No Peace for the Peacemakers

We sat together in my living room--nine Israelis who had served in the army in the intifada and five Palestinians from Beit Sahour, a town near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. We talked about the intifada and peace and distrust. Varied opinions were expressed by the Israelis, who included officers who had commanded large areas in the West Bank, a medic who had served in Ansar 3 prison and soldiers who, like me, had patrolled the streets. The Palestinians, who had engaged in dialogues with Israelis for more than a year, were initially worried about meeting a group of army reservists. “Can you guarantee that they will not have us arrested?” one asked when I suggested that reservists more than anyone need to meet Palestinians.

By the end of the meeting, each side had relaxed and warmed to the other. The Palestinians invited the Israelis to come for a second meeting in one of their homes.

Two days later I got a call at 5:30 a.m. Ghassan, the physicist, and Salaam, the architect, had been arrested, with 10 other prominent people in Beit Sahour. These men, who had devoted themselves to repeated meetings with Israelis to further peace and to attain freedom for their people, had fallen victim to those among us who reject all compromise. For 18 days they suffered in jail, never being asked a single question, never charged with any offense, before they were released.

Ghassan now has a green identity card, restricting him to the Bethlehem-Hebron area, preventing him from getting to his university office (classes have been banned for 1 1/2 years) or meeting with friends in the rest of the occupied territories or in Israel. No more dialogues for him in Jerusalem homes.

Meanwhile, Jalal Qumsiyeh was arrested. Jalal, my friend of more than a year, 46 years old but looking much older because of medical problems. Jalal, the dignified, quiet man of peace who has brought hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians together, many for the first time. Jalal, son of the first mayor of Beit Sahour, a respected man in his community, a Greek Orthodox who honors the traditional values in a society undergoing rapid change. Quiet, thoughtful Jalal is sent off to prison for three months, without charges or trial. How many times we had talked about the conflicts between our peoples, whether in dialogue groups or when I jogged over to his house to talk alone. How warmly his wife and children had received my daughter in their home.

There is no doubt in the world that Jalal sees his people’s future in two states at peace, with full cooperation between them.

Jalal was one of the people involved in bringing 50 Israelis to the church in Beit Sahour last Christmas for a mass meeting that called for peace between Palestine and Israel, each free and secure. He was the one who overcame hesitancy among his friends in accepting our invitation to bring families from Beit Sahour to a kiddush in a Jerusalem synagogue where many of the Israeli peace activists are members. A teacher by profession and father of four, he encouraged meetings of Arab and Jewish teen-agers to promote understanding on both sides. And he was active in setting the peaceful tone of the Sabbath weekend that 25 Israeli families spent as guests of the town of Beit Sahour last Easter.

Jalal is a strong advocate of economic growth. He was active in a dairy cooperative, which purchased 18 cows to provide milk for his community. I remember our visit together to a kibbutz to discuss purchasing feed for the cows, and putting out feelers for economic cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis. As we left the kibbutz, we gave a ride to a young Israeli waiting for a lift. Jalal immediately began asking what the young man felt about peace, then gave him a fatherly talk about how the future of both our peoples requires peace between us. He was always the missionary for peace, never missing an opportunity.

Beit Sahour has suffered a great deal for seeking economic development. Best known is the case of Prof. Jad Izaak, another dialogue participant, who helped teach people how to raise tomatoes. He was ordered to stop, and he followed the order, but still was sent away for six months to Ansar 3. Jalal similarly was forced by the authorities to end his involvement with the dairy cooperative (which was banned), but this was not sufficient to keep him from being sent away to prison for producing milk for Beit Sahour’s children.

Was wanting freedom for his people Jalal’s offense?

What has happened to my people? Have we gone insane? How can we take moderate Palestinians and treat them like dogs?

Jalal felt all along that he might be running risks. Often he would say, “If they want to put me in prison, so be it. I know that what I’m doing is right, and I will not stop working with Israelis for peace.”