If you travel across the border from Israel to Bethlehem you will see the following sign.
What kind of impression does it give you about Palestinians?
This week I have witnessed intimidation, heard gunshots and seen an evil intent to demoralise people and steal from neighbours. Ironically, non of this has come from the Palestinian people that I have lived amongst and visited. Despite extreme hardships I have seen families with demolished homes make it a priority to ensure that their guests still have enough coffee and feel welcomed whilst barely having a roof over their heads.
That's not to say that there is not suffering on the Israeli side.
There are of course Palestinian people who are so desperate that they have taken up arms to fight their oppressor and there have been some horrible examples of violent acts that the perpetrators have claimed are in the name of the Palestinians or maybe even their religion. We all live in countries that are guilty of that!
I had the pleasure of visiting a place yesterday which is a farm surrounded by illegal settlements which the Israelis have tried every strategy to close down including blocking off the main road to the farm. It is called the Tent of Nations, a farm which grows fruit and Olives. Their land has been bulldozed by Israeli soldiers with fruit trees that have been established for many years needing to be replaced. Yet there is hope, and the owners have used the Israeli Military law system to their benefit and are still there on their land, defying increased pressure to leave.
I visited the famously occupied city of Hebron yesterday too.
This city is being targeted for settlement by the Israelis and there is a heavy military presence here.
One of the reasons for such problems is that this city means so much to both the Islamic and Jewish faiths being that the local Mosque/Synagogue are built upon Abrahams tomb.
Local Palestinians are finding that Hebron is so crowded that Israelis are literally building their new houses on top of the older Palestinian houses. The local market has to have a cover over it as often rubbish will be thrown from the Israeli windows.
Still, these same Palestinians allowed us to walk amongst them, they welcomed us and cooked for us.
I have so much more I could write, but I need to think about before I do so but be rest assured what we see in the news is hugely biased towards the Israelis.
A few nights ago, over 1000 Israeli soldiers invaded a refugee camp claiming to be looking for the missing three teenagers. They raided houses, shot people and didn't find what they were looking for because this camp simply had nothing to do with the kidnaps.
That's it for now, this is my last full day and I am off to explore the desert!
Thanks for listening.
J
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