Commissioner of the Jewish Fund of Jerusalem, Yehiel Leket, right, got           Representatives of both the Palestinians and Israelis take part in the Pipe ceremony 

Photo by Shuki Ben Ami

Hamilton’s Jim Medicine Tree, left, presents a pipe carved by Lakota Elder Clayton Two Bears, right, 

to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, center.

Photos by Kevin Frayer, AP News

 Monday, June 12, 2006

 LOCAL NEWS

Promoting peace in Jerusalem
by LUELLA N. BRIEN - Ravalli Republic

Local author Jim Medicine Tree recently traveled with the Native American Leaders Alliance to Jerusalem to celebrate Jerusalem Day and led several traditional American Indian pipe ceremonies with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

“The Native Leaders are going over to bring in the spirit of peace,” said Medicine Tree, a Cherokee and the author of “The Way of the Sacred Pipe.”

The Native American Leaders Alliance, based in Washington, D.C., has an embassy in Jerusalem. NALA works to promote reconciliation and peacemaking in families, communities, tribes and other peoples of the world and was formally initiated at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. at the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in 2004.

Medicine Tree is the keeper of the United Nations turtle pipe, which he took to Israel for the ceremony.

During the ceremony the commissioner of the Jewish Israeli Fund of Jerusalem, Yehiel Leket, got down on his knees to pray with Medicine Tree and his partners in NALA.

“It really surprised me that the most powerful man in Israel, a very devout Jew, kneeled next to me on the concrete to smudge himself with sage and cedar,” Medicine Tree said.

Smudging is when a person ceremonially burns cedar or sage and allows the smoke to carry their prayers to the sky. Pipe ceremonies are traditionally used as part of ceremonial prayer, celebration and negotiations.

The pipe is commonly thought by many American Indian tribes to be protected by the “Thunder Beings,” who are manifested in thunder.

“A storm blew through that was so unusual for that time of year that soldiers and tourists alike were in the streets taking pictures of the clouds,” he said.

While encountering several tense situations, Medicine Tree explained that American Indians understand what it is like to be displaced from their homelands and to be subject to genocide. He hoped to build bridges of trust and understanding with all sides of the situation.

Medicine Tree said that in Israel people often think that American Indians still live in teepees.

“What they know is what they see on TV there,” he said. “One person even asked me if I knew how to read.”

NALA is working in Jerusalem to build a peace park. They've contracted with two totem pole carvers to make an archway for the park. The archway will be 18-feet high and 32 feet wide covered with Israeli and Palestinian national flags and symbols.

The park, paid for by mostly Israeli money, will be built in the spirit of cooperation, Medicine Tree said.

Medicine Tree said he learned a lot while in Israel, especially about his perceptions of Middle Eastern cultures.

“To think of all Muslims as terrorists is like thinking all Italians are in the Mafia,” he said.

Medicine Tree also learned some things about Middle Eastern beverages.

“I became addicted to Bedouin coffee, I miss it,” he said.

Reporter Luella Brien can be reached at lbrien@ravallirepublic.com