Here are three separate pieces: a grief statement from the leadership of a Palestinian village; announcement of Palestinian Arab a prayer vigil September 12, and a letter from an American (I presume) Christianin Israel about her first-hand observation of Palestinians' shock and horror.
(1st and 2nd reports forwarded by David Lippman
The following message comes from the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour
on
the West Bank. Their unambiguous condemnation of the barbaric attack
yesterday stands in stark contrast to the message the major media is
putting out about Palestinian "joy" over this heinous act.
Not that the official media are "wrong." -- No doubt some Palestinians
are celebrating this successful attack on what they see as the supplier of
arms and money to their occupiers.
But the official media ARE wrong in not reporting the mix of opinion,
in not reporting the truth of deep disagreements among Palestinians.
Some are horrified at this attack, as they have been by attacks on
Israeli civilians. [After the Beit Sahour report, see also the report from
East Jerusalem.]
From: Beit Sahour Municipality
In the name of Beit Sahour Municipality and in the name of each and
every citizen of the Shepherds field Beit Sahour; we convey our deepest
condolences to the entire American people for the horrific loss of
innocent lives as a result of the horrible acts of terror. In
particular,
we share the grievances of all the families of the victims.
We pray to God to please give these families the patience and the
strength.
As Palestinians who suffer daily form acts of Israeli aggression
against our innocent people, we cannot find the words to express how shocked
we were to see the horrific scenes on TV. We condemn such acts and we do
not accept such horrific acts in the 3rd millennium where peace,
prosperity, and freedom should cover the whole world.
We reiterate our deepest condemnation of this horrible act on these
innocent humans. No matter how can we express our sorrow, we can't
find
enough words to say how sorry we are.
Please let us work together to stop these acts of terrorism all over
the world. Let us work hand in hand for establishing a safer world to
live in.
p.s. Please pass on this message to all our friends; we want them to
know that each person in Beit Sahour shares this message with us.
<<< <<<< Place: In front of the American Consulate in Jerusalem
<<<< Time: 4:30pm today 12 September
<<<< For more information, please contact Mr. Isa Qassisiya at
052-556-810>>.
Just to be clear, The Consulate is in East Jerusalem and "Qassisya" is
an Arab name.
______________________
3rd report:
by Rev.
Sandra Olewine, the United Methodist Liaison in Jerusalem.
Dear Friends,
I've had numerous emails from people asking me to help interpret the
scenes they
have watched of Palestinians 'celebrating' after the event. Yes,
there were some
gatherings of people, particularly in Nablus, who were shown in the very early
hours of the horrible attacks in the US on the street, dancing and
cheering, and
passing out chocolate. But, these expressions were few and certainly did not
represent the feelings or mood of the general population. The deep shock and
horror of the Palestinian people, the real sorrow for all the dead and wounded,
was, and continues to be, unseen by the world, particularly in the
USA. It is the
story unheard.
Because those few scenes were disturbing, the easy response is to cast judgment
on the participants, naming those 'celebrating' as inhuman, despots, or
despicable. The more difficult response, though, particularly in the
midst of grief,
is to ask the questions about what might drive people, men, women and children,
to such actions. One might remember that the people who were seen 'celebrating'
are a people who for almost a year have been under a brutal siege, who due to
the siege have been unable to feed their families and hover on the brink of
poverty and despair, who have watched their children and their
parents killed by
bullets, tank shells and guided missiles, most of which are supplied
to the Israeli
Occupation Army by the USA. One might remember such things as one watches
those images. Attempting to understand motivations doesn't discount
our feelings
of anguish at such scenes, but does allow us to keep humanity a bit
more in tack
in a time of such utter brokenness.
But, more importantly to me is what has mostly gone unseen by the American
public. I have to ask why these scenes of a few Palestinians been shown again
and again and again, as if they capture the 'truth' of Palestine. How
few cameras
have caught the spontaneous sorrow, despair, tears and heartache of the vast
majority of the Palestinian people. As the news unfolded here on Tuesday
afternoon about the extent of the attacks, people gathered, as people did
everywhere, in front of television screens to learn as much as possible. My
phone rang and rang as Palestinians from around the West Bank called to express
their horror and their condolences.
Yesterday following a prayer service held at St. George's Anglican Cathedral, I
talked briefly to the US Consul General in Jerusalem. We talked about
the scenes
from here which were most prevalent on the TV. He told me that his office had
received a stack of faxes of condolences from Palestinians and Palestinian
Organizations 'this high' (indicating a stack of about 12 inches). He asked his
staff to fax a copy of every last one of them to CNN to give a different visual
image from Palestine.
When we left the cathedral after the service, we drove by the American
Consulate in East Jerusalem. Gathered there were about 30 Palestinian Muslim
schoolgirls with their teachers. Looking grief-stricken, they held
their bouquets of
dark flowers and stood behind their row of candles. Silently, they kept vigil
outside our Consulate. But no cameras captured their quiet sorrow.
When I got home, my neighbor explained that her son who is in 8th grade came
home in the afternoon and talked to her about the students reactions
at school. He
told her that everyone was talking about what had happened. He said that many
were asking "how could someone do that?" "Is someone human who can carry out
such acts?" He went on to tell her that many of the girls were crying. Friends,
then, began stopping by my home. Palestinian Christian and Muslim came
together, visiting me to express their sorrow and to ask what they could do.
Again, the phone rang incessantly with Palestinians asking if everyone I knew
was okay and asking if they could do anything to help.
As we talked many went on to tell of stories of their loved ones who are in the
States - relatives they were worried about having been injured or killed or who
had been subject to harassment in the last couple of days. Others
talked of having
received emails from people who had been supporters of their work who wrote
saying "I can never again support the Palestinian people," as if somehow
Palestinians everywhere were suddenly responsible for the attacks in
the States.
The remarkable thing to me, though, was that despite such messages, these same
people still wrote letters of condolences, made phone calls to
friends, and asked
what they could do to help. Despite the world, and particularly the American
world, not seeing them or seeing them only as 'terrorists',
Palestinians continued
to express their common humanity with people everywhere as they shared in the
heartache and dismay.
Trusting in God's everlasting presence,
Sandra
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