Busy around Bethlehem

Wow, tons going on. Let's see if I can tell the short version.

Wednesday, I went to the Old City of Jerusalem in the morning for some shopping and looking at sights. I made it to the Armenian Quarter and the Garden Tomb. In the afternoon, I met up with Sri, the MCC'er in Jerusalem and we went to Ramallaha to the Quaker Friends Center for a talk by a visiting American professor on Christian Zionism.

I couldn't find one good website with a biography of the speaker (Rev. Dr. Don Wagner of North Park University in Chicago), but if you Google him you will find links to books, lectures, etc.

On the way back to Jerusalem on the bus, it took Sri and I 90 minutes to go about 10 kilometers. This was due to multiple "flying checkpoints" put in place at random by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Why?

From what I have seen, it is to humiliate and degrade Palestinians.

Thursday, I went to Hebron to see the Old City, mosque, and situation there. (good article at BBC)

What a situation. The Old City is quite nearly a ghost town. It once was a busy place with thousands of shops and people all around. Now, tensions are high with Jewish settlers both inside and around the Old City. We met a man who lost 2 children to violence from soldiers and faces daily harassment. His story was featured in a documentary called "In the Spider's Web". We were given a copy, but unfortunately the subtitles are only in Arabic. I need to see if I can track down a copy in English to share once I'm back in the U.S.

Last night, we went to a great art exhibition on Peace and Non-Violence.

More later, if I can get to a computer...