Lent 4, Joshua

Joshua 5.9-12

“Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” Josh 5.9

As they stand poised to move into the land God has promised them through their ancestor Abraham, the Israelites pause to remember who they are—liberated slaves—and where they have come from…….Egypt. And who has brought them here? God. They did not do it on their own. God has taken their shame away and today they stand tall and proud, ready to claim for themselves their inheritance.

More than three thousand years later, Christians in Palestine feel their own disgrace. The humiliation of standing for hours at the checkpoints, the tanks that can roll into town anytime, day or night, the terror of not knowing if they will ever see their loved ones again. And then they hear God’s promise—the God who brought the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt has surely not forgotten these present-day slaves held in bondage by the Israeli occupation.

If you have visited the Holy Land, you probably went to the Shepherds’ Fields, where it is believed that the shepherds heard the angel’s announcement of Jesus’ birth. If so, you have been in Beit Sahour (“the place of the nightwatch”), one of the three towns that make up the Bethlehem District. During the intifada Israel levied special taxes in Beit Sahour (a form of collective punishment because it penalized everyone, not just the rock-throwers)—a glass tax for broken windows, a stones tax for damage done by stones, a missile tax for the Gulf War damage, among others (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beit_Sahour#Tax_resistance).

The people of Beit Sahour refused to pay these taxes: “No taxation without representation – No taxes without a government.” “We will not finance the bullets that kill our children.”

Israel responded, led by Israeli defense minister Yitzhak Rabin, who said: “We will teach them there is a price for refusing the laws of Israel.” In retaliation, after a joint prayer service of Israeli Jews and Palestinians at Beit Sahour’s Orthodox Church, the Israeli army imposed a 45-day curfew; they also blocked food shipments, cut telephone lines and seized millions of dollars in money and property from the homes of the tax resisters; 40 people were arrested.

When the UN Security Council debated a resolution condemning the siege and the indiscriminate seizure of property, the United States vetoed the resolution, even though it was supported by the eleven other member countries.

They organized nonviolent demonstrations, and with the support of Israeli and international peace activists, the people of Beit Sahour were successful. They continued to refuse to pay the taxes until 1995, when the Palestinian Authority (PA) assumed governance of Beit Sahour.

Even though the PA governed Beit Sahour, Israel maintained an army base nearby at Oush Grab. In 2006, after the Israeli army abandoned the base, the residents of Beit Sahour built a Peace Park on the land, with plans this year for a new playground. However, early this year the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) declared the area a “closed military zone.”

Last month soldiers showed up with bulldozers to begin construction of a watchtower. Why a watchtower? …..to protect the Israeli settlements that surround the entire Bethlehem district, cutting off Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala from the rest of the West Bank. (see map—brown/tan areas are Palestinian; blue areas are Israeli settlements—all lands to the east of the green line are in the West Bank; red and purple lines are the Israeli separation wall)

The residents of Beit Sahour, 75% Christian, hear God’s promise, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt,” and they are responding again nonviolently. On February 22, they marched on the road to the Peace Park, carrying signs protesting the building of the watchtower. Israeli soldiers attacked with tear gas. See video of the marchers and the soldiers, along with more details of the latest Israeli incursion onto Palestinian lands: http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1276

Although we usually see only the stone-throwers on TV, there is a large nonviolent movement in the Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank—Muslim and Christian. I’m part of a book group which reads books that help us understand the conflict, and our latest book is Once Upon a Country, a Palestinian Life, by Sari Nusseibeh, a staunch advocate of nonviolence. (You can join us for discussion of this book on March 30, 7 pm at my house; email me: janlmiller@q.com.)

Gracious God, your servants in Beit Sahour are suffering. For sixty years, our government has supported the occupation; forgive us our part in supporting their suffering and turn our hearts to new ways of living together. Help us to recognize the places where your kingdom is breaking in—around the world and in our own communities—and give us the courage to join in. Amen.