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Rev. Dr. Ron Shive, recently retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Burlington and member of the Board of Voices for Justice in Palestine, has traveled extensively in Palestine-Israel over the past 16 years, and regularly leads study trips to Palestine-Israel. Ron has just returned from a trip there, and his reflections follow:

I asked Ron to describe the situation on the ground for Palestinians in the West Bank. Here's what he said: "The situation on the ground is worse than I've ever seen it.Settlement growth continues everywhere. When I first visited in 2006 driving through the countryside, you could see the illegal Israeli settlements on hilltops here and there off in the distance. They were there, but not everywhere. Now settlements are on every hilltop. They are an overwhelming presence in the landscape. Bethlehem is almost totally encircled. The Palestinian resistance movement is prohibited. We had to change our itinerary this year and avoid the refugee camp in Jenin because it was considered too dangerous. Jenin is in Area A, supposedly under total Palestinian Authority control. But the IDF has invaded the camp, killed four people and shot a dozen others. Most businesses closed that day in the West Bank in protest, and Palestinians told us this is now the norm, not the exception."

Ron told me he was, as always, incredibly impressed with the sumud, the steadfastness and resilience of the Palestinian people, which continues in spite of overwhelming odds against them and violence and persecution in every dimension of their lives. That said, he pointed out that many of the best and brightest of the Palestinian young people are being educated out of the country and then not coming back. "The educated young people, the future leaders of this generation, are receiving their educations in German, British, and American universities, but then staying for the opportunities and choosing not to return home. With this kind of brain drain, where will the Palestinians be in ten years?"

A conversation Ron and others on the trip had with Sarah Bernstein, Executive Director of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue in Israel, has haunted him. Sarah grew up in England, but visited Jerusalem as a teenager, fell in love with Israel and stayed. She described herself as a Zionist then. In her work with the Rossing Center, she convenes small groups of Israeli Jews, Muslims and Christians, seeking over a period of 2-3 years to build understanding and trust and to create a shared perspective of the Palestinian experience, sowing seeds for a just and lasting peace. She is an advocate for Palestinian justice and no longer considers herself a Zionist. A member of the trip asked Sarah Bernstein, "What do Israeli Jews think about shalom?" She paused for a moment, then replied, "I can't even use that term anymore. To Israelis, it means weakness." Ms. Bernstein was asked if she sees any reason to hope, and what she thought the solution might be. She said, "I don't know." 

In looking to positive action that people of conscience can take, Ron recalled the words of Abuna Elias Chacour. Father Chacour described the frustration he experienced trying to build a gymnasium as part of the school at Ibillin. The Israelis kept denying him a building permit. He finally traveled to Washington and met with officials in the Bush administration, and eventually the barriers came down and the gym was built. The lesson for Father Chacour: "If you want to change this land, all change goes through Washington." We discussed the critical importance of changing the policies that support Israel's domination of the Palestinians.

We also talked about the massive support of Christian evangelicals in this country for Israel, and especially the whole settlement enterprise. Ron relayed a story that illustrates this phenomenon. He noticed an American tourist in Jerusalem and struck up a conversation with her. She shared that she and her husband were from Minnesota, and were traveling in Israel working on a "great cause". She elaborated that her "great cause" was trying to persuade as many American Jews as possible to move to Israel so that Christ would return to earth. We concluded with Elias Chacour that change goes through Washington, but it also goes through the evangelical churches in our nation which are saturated with the menacing ideology of Christian Zionism.

Interview by the Rev. J. Mark Davidson, Executive Director of Voices for Justice in Palestine