An adventure in the desert

Ayad drove us about 10 miles south of Bethlehem to the edge of the desert, where we stopped at a small Bedouin hamlet. The families here manage by keeping animals, supplemented by periods when they pick fruit during the season. 

Here we met Abu Al Abed with his family and 12 children. We transferred to his 4x4 and set off into the desert. This was "off-road" at its most extreme and I thought we were on the Dakar rally. We went up and down steep inclines and across dry wadis. 

We learned that Abu Al Abed spent 13 years roaming the desert with his camels with no fixed home before he settled down in his present house.

These camels now belong to Abu Al Abed's brother. On the way back he stopped and milked one of the camels so that we could taste camel's milk. I passed on that one!

After an hour of driving, we reached the dead sea, or rather the 1000 foot cliff overlooking the dead sea. Abu Al Abed climbed up on the rocks above the waterfall, now dry, but over which the water will gush in the winter. Dan is a mountain climber and was quite at home climbing about the huge drop. I decided to stay put and watch. 

We drove on to a place where the cliff top was flatter. However, Abu Al Abed then dragged a dead tree, a kettle and a container of water and disappeared over the each. Apparently this was out of the wind, but I had to take their word for that, as there was no way I was going down there. They were kind and brought me back a nice cup of tea.

Abu Al Abed was amazing - he was like a mountain goat leaping from rock to rock. Then came the time for Muslim prayer and he knelt down facing east to say his prayers. You would not believe the rocky paths he drove down, with precipitous drops and slopes. And then it got dark, and he seemed completely at ease driving through this barren landscape at night, finding the dirt tracks and hurtling along. I certainly said a few prayers today too. 

A really exciting afternoon and something I will always remember.

Morning at home

It is warm and sunny, the birds are singing and I have only heard one bomb go off this morning. 

Meanwhile it is an opportunity to rest. The youngsters from downstairs are coming up for pancakes and I am enjoyed some time indoors after a busy week.  

Yesterday I called in to see Odette. I met her at Church last week. She is a Palestinian Christian. I worked on updating her computer, as it has stopped working.  It is a slow job, but she made me some soup and then some pancakes, so was well looked after. 

This is the view from Odette's balcony - you can see Herodian in the foreground - this was Herod's summer palace. I am hoping to go there on Tuesday.

In the background you can just make out the Jordanian hills on the far side of the dead sea - some view. 

Report of Hebron Demonstration yesterday

Spoke to Dan from downstairs last night. He went to the demonstration in Hebron and showed me a photo of a "rubber" bullet.

I thought readers might like to know what happened at the demonstration, so have included the following article quoted from +972, a human rights web-based magazine. I am relieved that I did not go! The photos in the article were from 2011, so I have deleted those, but the next photo was taken by Dan yesterday - thanks Dan.

Dan's photo of the demonstration

"Winding through the narrow ally ways of the ancient city of Hebron, one thousand demonstrators reached Shuhada street around 12h30 on Friday. A massive force of Israeli soldiers/border police were waiting for them and had formed an impenetrable line. Soldiers had stationed themselves on surrounding rooftops in order to have complete control and ability to repress the demonstration at any point. This is exactly what happen.

A number of Israeli demonstrators were detained by border police but released. Palestinians and Israelis were injured as the rampaging soldiers pushed closer to the PA controlled area of H1. More Israelis were detained and released. One reporter from Al Jazzera was arrested and charged with stone throwing. At the time of this writing, he remains in an Israeli jail. After two hours of cat and mouse clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers, the demonstration was finished. The PA police, however, remained on the streets in order to ensure that another demonstration would not break out, this time against the PA itself.

Soldiers began firing at protesters, using tear gas canisters as large bullets. A thousand people spread in every direction and chaos ensued. Palestinian youth began throwing rocks at the attacking soldiers. Due to the political climate in Hebron, a Palestinian Authority police force was deployed on the borderline between Palestinian H1 and Israeli H2 in order to stop Palestinians from joining the clashes. The scene was bizarre in its layout: the empty and deserted Shuhada street filled with Palestinian, International and Israeli demonstrators inspired by the tide of revolution spreading in the Arab world, caught between heavily armed Israeli border police guarding Jewish settlers on one side and armed (but not so heavily) Palestinian Authority police on the other trying to keep Palestinians from joining."

Big protest today

Marwan, at the Holy Land Trust, told me that we might be going to a protest today. Tracy was rather concerned, so I asked Marwan if he had had problems in the past. 

