West Bank Blues...

Hello all, it has been a very long, very rough two days since I have last updated. It has been some of the most draining hours I have ever had the pleasure of living through. And I say pleasure not because the experiences in themselves are pleasurable or happy ones, but because through all the drainging and frustrating moments I have had so far on this trip, I know that I am learning and growing and only furthering my ability and my want to make a difference.

After leaving Iblin and the Mar Elias Insitute we traveled to Bar'am, an old Palestinian city, now in ruins, and claimed by the Israeli government to be a National Park. Our tour guide through these ruins was a man named Mr. Tommy, a small yet animated man who had once lived in Bar'am when it was a prosperous Palestinian Christian town. Then the Israelis arrived, and the story is long and horrific, so I will spare you here, but the town was destroyed, and its peaople forcibly displaced for the last 50 years. Yet they still lobby to try to return, and ironically enough, we learned, it is only after death that they can return to their homeland, and be burried in the cemetary. Yet Bar'am is not special in these histories, the same thing has happened and continues to happen to the Palestinian people all over historic Palestine. These first hand stories that we keep being blessed with are more than enough to make the tears start falling.

From Bar'am we went on to Bethlehem-most likely one of the holiest cities in Christianity. We are now in the West Bank, and we crossed a checkpoint forthe first time. We have been in Bethlehem for two days, staying at the International Center-which I must add, is one of the nicest places I've ever stayed! But ourfirst night here after eating an AMAZING meal, our local friend George decided to show us how to have a good time right here in the Holy Land. He took us to his favorite disco and we spent a good long couple hours dancing the night and our worries and our pain away. It was more fun than I ever could have imagined! BUT it meant that most of us didn't get back to our comfy little single beds until the call to prayer at 4 in the morning! We were fairly tired the next day! But being in this city is so different than being anywhere in Israel proper-for one thing, the Palestinian flag flies EVERYWHERE, and Arabic is the language you hear on the streets, instead of Hebrew. Its a beautiful place, and some of it's historic sites are SO old its mind-boggling. Yesterday was probably the hardest day so far, as we spent a good part of it walking along the 25-30 foot wall that separates Israel from the West Bank, the creates a real live prison for the Palestinians and bars them from their land , their jobs, and their families. The site was too much of a sensual experience, with the sights and smells and feelings...I wish I could describe it in greater detail here. All I will say though, to spare me the pain of reliving it is, I wish the American policy makers who encourage our "special relationship" with Israel and ignore the plight ofthe Palestinians could spend one hour walking along that wall on the West Bank side, just walk along it and read the graffiti and FEEL the pain that is so dense the air is heavy and thick and you can't even breath....I'd like them to experience that and then just see whether or not they can force themselves not to cry.

After the wall we spent time at a local Palestinian Farm who's story about discrimination and persecution rivaled some of the worst we've heard. But he had this hope that was almost drinkable....I'll never forget his smiling face, and the sign right outside his land that read "We refuse to be enemies" Its amazing to me that amidst all the pain and sufferign some people still have it in their hearts to be forgiving and hopeful and wonderful hospitable. I will strive to be more like Dakhul, the farmer, for every day I live.....

We are going to be leaving Bethlehem today, after visiting a refugee camp, to stay with a Palestinian family tonight. I couldn't be more excited and scared. I'm not scared of much, but I am afraid of how much pain I will be discovering in my remaining days here....it seems as if I have reached the breaking piont already....but there is much more to come.....

From one of the lowest points on Earth......