Today I have been in Palestine for three weeks. I am pleased with the extent to which I have been able to engage with issues in this complicated place.
It seemed right to me to take some time for reflection, and to think about how to spend my time in the remaining 5 weeks. Consequently, Cali and I met up at 9am, picked up some things for lunch in Bethlehem, and got the shared bus out to the Tent of Nations, a place we had visited last Wednesday.
There was an Italian group there and we joined them for part of the time. We sat in the cave which is used as the church and sang "Praise ye the Lord" in arabic. Of course we were given some delicious tea.
I planted an olive tree and bought a pot of fig jam - which Tracy warns me to be careful with.
Daher saw us to the gate and urged us to return soon.
On our way back to the main road, we noticed that, under the metal gate across the farm road built 2 weeks ago by the Israelis, there was a piece of paper, with a rock on top. We picked it up and found it was another demolition order - the soldiers who had called in the morning could not even give this to Daher in person. We walked back to the farm and gave it to Daher.
He was quite philosophical and said he would pass it to the lawyer - the legal battle has lasted 23 years so far and it seems it will continue.
We gave thanks for this lovely peaceful place and thought about the plans for tomorrow.
PS Cali is a Canadian student studying Conflict Resolution and Human Rights. She is here until June. She has been good company on these trips.
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