May 15 2015
On Tuesday this week, I presented the following report at the AGM of the Friends of St Andrew’s, Jerusalem, in St Cuthbert’s Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh.[1]
Friends of St Andrew’s AGM
Minister’s report, April 16 2015
Kiss me, Hardy? Well, perhaps not.
One of the first events I attended since arriving in Jerusalem in September 2014 was the Trafalgar Night dinner hosted in our Guesthouse. Present were members of the armed forces of many nations: I was seated among Canadians who are part of the Security Coordination in the occupied West Bank. During the evening, officers of the Royal Navy took turns to recount the Battle of Trafalgar. What impressed me, as someone whose military experience goes no further than two underage years in the Irish territorial army, was their matter-of-fact manner. And then I thought, “These are naval officers; death goes with the job.”
Death in Gaza in the summer of 2014, and a spate of incidents in Jerusalem in the autumn, have not done wonders for either attendance at our church or occupancy in our guesthouse. On some Sundays, we have struggled to get our attendance into double figures. And the results of the Israeli election this year suggest there is little chance of peace breaking out anytime soon.
St Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church was built to remember the Scottish soldiers who died in the Palestine campaign in 1917-18, but its purpose has broadened since Ninian Hill first realized his vision in 1930. A plaque on one of our walls remembers the British soldiers and Palestinian police who died during the Mandate. And our strapline today reads “remembrance – reflection – reconciliation”.
We remember our war dead, if we remember them well, by the lives we live, the communities we construct, the societies we build. My first Remembrance service at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on Mount Scopus was deeply impressive. Among the many wreaths laid was one from the Turkish embassy; we remembered the beginning as well as the end of the Great War; and we also rededicated the mosaic that lines the Memorial Chapel.
Laid in 1927 as a tribute to the New Zealand soldiers of the Egyptian expeditionary force who served in the Sinai and Palestinian campaigns, the mosaic had suffered badly at the hands of the winter rain but has now been splendidly restored by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. At the unveiling of the mosaic, Tim Williams, on behalf of the government of Aotearoa New Zealand, made an equally splendid speech.
My work here is a mixture of ministry, networking and communication.
Networking is a little like peeling an onion. However many people and groups you meet, there are always more.
Among the most impressive are Breaking the Silence, a group of IDF soldiers who refuse to let Israeli Jews close their eyes to the reality of the longest military occupation in modern history. Our Harsh Logic (2012), their collection of Israeli soldiers’ testimonies from the occupied territories, 2000-2010, together with an analysis of the IDF’s role in the occupation, is compulsory reading.[2]
Musalaha – the name comes from the Arabic for “reconciliation” – promotes clear-eyed reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, beginning with Arab Evangelical Christians and Israeli Messianic Jews. Add to your reading list two books written or edited by Salim Munayer, director of the project, and Lisa Loden: The Land Cries Out (2011) and Through My Enemy’s Eyes (2013).
Perhaps the most touching group I have met is The Parents’ Circle – a grassroots organization of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis. Established in 1995, it brings together over 600 families all of whom have lost a husband or wife or child (or children) as a result of the conflict. It has the authenticity that comes from loss.
Communication means writing reports such as this. It means developing – probably replacing – our website and posting on my blog. It means visiting congregations in the presbyteries of Edinburgh, Lothian and Moray – by the time we meet, I’ll have done some of that – and attending the Presbytery of Europe once a year. It means sitting down with Scottish Jews in Jerusalem and trying hard to understand one another.
Perhaps the best way to follow St Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church is through our Facebook page. At the time of writing, 376 eager readers have “liked” our page. We would like this number to grow: we have an (over?) ambitious target of 1,000. So please join the 376 in “liking” our page; and please invite your friends to do likewise.[3]
This morning, as the sirens wailed, I pulled my church car over to the side of the A1 to observe the annual two-minute silence on Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day. On Tuesday next week, on the eve of Israel’s other Memorial Day – the Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel – Combatants for Peace will bring together Israelis and Palestinians to remember the victims on both sides of the present conflict and to remind everyone that war is not an act of fate. This commemoration was initiated eight years ago by Buma Inbar, whose son Yotam fell in Lebanon in 1995. Since 2006, the number of participants has increased every year; in 2014 about 2,500 people attended.[4]
“How many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?”
This was Bob Dylan’s question when I was a young man. In Jerusalem, city of peace, there are small signs of hope, but the question remains unanswered.
Páraic Réamonn
Notes
[1] The Society dates from 1957. It supports St Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church and its outreach to communities living in intolerable circumstances, offers scholarships to divinity students wanting to study and travel in the Holy Land, and helps to maintain the church and its guesthouse as a heritage for future generations. For more information, or to become a member, email the membership secretary, Walter Dunlop. Among other benefits, membership of the Society allows you to buy Faith Rewarded, Walter’s history of the Scots Memorial and the Society, at the reduced price of £10.
[2] As is their report on last year’s operation, war, or massacre: This is How We Fought in Gaza: Soldiers׳ testimonies and photographs from Operation “Protective Edge” (2014).
[3] At the time of posting, we have since acquired a further 16 fans.
[4] This year the event attracted 3,200 Israelis and Palestinians.