DownloadAug. 4, 2008 issue
Israeli settlers attack children, CPT members
By At-Tuwani team Christian Peacemaker TeamsAT-TUWANI, West Bank — At least three Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian children and two Christian Peacemaker Teams members July 27 as they walked to their village of Tuba.
Christian Peacemaker Teams members Joel Gulledge and Jan Benvie begin walking Palestinian children home from summer camp to the village of Tuba July 27. The group was attacked by Israeli settlers. — Photo provided
The children had been attending summer camp in the village of At-Tuwani. As the 14 children and CPT members were walking in a valley south of the illegal settlement outpost of Havot Ma’on, one masked settler came down the hill, throwing stones with a slingshot.
The children and CPT member Jan Benvie ran ahead, but other settlers were approaching them from the opposite side of the valley. None of the stones thrown by the settlers struck the children, ages 6 to 15, and they were able to run to safety.
CPT member Joel Gulledge was filming the attack. When the masked settler saw Gulledge with the video camera, he began directing his stones at Gulledge.
The settler hit Gulledge in the leg with a rock, and he was unable to run.
The settler wrested the camera from him and beat him with a rock and the camera. The settler then ran off with the camera.
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian schoolchildren and CPT members Kim Lamberty and Chris Brown Sept. 29, 2004, in the same area as the July 27 attack. Brown and Lamberty were hospitalized.
After international media coverage of the attack, the Israeli Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide a daily escort for the children to go to and from school.
Military personnel informed the At-Tuwani team July 26 that they would no longer escort the children. After a CPT member explained the danger, one of the personnel said, “I don’t think the settlers will attack the children.”
Comments
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I do stand with the Prophets on social justice, but I do not understand why there is so much Anti-Semitism (anti-Jewish) feeling among Mennonites and groups like CPT. At times it seems that their pro-Palestinian stand is motivated by their hate against Jewish people and Israelis.
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When I edited and posted this article, I did not deem any of its reporting to be anti-Semitic. I see it as describing the actions of several settlers, and not reflecting upon all Israelis or all Jewish people.
If the criticism is that we do not print positive stories about the actions of Israelis as often as negative ones, then I will take that criticism into account and see if we can do better.
What do other readers think?
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Anti-semitism is indeed a concern, and one we take seriously in our work in the West Bank. As a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, I can say with confidence that working against oppressions of any kind is central to our call to peace work.
We neither support the violence of military occupation and land confiscation, nor the violence of suicide bombings and rock-throwing. We are happy to work with groups of any nationality who work to defend human rights, and our partners in the region include both Palestinian & Israeli peace groups, who together work for justice and an end to occupation. We do not consider our work pro-Palestinian, or anti-Israeli, but pro-justice and anti-oppression.
In At-Tuwani in particular, the violence of the occupation weighs heavily on the villagers who live beside the illegal settlement of Ma'on and the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on. In this case, extremist settlers who perpetrate violence on a regular basis are Israeli, and those who suffer the effects of this violence are Palestinian shepherds, children & villagers. Unfortunately, this is all too often the case, and we do find ourselves on the side of the Palestinians, just as we strive to always ally ourselves with the oppressed. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has his foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
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To understand any situation of violence I think it is important to differentiate between the violence of the strong and the violence of the weak. I will use an extreme example to make my point. If a 250 lb man rapes a 90 lb young woman and she reacts by scratching him with her fingernails and biting him, leaving some bloody scratches and a bite wound that becomes infected and absessed, would I be guilty of being anti-male if I condemned his act of rape?
Suicide bombers and stones are the forms of violence available to the weak and powerless. Military occupation and the illegal confiscation of land is a form of violence only available to the strong and powerful. Of course if the United States suddenly stopped supporting the Israeli military the immense power gap that currently exists would quickly be leveled or maybe even reversed. It is difficult for a people to have almost unchecked power and not feel free to just take what they want because they can. Just as there are men who would join me in speaking out against the rape, I'm sure there are many Jewish people and Israelis who would speak out against the Israeli military occupation and illegal land confiscation in Palestine.
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