The Galilee Society

After my years in Africa where I had known so many people who had either died from AIDS or were living positively with it, it has been strange to come to Israel and Palestine, where it is not so prevalent and where there is a lesser degree of awareness.

The Galilee Society at Shefa Amr is an NGO, whose HIV/AIDS programme is supported by Church of Scotland, and recently they held a seminar for school counsellors and school nurses to highlight HIV/AIDS and to explore the various challenges faced in talking to youngsters about it, especially in the Arab community, where there is a certain shyness over health issues.

I was impressed by the commitment of the participants and also by their readiness to engage with the AIDS issue. The seminar was organised by Mohammad Khatib, who heads the Health Justice department of the Society, and he also talked to me about a new project regarding awareness of breast cancer among women in the Arab community. The percentage of Arab women with such cancer is smaller than in Israeli society as a whole, but mortality rates are higher, because they fail to take the necessary tests quickly enough. An informative DVD has been brought out by the Galilee Society, including a ‘censored’ version for use when men are present.

Something which the Society is also having to address is the growing violence in the Arab community. The newspapers have been reporting on a number of family feuds which have resulted in the deaths of young people (a bit like Renaissance Italy). On trying to explain the underlying causes for this violence, one lady told me, ‘We do not know who we are. Are we Arab or Palestinian or Israeli? We keep hearing different voices saying one or the other’. Part of it is coping with being a minority in the land, but equally the Israeli Jews have to cope with being a minority in the Middle East.

The Olive Harvest

‘Come, help us with the olive harvest!’

Maroun and his family had been harvesting their 70 odd olive trees for the last few Saturdays near Jish, up at the Lebanese border, so I duly went along. Fortunately they had also the foresight to hire three Thai workers from a nearby kibbutz who did all the hard work of moving groundsheets under the trees and whacking the branches to make the olives fall.

My task (after arriving just in time for breakfast!) was to sort out the olives from twigs and help put them in bags ready to be made into oil. I can’t pretend to have helped very much, but I enjoyed spending the day in the olive grove and being part of a tradition which goes back all the centuries. Olive oil is used in so many different ways, so is always prized. This year looks like a good harvest, and Maroun’s family have already over 20 gallons of oil.  A good day - and the breakfast was wonderful...!

Refugee

On Sundays you never know who will come to church. Last Sunday there were only a couple of people in the congregation, but half way through someone came in and stayed for the rest of the service. It turned out he was a refugee from Ethiopia and, like many Ethiopians and Sudanese, had come across the border into Israel illegally. Nebi has applied for permission to stay, but there seems to be a problem as he is technically Eritrean, though he has lived in Ethiopia all his life.  His employer was making use of this, making him work long hours without any protective clothing and being reluctant to give him an appropriate salary – always threatening to cause trouble with the immigration people. Needless to say, Nebi finds it difficult to complain. He hopes to find a better job, and we’ll do what we can to help.

Peki’in

Hanna is one of the chefs at the Hotel and lives in the village of Peki’in in the Galilee Hills. It is an old village, very attractive with winding lanes, and unusual in Israel as it has Moslems, Druze, Christians and Jews living together (though not without tension). More Jews want to move in and are prepared to pay double the asking price for houses. However, most of the Arabs would resist the temptation to sell to anyone apart from their own community, in order to safeguard the character of the place. I had accompanied Hanna to his church, the Melkite (Greek Catholic) church. Services are held in the old church in the village only once a month, so we were in the hall of the new church which is being built outside the village, where many of the Christians have now moved. Hanna is engaged and hopes to marry next year, so he is busy building his house on top of his parents’ house (i.e. adding a new floor). This is very traditional, as families are very close. It was good to meet Hanna’s mother especially, as she bakes the communion bread we use on Sundays.

Inter-faith?

On Tuesday I had travelled to Haifa to meet with Archbishop Elias Chacour of the Melkite Church, to which a majority of the Christians in the Galilee belong. The archbishop is well-known as the writer of several books, including ‘Blood Brothers’ which present the pain and inequalities faced by Palestinian Christians  in Israel, while calling for all faiths to live together peacefully. It was a privilege to visit with him. Afterwards I met up with a friend who is Anglican (again an Arab), but who was feeling particularly vulnerable after the terrible events in Iraq where many Christians had been held hostage and even killed in one of the churches. He bemoaned the rising extremism in Islam in the Middle East, and felt the Church was threatened throughout the region. It was immediately after this I visited Tareq, the restaurant manager at the Hotel, who lives in Haifa. He is Moslem and was on holiday celebrating the Eidh al-Adha, when Moslems remember how Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. I went with him to his brother-in-laws house and was interested to find two orthodox Jews visiting him. His brother-in-law is involved in inter-faith dialogue, had spoken in several synagogues and also presents television programmes on the subject. It was a good antidote to the gloom of my friend earlier.

Tel Aviv

Tiberias is a small town with quite an insular mentality, so it is good to get out occasionally and go to Tel Aviv, the biggest city in Israel. I had travelled down with Moshe to visit a wine exposition and check out new wines for the Hotel, but we also had time to wander about and enjoy the atmosphere of the city. It is a city of many restaurants and cafes, with wide avenues with walkways down the centre. A good place to people-watch! Also lots of people on bikes and people out walking dogs (which I rarely see in Tiberias). Tel Aviv is a very secular city ( in contrast to Tiberias, which is becoming more and more religious) and somehow seems more friendly and welcoming – interesting observation?

Hotel Outing

In September over 40 of the staff at the Hotel went on a day’s outing to visit the other institutions run by the Church of Scotland.

