I’ve been travelling most of the time with Emma visiting her friends whom she met in her previous visits to Israel/Palestine…
It’s weird that in such a small area we have so often to cross “check points” or go through high security to pass “the wall”…
As foreigners we are ok coz we don’t feel the tension or humiliation of having our access denied in those places, but for a Palestinian this is a daily situation they have to face… waiting in huge lines, having to ask for special permits to go to Israel, being denied access, etc…
often they are also not well treated by the Israeli soldiers… but who can we blame in the end… both sides are victims… victims of the fear that was spread in this land… victims of lies and propagandas…
We went to Bethany which is basically part of Jerusalem…we could have get there in 5 or 10 minutes, but because of the wall, we took more then 30 minutes…
We visited a family there, he works for the British Embassy, she’s a teacher…she hasn’t been paid by the Palestinian government for 6 months, as all the teachers…they were on strike at that time… we heard many stories of his father, a man who cannot even visit the place he was born because of the wall, and because he doesn’t have the “blue identity”, a special card that gives a Palestinian “the right” to go to Israel…
this man was crying telling his story and how humiliating and hard was the time when he and his family had to move to a refuge camp in Jericho… he doesn’t have hatred inside… he doesn’t agree with violence and terrorism, as most Palestinians also don’t… they are tired of war…he says he just wants peace… he wants to see his grandchildren playing with Israelis’ grandchildren…
We also spent a lot of time with another family in Beit Jala…a family who also shared with us their frustration with all the situation… the sadness of loosing their land…the desire of taking their child to the sea… he’s only able to move in Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Beit-Sahur which are all connected in a small area south Jerusalem…
it’s really frustrating all this injustices… and really confusing to understand…
They were really hospitable to us and they made a lot of nice Palestinian food for us to try,
they took us to a party with Palestinian music and “Dabka” dance which I really like…
His parents are so talented as well... He has amazing carvings in Olive Wood
and she does the tradicional Palestinian work...Emma is taking some of her work to the UK to sell it in a Fair Trade shop...
Simple ways of supporting individuals here who have no chance to work around the area...
We visited Eclas and her mom who live in a refugee camp in Bethlehem… Emma helped her as a volunteer last year...Eclas is a disabled woman, wonderful and beautiful lady… she grew up surrounded by foreigners so she learned well English and other languages…now she teaches Arab to foreign people and also to the volunteers who spend some time taking care of her in her house…
She was sharing how once she had to go to an hospital in Jerusalem for many months and her mom couldn’t even go and visit her coz she didn’t have the permission…
She’s a person who loves people and she relates well with every one… iaderyn the hospital she made many friends…for the first time she was getting to know Israelis and she love them all…there was a youth camp she was invited to join and she got along with all the other kids as well as the volunteers coz she could speak English… but then her mom finally came to visit after a month and they all realized she was Arab, even though she never tryed to hide it at all …she assumed they knew she was from Palestine, but suddenly she realized all Israelis stopped speaking with her after that… she spoke with sadness and she said “- I tried to love them, I honestly tried.”
Here is Eclas' mom and also some of the things she does to support the family...
This is a traditional Palestinian work, really beautiful...
May freedom come into this country… Not by violence…Not by man’s strength…
Freedom of fear from each other… letting the walls fall in people’s hearts…
It will not come from Governments, it’s already starting in individuals who take the opportunity to meet each other, to get to know one another, and realize they are both humans…
Love will tear this wall down… or maybe God will have to do something about it so men realize they got it wrong again…
This is not the way any human being was created to live ... May we all have the same rights, no matter where on earth we are leaving...
I wanna make it clear that I’m not taking sides here… as I said, both Israelis and Palestinians are victims… there are no winners in this situation… they both live in fear… they are both affected by the propaganda against one another…
And when I go back and forth, seating and eating with both Palestinians and Israelis, I’m able to love both the same way… I wonder if they would be able to interact freely what would happen…If their kids would study and play on the same places… If they would work together everyday… If they would shop in the same stores…If they would hang out in the night in the same places…If they would eat together at the same table…I believe many miss conceptions would change… I believe many walls in people’s minds would fall… I believe fear would no longer take place and war would no longer be an option…
I pray that the walls may fall, not only the physical walls, but also those in people’s hearts and minds…
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