Mideast visitor 'sees people who work for peace'

Many of the Middle East images we see in the United States are of suicide bombers and violence.

Bruce Borland sees people who work for peace.

Borland and a team of 12 pacificators organized by Christian Peacemaker Teams visited West Bank this spring in search of a closer insight of the sociopolitical situation.

While he worked many years as a history book editor, Borland said he did not know much about the conflict in the Middle East. That changed when he joined a trip last October organized by the Sabeel Ecumenical Institute to study Palestinian Christians. He calls the trip a wake-up call.

"The coverage in America of what is going on does not talk about ordinary Palestinian people," the Lake Forest resident said. "They are suffering. Their life is hard."

He learned about Christian Peacemaker Teams, a faith-based initiative that has placed violence-reduction teams in conflict settings, such as the Middle East, Haiti, Latin America and the United States. The organization sponsored the trip March 4 to 17.

While in West Bank, Borland met with Israeli and Palestinian human right advocates to discuss the importance of seeing past stereotypes of violence to understand the truth about Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"We need to get past the stereotypes that Palestinians are violent," Borland said. "Many Palestinians utterly repudiate violence."

In Palestine, Borland met with an Israeli rabbi who helps Palestinian families whose homes are demolished. Sometimes the family receives only two hours notice before it is demolished.

The rabbi told him Palestinian parents are adamant their sons don't grow up with hate.

The group stayed much of their trip in an apartment arranged by CPT. But they also spent one night in a Palestinian family's home, where Borland said they have a tradition of hospitality. They also spent one night in a refugee camp.

Borland said everything appears crowded in the camps, including narrow streets and inside the stone buildings. There are no tents.

"These people have been refugees for 40 years. They have acquired a sense of permanence," he said

The visit was to understand the ordinary lives and struggles of people in West Bank, where homes have been demolished for the construction of a "security wall" between Israel and West Bank. It is supposed to provide safety between the contending communities.

Although violence has decreased, 80 percent of the wall is on Palestinian territory, and conflicts concerning commuting time and water supply have risen.

It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to four hours for Palestinian commuters to get past security checks, he said. Several deaths have been reported due to emergency delays en route to hospitals.

Water aquifers, permeable rocks where water can be extracted through wells, are now on the Israeli side of the wall causing residents and farmers to struggle for water supply. Palestinian residents receive only 20 percent that is extracted by Israel.

"Daily life is a massive inconvenience. It's dangerous," he said, adding Israeli soldiers will fire into armed crowds during demonstrations.

Borland said their group was never in immediate danger, but they were not warmly welcomed. He recalls walking through Hebron where 400 settlers and 150,000 Palestinians live.

"A child, one of the settlers comes up to us and yells go home, go home and pushes one of us down," he said.

Borland said while he will not speak for them, he believes the reaction is because they feel the land is theirs.

"There is a lot of conflict there. A lot of people have a lot at stake on this issue," he said.

With the history of violence between these two communities, Borland said some question why shouldn't they build the wall?

But, the assumption that communication is missing in the peace process, appears to be at odds with the wall.

Borland said communication between the nations is not the problem.

"They are already communicating, but Palestinians and Israelites have to talk to their own people about anti-violence and that's not happening," he said.

According to Borland, political leaders are incapable of talking within their own violent groups to instill peace.

"People themselves have to participate in peace organizations and try to make progress on their own," he said.

Through both trips, Borland said his wife of 40 years, Deedee, and three children, Sarah, 38, Aubrey, 37, and John, 35, have been supportive.

"My wife's response was great enthusiasm. I found something that meant so much to me," he said.

Calling his last trip an introduction, he wonders whether to take the one-month training this summer and return to the field for three months. He knows there is work to be done.

"How you measure success ultimately is how much you can stand between people and prevent violence. That is the real work of CPT," he said. "If I continue, that will be the success, to reduce violence and help the oppressed people."