“Israel has a right to defend itself. But it appears that, in the name of security, injustices are being done to the Palestinians that amount to collective punishment,” said Jacqueline Scott of Colorado, a member of the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns. The delegation included members of the Executive Council’s Social Responsibility in Investments committee and Phoebe Griswold, wife of Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold.

Griswold said seeing the 30-foot-high barrier wall snaking through Palestinian land made her think of “a prison – of people suffocating, perhaps both Israelis and Palestinians, shut off on one side or the other, of the divide from each other.”

Accompanied by Christian Peacemakers Team members, the delegation toured Hebron, a city of 120,000 Palestinians. About 400 Israeli settlers live in apartments confiscated from Palestinians close to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, believed to be the resting place of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, that venerated by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

“The settlers throw garbage from their upper-floor windows onto the Palestinian shopkeepers below, and the Palestinians have to put netting up over the walkway to prevent being hit by the debris,” said Mary Miller of Washington, D.C., a commission member. “The Israelis control all Palestinian movements in and out of the city, and inside the city as well, effectively making it a jail whenever they want to turn the key. It’s a tinderbox.”

American involvement

In a visit to Bethlehem, the group passed through part of Israel’s separation barrier, built inside the pre-1967 border (the “Green Line”), and noted that Rachel’s Tomb, another venerated holy site, has been placed on the Jerusalem side of the barrier, cutting off access from Bethlehem, where it is located. The Israeli government maintains the barrier is built to provide security to Israel.

“What the commission members found the most shocking of all was that the wall or separation barrier or fence, as it is variously called, is perceived by all parties as being almost entirely underwritten by the American taxpayer,” said Michele Spike of Florence, Italy, which is part of the Convocation of American Churches of Europe. “The wall invades Palestinian fields, dividing grazing lands -- including the valley of the shepherds at Bethlehem -- and, at times, encircling Palestinian cities.”

Numerous Israeli checkpoints slowed the delegation’s movements in Palestinian areas. Congestion at Ramallah forced a 90-minute detour to Jerusalem that normally takes 20 minutes. “We were told that the checkpoints may be the most vexing frustration of all to the Palestinians, because everybody is affected by them virtually every day,” said Kim Byham of the Diocese of Newark (N.J.), a member of Executive Council.

Bypass roads for use by settlers transferring back and forth between the West Bank and Israel were another source of contention.

“Whatever good intentions may have been behind them, these super highways, funded by U.S. tax dollars, effectively divide the Palestinian communities of the West Bank,” said Spike. “Palestinian families who live on one side of the road are prevented from crossing the road, even on foot, to farm land or to visit relatives who happen to live on the opposite side of the road.”

Speakers from Jewish peace groups told about the effects of the occupation, arguing that its financial and human costs harm Israelis as well as Palestinians. Besides the continuing costs of checkpoints and the wall, the human toll on soldiers, security-force members and their families is becoming increasingly harmful to Israeli society, they said. They called for justice and security for both sides.

‘Impossible circumstances’

The group visited Gaza, where they saw the work of the Ahli Arab Hospital, an institution of the Diocese of Jerusalem. Phoebe Griswold lamented the conditions that make it difficult for the hospital to function effectively.

“Despite the obstacles, the ministry of the hospital to a community so bereft of basic health services was awesome to see,” she said. “The director of the hospital, Suheila Tarazi, and her staff are incredible laborers in the vineyard under impossible circumstances.” Griswold and the Rev. Charles Cloughen Jr., members of the board of the American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem, gave funds from the organization.

An estimated 1.3 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, about half in refugee camps, making the strip one of most densely populated areas in the world. Israel plans to remove its 8,000 settlers from Gaza this summer, a development that could propel the peace process forward but still has drawbacks, according to local voices. “Palestinians told us the withdrawal from Gaza still leaves Israel in charge of land, sea and air rights, as well as controlling basic needs like drinking water. They feel they’ll still be living in a prison,” said the Rev. Kathleen Cullinane of Indianapolis, a former Executive Council member now on the SRI committee.

Members of the Episcopal Peace Commission are working on a report for next summer’s General Convention. The SRI committee is to report to Executive Council in October on whether the church profits from its investments in corporations that support the infrastructure of the occupation. “We found it’s a complicated issue, and we have considerable work ahead to gather the information we need,” Cullinane said.