When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel
Review by Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
This is a good book. If you want to inform yourself about Israel/Palestine, it is an excellent place to start. It is now several years old, but nothing much has changed – not for the better, at any rate.
The book is the report of personal observations during a visit to the region of a delegation of Quakers, and is informed by Quaker principles, one of which is that in crafting a settlement, all interested parties must be consulted. They note that this does not include diaspora Jews, since they are able, if they wish, to immigrate to Israel and be given Israeli citizenship, which many of them have done. Diaspora Palestinians, of course, cannot return to their homes or their land.
When the Rain Returns covers the history of Palestine, including things I did not know. For instance, that the AFSC took care of refugees after the 1948 war for eighteen months, until the UN took over. Another lacuna in my knowledge is the history of non-violent resistance before and during British colonial rule. Non-violent resistance continues today, although little of it appears in the western media.
They spoke with Jewish Israelis, one of whom, a psychology professor, saw Israelis becoming “more paranoid, more fearful…. Israelis become so vociferous against any criticism precisely because they are so uneasy in their conscience. This self-image is crucial; there are many decent, thoughtful Israelis who are living in complete denial of what their government is doing on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.” (p.41)
Regarding the oft-stated claim that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere could simply be resettled where they are, they make it clear that “countries that host conflict-driven inflows of refugees are under no international obligation whatsoever to absorb them permanently. If that were the case, governments would be far more reluctant to offer even temporary refuge to those fleeing violence elsewhere.” (p.128) And they point out that the diaspora Palestinians have been made powerless by Israel, by the U.S., even by the Palestinian Authority, and that it is quite unconscionable for large groups of people to be kept stateless.
There is a perceptive discussion of the value of violence, a subject which Quakers usually shy away from. As one of the group wrote, “We must address respectfully the perspective of a humiliated and almost helpless people who turn to or support violence as a means of regaining their self-respect and self-determination; as an attempt to protect their families and friends; as a protest and a refusal to go on passively accepting the endless bludgeoning without letting their oppressors know that they cannot continue without suffering consequences” (p.223).
2
I hope that Quakers who need to know more about what is going on in Israel/Palestine will read this book, perhaps together with Susan Nathan’s The Other Side of Israel, which is also the fruit of personal observation, mostly about the “Israeli Arabs,” Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.
By Elizabeth Block (Toronto Monthly Meeting, CFSC’s Quaker Peace and Sustainable Communities Committee)
The book was prepared by an International Quaker Working Party on Israel and Palestine, and published by American Friends Service Committee, 2004, and may be ordered from the Quaker Book Service ( http://www.quaker.ca/Publications/qbs/qbs.html). Rick McCutcheon, a Canadian, was a member of the working party, and has contributed a chapter.
---
International Quaker Working Party on Israel and Palestine When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel (Philadelphia, PA: American Friends Service Committee, 2004, 326pp.)
The day after his election on 9 January 2005 to the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas said “ We extend our hands to our neighbors. We are ready for peace, peace based on justice. We hope that their response will be positive.” Is this a rare opportunity for progress to overcome deep-set frustrations, divisions, hurts and even hate?
This report from a working party of 14 people sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee aims to provide understanding of both the tensions and the hopes expressed by a range of people —mostly Israelis and Palestinians — interviewed during a three-week period in the summer of 2002 in the Middle East.
“We hope, therefore, that our account can help build the kind of informed public understanding of this situation that will be necessary as faith groups, other civil society actors and governments around the world all ponder how to give constructive help to the efforts to build a just, sustainable, and hope-filled peace between these two peoples.”
This report has a moral framework for its analysis: “Because we believe that there is that of God in everyone, we call on Quakers and others to work energetically and non-violently for a solution based on the equal worth and dignity of each person, and on the power of love, forgiveness, moral imagination, and generosity of spirit to find a way to resolve even those conflicts that may appear intractable.”
When the Rain Returns builds upon two earlier Quaker working party reports, a 1970 Search For Peace in the Middle East and a 1982 A Compassionate Peace: A Future for the Middle East. The report is the result of intensive talks with people in the Middle East carried out as a group along with reflections of the working party members, many of whom have had experience in Middle East questions, along with observations from people related to the earlier studies on the Middle East and to reading on conflict resolution.
Much of the report are quotations from those interviewed so that the reader can feel the suffering, fear, intolerance, anger but also hope. There is enough political and historic background to put the quotations into context. The report does not try to give answers to the continuing problems as this can only be done by the parties directly involved. However, the interviewed deal with the questions that will form the agenda of negotiations: the quality of life and socio-economic conditions in a society free from violence and occupation, the condition of Palestinians living abroad, some of whom will want to return, the status of Jerusalem, a city held dear by many Israelis and Palestinians, security relations with other states of the Middle East.
What positive role can we who are outside the area play? The report ends with questions addressed to us: “What can we do to support the work of the peace activists in Israel and Palestine? What can we do to organize in support of a just peace in our meetings, our
congregations, our communities? What can we do to build relationships with other likeminded people, to publicize the work of Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, or to steer our national governments into wiser and more peace-oriented paths.”