He tells me that during the 1st Intifada he was arrested 8 times and, on one occasion, spent 26 months in prison on one occasion. Things have got easier and he has only been arrested seven times since working at the Holy Land Trust. Mostly he is held for a few hours, sometimes for a day, and then released. 

He told me of the time in March 2010 when went with a group of around 250 people and three donkeys to exercise their right to process down the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday. They got 500 yards past the main checkpoint going out of Bethlehem towards Jerusalem (which the international traffic uses) before thousands of soldiers arrived. He was arrested and spent 5 days in custody, while the internationals there were released after a few hours. The donkeys were also held in custody for 2 days. Marwan appeared before the judge and had to pay a fine of 3000 shekels for entering Israel without a permit. He was also banned from getting a permit to go into Israel for 4 years. Marwan also had to pay the cost of keeping the donkeys in custody. 

Today there is a huge protest in Hebron. Twenty years ago on 25 February, an extremist settler, Baruch Goldstein entered the Mosque during morning prayer in his reservist army uniform. He opened fire on the worshippers and murdered 29 Palestinians and injured more than 100 people before he was overpowered. He was killed with a fire extinguisher.

Following this, the Mosque was split into two and now the building is part Mosque, part Synagogue. This place has remained one of the most tense in the West Bank. There is a Jewish Settlement right in the heart of the Old City. The main Palestinian shopping street in the Old City, Shuhada Street has been closed to provide protection for the Settlers. Palestinians have to go through a turnstile checkpoint to access Shuhada Street and it is patrolled by israeli soldiers. 

This protest will probably be violent and so we are not going. 

Beautiful day - so far

Today is the Muslim holy day. The Call to Prayer from the loudspeaker on the nearby Mosque woke me at 4:50am this morning. I gave thanks that I am a Christian and went back to sleep!

Today is hot and sunny (again). I have a 25 minutes walk to the Holy Land Trust and enjoy walking through the market, with all its noise, activity and smells. Today all was quiet as all the shops are closed.

I am making advance plans for next week. On Monday Cali and I are going back to the Tent of Nations for some quiet time and a picnic. Rafat tells me that the team here is going to Herodian next Tuesday and that they will take me too - great.  On Wednesday I am visiting the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR) in Beit Jala, a charity supported by Embrace the Middle East.

Looking further ahead I am hoping to have a day out at the coast. I will get the bus to Tel Aviv and walk to the old city of Jaffa on the coast - getting a bit more adventurous. 

If anyone reading the blog has any questions or comments, you can add a comment directly on the blog page, or you could send me an email here - ken.perrett@icloud.com

Yad Vashem (updated)

 I travelled into Jerusalem to visit Yad Vashem, the Jewish National Holocaust Centre. My purpose in going is to get a balanced view of the situation here. 

Yad Vashem is in West Jerusalem, so travelling there was a new experience. I did some research and discovered that the tram would take me directly there from the Damascus Gate bus station. I was pleased that I mastered the ticket machine and enjoyed riding this new tram through the city. I noticed that both Palestinians and Jews were using the tram.

Yad Vesham is at Mount Hertz, the last stop of the tramway. From there it was a pleasant walk through the woods.

Yad Vashem is beautifully constructed and well designed. I visited just the Holocaust Museum - there are other parts to the very extensive centre. 

I had an English Commentary with headphones to help my understand. The Museum tells the whole story with many, many photos, documentary evidence and artefacts.

Understandably, photographs are not permitted, so I cannot give you an impression of the design which takes you on a walk in time. As you emerge from this Museum, you come out onto a platform with a spectacular view of Israel - the land given to the Jews.

The magnitude of the trauma of this event and the impact on the Jewish Nation cannot be underestimated. There are 1 million visitors to this Museum and it is part of the school education and soldiers' training - there were several such groups at the Museum. I understand that there are still around three stories on the Holocaust every day in the main Jewish Press. It has made a deep, deep continuing impact. It is difficult to comprehend the scale of the human cruelty and the lack of support for the Jews at this darkest hour. The visit has saddened me greatly. 

Having enjoyed the modern tram, I travelled back to Bethlehem on an extremely crowded small coach - 30 people on board a vehicle designed for 24. Everyone must be back inside the wall before the curfew and their day permit expired, or face arrest.

We dismounted at the checkpoint and went on foot through the turnstile. We emerged inside the wall. The picture is what used to be the main road into Bethlehem, now a deserted cul-de-sac.

As I walked home, I recalled hearing earlier about laws being passed to discriminate against an ethnic group, about people being herded into ghettos, and about walls being built. 

