Jacob Fellure This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. LovelandFYI- Loveland writer challenged on trip

   www.lovelandfyi.com/faith/Fait - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/3/2005   Last Visited: 9/3/2005

   Jacob Fellure said he spent most of his two-week visit with Israeli citizens, and he was able to see the Israeli-Palestinian struggle through their eyes.
   
   "There was a lot of sadness," he said. "It was really an emotional time for them. They were watching families being forcibly removed from their homes by fellow countrymen."
   
   Fellure, 28, has been a student of the Middle East for several years. He has a master's degree in Middle Eastern history and founded the Middle East Cross-Cultural Association in 2001 to increase awareness and understanding of Middle East issues.
   
   Fellure had visited the region three times before, but he said he spent most of his time on those trips with Palestinians.
   
   He said his personal and political views had swung over the years from a strong Zionist upbringing, to a pro-Palestinian stance, and finally to a middle ground.
   
   "I thought I'd come to the middle, trying to be a bridge between the two," he said.
   
   "But this trip, I realized how hard it is to be a bridge."
   
   He said he hasn't changed his basic beliefs - he still wants what's best for Palestinians and for Israelis. But, "A lot of what I know and what I talk about were challenged.
   
   "I realized I need to be humble and keep my mouth shut," he said.
   
   Fellure still believes the Palestinians need their own state, but he's not opposed to the security barrier that Israel is building around Palestinian areas.
   ...
   Fellure made the trip to Israel last month to attend the wedding of a Palestinian friend in Bethlehem.
   
   He was able to visit other parts of the country and get to know some Israelis, he said, but he wasn't near the Gaza disengagement areas.
   
   Fellure said he spoke to many vocal young Israelis who were involved in demonstrations against the withdrawal. But a larger number of citizens - "a silent majority" - were in favor of the pullout, he said.
   
   In fact, many Israelis seemed apathetic about the event, he said. "As small as the country is, Gaza is a million miles away" to those people, he said.
   
   "In America, we're kind of addicted to the media," he said. "There, people are not really as engaged with the news. There's so much going on, they realize they have to live for the here and now" and not worry about terrorism and other upheavals that don't directly affect them, he said.
   
   That jaded attitude showed up when Fellure wanted to go look at the crater an al-Qaida missile caused near his hotel in Eilat, Israel. His Israeli friends didn't care to accompany him at first, he said, because the missile didn't explode and no one was hurt, so "it was no big deal."
   
   Suspected al-Qaida members had fired three missiles from Jordan at U.S. ships in the Red Sea. All three missed their marks, and one landed without exploding within a five-minute walk from Fellure's hotel in Israel. "It was definitely unsettling," he said.
   
   Fellure, a Christian, said people of faith in this country "should approach the situation with humility ... and in humility pray God's will. In humility, be willing to listen to either side. Do a lot more listening than talking."
   
   Despite the slap of reality that his visit to Israel delivered, Fellure said, "I still have hope.
   ...
   Jacob Fellure, author of "The Everything Middle East Book," will sign his book and talk on "The Disengagement from Gaza and the Future of Israel and Palestine" at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at Anthology Books, 422 E. Fourth St., Loveland.