Daniel Aqleh, a Christian living in Palestine, chats to Paul Calvert about being a peace activist among conflict.



Continued from page 1

Wall in Israel
Wall in Israel

Daniel: We need to know that when we talk about Israel we do have two extremes; we have the right wing and we have the left wing.

The left wing in Israel are mostly the peace activists who advocate for the people of Palestine. We have some groups that go on demo's against their own Government, because they see the injustice from Israel's point of view and understand the violations towards the Palestinian people in a very clear way.

Every Israeli has to join the army. We have a group in the old city of Hebron called 'Breaking the Silence' and they were all ex- soldiers. They have seen and experienced the occupation first hand. After they left the army their conscience became clear and they turned in to real advocates for the people of Palestine who they used to harass, injure and sometimes kill.

Paul: We have talked a little bit about Israel, but does the Palestinian Authority need to do more to bring peace here as well?

Daniel: When we talk about the conflict we are talking about two powers and the main power is with Israel. I don't think that Palestinians have any power.

Israel has one of the strongest armies in the world. It has military and lots of weapons, which they export as well. So when we talk about peace we tend to talk about different powers and the ruling power is the one who is in control.

The weaker part cannot do much but they can be activists; they can be voices of hope and peace.

Paul: You are a Christian, how much of a role does that play in your life and advocating for peace?

Banksy painting of a dove with a bulletproof vest on
Banksy painting of a dove with a bulletproof vest on

Daniel: As a Christian whenever I go to events I always speak on behalf of the people of Palestine.

We do have some movements that expose the reality of the occupation including the Kairos document that was written by many groups of the Palestinian Church.

We also have the bi-yearly conference that the Bethlehem Bible College has been doing called 'Christ at the Checkpoint' and that addresses the role of the Palestinian Church and Christians in approaching the conflict and justful solutions.

Paul: How difficult is it for you as a Palestinian to go and meet Israelis?

Well for me to go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem I need to pass the checkpoint. I am lucky as a Palestinian to be a Christian, because Israel in the past two years have been giving permits to all Christians.

However, the majority of people in Palestine that are connected to an amuta (charity) or to an NGO in Israel, would need to apply for the permit two weeks in advance. Because of my connections I collect names and send maybe 10, 15, 20 sometimes 30 names to the NGO, then they will send it to the army.