Going to Pieces

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
Martin Luther

We all understand that faith and hope are foundational in getting through personal crises. Though, I confess that tree planting isn’t on the ‘to do’ list when my world is going to pieces.

Tariq Hathaleen is a third year college student and eventually wants to be an English teacher. Tariq’s favorite literature includes Shakespeare and Milton. He lives in an Area C Bedouin village, Um al Kheir, which is very close to an Israeli settlement. The shortest distance between the the village and the settlement is about 20 yards.

Even though the Hathaleen family has documented proof of land ownership, some of the land was taken to build the Carmel settlement. In addition, the family is not allowed to build on their own land.  The Israel military has only sanctioned 4 villages for building in the region and Um al Kheir is not one of them. Despite this, the village has built additional structures anyway to accommodate growing needs. The Israeli military has conducted 7 demolition events at Um al Kheir since 2007 with 1 to 8 structures (homes and farm buildings) destroyed each time. The UN reports there are currently a total 11,000 such demolition orders across the West Bank affecting 13,000 structures.

Currently, there are impending demolition orders for two more structures in Um al Kheir. In light of the current crisis, a UN regional representative has been working with various groups to spend the night in the village and provide support if/when the demolition occurs. Since Tariq is fluent in English, he is a key village spokesman and hosts the sleepovers. “Between six and ten o’clock every morning, all of us in the village are keeping an eye on the road to see if the bulldozer appears,” Tariq said as he bedded down with us in the community tent.

In addition to the adverse community impact, Tariq shared the challenges he faces given his multiple responsibilities: hosting the sleepovers, presentations to visiting delegations, college classes (he’s in the middle of final exams), helping his widowed mother and siblings, and little things like checking that the camera batteries are fully charged when the demolition crew arrives.

Definitely a ‘world going to pieces’ experience that Tariq confided does wear him down. But he also shared the following story with us.  About a week ago, his mother started making a small stone curb around her house which is one of the two structures targeted for demolition. He questioned his mother about the practicality of doing this given the demolition orders. His mother replied, “We pray to God for strength.” Luther had his apple tree and the Hathaleen family has their stone curb (attached photo) as testimony to their faith and hope.

From MC blog