“NOW that you’ve seen this, you are responsible” reads graffiti on the Separation Wall running between Israel and Palestine. It’s a statement which resonates deeply with 24-year-old Megan Sethuraman, who recently returned from a three-month stint as a human rights monitor in Palestine.
“My mum is a minister and works on a lot of peace and reconciliation projects so I grew up around that whole concept and I suppose I got the knack for it,” she says.
“So last year when I saw the advert to become a human rights monitor in Palestine, I just thought I’d apply for the experience, but I ended up getting it.”
In April Megan travelled from her home in Ballynahinch to Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Palestine, with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), which describes itself as an impartial organisation focused on protecting human rights and upholding international humanitarian law.
“Whilst I was there, we would travel out to the surrounding Bethlehem governate to visit families and communities to find out about human rights abuses that have occurred and then document them,” Megan explains.
“Then we write reports for international organisations including the UN and the Red Cross.
“But the best thing about EAPPI is that we’re not pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian which means we’re able to help more people - if we see an abuse of human rights, we monitor it – it doesn’t matter who it is.”
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Throughout her time in the Middle East, Megan had the opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of the violence and brutality inflicted upon innocent people caught up in the conflict.
“We visited a family in one of the surrounding villages in Bethlehem where an 18-year-old boy was explaining his experience at a checkpoint that was set up between Jericho and Bethlehem,” Megan recalls.
“He was driving home late with his friends after spending the day in Jericho when they were stopped at the checkpoint and were asked for their IDs by the Israeli military.
“They were then asked for their phones and to step outside of the car, which they did.”
Whilst looking through this boy’s phone one of the soldiers found a video about October 7 2023, the day of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel. This resulted in him being forcibly searched before he was taken round a corner out of sight from the other boys and his head was beaten against a wall whilst also being punched and hit with sticks.
“He started to fall unconscious and the soldiers put a T-shirt in his mouth and poured water over his head to keep him awake,” Megan recounts.
“They then put him in the car and his friends drove him to the hospital. He had to undergo surgery and suffered from broken arms, which were put in casts.”
Despite the unsettling nature of this story Megan is keen to highlight the fact it is just one of many.
“There’s so many stories and you want all of them to be told but how do you do it? There are so many human rights abuses happening out there, it’s crazy.”
Since October 7 more than 41,000 people (39,677 Palestinian and 1,478 Israeli) have reportedly been killed in the war.
“There’s a lot of frustration with the international community because we’re complicit,” Megan adds.
This sense of frustration was also felt by Belfast Presbyterian minister the Rev Dr Bill Shaw during his recent trip to Bethlehem for the annual Christ at the Checkpoint conference.
Organised by Bethlehem Bible College, the event aims to provide an opportunity for Evangelical Christians to prayerfully seek a proper awareness of issues such as peace, justice and reconciliation. This was Rev Shaw’s third visit to Palestine since 2013.
“It was too important for me personally not to go,” he explains.
“And one of the big concerns that came from several of the speakers at the conference, most of whom were Palestinian, was the silence and therefore the complicity of the church in the West.
“I think that’s particularly galling for Palestinian Christians because they’re the oldest Christian community in the world and yet the Christian church in the west - who looks to Jerusalem and historic Palestine as where the roots of Christianity are - can’t speak up.”
Like much of the West Bank, agricultural lands in the Bethlehem governate are surrounded by Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land. Although these settlements are illegal under international law they are supported by the Israeli government.
Since the beginning of the conflict and the military incursion of Gaza, settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased.
“Settlers used to burn olive groves as a way of agitating and trying to provoke a reaction but now with IDF (Israel Defence Forces) protection they go in and they burn homes and attack Palestinians at will,” says Rev Shaw who, as a result of his experiences in Palestine, became a founding member of Kairos Ireland, an international movement calling for solidarity with Palestinians and action to end the occupation of Palestine by Israel.
Rev Shaw has attended almost every Palestinian solidarity rally held in Belfast since October 7, and firmly rejects the idea that showing support for the beleaguered Palestinian people and calling for a ceasefire can be conflated with somehow supporting Hamas or acts of terrorism. “Our voices are needed – if you’re part of a solidarity movement double your efforts, if you’re speaking up say it louder,” he encourages.
That sentiment is shared by EAPPI who hope to inspire the public to act and help end the military occupation of Palestine.
“A big part of EAPPI is advocating to end the occupation and making people aware of the fact everybody can do something about it,” Megan says.
“It’s really easy for people to think that the situation is so big and complicated that there’s nothing they as individuals can do but we need everyone to play their part because it’s not just Gaza, it’s not just October 7, it is years and years of conflict.”
From participating in speaking engagements about her time in Palestine to embarking on a Master’s in international peace studies in September, it is evident Megan’s experience has made a significant impact on her.
“It’s such a beautiful country and I met such amazing people, and I feel so honoured to have been there and listen to their stories.”
She is keen to return to Palestine “as soon as possible”.
“It has changed my life forever,” she says.
