by Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
If you are interested in the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians and you want to learn more about it, you have to go there — and that’s why Kate Taber spent three months in Israel last summer.
Ms. Taber, who is a third-year student at the Princeton Theological Seminary, spoke about her experiences at a special Middle East feast and forum at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville on Sunday afternoon.
Ms. Taber was a member of a team of observers sponsored by the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, which is an initiative of the World Council of Churches.
The EAPPI seeks to “support local and international efforts to end the Israeli occupation and bring a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a just peace, based on international law and relevant United Nations resolutions,” according to its Web site, www.eappi.org.
Sunday night, Ms. Taber outlined the hardships facing Palestinians. Their movements are severely restricted because they are allowed to use certain roads, for example. The Israelis also have built a separation wall that blocks the Palestinians’ access to jobs, land and family, she said.
Meanwhile, each team sent by EAPPI has several priorities, she said. One priority is to monitor the checkpoints along the separation wall built by the Israelis between Israel and the West Bank. Another priority is to visit Palestinian villages and create a sense of solidarity with the residents, she said.
”We are at the checkpoints to act to calm (the situation),” she said. “We hope the soldiers don’t do anything they wouldn’t want us to see (and to report to the United Nations). The Palestinians tell us it is different when we are not there.”
The checkpoints, which are manned by Israeli soldiers, must be crossed by Palestinians who work on the other side of that wall, Ms. Taber said. The checkpoints open at 5 a.m., but those who want to cross often begin lining up much earlier, she said.
There could be as many as 700 to 900 men waiting in line for the checkpoints to open, Ms. Taber said. Once the men cross through the checkpoints, there are other hurdles to clear — including passing through a metal detector and an identification booth, she said.
Sometimes, only one or two of the booths are open and then the EAPPI team contacts the Israeli army’s humanitarian hot line, Ms. Taber said. The soldier on the other end of the phone line responds that the issue will be resolved — but sometimes it is not, she said.
Many Palestinians had jobs, but they lost them when the separation wall was built, she said. There are times when the checkpoints are closed because of the Jewish holidays, and if workers cannot get through, they may lose their jobs.
When the team is not monitoring the checkpoints, its members visit Palestinian villages in a show of solidarity, Ms. Taber said. The team visited the village of al-Nuaman, which has about 220 inhabitants. The village, which was annexed by Jerusalem, lacks a school so the children must pass through the checkpoint into Israel for their education.
During the question-and-answer session that followed Ms. Taber’s presentation, she told the audience that she felt safe — especially when she had contact with the soldiers. The soldiers are accountable for their actions, but the Israelis who have settled on the West Bank are not, she said.
Ms. Taber also told the group that much has been done in the realm of peacemaking activities by EAPPI — but “not enough.” The team held demonstrations against the separation wall, and held conversations about nonviolent demonstrations.
”I do know I would like to go back,” Ms. Taber said. “I know it will be a part of my ministry. I would like to live there, but as an American, I believe it is my place to be here to educate people.”
