September 20, 2018 Where is the land of milk and honey? Is the Fertile Crescent the beginning of civilization? The Middle East is a crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, why is the US military so entangled there? The land caressing the Jordan and Euphrates rivers is...
It has arrived. For thousands of years people look forward to this dawn. For the people in darkness have seen a great light. The moon has grown this week from a cupped hand to a dangling half circle—and now, on this longest night, is a protruding a belly, proudly...
We had 14 women in an AVP (Alternatives to Violence) workshop on healing from trauma in Hebron, Palestine. The facilitators were Lubna, Manar, Narjah, Miriam and Minga. Eman and Lubna were my translators. This workshop is popular and very much needed. One woman was...
So Jesus lives in Palestine. He's born a Jew in Bethlehem and becomes a rabbi in Nazareth. He tries to break the chains of the Occupation and three years later he's killed by the Occupiers in Jerusalem. It's all so real for me. But a whole new chapter in this story of...
Come walk with me in Jerusalem and I'll paint a portrait dabbed with history, blood, and desire. When you visit the Old City use artistic nimbleness. The streets are paved with pale limestone blocks, some as big as the pillow on your bed, shiny and smooth. I walk down...
What if from the time we are 5 years old, all problems between people were handled with compassion and clarity? At Ramallah Friends School (RFS) children are empowered to address interpersonal problems. And then they take action to follow-up on the problems. I...
Jean Zaru is a Palestinian Quaker who speaks and writes about current life in occupied Palestine. What is a Quaker response? I listened closely as Jean spoke at the RamAllah Friends Meeting last Sunday. "I'm not saying that the oppressed are blameless, but it's hard...
On a cloudy day Jonathan and I took a bumpy bus-ride to Gush Etzion where Palestinian Ali Abu Awad started talking to Jewish settlers. We heard the following story from 3 settlers. The three work for the program Roots. They organize after school programs for both Arab...
Hebron is a tinderbox. There are confrontations daily. Before the sun rises the melodic cry of the muezzin drifts across the dark city. People cook their tea and have pita, yogurt, and diab (mix of tahini and grape syrup) for breakfast. Hebron, maybe 1/2 million...
I've completed El Camino, and now I immerse myself in the thick problems of conquest and domination. My friend in Seville wants to go on a trip in to Cuba before it is wide open to US traffic. Cruise ships will be going there next May. How strange is that? Let's rush...