And today (Friday) I learned that the spectacular view from the Holocaust Museum includes Ein Karem, the village where Mary met Elizabeth when they were both pregnant and where John the Baptist grew up. When we came on the pilgrimage last year we heard how the people living in Ein Karen were forced to flee from their homes in 1948 when Jewish forces "depopulated" all the Palestinian villages. In 1999, around 1,800 people from Ein Karen were living in  refugee camps in the West Bank.

It is a shame that providing rights to one group has to result in such pain to another. 

  

Tent of Nations

Today I stood on a Palestinian mountain at a height of 950m from where you can see Gaza and the Mediterranean. It is the only hilltop in Palestine which does not have a Jewish settlement, and from this vantage point you can see four settlements on the surrounding hills.

What is the story of the amazing place? In 1916, Palestinian christian Daher Nasser bought 100 acres of land on this hilltop. He and his family have lived there ever since, sleeping in caves at night and working the land by day. And today, his grandson showed us the cave that his grandfather and father lived in. I made the visit with Anneli and Dieter, a couple staying from Germany, and Cali from Canada. 

The family have kept meticulous records and have ownership records from the Ottoman (Turkish), British, Jordanian and Israeli administrations. Nevertheless, since 1991, they have been fighting in the courts to keep the land, and the case is still in the High Court. They have received 13 demolition orders, even for the tents! The legal costs exceed £100,000 so far. 

Today, Daoud Nasser and his brothers run the farm as part of the peace project. The Tent of Nations has become an inspiring international peace project, attracting 5,000 visitors a year. Their slogan is "We refuse to be enemies". 

Their access road has been blocked by massive rocks, making it necessary to unload all produce on one side of the barrier and reload it on the other side. Two weeks ago, a metal gate was installed by Israel. Settlers have destroyed hundreds of olive trees and they have endured 23 years of legal challenge. Despite all that they show love to all. If an Israeli soldier comes, he is invited to sit down and have a cup of tea. They truly reflect Jesus command to "Love your enemies", which was my bible reading for today. 

The proposed extensions of the Annexation Wall will completely surround the farm, creating an enclave with the Palestinian village of Nahalin amid 5-6 settlements. Their faith faces even greater challenges and they need international pressure to be able to stay. Thankfully there are good signs - Jews for Justice for Palestinians and European Jews for a Just Peace have supported the project by replanting the trees destroyed by the settlers. 

There is no electricity or water supply to the farm, so the family have installed solar panels and dug huge cisterns to collect the rain water. We peered into this 5 metre deep cistern which collects the winter rain - they had a metre of snow here in January.

During the summer, the farm hosts up to 20 international volunteers. They sleep in tents and eat together. During the day they work on the farm, and in the evening sit around the camp fire and sing songs. 

The farm runs a Reconciliation Program, bringing together people of different cultures for interaction in a camp setting. They can sleep up to 80 in large tents, there is a meeting cave, a worship cave, and some caves used for sleeping during the winter - cool. 

There are summer camps for palestinian children, who are encouraged to take about the conflict and to express their hopes for the future using art. The children make murals from broken tiles and paint beautiful pictures on the wall - this one is of a Jew meeting a Palestinian in friendship. 

The family are very ingenious. They overcome the problem with demolition orders by building underground! They have become a shining example of recycling - the greenhouse is made out of recycled plastic bottles, they weave bags made from plastic waste, they use broken building slabs for paving. Having written an article about the rubbish I see in the streets, this place is a complete contrast, being a model of green living. Daher gave us handfuls of sage and thyme. The farm must be amazing in summer with vines, apricots, nut trees and animals too.

Cali and I were sorry to leave this inspiring place and have agreed to return on Monday to spend more time there. I would wholly recommend this place for a summer volunteer placement for any of our young people. I am sure it would be a good experience - see the website for more details - www.tentofnations.org.

Rubbish

One of the things that has puzzled me is that there is a lot of rubbish everywhere in Bethlehem. People throw domestic rubbish in the streets and on vacant land. I have wondered why.

With the Annexation Wall around Bethlehem, disposal of solid waste is a big issue for the city. Recognising the problem of disposing of solid waste, the World Bank has funded the al-Minya landfill to the east of Bethlehem for the use of the Palestinians.

The landfill has been under construction for the last two years in a portion of Area C just east of Bethlehem. The landfill is the first modern waste landfill in the southern West Bank. It was built to serve the needs of nearly 800,000 residents of Bethlehem and Hebron regions, amounting to around 34 percent of all solid waste in the West Bank.
However, in January, the Israeli authorities announced that the landfill site could not be used for Palestinian waste. Israelis are allowed access to the site, even though it is within the Palestinian territories. 

