Today has been spent with some Palestinians: in particular 2 Christians and 1 Muslim. One of the Christians was our tour guide, a fascinating guy who ended the tour by saying the Lords Prayer in Aramaic ie the language Jesus would have said it in, whilst looking at the Segregation Wall and the refugee camp beyond. The words of Jesus were so powerful in that moment. The other two guys are each the founder of a local NGO. Both organisations use non-violent means to speak into the situation and work to engage their user groups in positive ways of achieving a better future.
I'll blog more about each of them at another time, but it has been interesting to hear the personal stories woven into the narratives.
And also to walk through one of the refugee camps in Bethlehem, to meet people from the camp, which has been in existence since 1948, and to get up close and personal to The Wall.
Nothing can prepare you for the impact of that oppressive and divisive structure. And I have to admit that today I don't feel that I can go along with Teresa May's sentiment that the Balfour Agrreemrnt is something to be celebrated
It probably wasn't, but I'd love to think that one of the people you met was Sami Awad, a beautiful 'follower of Jesus' as he puts it, who is totally committed to non-violent resistance. I have met him several times at Greenbelt & even in Bristol.
ReplyDeleteI also know of the Alrowwad Cultural And Arts Society which helps Palestinian young people through Amos Trust/Greenbelt