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Middle East Adventure - September 1997
What an exciting exchange for a few of our first-time ambassadors as we experienced the life-styles of four countries, three major religions, and two distinct cultural and political ideologies as we lived with both Arabs and Jews. Our guides were so knowledgeable about Biblical history that we were amply rewarded with the chance to walk in the footsteps of Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. The women donned hooded black robes and removed their shoes to enter a mosque in Damascus where John the Baptist's head is entombed. (Men only removed shoes!) We experienced Arafat Day in Egypt when most Muslims begin the day by sacrificing a sheep in honor of Abraham's being told he needed to sacrifice his son Ishmael, not Isaac! We had a communion service in the Garden of Gethsemane lead by one of our Ohio ambassadors, Rev. Jason Corl. What experiences . . a chance to swim in the Dead Sea, a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, a camel ride to the pyramids and the opportunity to go inside the largest one, a hair-raising romp on a horse-pulled Roman chariot through the bumpy, narrow gorge entering the ancient city of Petra (ask Kaye Schafer or Lois Severson). But as with all Friendship Force exchanges, the best part was the people. We were predominantly with Palestinians who were Eastern Orthodox Christians. As a result we were very much indoctrinated in the Palestinian belief that their land and even their country was taken from them by the formation of the Jewish state while they remain a people without a country. How do you reconcile the compassion for Mrs. Diab, an 84-year-old Palestinian grandmother living in Jordan who lost her home not once, but twice to the Israelis in both the 1948 and 1967 wars with the sympathy for Rachel Moses, who watched her family be separated and murdered in Auschwitz, while she and one sister managed to survive the concentration camp, the death march afterward and later displaced person's camps before coming to Israel. She has lived in Raanana for fifty years. Whose land is it? The people we spoke with in Jordan, Syria, Israel, and Egypt all want peace. They were even critical of their own leaders who are hard-liners as well as fanatical Muslims who support terrorism. In this sea of conflict, an island of peace does exist in Shefarem, Israel. The House of Hope is located on a square where Orthodox, Catholic, Druze, and Jews live in peace as neighbors. The incredibly charismatic Elias Jabbour, an Israeli, Palestinian, Christian, Arab believes children need to be educated that peace is the only answer. He says we are not taught PEACE in school! So he is doing just that in the House of Hope. He has been honored for his peace-seeking efforts. He also hosted the first success Friendship Force exchange to Israel, From Lincoln, under the direction of Jack Hart. Elias says Palestinians and Jews have been fighting almost fifty years, 10 wars since 1930. "Try peace just once," he says, "if you don't like it you can always go back to war. War is expensive. Peace is priceless." When we think back on our time in the Middle East we find hope in the words of Elias Jabbour just as we found friendship in our host families in Jordan and Israel. And of course, we are always rewarded by both continuing and new friendships among the twenty lucky souls who were ambassadors. |
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an you remember last spring when Israel decided to start a housing project in the Palestinian section of Jerusalem and tension soared followed by violent confrontations and the bombing of an outdoor cafe in Tel Aviv? This was just before the stalwart group of twenty ambassadors departed for the first of the Friendship Force's 20th Anniversary Exchanges, a Journey to the Middle East. Even Channel 8 found our exchange newsworthy as brave souls from Nebraska, Ohio, California, and Missouri boarded Royal Jordanian for Amman on April Fool's Day! Although we became used to armed guards and border crossings, we never felt threatened and were probably more protected than at home.