OGDEN -- After taking a Holy Land tour, Karl Dumas said what impressed him most was the hope people have in the midst of despair.
Dumas, the pastor of First Baptist Church at 2519 Jefferson Ave., said his January visit opened his eyes to the plight of Palestinians and the struggle faced by people in the Middle East.
Although many people attribute the fighting to religious differences between the intersection of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, Dumas said the people there insist the conflict is political, not religious.
"When you see the people and when you meet the people, it doesn't match up necessarily with the image you get from the press, on TV, from the politicians," he said. "People frequently ask, 'Will you go tell our story?'"
Despite the U.S. government's strong pro-Israel stance, Dumas said he discovered the story of the Palestinians and developed a sympathy for the difficulties they go through.
However, Dumas said people should not build up one side of the conflict at the expense of the others. The various factions in the conflict all have some legitimate points and the justice or injustice of the situation depend on a point of view, he said.
"The walls (around Palestinian land) are so scary and they just keep getting bigger," he said. "But the Berlin wall fell and the Great Wall is now a tourist attraction, so there's hope."
There is a long way to go, though. He said there are checkpoints and segregated areas. The safest places are religious sites, because none of the religions want to destroy areas sacred to them, Dumas said.
Being in a conflict zone was very unsettling. Once as his group was walking along, they heard a noise behind them and turned around to see six Israeli soldiers with assault rifles.
"It's interesting that soldiers at anytime can point a gun at you, ask for your papers and detain you for hours," he said.
Dumas said he's very concerned about social justice and thinks most people are, but that many U.S. citizens just don't know what is happening.
The Palestinians are routinely oppressed and humiliated simply because they are second-class citizens, he said.
Dumas and the group he traveled with are planning on writing to American legislators asking them not to increase funding to Israel at the expense of Palestine.
The average resident wants peace, he said, and have gotten so tired of war that they don't really care what happens anymore.
No matter how bad it is, the people keep hoping for peace, he said.
"We can hope and we can pray that we will see peace. And that people will be allowed to live with dignity and the justice Jesus came to deliver," he said.
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