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perspective

Imagination, action, justice

by Peter Miller ’08

It’s late on a Friday evening. As I get ready for dinner in my apartment in East Jerusalem, my thoughts are barely on the baked potato and fresh fruit I’m preparing. Instead, I keep thinking of my friend Jared and what he is eating tonight – probably soggy sandwiches and tepid tea.

When I log into Skype later to call my family, I’m still thinking about Jared and how he doesn’t have access to a phone or to anyone but his lawyer and the guards assigned to him. Jared is spending tonight as he has spent the past three nights: in a holding cell at Israel’s Tel Aviv airport.

Jared Malsin and his girlfriend Faith Rowold (a member and volunteer at the church I attend in Jerusalem) returned from a vacation in Prague earlier this week, only to undergo eight hours of interrogation, confiscation of their cell phones and imprisonment in cold, locked cells. After two days, Faith was deported to Prague. Jared remains in Israel because his attorney successfully lodged a petition that will be heard in two days.

Jared’s imprisonment and pending deportation only begin to make sense in light of his profession. Jared, a Jewish American, lives in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. He has spent the last two years working as a journalist for Ma’an News, a Palestinian news agency well-respected for its professionalism and independence. Jared’s position as chief editor of Ma’an’s English department is vital in supplying the rest of the world with news stories from a Palestinian perspective. Numerous human rights groups, press organizations, government representatives and United Nations officials have denounced Jared’s detention as an attempt by Israel to silence dissent and limit access to information.

I have now lived in Jerusalem for a year and half. I have witnessed far too many stories like Jared’s. Stories of arrest without charge, of police brutality, of human rights violations. Stories of houses being demolished for “administrative” reasons. Stories of wholesale theft of land. Stories of hate, of racism, of murder.

When I share these stories with other people, invariably I’m asked: “Is there any hope for peace?” I don’t like this question. Not because it’s a hard question or because I hear it all the time. I don’t like this question because it misses the point. I believe that hoping for peace often prevents us from acting for justice.

Justice and peace are entwined. The importance of justice in establishing a lasting peace cannot be overstated. Without the guarantees of basic human rights and the rule of law, no peace will endure. Injustice assures future grievances and conflict.

Practically speaking, justice is also easier to imagine than peace. Working towards the application of international law, fighting corruption, supporting self-determination, opposing the militarization of civil society, correcting racist narratives of history, empowering women and protecting freedom of the press are specific, tangible goals.

You don’t have to be a journalist in the West Bank or a development worker in Jerusalem to actively seek justice in Palestine and Israel. There is plenty to do in the United States. Americans give $3 billion in military aid to Israel annually (or more than $8 million a day). This money helps to pay for actions like the Israeli military action in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009, where more than 1,400 people were killed. The path to justice (and eventually peace) passes through Capitol Hill.

In order for change to happen in Washington, though, the average American needs accurate information about what is happening in Palestine. This is why Jared’s work is so important and why his detention is not only an injustice to him but a setback for free speech and all who seek the truth beneath the surface.

After spending a week in detention, Jared Malsin was deported to New York. His attorney is still challenging his expulsion in an Israeli court.

Peter Miller graduated from Bethel College with degrees in history and Bible and religion. He is a Mennonite Central Committee volunteer with Sabeel, a Christian ecumenical liberation theology center in East Jerusalem that works to break down barriers among Christians, Muslims and Jews.