Zoughbi Zoughbi is the Director of Wi'am, the Palestinian Conflict Resoluton Center in Bethlehem.
Wi'am is a grassroots organisation working within the wider Palestinian community to promote peace by training people on both sides of the Palestine-Israel conflict in peaceful relationship-building, non-violent responses to injustice and conflict, and the promotion of human rights.
Christian Today spoke to Zoughbi about impact that the conflict is having on the lives of ordinary Palestinians and what the chances are for a sustainable peace in the region.
CT: You work with people of all faiths. Can you give an indication of what daily life is like for civilians in Palestine?
ZZ: The things you take for granted here in the UK, we are deprived of there in Palestine. We measure our distances in terms of checkpoints, not miles. In the past, we used to go anywhere. Now it is easier for me to come to the UK than to go to Jerusalem.
The wall is surrounding us, separating each area from the other. The occupation is evil and needs to be ended. We are struggling non-violently to get rid of the occupation.
So, it is not an easy situation there. The unemployment is skyrocketing - up more than 50 per cent, there is malnutrition among children, almost 80 per cent of our kids are exposed to trauma, and more than 76 per cent of the people live on less than £1 a day. It is a very serious situation.
CT: There was some speculation that the Hamas takeover of Gaza would make life harder for Christians there. Has that proved to be the case?
ZZ: The challenge for Christians is the same as the challenge for Muslims; it is the Israeli occupation. We are under occupation and are not allowed to go to Jerusalem to practice freedom of worship. Where the basic holy sites in Jerusalem and in the north, we are not allowed to go. We need a permit each time but many times no one will get a permit. So there is a denial of freedom by the Israeli occupation.
Regarding Muslims and Christians, as Palestinians we value the relationship. We have no conflict between Muslims and Christians because we are all under occupation. Hamas is not the issue for Christians, because it is the conflict between Hamas and Fatah and the different parties and ideologies. We as Christians are not so much a part of this. We would like to see more unity than division among the people. We, as Christians, work in the Middle East for unity, cooperation, justice and reconciliation.
CT: The Israeli Government is mulling over the possibility of an independent state for Palestine.
ZZ: Yes, I would like to take it seriously and I will give the Israeli Government the benefit of the doubt. We want a state void of settlements, and with a connection between Gaza and West Bank, with Jerusalem as its capital, and to be in a friendly co-existing relationship with the Israeli Government and the Arab world.
