Connecting you to news about peacemaking in Israel and Palestine that you may not see on U.S. news.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
From Northern Ireland, September 2008
It seems there are people all over the world sensitized to the injustices in Israel and Palestine and working for peace there - a hopeful sign. This photo was taken by Pat Melody on a trip in September of 2008.
In the United States, it is difficult to find news about what is happening in Israel and Palestine. When I tell my friends what I saw when I traveled there in June, 2008, they are shocked--the wall and new Jewish settlements are still being constructed in the West Bank, while Palestinian homes continue to be demolished.
This blog features: ....news that rarely appears in U.S. mainstream media ....links to news we don't often see in the U.S.
●●●●Travel to the Holy Land, October 17-31, 2009. The best way to understand the situation in Israel and Palestine is to visit the holy sites and meet the people who live there today.
●●●●See how Gazan parsley farmers are still being shot at by Israeli troops.Watch video of the attack, February 5
For ....stories of peacemakers I met on my two trips to Israel and the West Bank in June-September, 2008, ....news about people working for peace see my other blog: http://apilgrimstales.blogspot.com/
The photo above was taken in June--the 30-foot-high wall near Ramallah, in the supposedly Palestinian West Bank, where we tourists flashed our blue American passports and breezed through the Qalqilya checkpoint in a few seconds, while our Palestinian guide, who lives in Bethlehem and has a 24-hour permit to travel in Israel (which he must apply for every three months), had to wait in a long line while they searched and verified. One of our party even forgot to carry his passport and wandered about without any identification - Israeli soldiers not the least bit concerned.
Me at the Wall in Beit Jala
where the Wall cuts through Sami's orchard, gobbling up about a third of his farmland
When I first traveled to Israel and Palestine in June, 2005, with Pastor Paul Rowold, I met Israelis and Palestinians and heard their stories about how difficult their lives have become under Israel's occupation and I witnessed all the ways they are bringing hope to their communities.
When I asked what I could to, they told me "Tell our stories." They were convinced that if the American people knew what was happening to them, their lives would be different.
I returned to visit with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups in June, 2008, and I have been the co-leader for two pilgrimage groups to the Holy Land in 2008 and 2009. In May-June 2010, I traveled with a Compassionate Listening delegation. Again, the Palestinians and the Jewish Israelis I met asked me to tell their stories of despair and hope—and about their work to build their communities and create a future of hope for their children. I have made two more trips—in 2011 and again this past fall,2013, with Interfaith Peace-builders. In the picture above, I'm protesting the occupation of Palestine by standing with the Women in Black at one of Jerusalem's busiest intersections in June, 2008.
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