Rene Wadlow
----
Review by Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
This is a good book. If you want to inform yourself about Israel/Palestine, it is an excellent place to start. It is now several years old, but nothing much has changed – not for the better, at any rate.
The book is the report of personal observations during a visit to the region of a delegation of Quakers, and is informed by Quaker principles, one of which is that in crafting a settlement, all interested parties must be consulted. They note that this does not include diaspora Jews, since they are able, if they wish, to immigrate to Israel and be given Israeli citizenship, which many of them have done. Diaspora Palestinians, of course, cannot return to their homes or their land.
When the Rain Returns covers the history of Palestine, including things I did not know. For instance, that the AFSC took care of refugees after the 1948 war for eighteen months, until the UN took over. Another lacuna in my knowledge is the history of non-violent resistance before and during British colonial rule. Non-violent resistance continues today, although little of it appears in the western media.
They spoke with Jewish Israelis, one of whom, a psychology professor, saw Israelis becoming “more paranoid, more fearful…. Israelis become so vociferous against any criticism precisely because they are so uneasy in their conscience. This self-image is crucial; there are many decent, thoughtful Israelis who are living in complete denial of what their government is doing on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.” (p.41)
Regarding the oft-stated claim that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere could simply be resettled where they are, they make it clear that “countries that host conflict-driven inflows of refugees are under no international obligation whatsoever to absorb them permanently. If that were the case, governments would be far more reluctant to offer even temporary refuge to those fleeing violence elsewhere.” (p.128) And they point out that the diaspora Palestinians have been made powerless by Israel, by the U.S., even by the Palestinian Authority, and that it is quite unconscionable for large groups of people to be kept stateless.
There is a perceptive discussion of the value of violence, a subject which Quakers usually shy away from. As one of the group wrote, “We must address respectfully the perspective of a humiliated and almost helpless people who turn to or support violence as a means of regaining their self-respect and self-determination; as an attempt to protect their families and friends; as a protest and a refusal to go on passively accepting the endless bludgeoning without letting their oppressors know that they cannot continue without suffering consequences” (p.223).
2
I hope that Quakers who need to know more about what is going on in Israel/Palestine will read this book, perhaps together with Susan Nathan’s The Other Side of Israel, which is also the fruit of personal observation, mostly about the “Israeli Arabs,” Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.
By Elizabeth Block (Toronto Monthly Meeting, CFSC’s Quaker Peace and Sustainable Communities Committee)
The book was prepared by an International Quaker Working Party on Israel and Palestine, and published by American Friends Service Committee, 2004, and may be ordered from the Quaker Book Service ( http://www.quaker.ca/Publications/qbs/qbs.html). Rick McCutcheon, a Canadian, was a member of the working party, and has contributed a chapter.
---
International Quaker Working Party on Israel and Palestine When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel (Philadelphia, PA: American Friends Service Committee, 2004, 326pp.)
The day after his election on 9 January 2005 to the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas said “ We extend our hands to our neighbors. We are ready for peace, peace based on justice. We hope that their response will be positive.” Is this a rare opportunity for progress to overcome deep-set frustrations, divisions, hurts and even hate?
This report from a working party of 14 people sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee aims to provide understanding of both the tensions and the hopes expressed by a range of people —mostly Israelis and Palestinians — interviewed during a three-week period in the summer of 2002 in the Middle East.
“We hope, therefore, that our account can help build the kind of informed public understanding of this situation that will be necessary as faith groups, other civil society actors and governments around the world all ponder how to give constructive help to the efforts to build a just, sustainable, and hope-filled peace between these two peoples.”
This report has a moral framework for its analysis: “Because we believe that there is that of God in everyone, we call on Quakers and others to work energetically and non-violently for a solution based on the equal worth and dignity of each person, and on the power of love, forgiveness, moral imagination, and generosity of spirit to find a way to resolve even those conflicts that may appear intractable.”
When the Rain Returns builds upon two earlier Quaker working party reports, a 1970 Search For Peace in the Middle East and a 1982 A Compassionate Peace: A Future for the Middle East. The report is the result of intensive talks with people in the Middle East carried out as a group along with reflections of the working party members, many of whom have had experience in Middle East questions, along with observations from people related to the earlier studies on the Middle East and to reading on conflict resolution.
Much of the report are quotations from those interviewed so that the reader can feel the suffering, fear, intolerance, anger but also hope. There is enough political and historic background to put the quotations into context. The report does not try to give answers to the continuing problems as this can only be done by the parties directly involved. However, the interviewed deal with the questions that will form the agenda of negotiations: the quality of life and socio-economic conditions in a society free from violence and occupation, the condition of Palestinians living abroad, some of whom will want to return, the status of Jerusalem, a city held dear by many Israelis and Palestinians, security relations with other states of the Middle East.
What positive role can we who are outside the area play? The report ends with questions addressed to us: “What can we do to support the work of the peace activists in Israel and Palestine? What can we do to organize in support of a just peace in our meetings, our
congregations, our communities? What can we do to build relationships with other likeminded people, to publicize the work of Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, or to steer our national governments into wiser and more peace-oriented paths.”
Rene Wadlow
----
