"Who can imagine this?"

The Rev. John Butler took Theology students on a tour of Palestine. Below are some extracts from his report “Who can imagine this” . Pictured left to right : Darren Thame, President Arafat, Rev. John Butler, Daniel Ryan and Simon Mills.

The Christian Peacemakers Team (http://www.cpt.org) succoured by the Mennonite tradition, tries to stand in the way of violence, to protect the abused and oppressed from the military and settlers. The Sermon on the Mount inspires them to hunger and thirst for justice, but they try to see the humanity in a soldier and the settler and plant seeds of peace. The Peacemakers' role in violence reduction and solidarity with the abused and oppressed, involves careful, accurate and detailed research and a lot of documentation and reporting. The important thing, they emphasise, is that the story is told.

Our guide to this situation is an Israeli 'refusenik' who, sickened by serving with the army in the Lebanon, now works for the Alternative News organisation in Jerusalem (http://www.alternativenews.org ). As a result of his conscientious objection he will have to serve a month in prison every year until he is 52 years old. One hundred soldiers have refused to serve.

In 1989 much of the Human Rights information about Palestine was coming from the Israeli Defence Force, so the Human Rights organisation, B'tselem (http://www.btselem.org) was formed, recording soldiers' and Palestinian testimonies about what was happening in the Occupied Territories. Most killings of Palestinians are not investigated. Civilian life is cheap. The army say it is inevitable civilians will be killed in an armed conflict. The media rarely publishes its testimonies so the organisation has its own mailing which includes other government agencies.

The Revd. Dr. Naim Ateek is a Liberation Theologian and the Jerusalem Director of 'Sabeel' (meaning 'the way' and also 'a spring'), working on behalf of Palestinian Christians (http://www.sabeel.org).

In Ramallah, the Women Affairs Technical Committee (http://www.palwatc.org), is a coalition campaigning for a democratic civil society in Palestine, free from all discrimination. It provides skills training for girls and rural women, loans for female university students, travel costs for rural girls to get to school and advocacy assistance for decision makers amending laws according to international codes. It addresses polygamy, early marriage, divorce and inheritance issues through the media and their own publication called 'The Voice of Woman'. It also provides vocational training for women and income generating skills

We spent an hour with Yasser Arafat. He is holed up in a windowless sand-bagged room where he meets with his staff and delegations and sleeps on the floor. The compound is a dramatically shelled mess. The oldest Church in the land, older than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been destroyed by the Israelis, he laments. The mediaeval centre of Nablus has been completely demolished. Bullets are fired at Christian buildings as a deliberate act of disrespect. "Women are forced to give birth at checkpoints. UN monitors are needed. Even observers are prevented from coming. Palestinian Ministers are sometimes kept for 8 hours at checkpoints." "Who can imagine this? " he asks, "no voice speaks out."

John P. Butler (Revd.) Anglican Chaplain, University of Wales, Bangor.