Almost every religion in the world has its sites of religious significance. Every year hundreds of thousands flock to places like Mecca and the River Ganges. For many their trip is the culmination of a lifetime ambition and will be one of the most significant events in their lives. For Christians, the holiest sites must surely include the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, regarded as the birthplace of Jesus, or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the old walled city of Jerusalem where Christ is believed to have been buried. The Church of the Nativity is in the West Bank, part of the Palestinian state at the heart of the middle eastern conflict. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in the walled city of Jerusalem, adjacent to East Jerusalem. Do Christians living today ever see themselves visiting these holy places ? Would they like to ? Are they afraid to ? Why ?

I feel very privileged to have recently spent some time visiting Palestine. The reason for my visit was to help local Palestinian people to develop a national mental health policy for the West Bank and Gaza. A huge number of people are suffering because of the current situation - particularly women and young children. I found myself challenged and needing to re-examine many of my western preconceptions. I found myself warming to the Palestinian people to their hospitality, humour, intelligence and strong sense of national identity. I became troubled by the attitudes of Israelis and westerners towards Palestinians and moved by the daily struggles that thousands of ordinary Palestinians endure in the continuing conflict.

I went to Palestine with an open mind although, to be truthful, I was also slightly apprehensive. All I had seen on television gave me the impression of a dangerous situation in the occupied territories.

The visit was over a year in the making. It began with two conferences, one in Gaza City and the other in the West Bank town of Ramallah. It proved impossible to arrange just one conference, as Palestinians from both areas were not allowed to travel to either location. It was the first time in over two years that mental health professionals from across the West Bank had been able to meet.

It is currently impossible to fly direct to the West Bank and Gaza. The Israelis have destroyed the airport in Gaza. Instead we had to fly to Tel Aviv and then travel by land across the border into Gaza. At the Israeli Embassy my colleague, who is also planning to work in other Muslim countries, asked if it was possible for his passport not to be stamped with an Israeli immigration stamp. I was disturbed by the attitude of an official who responded ‘Why do you want to help those people?’. This description of the whole population as ‘those people’ disturbed me as it made no discrimination between those involved in the Intifada and the huge majority of people who are not. This attitude, which in effect blames the whole community for the situation, would become even apparent to me over time.

As we travelled into Gaza itself, I was shocked by the scale of destruction and desolation on the Palestinian side of the border. Israeli troops had bulldozed the houses within firing distance for security reasons. Also shocking were the conditions that Palestinian workers have to endure to leave and re-enter Gaza. There is up to 70% unemployment in Gaza as so many of the population had previously relied on work in Israel, which has now been severely restricted.

Being in such a beautiful location on the Mediterranean coast the opportunities for tourism in Gaza should be enormous. Although we stayed in one of the many large hotels we found that we were the only two guests!

I’m sure that from our appearance my colleague and I were very obviously from the west. However, without exception, people on the street welcomed us in a very hospitable way. I cannot remember how many times people just came up to say hello. The more Palestinian people that we met the more guilty I felt about my initial preconceptions and apprehension.

After the first conference we travelled on to the West Bank. To reach the West Bank from Gaza you have, of course, to travel across Israel. On attempting to enter Israel we were delayed for five hours at the border. The Israeli border guards said that they had found traces of explosives on our car. We waited for hours just to be told that we were refused entry and would have to return to Gaza. I wondered why we would be allowed to return with our traces of explosives without even being questioned about where we had been !

As we returned to Gaza we approached the Palestinian side and stopped at the checkpoint to explain what had happened. I was alarmed when the Palestinian soldiers asked a waiting taxi driver to get into our car. The taxi driver was unable to speak English and we were unable to speak Arabic. He directed us to a nearby town and I admit that as we were driving up the main street and into a back street garage I became quite concerned about our situation. As usual I could not have been more wrong.

The garage owner was learning English and made us feel very welcome. Three people cleaned our car thoroughly, including the engine and the underside. The owner made us coffee and was delighted to engage us in conversation. I tried to offer them some money for their work. They all refused, to the point when I realised it would be rude to push it any further. By any standards these were extremely poor people and without doubt they could have done with the money. But they were just happy to help and engage in conversation. The taxi driver took us back to the border and, once again, I had to force money into his pocket to pay for the ride. I left feeling very humble and ashamed about my fears.

The Israeli Border Guards checked our car again and eventually let us through. As we travelled across Israel I noticed the stark contrast to what I had seen in Gaza. The land was well cultivated and the quality of housing in Israeli towns was superb. I was told that Israel is probably the biggest recipient of American foreign aid in the world. In 2002, America gave $3 billion to Israel in military aid and granted a further $9 billion in loan guarantees and $0.6 billion in general assistance. This is in stark contrast to American aid to Palestine which is currently around $75 million via USAid. Only $20 million is paid directly to the Palestinian Authority.

We stayed in East Jerusalem in what the Israeli’s refer to as the Arab, rather than the Palestinian, quarter. I had thought that I was knowledgeable about the situation in Israel and Palestine but I soon realised how little I really knew.

East Jerusalem is predominantly Palestinian, as it has always been throughout history. However, at almost any opportunity Israelis have moved in creating a uniquely provocative atmosphere. Israeli houses boldly fly Israeli flags in the middle of Palestinian areas and people openly stand guard with machine guns. The same is happening in the Palestinian area of the old walled city. Imagine if the same situation occurred in Northern Ireland with Protestants moving into the Falls Road and proudly displaying the British Union Jack!