In the UK we take waste disposal so much for granted. Here, you cannot take anything for granted. With so many people constrained to live in a small area, and with nowhere to put the rubbish, it ends up on the street. 

A Palestinian said to me yesterday that he was expecting soon to have a charge on the air he breathes.

The Sbieh Family

The house demolished in 2004, one week before they moved in

Mohammad Sbieh and his wife Gehan live in Al Khader village with their 8 children. In 2004 they were delighted to have completed their new house and were planning to move in the following week, when Israeli soldiers turned up without warning with a bulldozer. The house was completely destroyed, including the foundations. They received a bill for the demolition service.

The Red Cross provided a tent and the family erected it on the site. The soldiers came and confiscated that. The family were told that, in order to recover the tent,  they would have to pay the cost of storing it. 

Gehan's shop

The family moved in with Mohammad's brother, who let them use one floor of his already crowded house. Mohammad was a taxi driver, but he is currently waiting for heart surgery and so cannot work. His medication costs £100 per month. Gehan has opened a small shop to make ends meet. 

The Sbieh family

The girls in the family are very bright. Amany achieved 92.5% in her High School exams, the third highest mark in the district. She is currently studying accountancy at Bethlehem University. Another daughter is studying Business Administration. The family can no longer afford to pay even the modest fees for attending the University and the girls will properly not be able to continue their courses after this term.

The family cannot  afford the cost of rebuilding their house, which has remained as it was in 2004. It is families like the Sbieh family that turn to The Holy Land Trust for help in rebuilding their home. Not that this will solve all the family problems, but it will give them their dignity back. The Holy Land Trust cannot help everyone is such a situation - it is a hard choice for them to select families for the rebuilding programme.

The story of Ali Saleem Mousa

Ali Saleem Mousa

Ali Saleem Mousa has a large family - his children and grandchildren number 32. He lives with all his family on the western fringe of the village of Al Khader, about 5km west of Bethlehem.  He owns and farms 30 hectares of land. 

The Annexation Wall has been built through his land, which is in the West Bank. It has been classified as area C under the Oslo Accord, which means that no buildings are permitted by Israel without a permit; no permits have been granted for buildings in Al Khader since 1967. 

Ali Saleem Mousa's house

Ali Saleem Mousa has received 6 demolition orders and his house has been demolished three times so far. Yet he shows incredible resilience and resistance to pressure from the Israelis to vacate his land. 

The view from the house

Part of his land can be seen from the house, but is now behind the wall. Instead of a 10 minute walk, he now has to travel 1 hour on a donkey - he is not allowed to take a vehicle - to tend his crops. 

Ali Saleem Mousa can recite the names of 11 generations of his family. All have lived on this land. He lived in the small shack you can see in the photo for 25 years. As his family started to grow, he build a new house. He lives without an electricity or water supply - he has to buy water from a tanker at £50 a time which lasts the family 4 days. 

As the house is high on a hill overlooking Al Khader, the Israelis used the land next to the house to build a military camp, from which they could fire on Al Khader during the 2nd Intafada in 1999/2000. 

The route of the Annexation Wall was planned to pass through the property and so in 2002, the Israelis arrested all the family and took them into the military camp while they demolished the house. 

Ali Saleem Mousa started building again.  Two months after the house was complete, he received another demolition order. He fought this in the courts and got the demolition stopped.

In 2004 the Israelis came and demolished the new house, and two more of his houses as well. 

The Anexation Wall, gate and tower

The Annexation Wall was completed in 2006; it is about 150 yards in front of the house. When the wall was completed in 2006, the military camp was closed and replaced by a watch tower in the wall overlooking the property. A huge metal gate in the wall allows the Israeli military to enter Al Khader whenever they choose.

In 2010 the bulldozers came again, despite the fact that Ali Mousa had a court decision from the Israeli High Court declaring that the demolition was illegal. The soldiers took no notice and demolished the house. 

After this third demolition, the Mayor and other  dignitaries came - the Housing Minister, the Governor, Leader of the Palestinian Authority - and pledged their support for Ali Mousa. 

We listen to Ali's story

He began rebuilding for the third time. He bought materials for the house, confident in the knowledge that the municipality would help him. They didn’t and he went to prison for not paying the bills. During the rebuilding, the Israelis came several times and and took away materials that he was using to build the house.  He got all his friends to dump stone and earth on the road to block the route from the large gate in the wall through which the Israelis enter his land. 

In September 2012 he received another demolition order. 

Ali Saleem Mousa told us today “I do not cry for my house, I cry for my land. I am ready to pay my life for my land.”

