Friday - A very full and emotional day

This morning started with worship with Jim and Jean, then moved into a bible study with Rev Dr. Naim Ateek titled "The Promise". Dr Ateek review with us all the scriptures from Genesis that imply and are used to justify the sense of entitlement that the Zionist Jewish community towards this land. He then went on to identify other readings from Deuteronomy the identifies the rights of other tribes to the same land. He talked about the fact that many of these came from an oral tradition which were not written for many years and sometimes generations. He talked about the bible being self correcting, unfortunately parts can be used to justify some actions if not put together with other readings. After the Bible study we moved over to the Freres School in the Old Town where we spent the balance of the morning in focus groups. Each of us chose two, with the topics ranging from "Mapping Wars inside Syria", "Christian Zionism" and many others including the two that I attended - "Women's Issues in the West Bank" and "Jewish and Democratic: The Impossible Plan for Israel". The range resource for each topic was very well chosen and all who attended felt it was time well spent.
After Lunch we met back in the Conference Centre to hear Mr. Gerard Horton discussing "Breaking a Generation: Children in Israeli Military Detention". We learned about children who are arrested, questioned and detained for 2 to 6 months for throwing stones at various friction points. We then loaded on buses and moved to the Ofer Prison where we held a vigil which included more questions and answers with Gerard and then a time of silence, prayer and song. Upon our return to the Notre Dame Centre we spent an hour debriefing - much needed after a full day. The evening was culminated in a lovely dinner.

Friday - Tour of Bethlehem, the wall and Tent of Nations

For the first time since coming to the Holy Land we awoke to cloudy skies and cool weather. By noon we knew that going to swim in the Dead Sea was not likely a preferred activity, so we set out on an alternate plan. Our first stop was the 8th floor of our hotel which provided us with a 360 degree view of Bethlehem.  Omar pointed out the landmarks including the settlements and military bases that basically surround the city.
From here we loaded onto a small Palestinian bus and went around to visit the Church of the Nativity.  Our guide talked about why they believe this was the site of Jesus birth including the fact that there have been graves found that held the bodies of young children believed to have been killed by Herod.  Who knows for sure, but the building is undergoing major repairs thanks to a generous donor who believes in the importance of the site.
Back to our hotel to pick up luggage for the four that will be leaving us today, and our big tour bus with our driver from Jerusalem.
Our next stop was the wall. The official reason for the wall is for security purposes, however there are three holes in that story. First the wall is only 70% completed, as Israel has run out of funding to finish the structure.  Second, several individuals have managed to scale the walls, and third, if it was just to protect borders then why is it sometimes kilometers inside the Palestinian territory and not right on the border? There are stories all along the wall that have been written by individuals who have been hurt by the presence of the wall, along with a whole lot of very explicit graffiti.
After checking out the wall, we stopped to visit Clare who was on a speaking tour of BC last year. Her home is surrounded on three sides by the wall and she is not allowed to use her rooftop garden as she might be able to see over the wall if she is up there.  She does have a wonderful souvenir shop with lots of quality items. This enabled us to support her as well as pick up many last minute items to take home.

After visiting with Clare we left for the Tent of Nations. This basically is a Palestinian family land that is surrounded by Jewish Settlements.  The Israelis have been very clear that they want the land, but it has been duly registered in the family name since the Ottoman Empire in 1916. They do not want to give up their land, but know they have limited options.  Their choices are 1) resort to violence,  2.Be pacifist and give in - be victims 3.Leave-go to another country, or 4.refuse to be an enemy.this confuses people so they have to listen. Then you have the chance to try new things.  Despite having their road blocked since 2002, and despite having no access to running water, and despite being denied permits to build any buildings and despite having received 13 demolition orders for their tent structures, they are running youth camps in the summers are now using rain water they have collected in their water systems and are using solar power and growing figs olives and grapes.  They hope to move into the wine industry next year.
It was so refreshing to speak with this young man who is working so hard for success against all odds, yet using total non violence.
After our time at The Tent of Nations we walked back to our bus to go to the Shepherds Fields.  We wanted to go the short route, but.because we had a Palestinian driver we had to take the long way round, about an extra 20 minutes. This is a lovely site, worth the visit.
We returned to our hotel, said good bye to our driver and 4 of our fellow travellers, then went for dinner. After dinner we had a brief debriefing, sang a number of songs including an original from Juanita, then we were off to bed. We loose 1 more traveller overnight, then 7 of us leave for Tel Aviv in the morning.
This has been an amazing experience, one not easily put on a back burner and forgotten.  I know there will be follow-up.

