‘I trained as a priest, but didn’t feel called to the priesthood when it came to that point, but when I looked at the service for a deacon I thought this is what I do, its someone who cares for the poor and the needy, and serves as a bridge between the church and the world. St Paul talks about ministers being ambassadors of reconciliation, which is a phrase that resonated with me so I’ve worked for various organisations in that capacity, not usually paid directly by the church but usually connected with churches in some way.’
Dave tried to go to Iraq in the first Gulf war, but didn’t make it until 2003. While on the way, he met up with some Christian Peacemaker’s who were working in Palestine, and after the Lebanon war, ended up working in Hebron for International Solidarity Campaign (ISM).
‘In Hebron it’s a unique situation because we’ve got the settlers living right in the middle of the town - it’s the only place that this happens. You’re sort of living right next to each other so you’re having to deal with the army face to face all day every day. One of the key things we do there is the school run, watching the children coming and going to school. There had been a lot of stone throwing... Before the internationals arrived the children were being attacked regularly on their way back and forward to school, and they couldn’t play on the street or in front of their houses, and that’s changed - I don’t think there’s been an attack [in the last nine months]..
Dave has been back for extended visits five times – he has married Arwa, a Palestinian woman from Hebron, who he met through the campaign, and he now prays at the mosque five times a day.
‘I would consider myself a vocational pacifist, I’m not going to get involved in violence pretty much for any reason. I can understand why other people do choose violence, I’m familiar with the just war theory, though I would say there are actually very few instances where violence can be justified, but I can see why people would want to do that. When I’m talking to Palestinians [someone] said, well its all very well, but negotiations haven’t achieved anything for us, we are now worse off since the Oslo agreement than we were before it, so suicide bombers is the only thing that we’ve got left, and I didn’t have a strong answer for that. That’s partly why I think we have to create and show that we can achieve things by non-violent means. We have to demonstrate that – not just us, it’s the obligation that the Israeli government and the US have as well if they want to talk about peace, they have to demonstrate that things can be achieved by peaceful means, and at this point that isn’t obvious to anybody on the ground.
‘What peacemaking for me is about me overcoming my own fears primarily in order to be peaceful in a violent situation. Second thing is to listen and try to understand the stories fo the various people involved. I think understanding another persons suffering is the key step the beginning step in order to move towards peace.
‘I don’t think this is a conflict about faith, you could argue its about religion, but I don’t think that’s true either, in the same way that northern Ireland wasn’t about faith, it was a nationalist issue and that’s how I would interperet what’s happening.
‘My belief is that we’re all talking about the same thing using different words, different stories, and so I don’t see, I would prefer to look at what the major religions have in common rather than spending a lot of time on what we disagree on, and I think we are agreed on what I think should be important about religion, which is loving God and loving our neighbour. Judaism, Islam and Christianity all say that really strongly.
‘Suicide bombing is not what the Koran teaches, and stealing people’s land is not what the Torah is promoting, racism is not part of Judaism.
‘So my story is when I was in Amman waiting to get into Baghdad I was praying and I heard like a voice, David you should pray in the mosques for peace.
‘It comes to that point where you go, I’ve got more in common with some Muslims than I have with some Christians frankly, so to have the experience of being with people at 4 o’clock in the morning every morning, and seeing these old men who have done this five times a day all their life, I feel peaceful when I’m with those men. So I think this is working for them. This practise has brought them closer to God. And they are peaceful people, and I want some of that.
‘I wear a kuffir almost every day now. A lot have been given to me by my wife, so they’re like a security blanket, it is a statement, in the places I wear it. I’ve never seen anything as a rejection – that’s my journey. I don’t see the need to reject anything to affirm what’s good and from God.
‘I wear a kuffir in Britain primarily so that people in Britian are aware of what Palestinians are suffering and so it’s a way of opening conversations. And it says I’m in solidarity with the Palestinians, in fact I am a Palestinians, I’m married to a Palestinian, I’m entitled to a Palestinian passport if I want one.’
One of the people I’d been most interested in photographing for this piece was Deacon Dave. He lives in the same building as Jangez, but was away in Palestine for most of the past three months. He returned a couple of weeks ago.