Dawn in Bethlehem - start of a great day

Left the house in the dark at 6am and saw dawn over Bethlehem. What a fantastic walk down Star Street to the office. On the way I passed the van delivering fresh bread to the shops and it smelled so good. I knew just how the people felt when Jesus said "I am the bread of life"! I was to be picked up at 6:45am and was fortunate to find a small cafe serving the most delicious coffee and stuffed pitta bread - that was heaven too. 

I met up with a group of students and we went to Ramallah. The journey was circuitous and slow as we followed the congested Palestinian road around the whole of the Jerusalem conurbation, rather than the direct route.

In Ramallah we had some amazing talks. We started with a really informative talk at Al Haq, an organisation that investigates, reports and presents breaches of international law to the UN, EU and other countries. 

Then we heard from Jean Zaru, a peace activist and leader of the Quakers in Ramallah. She told us of her struggle as a woman in a patriarchal world and was an inspiration to me. She said "to hope for something, you have to work for it". 

Then we heard from Sam Bahour a successful business man. He has an amazing story that I would like to tell when I return. 

After a quick lunch we were off to meet the PLO! We were given lots of information from a group which is supporting the peace negotiations. Very interesting. 

I enjoyed chatting to the students and will join them again tomorrow - to Hebron this time. I got back at 6pm with a mountain of notes to write up. No time to be bored!