Monday -Beginning our explorations

We set out from our hotel in Jerusalem, heading north.  We will be in Nazareth this evening but lots to experience before shutting down for the night.
As well as the original 12, we have been joined by 8 others who signed up for the post Sabeel trip. So we have a couple from England and the rest from the USA.    They will stay with us for atleast 2 days.
We headed to Joyous, but tried to take a short cut but ended up in a Jewish Settlement. This enabled us to see the differences when we did finally reach Joyous.   Here we were greeted by Abu Azam who is a successful farmer. He talked about the challenges he is facing in trying both to retain his land for himself and to pass it onto his children and grandchildren.  There are all sort

s of legal roadblocks, and he has spent much money on legal battles. We also had the chance to talk with 3 of the Ecumenical Accumpaniers who had just come back from interviewing the family of a young man that was arrested in the middle of the night.   Night arrests are fairly frequent occurances in Jayyous, but often those arrested in the middle of the night are children., under the age of 16. One of the EA's reported seeing an 11 year old arrested.  He was released a few hours later, but had spent the time with his hands bound with plastic zap straps, and blindfolded in the back on the floor of a military vehicle.
We were served a lovely lunch of chicken, rice (2 types) and salad with fresh herbs-lovely.
After lunch we walked to take a look at a thousand year old olive tree.  I am going to try to post a couple of great photos if there is a computer in our Nazareth hotel. We then walked a couple of km to the agricultural checkpoint which only operates during harvest season. The rest of the time it is locked and there are twice daily patrols to insure no one has jumped the 12 foot fence with razor wire on the top.
Then it was time to head to Nazareth.  We cleared the checkpoint without a hitch, though this is frequently a spot that insists on thorough inspection.  Fortunately not today.
Lots of traffic on the road, but we arrived safe and sound by 6 pm then checked into the Nazareth Villa.  A lovely hotel, nice rooms and great food for dinner, then time for a walk.

Sunday - a time of celebration

Sunday morning here in Jerusalem, the sun is shining and it is lovely and warm. After breakfast we caught the first bus to the Mount of Olives and specifically to the Augusta Victoria Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension. This is a really beautiful church with magnificent arches and amazing acoustics.

We had formed a 20 person choir with Jim and Jean and took part in the service singing "Peace is Flowing Like a River". All in all a really great celebration, then we were back in the buses headed to the West Bank and the Jordan River Baptismal Site.
 Interesting - you need to pass through a military zone to get to the site. At that point the Jordan River is a very narrow slow moving rather dirty stream. In former times - about a hundred or so years ago it was a very fast flowing and wide river. Not now, the water has been used for agriculture and to support a growing population. Despite the state of the river a few of us walked into the water up to our knees. There was another group there who went in all the way - that really didn't appeal to any of us. We gathered and sang a couple of songs then back in the buses to head to the Jerico Intercontinental Hotel for lunch.

This is a really large complex, a big hotel with a spa and swimming pools. We learned that it was once a casino, but that was shut down by the government. After lunch we gathered in the conference room to begin the celebrations of 25 years of Palestinian Liberation Theology. The proceedings were broken by two delightful presentations, one by a choir from the Episciple School in the West Bank. Sabeel held this part of the session here so this choir could sing for us. As they are Palestinian children in the West Bank - they are unable to travel to Jerusalem. We were also entertained by a group who played beautiful Arab music.

 

Back to Jerusalem and the Notre Dame Centre for supper and then more celebrations. 

Saturday - A revealing trip to the Negev

                                                   

We were up bright and early this morning in time to catch our 8 AM bus to the Negev Desert where we were to visit a Bedouin town and talk with them about their situation and the Prawer Plan which threatens to displace them from their ancestral land. The day was sunny and hot but fortunately the buses were all well air conditioned. There were 4 buses in all - each carrying 30 passengers. After about an hour drive, we stopped top pick up our guide for the day, then drove on for another few minutes.
The driver took the bus up a very short but rough road, parking at the top of a hill overlooking several towns containing up to 10,000 residents. These are what are called unrecognized towns which basically means that the Israeli government does not recognize that anyone lives there. As a result they can have their land confiscated at any time, and they do not have any basic facilities such as a clinic, school, electricity or septic. The goal of the Prawer Plan is to move the Bedouins to a town filled with high rises and high density population. This makes it difficult for the Bedouins who basically have an agricultural background. Sheep don't do too well in high rises.
  The Israeli's also have a nuclear plant close by (yes they have nuclear weapons!) that has effectively taken and/or polluted the water supply. The area that we were in used to grow fruit and olives, now it is hard to find bits of grass, and they are not permitted to dig wells. We did stop to look at one well that no long has water, only garbage at the bottom.

The government is basically denying that the Bedouins have been on the land for generations, but we came across a cemetery that has been there since 1899. We stopped for lunch at a little town of Umtnan - which was at the end of a very windy, narrow dirt road which we traversed at a maximum of 5 KPH. This is a recognized town which means they have a clinic and a school that goes up to secondary school.
Their leader told us that he didn't think it had very high standards, but having said that, his son just graduated from Medical School and passed the exams to begin practicing medicine. There are 3 - 4000 people in this town with 2500 attending the school. There are an average of 35 students per class, and the teachers who come from the north or Galilee stay for the week, then go home on the weekends. They don't have proper housing because they can never get a permit to build accommodation for them. The villagers either work in a nearby Jewish Settlement, or engage in agricultural activities such as raising goats and sheep. Unemployment is at 30% for men and 80% for women. The villagers do not feel very hopeful as they figure they will be evicted sometime in the near future and be moved to one of the high-rise towns. They say this despite feeling they have good relations with the Jewish community, just not the government.
  After a lovely lunch served by the locals we returned by bus, stopping at one of the larger towns where we gathered with the rest of the group in the other 3 buses. Here we learned a little more about the Prawer Plan and were asked to write our government representatives to apply pressure on the Israeli government. A short ride back to our hotel, supper and time to relax this evening up on the 4th floor wine and cheese bar.

