August 10, 2003

We got up early and took a series of shared taxis to Qalandia, which as foreigners we passed easily, and then on to Jerusalem for worship at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. One of the Christian Peacemaker Team members delivered the sermon, centered around Jesus's admonition to "be angry, but do not sin." How can we acknowledge our anger and harness it for good? It had a message for everyone in this hurt and angry land.

Dr. Kevorkian.

After church we and a number of the CPTers went for a leisurely lunch later visiting with friends living in the Armenian Quarter (their neighbor is a Dr. Kevorkian - a bit creepy!).

Marthame helps bring some supplies to the ICAHD work crew.

ICAHD volunteers are helping to rebuild this destroyed home.

We then met up with a good friend of ours who is a member of Rabbis for Human rights, especially working with the Jahallin Bedouin near the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. We don't get to see him nearly often enough, so it was great to catch up. He asked if we wanted to go to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) work camp to construct a Peace Center on the site of the Shawamreh Family home which has been demolished four times. A large group of internationals and Israelis were there, working with Palestinians on the site, which was impressive for only two days of construction. While there we finally got to meet Jeff Halper, Coordinator of ICAHD and a Professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University, and an inspiration for many.

Our Zababdeh student was scheduled to depart today from Amman. No such luck...