Thursday - Hebron and Aroob

A beautiful sunny greated us for the second last day of our Pilgrimage. As has become our custom we started the morning with scripture. This morning it was the parable of the woman and the unjust judge.  This was followed by the scripture in which Jesus rebukes his disciples for keeping the children away from him. This fit so well with our day as it unfolded.

We travelled to Hebron where we were dropped off at the corner of a market. We then moved down a street to a checkpoint. This was the dividing line between Hebron 1 and Hebron 2 or in other words the dividing point between the Palestinian controlled part of Hebron and the Israeli controlled part. In the early 90's a terrorist killed two Jewish settlers on this road, so the Israeli military shut down all the shops along the street and restricted all Palestinians from going down the street, past a certain point guarded by a single soldier.
Just before we arrived at the soldier's position we turned up the steep stairs towards a kindergarten run by young Palestinian volunteers.  Here we learned about the challenges faced by these young people, including the orders to destroy a second bathroom for the children because they did not have a permit.
After our visit we proceeded with our journey into the occupied territory.  We had to wait for 10 minutes until Omar got clearance from the guard. Next we proceeded along the deserted street of closed shops until we reached the point where our Hebron guide could join us. He had to take a different route as he was not allowed to walk on that street. Once we met him we were taken through another security gate back onto the Palestinian side. We wandered through a shopping district by Palestinian merchants.  One interesting note, the merchants have put up netting as the settlers who live above the market have a bad habit of dropping their rubbish down on the market below.  While we were taking pictures up through the netting, tourist with a Jewish tour group were taking pictures of us down through the netting.

At the exit from the market we found ourselves back were we started and got back on our bus for the next and possibly the most memorable part of our Pilgrimage.

 We drove about 30 minutes to the refugee camp that was set up by the U.N.65 years ago. Here we divided into two groups and visited two homes. We were each fed a delightful lunch of a beans and rice dish with wonderful bread cooked over a fire and a wonderful tomato salad.  During our visit we learned a great deal more about the challenges of life in a refugee camp. It is not a camp with tents, but rather many stone houses built very close together and 3 stories high to accommodate multi generations . One group then went to the home of two women who had both been married to the same man. The man had married the younger woman first, and when they were unsuccessful at having children they decided to add another woman, who was 20 years older. They never had children and now these two elderly ladies ages 83 and 100 Sophia and Zena are living together, cared for by the community. They were really neat to talk with.  The younger one still has the key to they house that she was forced to vacate 65 years ago. There is now a Jewish settlement on the former site of her 25 acres of land.

The other group got to meet a young,man who spent 5 months in a military prison for writing graffiti on a wall.

As we were leaving the camp we saw the soldiers gathering for their nightly raid.    We journeyed back to our safe hotel with a better understanding of the life of Palestinians living  in the Occupied territory of the West Bank.

Wednesday -Foot tour of Nazareth and on to Jaffa

We were up and checked out of our hotel by 8:30 to begin a foot tour of the









old town of Nazareth.  Our first stop was in front of our hotel right next the the Church of the Annunciation. Here we read the scriptures relating to Mary learning that she will give birth to Jesus.   The second stop was at a work of art on a wall depicting Ofer Prison and symbolic depiction of the wall and the mothers who wait for their children to be released.

The next stop was the Bascilica.To get there we wandered through a market area that had been deserted during our evening walks.

The Bascilica is a magnificent structure that was built over the top of what was believed to be Mary's home. We then walked to the Greek Catholic church which is believed to have been built on the sites of the synagogue where Jesus read from Isaiah and proclaimed that the scriptures have been fulfilled today before you. We celebrated with a reading and a song from Jim and Jean- "The Spirit of the Lord".
Then Omar took us into the sanctuary where he explained two of the icons.

Then we were back in the bus headed for Tel Aviv and Jaffa.  We drove along the beach of the Mediterranean and were reminded that families who live in the Westbank are not allowed to visit the ocean,  They cannot get a permit to travel outside the Westbank.

We enjoyed a 'pizza' lunch then took a tour on foot around St Peter's Church in Jaffa.  A lovely walk with lots of stairs.  Omar spoke of how this area had been populated by Palestinians before 1948,  now Palestinians are not allowed to live in Jaffa. Their homes were confiscated and in this area were taken over by the artistic community.   St Peter's Church is attended by a Palestinian Christian community's that lives outside of Jaffa.

Then we were back on the bus headed to Bethlehem where we will spend the next three nights. It is about an hour drive depending on traffic, it is only 2:55 as I write this, we will see when we arrive. The road is a divided highway with 2 lanes each way.

We arrived in Bethlehem at 3:30, then made a quick shopping stop then onto our hotel The Star Bethlehem.  It is an 8 story hotel with ok rooms, small but fully supplied including WiFi in our rooms.  Dinner on the 8th floor then to bed.