The Question of Palestine & Israel

Workshop # 31
Skip Schiel

Based on photographs and stories from my most recent of four journeys to Israel and Palestine, this workshop will provide background and context for the conflicts in Israel-Palestine, and concentrate on crafting a proposal for Quakers to help build peace and justice in this most troubled region.

Percentage of time:
Worship/worship-sharing 30; Lecture 30; Discussion 20; Experiential 20

Open to all

The objectives are two-fold: comprehending as well as possible the conflicts in Israel-Palestine and developing proposals for Quaker reflection and action to help bring peace with justice to the region.

I expect participants to interact with my experience as a socially engaged photographer—thru the photos and stories in the presentation, made with an intended open heart— and then raise questions that help us all deepen our understandings of the realities and challenges of the Israeli, Palestinian, and US peoples. I’ll provide verbal historical context that cannot be portrayed adequately thru my images and stories. Through this process I hope and will guide the group towards formulating proposals for Quaker reflection and action, using the following steps:

Using research, analysis, discernment, and discussion, we’ll strive to comprehend the conflicted situation.

We’ll develop a list of possible proposals, each participant selecting one to fill out, crafting it thru discussion and reflection, and ending with presentations thru written papers that might later go to meetings across the country.

The list of possible proposals include education of one’s own Quaker and larger community; organizing study tours to the region; selling Palestinian products like olive oil; sponsoring visitors from Israel-Palestine, especially peace and justice makers, both Israeli and Palestinian; forming local Israel-Palestine interest or action groups; organizing or co-sponsoring vigils, forming coalitions with similarly minded partners; and offering training in compassionate listening and non violent communication (two initiatives well organized by others, including Friends).

My slide shows deal with youth, non-violent resistance to the occupation; water; holy sites; the occupation, its history, rationale, effects and mechanisms; and Quaker activity and history in the region (primarily the AFSC and the Ramallah Friends School). I have a point of view, I hope to encourage participants to develop their own understandings. I examine these topics from several points of view, Palestinian and Israeli Jewish.

I will supplement materials with extensive readings and expect that participants will at least make a start on digesting them. I may also use other videos, for example from Thich Nhat Hahn’s listening work about Israel-Palestine and Seeds of Peace, an organization bringing together Palestinians and Israelis for community building. I plan to form teams to evaluate these materials and report back their reflections.

Worship sharing will play a major role. Possible seeds are: What connects you most personally to the issues of Israel-Palestine? What are grey or unsure areas for you? What do you worry most about regarding Israel-Palestine? What was your first awareness of the region? What emotions do you remember attached to that awareness? Where do you experience hope? What is your vision for the future of the region? In league with other Quakers, how will you commit to act to help bring this vision to reality? I’ll also offer meditations on land, water, peoplehood, sovereignty, etc. to encourage people to think more deeply beyond mass media and preconceptions.

I’d estimate worship (silent meditation) as 10% of the workshop time, worship sharing 20%, my slide shows 30%, participant presentations 20%, and discussion 20%.

I highly recommend, virtually require as advanced reading, The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan, about a Palestinian and an Israeli Jew living in the same house but not at the same time. They eventually meet. The house now is a site of reconciliation. I’ll bring photocopied readings spanning a range of topics and perspectives, from extremist Israeli Jewish to extremist Palestinian.

Participants should bring with them a set of questions about the region—its history, politics, demographics, terrain, travel arrangements, and organizations involved in the struggle. This will help ground the workshop in participant concerns and backgrounds.

This is an obviously ambitious undertaking. I realize not all folks will be able to do the outside work, the reading and reflecting, and that we’ll need time in the sessions to process volatile feelings. So I approach this workshop plan experimentally.

My photographs and writing are at teeksaphoto.org.

A cardinal principal that I hope to emphasize:

"All life is sacred; all beings are related. Because power hates this principle there is war. Where this principle is embraced and struggled for, nothing can prevail against it—even though it might take some time."
—Dan Turner