My EAPPI experience

By Rev. MARVIN DOMOGUEN

2011 SEPTEMBER 30

Going to the Holy Land is an opportunity one would not want to miss. So when I was invited to participate in a program to go there, I readily accomplished my application form without really understanding what the program is all about.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was formed by the World Council of Churches in 2000 as a response to the call of the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem to intervene in the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian lands by the Israeli government.

Group 40 with Bp. Munib Yunan, Lutheran bishop of jerusalem and
head of the Lutheran World Federation at Cathedral of the Redeemer

I attended the First Philippines EAPPI Training Seminar held on November 19-24, 2010 in Tagaytay City. After the seminar, Fr. Chris Ablon of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and I were chosen as the first Filipinos and Asians to participate in the EAPPI. We joined Group 40, the batch composed of 31 individuals of different nationalities around the globe designated for the period covering July to September 2011.

For three months, the group was divided into seven teams and were assigned placements all over the West Bank to live among Palestinians and provide protective presence for them against Israeli soldier and settler harassment. They make life for Palestinians miserable, trying their resilience and patience.

Equipped with cameras with video capability, notebooks and mobile phones, we monitor, report and try to intervene as best as we could in awkward situations in the agricultural gates and workers checkpoints. We give support to the gradually declining Christian communities. We also support non-violent initiatives (demonstrations) of both Israeli and Palestinian groups and individuals to end the illegal occupation according to human rights and international humanitarian laws sanctioned by the United Nations. As international observers with our distinct vests, our presence alone provides protection for these people. It deters untoward incidents and any potential situation that migh violate the rights of these people. Israeli soldiers and settlers tend to be more humane when in the presence of international observers.

EAPPI weapons on and off the field: vest,
camera. notebook, mobile phone, calling
cards, water and onion bulb to lessen effects
of tear gas during demonstrations.

I was assigned in the village of Jayyus in Qualqiliya district with three team mates from Sweden, South Africa and Switzerland. It was quite a challenging experience for four total strangers to live together for three months under one roof, to try to fit in a community totally different from our culture and environment, and to use English, which is not our first language, as a medium of communication.

We have seen how Israeli soldiers turned this village into their training ground as they fire live tear gas canisters, deafening sound bombs and sometimes live bullets to the residents, who would in turn throw stones at them in response to this incursion. We have seen and heard stories of soldiers visiting villages early in the mornings to arrest individuals as young as 12 years old, waking the whole village as they detonate their sound bombs.

We have seen and heard stories of how Israeli soldiers impose collective punishment on a whole village when one of their soldiers get hurt as a result of their own doing. We have seen several wild pigs pass in front of us which were reportedly brought in from the settlements to destroy Palestinian crops. These wild pigs increase in numbers as Palestinians, most of whom are Muslims, don’t eat them. They also can’t poison the pigs as other animals might be affected. They also can’t hunt them down with guns because it is illegal for them to own guns, while ordinary Israeli settlers can carry guns anywhere they want, including public places such as malls and parks.

We have seen the humiliation endured by these people as they are forced to undergo a painstaking process of applying for a permit to access their own lands—which they inherited from their ancestors—because of the fences that Israeli authorities erected for the security of the illegal settlements on these lands. And even worse were the suffering of those who lost their lands to these fences and settlement expansion, and those whose houses were demolished or about to be demolished without any compensation at all. They have lived and spent most of their lives in these lands, but newcomers—supported by Israeli government policies—are now controlling their movements and limiting their access to water for household and irrigation purposes, petrol for their machineries, and construction materials for infrastructure improvements.

We have seen and heard stories of how Israeli settlers would go to the villages with their guns to burn and uproot olive trees, kill livestock, burn and desecrate village mosques, even physically hurt villagers while Israeli soldiers would just stand around and do nothing. We have seen and heard stories of how decisions from the Israeli High Court of Justice are not being implemented just because they favour the Palestinians. We have seen and heard stories of how Palestinian authorities are being despised by their own people when they become collaborators of the occupation instead of supporting and defending their own people.

On the other side of the wall (Israel), tourist visa holders are freer to access sites that are of importance for the Palestinians. The sites in the Holy Land, especially in Jerusalem, are very important to the three great religions: the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock for Islam; Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, among others, for Christianity; and the Wailing Wall for Judaism. These three distinct sites are more accessible to tourists than to Christian and Muslim Palestinians.

During our days off, I was able to visit other places considered holy to the Christian faith such as the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel announced the virgin birth to Mary; the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem where the virgin birth was said to have taken place; the Church of All Nations in the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where the Transfiguration took place; and the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the last days of Christ were spent until His resurrection.

It was truly an unforgettable experience to trace the paths of our Lord and saviour as He walked this land. But the ‘holy experience’ that the Israeli government promotes to foreigners and pilgrims is superficial because it is only for tourism, because on the other side of the Holy Land, covered by the Wall, are people who are suffering and are ignored.

I also had the chance to meet and be with some of my kababayans (fellow Filipinos) most of whom work as caregivers in Israel. According to Philippine embassy officials, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) number about 30,000 excluding those whose visas have expired and are working illegally, which reportedly number more than those who are considered legal. Most of them do not know what is happening on the other side of the border; they only have a general idea that Palestinians are war mongers and that it’s not safe to be with them. In our conversations with them, we became living witnesses to the suffering of the Palestinians, and I hope that changed their views towards the Palestinians.

Marvin outside the EA house in Jayyus Village with his
team mates, Dominique Olgiati from Switzerland, Sandra
Rudholm from Sweden and Carol Martin from South Africa

As we visit communities and talk to the villagers, one thing they would always ask is for us to tell their stories when our term ends and we return to our own countries. This they said is something that popular media has failed to do: to tell their stories of suffering, humiliation and oppression in the hands of those who consider themselves God’s chosen people.

I will remember the Palestinians as being accommodating towards their guests. They would offer drinks like coffee or tea or other beverage to anyone who enters their homes in peace. They are a peaceful people as shown by their non-violent resistance to the occupation, contrary popular media’s portrayal of them as terrorists. As I leave the country, the words of the mayor of Azzun Atma enters my mind: “as the laws of physics says, too much pressure creates an explosion.” Until when will the resilience and patience of Palestinians be tested? Until when will their non-violent struggle last? Until when will the international community, especially the powers that be, ignore their rights to exist as a people? These questions come to my mind as I think of the people whom we have shared time with during our three months stay in Israel and Palestine….

For this experience and eye-opener about the Holy Land, I thank Peace for Life, the World Council of Churches, as well as the EAPPI staff in Jerusalem with the hope that in the near future, the conflict will come to an end and Palestinians and Israelis will learn to co-exist peacefully.

Rev. Marvin Domoguen is a deacon of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.