This is my first blog post so hopefully you can stay with me as I stumble through trying to tell a story that needs to be told. A couple days ago I spent the day with one of
the most impressive people I have ever met. Her name is Amal and she is a
Palestinian women who lives in the West Bank. She is a woman whose bravery you
can see in her eyes, her hard work on her hands and her love in her actions.
Here is a brief look into her story
which I will surely not do justice. She was born on a piece of land that her
family has owned since the Ottoman Empire. This land is precious, this land is
holy, this land is her land and she has had to defend it for the last 30 years.
Amal’s grandfather had the wisdom to get legal documents from the Ottoman Empire,
which stated that they had legally purchased this land, which unfortunately
many Palestinians did not do. In the early 90’s Israelis began flooding
Palestine to take what God had deemed theirs, claiming that while the
Palestinians didn’t have the papers for their land, the scriptures would stand
as evidence for this to be Israel’s land. They began pushing Amal’s neighbors
out of the area with bulldozers and the Israeli Army at their back. They set up
settlements around her family’s land that covered the hills in every direction.
The Israelis soon set their eyes on Amal’s land, which lied in the center.
When we pulled up to her families
land we couldn’t drive all the way up to her house because there were huge
boulders that blocked her driveway. I thought they were put there to keep
Israelis out but then was informed that Israeli “Settlers” had put the boulders
there to make their life difficult. They went out of their way to move thousand
pound stones to block their driveway in hopes that it would break them into
leaving. To be honest, when they told me this, I wasn’t very surprised. I
thought to myself, “Of course they would”. We walked the long driveway up to
her farmstead and were met there by her brother Daher who unlocked the large
gate that entered to their family’s paradise. I wish I could describe this land
to you in words but that would be stupid to attempt, but let me tell you that
this land is beautiful and dangerous. The beauty is in the valleys it overlooks
and the danger is in the “Settlers” mansions that salivate over their land.
We met with Amal in a cave that had
a large wooden table that sat all 25 of us. As soon as she opened her mouth she
broke us with her story and inspired us with her response to the injustice. She
told us stories of spending her days pleading with both Israeli judges and
Israelis bulldozers that attempt to prey over her land. As stories rolled off
her tongue I got angry, full of hate and tears filled my eyes. I cringed as she
told us about the time when the “Settlers” came down from their hilltops to
surround her land with guns to inform them that they had to leave. She brought
her legal documents to the Israelis to show the proof of purchase from the
Ottoman Empire and they told her it didn’t matter because God had given them
ownership. She didn’t budge. The Israelis left which meant they survived
another day but the worst was yet to come. She went on to explain how a week
later the “Settlers” came in the middle of the night to bulldoze 1500 fruitful
30-100 year old olive trees while they slept. What did she do when they did
this? She planted 3000 trees… They made the decision to love their neighbor,
regardless of their actions. She told us how Jesus called us to love our
neighbor and that Jesus did not specify on what type of neighbor.
What did I take away from these
stories? How can I become more like Amal? My hope is that I don’t react to
conflict but act in a positive way. I hope to love as Amal loves.
So grateful for being able to hear her story.
In His grip,
Jordan
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