning Sharon bowed to US pressure and began to chart a new course, first agreeing to release Arafat from the house arrest he has been under since December. (But where will he go? His Gaza home and headquarters were being destroyed even as the release was being announced.) Sharon has also accepted the US demand to drop the requirement of seven days of quiet before any negotiations. Two right-wing parties have threatened withdrawal from the coalition government as a result, and this morning's paper already contains speculation that Sharon's tenure as Prime Minister may be coming to an end. General Zinni of the United States is scheduled to arrive (not yet certain, but as early as tomorrow) and Vice President Cheney later in the week. secretary of State Powell has said he would support an American team to monitor violations by either side of a cease-fire agreement. So finally the United States is exerting muscle here, and that just has to be. It is imperative that the monitoring team not be exclusively American if it is to have credibility. No one wants a court where the judge is the opponent's brother. Yet these are all hopeful signs as the region prepares both for the Arab Summit in Beirut and for whatever happens with Iraq. It is time for the United States to stop its bellicose talk and for both Israel and Palestine to stop senseless violence that is suicidal for all. Jesus preached "love your enemy", a message often dismissed by "realists" as naïve because force is the only language the world understands. Would that the final result of all this turmoil be a reversal of the understanding of realism. The realistic truth is that force solves nothing, and only begets force in return. May the rest of the world learn from the Holy Land. Dean Ross Jones __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage http://sports.yahoo.com/