First stop was Tabeetha School, where the young children sang for us and where Antony Short, the Head, was able to explain the ethos behind the school. At least one of the managers was set to enrol his daughter - if only the school were nearer Tiberias!

Then we moved on to Jerusalem, and it was an eye-opener to see the guest-house and to experience the special atmosphere there. Rev George Shand took us round the church, which again impressed everyone.

After lunch we went into the Old City, where we visited sites associated with the various faiths, walking along the Via Dolorosa and ending up at the Western Wall with views of the Dome of the Rock and El-Asqa Mosque inbetween. Interestingly, my Moslem and Jewish colleagues found the Church of the Holy Sepulchre too lax in allowing people to enter who were ‘inappropriately’ dressed (e.g. in shorts).

Finally at nearly 9 o’clock at night our bus drew into Tiberias. A good day, away from the routine of the Hotel and an opportunity to view the ‘larger picture’ of the church’s work in Israel & Palestine. Also a chance to be together in the various holy places of our faiths, which was important.

Tension

On Tuesday I travelled to Barta’a, a town which straddles the Green Line, which separates The West Bank from Israel. I was with a friend who has his dentist there, and all was very peaceful.

Yet the very next day the television pictures were of events in the neighbouring town of Umm el Fahm, another large Arab town, where extremists Jews had been given permission to march, waving Israeli flags. Confrontation was inevitable, and indeed it ended up in mayhem, with tear gas, secret police and arrests. The pictures were broadcast around the world, and Israel’s name is tarnished once more.

To me it is sad, especially as a lot of my Jewish friends were aghast at such a provocative march being allowed to take place. Only a week ago there was also some trouble in Safed, one of the four Holy Cities for the Jews and which stands in the hills to the north of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The rabbi there had urged people not to rent out rooms to Arab students studying at the local College and to shun those who did. This led to a confrontation between extremist students on both sides of the ethnic divide.

In both cases, it seems that the extremists throughout Israel, who are very much in the minority, are gaining more and more power and are creating situations of tension. Once again it saddens me, as so many people in both communities want to live side by side in peace.

Driving Test

Coming to Israel, I had to get used to driving on the right-hand side of the road and also an automatic car transmission, both of which turned out not to be a problem at all. However, I was also aware that my British license would only last me a year and that I would have to sit a driving test before the year was out. So, last month I started to have driving lessons! After 30-odd years of driving, a test should hold no fear for me – except I had 30 years of bad habits to contend with. ‘You are driving too fast!’, ‘Look in ALL three mirrors’, ‘ You are supposed to stop at STOP signs, not give way’, my instructor screamed!

Anyway the fatal day of the test came, and I was in the instructor’s car with two Americans who were also sitting the test. We took it in turns to drive. The test was fine, though all in Hebrew (!!). One of the Americans ‘kindly’ said that he thought I had failed (he himself had made two terrible mistakes), but I had to wait all day till the results were posted in the evening (one instructor was almost killed when he told someone he had failed, so results are never given immediately). Fortunately (and somewhat to my surprise), I had passed!

Rosh haShana & Ramadan

Over the weekend, the promenade at Tiberias has been thronging with Arab families, celebrating the end of Ramadan. While not all Moslems fast for the month, many do, and I could see how some of the staff at the Hotel really suffered during the August heat, not even able to take a sip of water from dawn until sunset – a long time. So there was none of my usual Arabic coffee at the Maintenance Office, where Ahmed hopes to go on the Haj this year!

The end of Ramadan coincide this year with Rosh haShana, the Jewish New Year. Someone gave me a jar of honey, and I cut up apples to dip into the honey, which is typical for this time of year, a desire that the year to come will be a good and sweet one. Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, the most holy day in the Jewish year follows ten days later, and these 10 days are called the yamim nora’im, the ‘terrible days’ as someone translated it, or the ‘Days of Awe’. This is a time for introspection, to look at where you are and where you are going in life’s journey. It is also a time to reflect on mistakes made, those whom we may have offended and those who may have offended us, so there is an air of forgiveness and reconciliation. A friend of mine says that Tiberias has a special atmosphere during these days, and I have certainly noticed an air of goodwill. If only it would continue..!
It is always good to witness the festivals of other faith groups, and I always feel there is much to learn from them as Christians.

House of Grace

Sunday, after church service at St Luke’s Anglican church in Haifa (and the inevitable lunch thereafter), we went to the business district where, surrounded by tower-blocks, government offices and roadworks, stands the House of Grace.

Just walking into the compound, one feels a sense of peace. The old church was once the Greek Catholic cathedral, but has now been restored to a most beautiful and serene sanctuary. One of the ikons was gifted by a drug addict who inherited it from his mother, but was terrified he would sell it to feed his habit, so gave it to the church! And that is maybe a clue to what else goes on here, for the house was set up 28 years ago by Agnes Shehade and her late husband Kamil as a half way house for prisoners, released from prison but with nowhere to go. This rehabilitation work continues to today, with the prisoners, Jew and Arab, living with the family in the house. The centre has had various emphases over the years, and today supports over 400 needy families and works to empower young people at risk. It also inspires the youths to volunteer in other projects.

The house is usually closed on a Sunday, but we were welcomed into Agnes’ living room, given juice and fruit and Arabic coffee and were just so overwhelmed by the hospitality and grace shown by this remarkable woman. Her four sons and one daughter were brought up in the house with the prisoners and the needy and amazingly all of them are still involved, giving of their skills. I was tremendously touched by what I had seen – it truly is a house full of grace.