Working for a united humanity

When Jeanne Whitesell of St. Mark Presbyterian Church visited Berlin shortly after the wall fell, she hoped she would never have to see another partition of its kind.

But while crossing into Bethlehem on a recent trip to Israel and Palestine, she was confronted with a 25-foot high wall, stretching as far as she could see, that separates the two nations. Relieved, she also met Israelis and Palestinians working for peace, and will share her experience with the congregation at St Mark on Wednesday.

“I never dreamt that people would be building walls again,” Whitesell said. “Humanity never seems to learn that building walls to separate human beings is just not the way to go.”

The trip was organized as a pilgrimage by the nonprofit Middle East Fellowship and included several members of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council’s Interfaith Peace Ministry.

In addition to meeting with various human rights organizations, participants visited holy sites such as the Sea of Galilee and the Mount of Olives.

“It was amazing seeing all the religious sites that I’ve heard and read so much about over my lifetime,” said fellow traveler Beryl Smith. “It was the trip of a lifetime.”

Smith returned with a sense of hope for the future of Israel and Palestine, adding that the majority of the people she met wanted and were willing to work for peace.

“People want to find a path that will lead to peaceful coexistence,” she said. “Everybody is going to have to give something up, which is going to be hard, but there’s a sense of fairness and justice.”

Though she was thrilled to visit the Holy Land, Whitesell said her favorite part of the trip was meeting the people and gaining a better understanding of their everyday experiences.

She plans to continue working with international human rights organizations in hopes of forging a harmonious state.

“I don’t feel like the majority of people in America get the real stories of what’s going on,” she said. “It is a real comfort to know that people on both sides are rising above their government and blind ideologies to look beneath the surface and try to make a change.

“Hopefully I can help by sharing what I observed.”

Whitesell, Smith and others will share experiences and photos from their trip at 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Mark Presbyterian Church, 2100 Mar Vista Drive, Newport Beach. For more information, call Susan Eaton at (949) 554-5616.