Hello from Hebron! May 30, 2006

Hello from (or rather following) Hebron!

I forgot to mention that yesterday afternoon we spent a couple of hours talking with Bishop Younan. It was a good dialogue and he is pleased with our growing partnership. It was a lively conversation!

Okay. Today. We went to the little village of Tuwani, a tiny village mostly of shepherds, where we met with members of the Christian Peacemaker Team currently serving there (including a young Lutheran woman who had been a member of our bishop's wife's first parish - got that?). They have neither electricity nor running water. They must carry their water from a single well. On the hill above Tuwani is a settler outpost. Twice, the settlers have scattered poison on the fields where the sheep graze. Sheep died before the poison was discovered and cleaned up. No people seem to have been effected except for a woman in the village who was pregnant at the time (about 14 months ago) was delayed in giving birth. (The same was true for one of the mother sheep.) At one point, the settlers put chickens into the village well in an attempt to poison them. That has since been cleaned up.

Tuwani's biggest challenge has been that the settlers have harassed (stoned) the village children (and those of a nearby village) as they make their way to school. CPT folks have been busy accompanying children to school for some time. A couple of CPT folks were severely injured, prompting the authorities to assign to the police and military the task of accompanying and protecting the children from harassment and danger. Unfortunately, the children now have to take a much longer route to school (10 vs 2 km) and can go only when the police or soldiers show up. Well, the police were harassed by the settlers, so they refused to accompany the children in the future so now it's up to the military to look after the kids. Unfortunately, the soldiers don't always show up on time or at all in order to fulfill this order. (Julianne was right; Tuwani is INCREDIBLY dusty.)

The villagers are so appreciative of the work done by CPT and an Italian group called Doves of Peace, that they built a simple home for the volunteers.

Women in the village - over the objections of their husbands - established a handicraft co-op to help raise funds for their families which are in direeconomic straights these days. Then men have come around as they have seen the women's work help to support their families!

After Tuwani we went into Hebron. We had been standing in the market for only a few minutes when a few settler kids (who occupy a house ABOVE the market) came running out and throwing things down toward the market. Since that area of the city is overseen by the Palestinian Authority, the city installed either chain link fencing or a more sturgy heavy wire mesh above the marketplace to limit injuries. However, one of the boys threw something like a thin pipe through the screen into the market where people were working and shopping.

The city has suffered under 72-hour curfews in the past, causing many shopkeepers to leave. Businesses are seriously depressed. People are seriously depressed but they continue on. It's a Palestinian tradition called "samood" = steadfastness, patience, forebearance.

We had a wonderful (cozy) falafel lunch in the market ($100 shekels for 12 people; 4.4 shekels per $1 US) and that included drinks! Then, we went on to the Ibrahimi Mosque, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rachel, Jacob and Leah are said to be buried. We had to go through a check point to get there. Easy for us but not so for the Palestinian men who were detained as we went in and still being detained as we departed an hour later! Our tour guide has been doing this for 57 years. He speaks in a low voice, very quickly, and tells jokes that amuse him. (What was Adam and Eve's phone number? Hint: It consists of three numbers and a word. Give up? 2 8 1 Apple)

This is the mosque at which there was a massacre in 1994. 29 people were killed on site. Many others were killed outside the local hospital while waiting for word of their loved ones. A curfew was called in the midst of the chaos and the soldiers fired on the waiting family members, bringing the death toll into the 90s. Abu Hani witnessed these events firsthand. He showed us the marks of the bullets in the marble columns around the nook in which the Imam sits. (But you should see the Imam's pulpit! Holy Homiletics Batman! It goes up for days!)

We did a little shopping in the market, toured a local center and then dragged our weary bodies back to the van. Fortunately, it was parked next to a little store so we could purchase popsicles and cold drinks. We needed them!

Following this, we went to the Palestine Child Art Center (www.pcac.net), an amazing place committed to helping children discover their talent, express their feelings and cultivate a culture of peace through art. It was a great visit with some wonderfully talented and committed people. Ask me about the 100 doves project. Amazing!

One more stop: At the Hebron Glass Factory. Beautiful stuff! Oh, my...I restrained myself. Pretty well. You'll just have to see!

Tonight, we are off. We were to have a speaker from Rabbis for Human Rights but they were having trouble finding someone and we are pooped, so we have a chance to sleep longer than usual (which is a blessing!).

I'll put in my ear plugs, set the alarm and...zonk...until 6:30 tomorrow morning when we get going again: Augusta Victoria Hospital in the AM and Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial) in the afternoon, then Armenian dinner. Whew!

I thought I knew what it meant to be exhausted...have I learned!

Shalom, Salaam, Peace from Jerusalem,
Sue