Some of the family, and the donkey

This battle has so far cost this family £60,000 in legal and rebuilding costs. He also gets a bill each time from the Israelis for the cost of demolishing his house. 

The Israeli Government plans to extend the Annexation Wall in both directions. If this is done, he will have no access to his  land. 

Do you think Ali Saleem Mousa is a security threat to Israel?

Busy day - lots of stories

I spent the day with Marwan from the Holy Land Trust. We had such an amazing day in Al Khader. First of all we met with the Deputy Mayor and then travelled around hearing stories. We visited three families and the High School. I am going to write about two of the families.

Ali Saleem Mousa has had his house demolished three times. 

The Sbieh family were about to move into their new house when the soldiers turned up and demolished it.  

See their full stories above.

An opportunity for reflection

Sea of Galilee near where Jesus preached the Sermon on the mount

I am being picked up by car this morning at 9:30am, so I have a little more time to myself. The family are all out at school and work, so it is quiet. I have been reading Tom Wright's book on "Luke for Everyone" and can recommend it.

Today I have reached the Beatitudes, where Jesus blesses:-
- the poor
- the hungry
- those who weep
- those who are hated

The Palestinians seem to me to be eligible for the most blessings, since they fall into all these categories! It brings home to me why I feel called to be here, to join others in showing the Palestinians that God loves them and that people care about them. We need God's kingdom to come urgently for these people. 

It makes me sad that in this place, with Jews, Muslims and Christians all worshipping the same God, we have not been able to find a Godly solution. We even have a holy day shift system, with Muslims on Fridays, Jews on Saturdays and Christians on Sundays. Still needs more prayer though. 

Please pray today for peace and justice for everyone in Israel/Palestine.

Planning the week and tea with Odette

Today I was back in the Holy Land Trust. I spent the morning writing an information note which might be provided as advice to potential UK visitors to Palestine. I also had the opportunity to have a chat with Antwan, the general manager at HLT. I enjoy times in the office as well as out in the field. We all had lunch together.

Then we planned the week. Tomorrow I am out in the field with Marwan, so another story to write I expect. On Wednesday I am going to the Tent of Nations which will be interesting I am sure. More about that on Wednesday.

I have written to a couple of organisations with a view to visiting, so hope to have some stories from those.

On Saturday Ayed, my host, is taking a group of us for a drive in a 4x4 in the desert - looking forward to that.

At four o'clock I left the office have tea with Odette. This is a charming lady that I met on Sunday. We discovered that she lives close to the HLT office and so she kindly invited me to join her for tea. We had a lovely chat and I gave her some help in sorting out her computer. 

She invited me to join her at a concert on Saturday, so am looking forward to that.

Lots to look forward to this week. 

Article from Ma'an News dated 11th Feb

Click here to see the article "Camp on front line of struggle against occupation". I live 100 yards from here.

A sad start to the day

I chose the take the no 21 bus into Jerusalem today. This is an easier route and one that does not involve going through the turnstile and scanner on foot at Checkpoint 300. No 21 is used mostly by Internationals and people with blue IDs (i.e. Jerusalem residency). There is a checkpoint and someone boards the bus, but it is not intrusive.

I had just boarded the bus and it was about to leave when I noticed a young lad of about 11 with a very young puppy. It was not on a lead and it ran into the road. The bus moved off and ran over the little puppy. I saw the boys face as he screamed and then cried. It broke my heart. I suppose in the scale of things here it was not significant in terms of the brutality shown to people. But I feel for the young people growing up traumatised. How can they learn to love their neighbour when their lives are so controlled. 

So I was very sad as I walked through East Jerusalem. This week I went to the East Jerusalem Baptist Church, where Alex Awad (Sami's uncle) is the pastor. Sami's dad was also there - he founded Bethlehem Bible College. I got a very warm welcome and enjoyed the service. 

Alex Awad had just returned from a trip to Jordan where he had been working with other Palestinians from the Bethlehem Bible College helping the refugees from Syria. It is good that, even with the problems here, the Palestinian Christians are still committed to showing God's love to others.

There were lots of visitors and we all introduced ourselves. Some of the American Students I met in my first week were there. The small Church was packed with about 50 people. I had coffee and enjoyed chatting with several people after the service. 

I met the couple who operate the Garden Tomb, which we visited while on our Pilgrimage last year-the husband was a pupil at Wellington College. Also met Odette, who lives in Bethlehem and used to work for the UN. I have been invited to tea tomorrow! I had a nice chat with Beverley who teaches English at the Bethlehem Bible  College and have an invite to go there too. Quite a sociable morning. 

Then back on the bus to Bethlehem.