Nun moves in to be a
witness
By CLAIRE
SCHAEFFER-DUFFY Special to the National Catholic
Reporter
Israeli shells hit the first-floor apartment of an American nun,
Sr. Anne Montgomery, in early December, an ironic start to the Christmas season
in Bethlehem. Montgomery, 73, had arrived just days before in the Palestinian
village of Biet Jala in the Bethlehem district on the West Bank. She is a
member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Montgomery, along with Pierre Shantz, a Canadian, was sent to Biet
Jala to represent the Christian Peacemakers Team. Their mission, Montgomery
said in a telephone interview with NCR, was simply to be a witness
to what is going on.
Montgomery said that all the windows on the side of her apartment
were smashed and that a tank shell broke a large hole in the window-sill
on the opposite wall. Some of my neighbors had clothes on the line on the night
of the attack. Every single garment has bullet holes in them.
On the streets of this once affluent town, which sits within view
of Christs birthplace, the remaining residents, she said, are constantly
asking, Where is the peace?
The gunfire has hurt Bethlehems economy, driving tourists
away. Israeli media reported Dec. 13 that Israeli officials might declare
Bethlehem a closed military area on Christmas Eve, keeping worshipers away.
People here feel that nobody in the world cares about
them, Montgomery said.
Montgomery, who was alone during the attack, took refuge under a
mattress in the bathroom after a shell shattered her bedroom window. On her
cell phone, she called members of the Christian Peacemakers Team in the West
Bank city of Hebron, spoke with the U.S. Consulate and, during the last hour of
shelling, fielded interviews with journalists from Reuters and The Baltimore
Sun.
The apartment, located at the intersection of two streets named
Martyr and Intifadah, faces the Jewish settlement of Gilo. Israeli shelling of
those streets on the night of Dec. 5 began after Palestinian gunmen fired on
Gilo. Palestinians say Gilo, built on land that Israel captured in the 1967
Mideast war and annexed to Jerusalem, should be part of an independent
Palestinian state.
Beit Jalas 10,000 residents are predominantly Christian. The
Palestinian Authority controls part of the town. During the 30-year Israeli
occupation of Beit Jala, large portions of Palestinian-owned land were
confiscated to accommodate three Jewish settlements and two bypass roads. Gilo,
population 30,000, is one of these settlements. Built in 1970, it sits atop
Beit Jala mountain.
Montgomery said that frustrated Palestinian young men will
come out at night and shoot at the settlement. The Israeli Defense Force
retaliates by shooting at the houses of Beit Jala. [Israeli] tank shells
make no distinction between whether there are human beings in the building or
not.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli army and air
force had been deployed in defense of Gilo. The first shelling of Beit Jala
began on Sunday evening, Oct. 21.
Christian Peacemakers have had no conversation with the
gunmen, according to Montgomery. There is no way we can persuade
the men to do otherwise, she said, but later added that residents of Beit
Jala are angered by the gunmens actions. Palestinian homeowners chased
away four gunmen immediately after hearing gunfire on their streets, Christian
Peacemakers reported. But not in time to avoid Israeli retaliation.
Gene Stoltzfus, U.S. coordinator for Christian Peacemakers Team,
said Israeli weapons are far more sophisticated. We are most
uncomfortable putting this fight on an equal footing, he said.
Shantz said that in the last 10 weeks of fighting, 300 families
have fled Beit Jala. Because the fighting is most severe at night, Montgomery
said that many residents sleep elsewhere and return to the town during the day
to assess damages. She also reported that an Israeli shell killed a German
doctor who was in Beit Jala to tend the wounded. His death is the towns
first fatality.
Shantz said that Palestinian gunfire injured a resident of the
Jewish settlement of Gilo in mid-December.
Christian Peacemakers Team is a violence-reduction project
supported by the Church of the Brethren, the Mennonites and congregations from
the Society of Friends. The Chicago-based organization has fielded a team in
Hebron since 1995. The point of being in Beit Jala is to be a
deterrent, said Stoltzfus. We are trying to do what we can to get
the situation to cool down. We would pull out if it made no sense to be
there.
Sr. Kathleen Hughes, Montgomerys provincial, said her order
is very proud of Anne. It is a matter of integrity for Anne. For all of
her religious life, she has placed herself at the margins, consistently taking
great risks to bring peace. Her work is a great joy for us because we believe
that where one of us is all of us are.
Stoltzfus said that his organization is urging all Christians to
observe five minutes of silence during Christmas services to pray for peace in
Bethlehem.
National Catholic Reporter, December 22,
2000
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