Point / Counterpoint : The Situation
by Johannes Zang and Carol Dabdoub

Subject: A letter from Johannes Letter to friends and colleagues in Bethlehem and the Holy Land, December 2001

Dear friends,

Today is Thursday 6th of December 2001 and I am somehow sad and angry and desperate and hopeless about the situation. I am currently thinking whether or not to renew my contract. My tasks have recently become more and more attractive and satisfying. This is due to fewer lessons I teach at the "Dar al Kalima" school and more activities in "Dar an nadwa" and the "National Conservatory of Music". The tasks which I like very much are: teaching guitar and church organ at "Dar an nadwa" (with one student in Jerusalem at the Redeemer Church) and even two German classes. Since October I have started teaching music theory, singing and music interpretation at the "National Conservatory of Music" which I like very, very much. So regarding the work situation I really would like to stay another year or even two.

Last Saturday night Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up and increased the tension to a very high degree. I felt so upset about them, so angry, so..., since they not only blew themselves up, but also they also destroyed the hopes of millions of people, and, last but not least, cancelled the Christmas market scheduled for the first Sunday of Advent on Manger Square. I am not ready to work at establishing of a Palestinian society that has hundreds of such people just waiting to blow themselves up.

Yesterday night I met a Jewish man, originally from Berlin who is very much left. He said that the Israeli peace movement and the left movement as well, is slowly moving towards the right! Their patience has decreased immensely.

I came here more than two years ago in the hope of seeing the establishment of a Palestinian state. This seems now so far away. What also disappoints me is that in peaceful demonstrations and marches more foreigners participate than Palestinians! What could the Palestinians have won if they had demonstrated peacefully once a week since Sharon entered the Temple Mount (Haram al Sharif) in September 2000? The whole world and maybe even the USA would now totally be in favor of the Palestinian cause and the whole issue would totally look different, I believe! I am also disappointed by the local churches! Only one peaceful march within 15 months of Intifada is not enough!

Dear colleagues, I am suffering because of the situation. It's not fear. It's not because of the shooting between Beit Jala and Gilo. It is because of the hopelessness and lethargy around me. It's because I don't see clear Palestinian action towards terrorists (they're not freedom fighters for me!). Because I don't see a clear Palestinian NO to violence. Because of the total lethargy of the Palestinian people and in particular of the Christians! I can't hear the continous excuse "We can't do....... because of the situation!" anymore. Can't we really do more? Can't we be more active? I don't think so!

Best regards!
Yours Johannes Zang/Bethlehem

A reply from Carol:

December 7, 2001 Dear Johannes

With reference to your, may I call it "bitter", letter of December 6, 2001, I would like to make a few comments. We are all "angry and desperate and hopeless about the situation" that is currently presiding in Palestine in general and Bethlehem in particular.

This desperation though, should not put you in a dilemma on whether or not to renew your contract. The picture is clear: if you are honestly interested in helping the Palestinian people then there is no issue whatsoever; there should be no hesitation. Unfortunately, I do notice from your tone in the letter that you have no interest in helping the Palestinians because what you really care for is how to have the Christmas Market succeed and not the message portrayed and delivered by these "terrorists", as you put it.

Furthermore, you openly state that you are "not ready to work at establishing of a Palestinian society that has hundreds of such people [the Palestinian suicide bombers] just waiting to blow themselves up." Let me ask you; do you think these young suicide bombers are happy about what they do? Who do you think they are? They are "angry and desperate and hopeless" young men who have lost everything in life except for their lives. They literally have nothing to lose and I mean NOTHING. Their freedom, their dignity, and their pride have all been stolen from them; why should they insist then on continuing to live? And what saddens me is that you have lived in Bethlehem for two years now and it seems to me that your integration with the Palestinian people and cause has been literally one big fat ZERO.

If you think that this is not the case, then what have you done, throughout the past two years, towards "the hope of seeing the establishment of a Palestinian state" ? The Intifada has been going on for a little more than 14 months now. During that time, a number of different forms of Israeli aggression against the Palestinians have taken place. How have you reacted towards such aggressions? How has your "Christian" fellow men in Germany and elsewhere in Europe reacted towards it? Why are you delivering such a message to us now? Is it because the Christmas market failed to take place. Sometimes, in life, you have to learn to give up certain pleasures for the sake of some pains.

In November of 2000, one German retired doctor, Dr. Fisher, was hit by a direct shell from an Israeli tank and killed instantly in Beit Jala in his attempt to save the lives of a few injured men of the Palestinian police force. Following his murder by Israeli terrorists, the German government did nothing to investigate the matter. Israel even refused to apologize for its "mistaken killing" of one of Germany's compatriots in Beit Jala who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. What have YOU, you Johannes, done about this? I assure you too that you will not do anything even if you were to stay in Bethlehem for another 10 years. And you know why? Simply because you feel that resistance and not OCCUPATION, is terrorism. I am sure that during the Second World War, Hitler felt the same about the French resistance.

With regard to the peaceful demonstrations you refer to, allow me to tell you that even then, the Israeli army are still using against the demonstrators internationally banned forms of anti-demonstration weapons. So where would such demonstrations lead us? How can we accept to be killed, bombarded, and shelled in peaceful marches, and at the same time stay put and calm about the whole issue without any kind of reaction?

In your closing paragraph you state that you don't see clear Palestinian action towards terrorists (they're not freedom fighters to [you]). Because [you] don't see a clear Palestinian NO to violence". What actions towards terrorism do you see on the Israeli side towards the Palestinians? What actions towards violence do you see on the Israeli side towards the Palestinians? You were satisfied just by quoting one Israeli German saying that the left of the left has been loosing patience. At a time when you are closing an eye on the Palestinian loss of Life.

Maybe am still not making myself clear and I have to be more blunt and ask you a very personal question that you do not have to answer; if you did not have the alternative to leave Palestine and go elsewhere, and if Palestine (if you consider it as an existing country) is destined it for you just as it is for its people, would you still write the same letter?

(Johannes Zang and Carol Dabdoub are colleagues at the International Center of Bethlehem.)