Palestinian people pay very high rents to live in Jerusalem. Property and rents are far cheaper just a few miles away into the West Bank but by moving to the West Bank they would lose their identity cards / residency permits and without these would lose their right to work in Jerusalem. It would be a bit like moving from the London Borough of Croydon across the boundary into Kent and losing you’re right to work back in Croydon.

Palestinian people have lived in Jerusalem for thousands of years and yet today many lack even the most basic rights of citizenship. A large number of Palestinian people in Jerusalem have refused Israeli citizenship because Jerusalem is, as they see it, the capital of the Palestinian state. Until 1966 East Jerusalem was indeed the capital of Palestine – until Israel annexed it after the six-day war.

This situation has just been made even worse. The Israeli Government, again for security reasons, has recently passed a law preventing Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza obtaining residency permits in Israel if they marry Israeli Arabs (Palestinians) from any part of Israel. Yet Palestinians have seen massive immigration into Israel over the last few years. Human rights groups have declared this law as racist in that it forces newly married couples to choose between living in the Palestinian areas or living separately. It is also seen as a plan to force Palestinians out of Israel and encourage Israeli settlement in the Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem while, at the same time, creating Israeli settlements within the West Bank and Gaza.

As international personnel with foreign passports, we were able to travel from East Jerusalem to Ramallah on an exclusive road which is not available to most Palestinians. This road is part of an extensive network of roads which have been built across the West Bank and Gaza to link Israeli settlements. They are intended for the sole use of Israelis, something that I was previously not aware of. The Israeli settlements are not the temporary camps or settlements that I had imagined - but beautiful towns with superb housing and amenities. With all the Palestinian people we spoke to it was perhaps this situation (and the new wall enclosing Palestinian land) which was the most provocative to them. The constant road-blocks, checkpoints and restrictions on travel came a close second.

During our time on the West Bank we heard many stories of how the conflict has affected individual people. For example, patients from across the West Bank are often unable to reach hospitals in time as even ambulances have to wait for excessive periods at roadblocks even if the patient inside is in urgent need of hospital treatment. One doctor that we met told us how Israeli troops had recently commandeered his house, used his belongings and then left the house in a mess. He told us that if troops call for you to open the door you are given just minutes to comply before they blow your door off its hinges. He now finds himself preoccupied with ensuring that keys are left in their doors at all times and panics if a set of keys is lost. One can understand why !

We later travelled to Bethlehem to meet staff at the hospital. It was on this visit that we took the opportunity to visit the Church of the Nativity. I could not waste an opportunity to visit one of Christianity’s holiest shrines – the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

My colleague and myself were astonished to find that we were the only two people at the church. There were no tourists - presumably frightened off by a misapprehension that the situation in Palestine is continuously dangerous. The siege at the church a few years ago when Israeli troops were constantly firing at the building could not have helped. We also received the warmest of welcomes in the town and again later in the Arab quarter of the old walled city of Jerusalem when visiting the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Again there were only a handful of people visiting the place where Christ is believed to have been buried.

The impact of this dramatic fall in the tourist industry has been extremely detrimental to the local economy. I felt ashamed that Christians around the world feel reluctant to visit what is surely one of their holiest shrines because of distorted news coverage and misplaced fears for their own safety. In my opinion many Western cities are far more dangerous. Can one ever imagine Muslims abandoning Mecca ? Of course not.

On our second visit to Bethlehem, we got lost because the young Palestinian psychologist and driver we were with were not allowed to enter. Dozens of Palestinian people were not allowed to travel either in to or out of their own town. Many put their lives at risk by trying to sneak around checkpoints. The situation angers local people so much that when troops enter their towns they throw a barrage of stones at army vehicles. Hundreds of children have been killed in these exchanges, a significant number of whom have been shot in the head. There are also tens of thousands of young people disabled this way and significantly more arrested and, by their own accounts, subjected to torture.

We found our way around the town because a stranger who we had asked for directions, and had found himself unable to explain to us where to go, asked us to follow him in his car. This was again typical of people’s generosity and hospitality.

Since I have returned I have read that there have been no suicide bombings in Israel for two months, the longest period in more than a year. And yet in the last month alone, more than 29 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Gaza and the West Bank - more than half of whom were women, children and the elderly.

A group of Prominent Palestinians and Israelis, including former politicians and security personnel, recently launched an unofficial peace accord in Geneva. They are calling for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, East Jerusalem to be returned, compensation for the many Palestinians who have lost their land, and the abolishment of 75% of the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas. In return, Palestinians would recognise the State of Israel and end violence against it.

Both sides face considerable hostility but some of these people, one of whom I know, has at great personal risk tried to move the peace process forward. Fifty-eight former Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Secretaries and other world leaders including Nelson Mandela and former US President Jimmy Carter, support this peace accord and in a recent poll it was also supported by over 30% of Israeli’s. However, the accord remains opposed by Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon who has denounced it as a threat to Israel’s existence and described its Israeli authors as ‘collaborators with terrorists’.

Like many, many before me I despair at the situation in the middle east and I am deeply concerned for the huge numbers of people who continue to be directly affected by the violence there.

It is obvious that to a significant extent, the situation in Palestine is fuelled by Western ignorance, prejudice and fear. I wonder if perhaps more people could visit the area they might also experience the warmth and hospitality of the Palestinian people. They might also embrace this remarkable country as the cradle of the Christian religion and rebuild their ties with this remarkable part of the world.

John Mahoney
Director
National Institute for Mental Health in England
Eastern England
December 2003