Bethlehem, Families, Haddad Village

I finally have internet access, though now there is so much to update it seems a bit daunting.

On Wednesday we went to Bethlehem, where we stayed at the International Center's Guest House. George and Donna, two local university students brought us to the Church of the Nativity, marking the site of Jesus' birth. Like nearly every religious site we have seen here, the ornate and excessive decor sometimes takes away from the history of the site, but going with thousands of others daily to visit makes you understand the importance of our faith.

Thursday morning we went to the Tent of Nations - an extraordinary site of hope and struggle. The owners of this land are being pressured, and nearly forced, to leave their home so that it can be built into a settlement. At the moment, it is surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements (with the exception of a small village at the bottom of the hill). They have papers and deeds dating from the Ottoman empire until today, however, the Israeli government is trying to use every avenue to get them off of the land. At this moment, they have until August 3rd for the appeals process regarding home demolitions. What homes, you ask? Well, the six tents they use for sleeping and other activities are slated to be demolished. The Tent of Nations is working all legal paths so that they can be a sustainable site for interaction of people to promote peace and reconciliation.
Thursday afternoon Martha, another young adult, brought us shopping again and we played Catchphrase and Uno with her and Afif. In the evening there was an arts performance in collaboration with groups from Sweden for cultural exchange. We saw Palestinian rappers, Swedish modern dancers, traditional Palestinian dancing, pop singing, and a particularly interesting music performance by a group of Swedish guys.


We left Bethlehem on Friday for Beit Sahour, a town just outside of Bethlehem. We met with the Lutheran church and youth there, as well as Wifaq Youth Peace Network. There was great conversation about the occupation and coexistence between peoples of different faiths on one land. It became clear through the words of the Palestinian youth that they want to get along and try to work together to overcome the occupation, but that very occupation that oppresses them as a group tries to split them apart. They told stories (reiterated again through others I have met) that at check points Christians are more easily admitted than Muslims (one's religion is listed on the ID) - this policy seeks to create divides within the people of Palestine, helping to weaken the state.
The youth of Wifaq traveled with us to Hebron, where most everything was closed because it was Friday, but we were still able to get a feel for the tension that bubbles to the surface in this city. As the resting place for the patriarchs, it is important to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. When we arrived, we ascended to the roof of the Christian Peacemaking Team building, overlooking the barriers that the Israeli government has placed to limit movement of Palestinians. When on the roof, we were approached by a soldier from the compound across the street. He told us that we had to get down, no reason, but we "weren't allowed to be up there." We tried to engage him in simple conversation to ask why, but he persisted that we were not to be on the roof. A member of CPT joined us on the roof when she heard the discussion and said calmly and plainly to him that this roof was a part of her home and that they had previous conversations with soldiers that they could be on the roof and promised not to take photos of the military compound across the street. He went back to check this information, while she continued to explain to us the situation in Hebron. Eventually he came back, but we ignored him so he gave up and left again. The sheik met us at the CPT building and we walked together to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is divided into a synagogue and mosque. The history here is fascinating, too much to get into now. We had to go into the synagogue side because it being the holy day for Muslims, though they took Katie's Bridges Not Walls bracelets and would not let her go in with them (though she did get them back when we left).
Returning back to Beit Sahour we met with our host families and separated. Cristina, Sandy, and I went on a walk around the town and they showed me where Shepherds' fields are and talked about the reality of the situation. Sandy recalled that during an Intifada when two bullets entered her home, one in her parent's room, the other in hers while they cowered elsewhere. We joined everyone for dinner at "the cave."

Saturday we again divided for family stays - this time Alicia and I went with Grasel and her family in Beit Jala (another town near Bethlehem). Grasel and her sister brought us to Bethlehem to show us the market, the mall, and Bethlehem University, then stopped on the way home for some shopping at Jumbo (the Palestinian version of Jewel). We had an amazing lunch of rice, almonds, chicken, and yogurt, but were stuffed beyond belief. Hospitality is so great in Palestinian culture and they often show this through the sharing of meals, but when your plate of food is bigger than your head it becomes difficult to convince them that it is great when you just cannot eat another bite. Families often wonder if you do not like the food if you cannot eat it all, they even offered to make us something else as we tried to show how much we did like the food. The group (Beit Jala's youth group and us) returned to the church for "get to know you games" and a walk. On our walk we had the interesting experience to see firefighters in action, putting out a garden fire started by a woman who wanted to get rid of the snakes she was certain were in there. That night with our family we played more of the "donkey game" a simple card game with some strategy and a fair amount of luck. The two young girls of the house brushed our hair after our showers - Alicia's to a silky smooth, mine to a frizzy mess. Grasel's brother taught me how to count to 7 (well to 10, but I always forget 8 and 9), but not without some teasing from them and confusion on our part.

We made to the trek to Ramallah on Sunday (not without obligatory car sickness, on my part) where we participated in the worship service followed by lunch with area families. Again, another amazing meal, consisting of lamb and chicken kabobs, french fries, salad, some sort of gravy, plums, cucumbers, cactus fruit, and apples. Just as we thought we had made it through all of the food, the drumsticks of the chicken came out, followed by kidneys. Luckily, they understood our apprehension about the latter and only made us try one. That was enough for me. We enjoyed Arabic coffee and freshly cracked almonds in the garden before it was time to return to the Church of Hope and make the journey to Jenin. After a sickening car ride for everyone else but me (I was hopped up on 2 drowsy dramamine and 2 less-drowsy dramamine) we arrived at Haddad Village - essentially a Palestinian resort. Katie and I and 2 Palestinian girls are rooming together, so after we arrived we repacked, got organized after some draining homestays and had dinner followed by more "get to know you" games. Our group hit our get to know you game limit and was a bit frustrated by all of the Arabic and resulting confusion and were well served by a group meeting where we laughed and remembered why we are here - the relationships, the people, the understanding, and the growing. It is not for the ancient, solid stones that we are here, but for the living stones - the people who tell fascinating stories of struggle and hope and are so welcoming to us into their culture.