Palm Sunday Processions
The morning was warm and sunny and around 70 people had gathered in the shade below the church in Bethany or Azariya as it is known in Arabic. The group was both Palestinian and international. Some were preparing banners while others greeted new arrivals. We set off slowly up the very steep hill, up the Mount of Olives, each with a palm or an olive branch, past the traditional site of Lazarus Tomb, past the oldest house in Bethany and past the empty tourist shops. The banners carried the words "Stop the Wall" and "Where could Jesus Go?"
At last, breathless, we reached the top of the hill - not to find a view, but instead the separation barrier, a concrete wall 25 feet high blocking the road. Only a tiny little passage way exists for pedestrians to cross through if the soldiers on duty consider your permit is valid. For we are on the ‘wrong’ side of the barrier, and although Bethany is only 3 kilometres from Jerusalem, many Palestinian Christians and Muslims are unable to cross to go to the churches, mosques and holy places in the Old City of Jerusalem which is still part of their heritage. Hence the slogans on the banners we carried. The wall runs alongside houses and shops and others came out to join us – so did Israeli soldiers.
At first a few statements were made in English and Arabic as to why we were there on Palm Sunday. We were calling for freedom to worship and to end the construction of the barrier – here an eight metre wall. The Israeli soldiers said we should go back to the church in Azariya to pray there. Some passages of scripture were read and again the soldiers came. The mayor of Azariya spoke and quietly stated we were standing peacefully on Palestinian soil and we had every right to do so. The response was that if we did not move they would fire tear gas at us. Some prayers were said, but as the soldiers again moved in our direction, the group turned quietly and with great dignity moved slowly off down the hill. Many of us felt angry that the Palestinians were treated in this way - we were free to return to Jerusalem and they had to stay imprisoned behind the concrete wall.
Israel has the right and duty to protect its citizens.If their solution is to have a protective wall it should be built on Israeli territory and not through Palestinian land with such devastating consequences. The wall in many places it is twice as high as the Berlin Wall was and once completed it will be more than four times as long. It snakes across the land, interspersed with giant cylindrical watchtowers with slits at the top, from which every move can be observed by Israeli soldiers. In places it consists of an electronic fence, topped by barbed wire and flanked by ditches. At all times it restricts the freedom of movement of the people who live there..
Sometimes the wall runs through the centre of a town cutting children off from school, families from relatives and friends and patients from medical care. Shops across the street are now no longer accessible and farmers cannot access their land and olive groves. People can no longer go directly to work or even reach the employment they once had. Access to markets with farm produce can be totally barred which severely restricts income in a rural economy. All of this contravenes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article12), which recognizes the right to freedom of movement.
Later that day there was another Palm Sunday Procession. This one began from Bethphage, very close to Bethany but on the Jerusalem side of the Wall. They too climbed the Mount of Olives but they were free to move down the other side to Gethsemane and across to the Old City. Hundreds took part. First came Palestinian scouts and guides, strong in Christian communities, their uniforms smart and pressed for the occasion. Then came other groups of Palestinians with their drums and songs. It was a joy to see them able to celebrate and enjoy themselves although separated from those such a short distance away.
Then came the groups of pilgrims with banners and coloured identity hats, from France and Germany, Africa and Indonesia, America and Poland and many whose languages one did not recognise, all waving their palm branches, having travelled so very far to take part in this grand procession on Palm Sunday in such a historic and sacred city. And I wondered how many of these pilgrims really knew what is happening so close to them in this broken and divided land and what would have happened if all of them had taken part in the earlier procession on the other side of the wall.