Thursday - Many new insights

Another lovely blue sky day in Jerusalem.  The hotel we are staying in is right across from the old city and has the conference centre and a school on the same grounds.   Last evening we went up to the wine and cheese bar with its beautiful view looking over Jerusalem there was a full moon and the sky was completely clear.  Beautiful!
First came worship with Jim and Jean including more singing including the sung version of the Mica text.
The first session this morning was titled "Does the Bible have a future". I was anticipating another intellectual session, but when the first speaker produced a slingshot, it was a good clue that we were in for an interesting session-which proved to be true.   The three panelists had some very interesting points on the validity and function of the bible in today's world.
The next session included a presentation by a Norwegian Surgeon who works in Gaza.  His account of the situation there was heart rendering.
The population there is incredibly young, with 58% of the population under the age of 18.
He showed pictures of the results of the bombing and the resilience of the population. The effects of the isolation by Israel has resulted in such things as a lack of the basics such as food and water, but also poor sanitation due to a lack of deisal fuel to run the septic system. He also had pictures of soldiers operating remote drones that can pick out targets in such detail that they can tell the age of individuals on the ground. The rest of the session dealt with the legalities of what is happening and the inability of the International community to step in and enforce legal sanctions for illegal acts. The session really focused on the difference between legal and justice issues. The later part of the afternoon was free time which allowed several of us time to go for a lovely walk through the shopping area, and also time to get lost in the old city. We did manage to find our way to the Jaffa Gate and back to our hotel in time for supper. The evening session was a public lecture on the legal aspects of acts, and aq little bit of good news in what we as individuals can do to bring about pressure on the international community.

Wednesday-Heavy Study day

This morning began with a bright blue sky a lovely breakfast then on to the first full day of the conference. The morning session started with a short worship with singing led by Jim and Jean.  The rest of the morning was taken up with sessions on the authority and occupation of the bible.   The sessions were interesting and provided a diverse and very academic view of the three panelists in each session.
After lunch we met back for a lively session focusing on the bible and the occupation of   Palestine.  The panelists included an Israeli Jewish woman Dr. 
Deborah Weissman and a Christian Palestinian woman Jean Zaru.  Jean only learned last evening that she had a permit to attend, and had spent 2 hours at the check point.
The last session returned to academia, too much at the end of the day for this participant.   After dinner we will meet in small groups to discuss the day.

Tuesday I think

After a good nights sleep and a lovely breakfast with the rest of the group we set out to explore the old city.  The entrance is just a block from our hotel, and the day was sunny and warm, so it made for a pleasant walk. We wandered through the narrow streets with shops on either side, most just opening for the morning.  There was anything your heart may desire to purchase, from fresh pomegranate juice to Turkish rugs.

Our first stop was Rock of the dome, and from there to the Western Wall.  Before each site we passed through security.
Then back to our hotel for lunch and time to register for the Sabeel Conference.   At 2 o'clock we headed to the opening worship in the old city , this time through the 'New Gate' to the Melkite Church.  Here we joined in worship with attendees from many countries who read scriptures in their own language. We sang with Jim and Jean Strathdee and listened to an amazing sermon by Rev Dr Naim Ateek.
Then back to our hotel for a viewing of the film "The Stones Cry Out".
After the show which needs to be seen, we moved into supper, then to an orientation session and a presentation by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti on the status quo in Palestine and Israel.   Very much an eye-opener.
A short time for refreshments and conversation, then off to bed for a much needed rest. 

Arrival in Tel Aviv

The trip from Vancouver was long but basically uneventful.  Time to catch up on the reading material and hopefully cats a few winks.  A few was the name of the game.  It was a busy trip, with drinks then dinner, lights out for a couple of hours then breakfast.  So we arrived in Amsterdam more than just a little tired.  Outside was gloom, dark and misty, but with 10 hours to kill we thought we should explore Amsterdam.  So let's find somewhere to store our backpacks then we will head out.  Several people gave us directions, but none led us to the storage lockers.  Finally we found the way to the customs and are told there were lockers on the other side.  After watching the line-up for several minutes we decided we were too tired and turned back to spend the day in the airport.  Remember in west coast time we were about 2:30 in the morning.  We wandered around the airport for a while then sat in some very uncomfortable chairs to grab a few winks.  Change seats to a little more comfortable noodle soup for lunch, then a bit more exploring.  found some great comfortable seats where we sat for most of the rest of the wait.
The flight to Tel Aviv was only 4 and a half hours, so we arrived about 2:30 AM.  A shuttle to the hotel, and checked in.  It took a bit but by 5 AM we were in our rooms and slept until 11.  Then down to the cafe for lunch/breakfast.  We met Nan in the lobby, along with David B in the Cafe and several other Sabeel attenders.  This should be a very interesting time.
A little frustration with Blogger on my tablet - so will try - or just use Nan's computer like I am doing now.  So right now - no pics, but soon.