Jerusalem is not just a symbol, not just an idea. It is, first and foremost, a place where people live. It is for the sake of these people that we should seek peace.
Read MoreI'll be spending the next few days with several colleagues meeting with church partners and economists to get their analysis on the economic situation in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Read More
In every direction, Israeli settlements loom. Fingers of these settlements reach out along the crest of the hill to connect with the next one. Daoud is surrounded.
Read MoreThere is no update for today.
Read MoreEverything in the context of Israel/Palestine is infused with the political. One cannot visit Yad v’Shem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, without seeing it through the lens of the current conflict. But as much as extremists on either side wish to identify their enemy with the Nazis, the comparison is unhelpful at best; at worst, it dances on the graves of the victims of genocide.
Read More"It's very nice that you cry," one professor remarks. "But you are still complicit, because it is your taxes which are supporting this Occupation."
Read MoreAs for the mounting unsolved crimes in Mahatta, Tamer references Israel’s concern about the Palestinian birth rate in Israel. “For them, it’s not a problem if I die. But if I’m born, that’s a problem.”
Read MoreThe Wall has been built. It is being extended. It offers no peace for Israelis outside it, and no justice for Palestinians trapped within it.
Read MoreThese Israelis, who sing for peace. Do they really know what makes for peace? Do I really know what makes for peace? Do any of us really know what makes for peace?
Read More“The success of violent resistance as a strategy is a valid debate,” he tells us. “But there is no question about the success of non-violent resistance. Our goal is not simply to end the Occupation, but to build civil society afterwards.”
Read MoreIt is a barrier, that much is certain: a barrier to peace, to dignity, to reason.
Read MoreBut it is clear that the larger obstacle he and all Palestinians face is the Israeli Occupation. While the town of Jericho is subject to the Palestinian Authority, 95% of the region Dr. Musallem governs is under total Israeli control.
Read MoreHaving been away from Palestine for two years, and being an Anglo-American Protestant, I had forgotten the unnatural discomfort of standing out. Living in Palestine has been my closest exposure to living the minority experience.
Read MoreThe thirteen of us, both Christians and Jews, comprise their seventeenth interfaith delegation to the Middle East.
Read MoreHappy New Year! May 2004 bring peace and justice around the world.
Read MoreIt is a good day to rest.
Read MoreWe had an interesting time getting through the initial security checks, being told that the olive oil and olives we were bringing from Zababdeh were not allowed by Lufthansa - more because of the mess than anything else.
Read MoreWe have one more day here in Petra, and so we made the most of it.
Read MoreWe walked the long, dusty roads of the ancient Nabatean city, fascinated by the smallest little turn in the road and the carvings and niches along the way.
Read MoreMarthame breathed a huge sigh of relief once we were out of Israel, and smiled a huge grin as he saw a tumbleweed roll by on the Jordanian side.
Read More