Anne
comforting a Palestinian girl as she watches her family's orchard being
destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, August or Sept. 1998.
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Sister
Anne Montgomery’s quest for nonviolent solutions to the world’s
problems has led to her “ministry of presence” in the West Bank.
(all photos courtesy Christian Peacemakers)
It
was April 23, 2002. Sr. Anne Montgomery RSCJ was hunkered down with
other Christian Peacemakers in an apartment in Bethlehem during the
standoff at the Church of the Nativity, where some 200 armed
Palestinians had taken refuge against advancing Israeli troops.
The
75-year-old nun’s passion for peace had taken her again to the Middle
East, where she’s spent a good part of her life for the past seven
years. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Brooklyn-based
Montgomery spends most of her overseas months, her ministry has been
one of presence, serving as an international observer in the interest
of justice and peace.
“The situation in the church is desperate,”
Montgomery said in a telephone interview from her apartment. It was
close enough to the church that the group could hear periodic gunfire
as well as a distracting low hum emanating from speakers that Israelis
had positioned over the church. The speakers had been hoisted up on
cranes that hovered threateningly overhead.
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Like mystics, they watch and pray.
Like prophets they speak.
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Except for sounds of war, Manger Square was silent. Civilians nearby
were trapped in their homes by a curfew imposed by soldiers.
Journalists’ press cards had been seized.
Montgomery works with the Chicago-based Christian
Peacemakers Teams, an outreach of congregations of Mennonites, Quakers
and Church of the Brethren aimed at reducing violence around the world.
According to Claire Evans, a peacemaker who works in the Chicago office
coordinating delegations, teams of volunteers are dispatched to areas
of conflict around the world.
Anne faces off Israeli soldiers at Bethlehem/Jerusalem checkpoint,
Christmas, 2001.
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Like mystics, they watch, wait and pray. Like prophets, they speak, sending the message out about the effects of conflict.
In
the case of the West Bank, Montgomery said, “We say we’re on the side
of the people who have the biggest guns pointed at them. In this case,
we think the (Israeli) occupation is wrong. It’s wrong to take people’s
land, to destroy their homes, which is what the Israeli military does.
“As long as this unjust occupation continues, there can’t be peace.”
And
sometimes peacemakers intervene, in keeping with the organization’s
motto: “Committed to reducing violence by getting in the way.”
For
example, “If we saw a soldier abusing a Palestinian at one of the
checkpoints, we might take a picture, talk to the soldier,” Evans said.
In Bethlehem, as negotiations were underway to end the standoff, the situation was worsening by the hour, Montgomery said.
“This
morning, two priests stood on top of the church holding up a big sign
saying they had no food, no electricity. We tried to take food to the
church, but we were stopped by soldiers. We were able to distribute
food to some of the families who live around the church.”
Priests, nuns and other civilians in the church when the Palestinians broke in were trapped in the siege.
Christian Peacemaker Team members and clergy entering Manger Square, Bethlehem.
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Montgomery
said Christian Peacemakers had viewed a video of the refugee camp in
Jenin following an invasion by Israeli soldiers in search of terrorists
and explosives. “The destruction is unbelievable,” she said.
“Unbelievable. What we see here is a lot of structural violence, like
the result of an earthquake or some huge natural disaster. People are
digging with their hands through the rubble to find bodies.”
Her
peacemaking ministry has led Montgomery to other war-torn regions. She
went to the Balkans during the war there in the 1990s. She has engaged
in many demonstrations aimed at ending violence in its various forms.
She
was among protestors who undertook a month-long liquids-only fast in
2000 aimed at ending U.S. support for U.N. sanctions against Iraq –
sanctions that opponents say have been responsible for the deaths of a
million Iraqis, at least half of them children, who are unable to get
medical supplies or even drinkable water.
In her quest
for nonviolent solutions to world problems, Montgomery has often
engaged in what she calls “divine obedience,” actively protesting
against the U.S. military buildup. She has been arrested many times and
served time in jail for her demonstrations against U.S. military
spending and action.
Anne in Beit Jala,
Dec. 2000.
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Montgomery’s
work is the fruit of years of reflecting on the meaning of religious
life and her responsibility to the social teachings of the Catholic
Church.
“Who’s going to do this if we don’t,” she told a reporter after her arrest in an anti-military demonstration in September, 2000.
“If
anyone should take a risk, it should be the religious. That’s what many
religious orders were set up to do, but we’ve lost that spirit through
the ages.”
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