The was once a man who had many arguments with his neighbour, mostly about things their fathers had done to each other. This man wondered how he could stop his neighbour annoying him. He had an idea. "I will build a large wall, and then he will not be able to annoy me" he said. But instead of building the large wall around his property, he built it around his neighbours house. This meant that not only could the neighbour not annoy him, but the first neighbour could now enjoy his neighbours garden as well. Unfortunately and rather surprising to him, the neighbour was not pleased with the arrangement, and so he made a lot of noise expressing his dislike of being behind a very tall wall. The first neighbour wondered how he could stop his neighbour making so much noise. He had another idea. " I will make a large gate in the wall, which only I can open. Then, in the middle of the night, I can open the gate and make a surprise attack on my neighbour. This will keep him quiet.' But it didn't. The neighbour became quite unreasonably angry. Now I ask you the reader to help the first neighbour. What do you think he should do now to pacify his angry neighbour? Clue: Jesus.
I have never in my life been afraid. Until last night. The gate in the picture above is about 100 yards from where I live. The wall of which it is a part surrounds Bethlehem and runs very close to the houses in this camp. On the other side are the fields which belong to Bethlehem, but which have been "annexed" to Israel. According to the Oslo accord, we are living in Area A which means we are under Palestinian civil and military authority. However, almost every night in the past year, these gates open to reveal armoured vehicles and soldiers. The children of this camp throw stones - at the 24 foot high wall during the day and at the soldiers when they appear. The soldiers respond by firing tear gas, rubber bullets and worse. I asked my hosts if the soldiers have called at the house. Of course, she replied - the last time was 3 weeks ago! I have been told that there might be probing questions at the airport, but a soldier coming to my room is something else. I have been told that the Palestinians teach their people to be terrorists. I have discovered that this is not the case. The children are like children everywhere. They simply react to the way they are treated. What would you say to your child if you lived here?
My guide told me yesterday that he brought a group of tourists here and the boys were throwing stones at the soldiers and the soldiers were firing rubber bullets at the boys. The guide asked the boys to stop throwing stones, and they said "tell the soldiers to stop firing". So the guide asked the soldiers to stop and they did, so the boys stopped and the guide took his party through. Then he told the boys to carry on and the fighting restarted. Every person I have met here returns a smile and greets me warmly. I live in peaceful place. Is there something someone should tell our neighbour about this?
I met a great policemen called Hafeez at the Church of the Nativity this morning. He was relaxed and friendly and helping all the tourists - this illustrates what a good place Bethlehem is now - very friendly and safe. We heard all about the Siege at the Church in 2002 and then had a tour of the Church. It was good being there a second time as I was able to focus on things I had missed last year.
We had a great meeting with the Assistant Mayor of Bethlehem and were pleased to hear that the city has been getting more international support in the last few years. Any growth of the city has been severely restricted by the wall being built close to the present built up area.
We had a wonderful lunch out at the Shepherds Fields, then back to the Holy Land Trust to hear Sami Awad. He inspired the students and there were a lot of interesting questions.
Finally we had a trip around one of the refugee camps - mine. It was interesting to see some aspects of the camp which I have not yet had time to explore.
I have had an incredible week and been very privileged to be able to visit different places and to speak to a lot of people.
I went to Hebron with the American students today. There are around 420 Jewish settlers in the old city in a city of 220,000 muslims. The area around the settlers is under Israeli control. Extreme measures have been deemed necessary to ensure the safety of the settlers, including the enforced closure of 512 shops, 101 road closures and the banning of Palestinian vehicles on the settler road out of Hebron. Palestinian vehicles are banned from this area and Muslims are required to approach the Mosque on foot and to pass through a turnstile. The settlers need a dedicated road to enable them to drive out of Hebron to outlying settlements such as Qiryat Arba, for services such as shops, health and school. The site of the graves of the Patriarchs Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are contained in a building which has been divided into a Mosque and a Synagogue. This is the second most holy place in Israel after the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was interesting to visit the sites of the home of Abraham and the graves of Ruth and Jesse, and to realise their importance in the long story of this holy place.
We heard two very different perspectives, one from a Palestinian shopkeeper whose shop has been closed, and another from one of the Jewish settlers. Both groups have experienced violence and both still feel threatened by the situation. Much to think about.
I enjoyed being with Rafat (shown in the picture) from the Holy Land Trust, and particularly enjoyed he to collect (and eat) lunch of pitta bread stuffed with falafel, potato and sale. We also had freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.
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!
I went with Marwan, from the Holy Land Trust, to meet the Palestinians who have reoccupied Ein Hijleh, a village overlooking the Jordan near Jericho. The Israeli Defence Force had turned up and had closed the road so we had to walk across the desert to get to this incredible place. I met Mustafa Barghouti, Member of Parliament and General Secretary of the National Palestinian Initiative and Candidate for President of the Palestinian Authority. I also met Abu Jihad, member of the Central Committee of FATAH, and spoke to him about the role of the UK in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Local people are supplying the village with food and water. Some doctors arrived with some water. Their car stopped by the roadside and was then confiscated by the IDF, even though this is in the Palestine Territories. A lot of 'discussion' followed and the car was eventually returned. Everyone was very alert for "problems". The village has been occupied for 5 days so far.
This is the times table in arabic for the young children to learn - it is on my bedroom wall. I feel like I too have much to learn about life here. I was woken early by the moslem call to prayer and now look forward to a day in Jericho.
Having left home at 5am this morning, I finally arrived in the Aida Refugee Camp at 7:30pm this evening. I am staying with a lovely family. Their families fled to Bethlehem in 1948 when their villages were destroyed, and have been here ever since. They greeted me with a traditional Palestinian meal which was delicious. We spent some time talking about keeping in touch and domestic routine, as Ayed and Ghada are both out at work during the day.
I have been invited to go to Jericho tomorrow, and will find out more in the morning when I meet up with Marwan the field coordinator for the Holy Land Trust.
Ended with day with strong arabic coffee. Nothing will stop me sleeping tonight.
