Sep 29, 2002 By Suzanne Hance 5 min read

Despite all the turmoil and constant threat of violence, Tina Whitehead of Uniontown said she encountered nothing but warmth and hospitality during a visit to the West Bank in the Middle East last month. “There was so much need and graciousness,” said Whitehead. “I’ve never met warmer people.”

Noting that the people there were “totally welcoming,’ she added, “Hospitality is a part of their culture.’

Whitehead, whose husband is the Rev. Thomas Whitehead of the Calvary United Methodist Church in Uniontown, said her visit to the troubled region was arranged by the Society for Biblical Studies, a national group based in Boston. She said the group tries to work for peace in the Mideast by increasing understanding between the Israelis and Arabs. Her group included 16 clergy members and lay people from various Christian denominations.

She said the purpose of the visit was to gather facts about the situation in the Mideast and to try and come back and tell others of what’s going on there. She said the goal is to increase understanding between both sides involved in the dispute.

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the end of its 1967 war with Egypt and other Arab countries. About the size of Delaware, the country has little more than 2 million people, 83 percent of whom are Palestinian Arabs.

After peace talks broke down in 2000, Palestinians rose up against the Israelis. Following numerous suicide bombings earlier this year, the Israeli army responded with an aggressive campaign against the Palestinians in the West Bank.

Whitehead said the result has been an increase in restrictions on tourists, noting she was allowed to move much more freely in the area during her previous visits. Whitehead said she had visited the area four times previously, the last being in 2000. She said there were curfews and numerous checkpoints and barbed wire, which she had never seen before.

Vehicles could not be taken past checkpoints, said Whitehead. So everyone had to walk through them, and there were soldiers with machine guns on cliffs above the checkpoint, looking on.

The military checked their passports and asked about the reasons for their visit, and there were rolls of barbed wire to prevent people from entering the city illegally.

She said the group encountered soldiers at the checkpoints even inside the city of Jerusalem, which is next to the West Bank. Whitehead said there were soldiers guarding every street in the city.

Whitehead said the situation was particularly tense in Jerusalem because of the suicide bombings. She said people in a Jerusalem restaurant where they were eating panicked because a man in their group left his backpack unattended while he went to the counter to order food.

Whitehead said they had to be searched before they could enter the restaurant, and they were told that was the way it was for all restaurants in the city.

She said a young soldier told her, “I didn’t create this. I’m only trying to make the experience as pleasant as possible. Whitehead said there were “extremes” among the soldiers she said, adding that they were all very young.

The group Whitehead traveled with had arranged a meeting with Yassar Arafat, but the city was “closed” that day, meaning that it was under curfew. A curfew means that no one may enter or leave the city, and people in the city can not leave their homes for any reason. People do not know when a curfew will be lifted until the morning of the same day.

Whitehead’s group was able to visit Arafat’s compound on another day, but they were not able to meet with him.

The group was also able to visit the Church of the Nativity. As many as 200 Palestinian men barricaded themselves in the church last spring, seeking refuge from Israeli military forces. The church, which is said to have been the birthplace of Christ, has long had a turbulent history.

Whitehead said she visited a Palestinian refugee camp north of Hebron, which was, “gray, everything was gray…cement and dust.” She said the rooms and buildings were all made of concrete, and there were children everywhere.

One morning they found out that Bethlehem was open until 3 p.m., so they went through an Israeli checkpoint to get into the city. Whitehead said there was a prevalent military presence in the city. While in Bethlehem, Whitehead said they met with local officials in the city.

In the spring the town of Bethlehem was under curfew for 63 out of 90 days, said Whitehead. They were also refused entry into Jericho twice by Israeli military, she said.

Whitehead said Palestinians have long been treated as second class citizens, but she said it is even worse now. Whitehead said that Palestinians are not allowed to use main roads, and this causes isolations between different Palestinian communities.

“An impossible situation has been created,” said Whitehead. She said that ending the occupation of Palestinian lands would end the conflict, but she added that Israelis would not want to give up their homes and their lives they have built for many years in the land under dispute.

She said that although Palestinians have always been treated as “second-class citizens,” she noticed more enforced separation between Israelis and Palestinians in her latest visit.

“People lived side by side for years,” she said, referring to the Israelis and Palestinians. She said the two groups were often friendly toward each other but weren’t allowed to interact because of the conflict in the area.

But now, she said,”They’ve lost hope.’

Whitehead said her family was supportive about her decision to go to Israel-Palestine, but she said that her youngest daughter Christina, 19, was worried “at the prospect of her mother going to Jerusalem.”

“I felt I had to go. I’m not sure if I understand why, but I felt I was called to go there,’ said Whitehead.