A Journey to Israel and Palestine: by Chris Fuller

These are the daily accounts of Chris Fuller, a Baptist Student Union campus minister at Mercer University, who traveled with a church group from Old Lime, Connecticut to Israel/Palestine
from October 19 until October 27, 2004.

Hosted by BaptistLife.Com

DAY 1

I am here, alive and well! Thank you for your prayers! My flights went without a hitch, I connected up with my group, and I am loving everything! I was asked LOTS of questions by Israeli security in the airport. They thoroughly searched my suitcase. They were grim and focused until.....they found my balloon pump. "What is this?" I told them it was a balloon pump and asked them if I could make them something. I made a pink poodle for one of the female security guards and she was soooooo excited and happy. After that, no more grim attitudes.

I sat on the airplane next to a Jewish rabbi who spoke no English. His name was Svee, which means "deer" in Yiddish. I told him where I was from. I told him I had two sons named Benjamin and Joshua. He smiled at me a lot after that. When we departed, I said, "Shalom," and he returned the greeting. Nice!

I thought I would not be able to communicate by e-mail with you here, but I found this cute little internet shop, and they only charge 6 shekels for an hour! (4.5 shekels = $1). It is right down the street from the hotel.

I arrived in Tel Aviv this morning about 8:30 and zoomed through customs. I waited in the airport for about three hours until our tour guide and bus driver came. I had plenty to read and slept quite a bit as well, so I was not bored. Next, we ate lunch and waited for the people from Connecticut. Our group is 17 total people. They came about 2:00 p.m., we loaded up in this huge bus and drove into Jerusalem. We saw vineyards and olive trees and beat up military vehicles. The land is rocky and hilly. We drove directly to the Knight Palace Hotel which is located very close to the "New Gate" in old Jerusalem. Sure, open up your Bibles, find the Jerusalem map in the back and find the "New Gate." I'm inside the walls near that gate. Too cool!

Everyone went to our rooms to chill for an hour. I met my roommate, a young Jewish man by the name of Dan Levine. He knows people from this church and asked to go along. He is an interesting man. He is particularly interested in studying people who have a end-times/Zionist theology like Jerry Falwell. He has been asking me lots of questions. He is a professional reporter, and I look forward to rooming with him while here. I took a shower and felt sooooo much better. At 6:45, we ate a four course meal of potato soup, avocado salad, beef-wrapped carrots(wierd, but good!) & potatoes, and honey dew melon for dessert. Yum! After supper we walked the streets of Jerusalem where all the cool, young people hang out. A few people were riding skateboards. Lots of people were chilling, eating ice cream and doing whatever typical, young, college-aged students do.

I hope to give you more reports as time allows. Keep praying for me!

DAY 2

I wish you were here to experience what I saw and heard. I wish you could have met the people I met. It was so amazing! I am sitting in a smoky internet cafe, with people drinking coffee and coke and yelling at each other across the room about who knows what because they are speaking in Arabic and Yiddish. I came here with my roommate Dan Levine because we both want to express ourselves in writing. There are cars and buses honking constantly at each other just 30 feet away. The door is wide open but temperature is comfortable.

We had a most interesting breakfast of cheeses, olives, zapat(an Arabic spice), boiled eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was different but good.

Our group then met with a middle-aged, Jewish woman named Angela who works with ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. This group studies and reports on how the Israeli government is systematically pushing out the Palestinian people from all the lands next to theirs. They are controlling the water supply, the schools, the hospitals, the roads and much more which make the Palestinian people miserable. They create and monitor checkpoints not just between Palestinian territories and Israeli territories, but in between Palestinian territories too. They are also building a huge 9 and 12 meter tall wall that runs all over the place, creating havoc for the Palestinian people. They are using infrastructure to control demography. I heard lots of stories about promises made and promises broken.

It was especially sad for me to see young boys, Ben and Joshua's age(my two sons are 13 & 9), forced to sell tissues and fruit and whatever they could to make a little money for their families. They should have been in school and not working.

I went to an Israeli check point to see the way the Palestinian people had to wait in line for hours and hours in the hot sun just to go a little distance. I saw where Palestinian people had to get permits just to live where they live. Many of them lined up at the permit office at 1:00 o'clock in the morning. They were crowded together under very little shade. They were not happy.

We then went to tour the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Wailing Wall. I was amazed at how little emotion these places provoked in me. I guess it is because I do not believe that places, people or objects are holy or unholy. Attitudes are holy, lives are holy and relationships are holy but not physical things. They are rich is history which make them interesting. Our tour guide was a man named Tony, and he did a good job of explaining everything. The most impressive thing about the Mount of Olives was all the tombs surrounding its base. There must have been 1000 tombs or more blanketing the hillside. The view of the old city was also impressive. The Garden of Gethsemane was dominated by this huge church, but there were a few old olive trees that were interesting to look at. Our group all gathered for prayer there. That was holy. The Wailing Wall was interesting because of all the different Jewish men praying and rocking back and forth. They ignored me. They made a lot of noise praying. I touched the wall and it was warm from the afternoon sun, even at 6:00 p.m. The wall was crammed with thousands and tens of thousands of tiny pieces of paper on which prayers had been written.

We dined with three interesting people back at the hotel. One Jewish man had lost his 14 year old daughter to a suicide bomber. The second person was a Jewish lady who worked with a women's organization which monitored the army checkpoints to reduce injustices against the Palestinians and increase understanding. The final man was the director of an organization who provides training and services to Palestinian people in their various camps. He was Palestinian. Afterwards, we met with them and discussed their various programs. I came away with a lot of impressions and lots of lessons, but it amazing how bad things are for everybody, especially the Palestinians.

The most significant statement came from this Jewish man who had his daughter killed by terrorists. He announced early on that he was Zionist. A Zionist, in short, is someone who believes in a physical land of Zion country for Israeli people to live in a Jewish society. It is a promised land. Anyway, a woman from our group asked this man if he thought all the land which had been taken forcefully from the Palestinian people should be given back. He said no, but the Palestinian people should be properly compensated. She then asked who would pay for this compensation and he responded that the United States should pay. She then told him that one of the reasons these people had been disposed is because of the significant financial support from the US in the first place, so why should America pay? And without hesitation he said, "If you don't pay, you will have another 9-11."

I have no clue what the answer is to this situation, and I don't know how much hope I have that I'll gain any clue. I do know this however; I am woefully uninformed, and everyone I know has no clue how bad this problem is. I am very worried that people will not believe me. I can hear people say in my imagination, "If it is so bad, how come we don't know about it?" However, I do know that all Americans know about 9-11, and this Palestinian problem is connected to that world event. Americans know about terrorists and these terrorists are not blowing themselves up for no reason. This is connected to the Palestinian problem.

Know what? Over the last three paragraphs, I have heard VERY clearly a huge argument going on between two customers and the shop owner. One customer is obviously Jewish and the other customer is obviously not. People almost got in a fight. Exciting and sad at the same time.

Keep praying for me.

DAY 3

I am in Bethlehem! The day started very early with our bus pulling out at 8:15 a.m. The bus ride took about half an hour but we did have to wait at a checkpoint for five minutes while the guards decided to check us out. When they found out we were American tourists, they waved us through with no inspections.

We went first to the Church of the Nativity. This church is located over the spot where Jesus was supposedly born. The place is so overgrown with icons and buildings and statues, it doesn't feel very inspiring at all. Why were priests or people spending so much time building, painting and carving? I hope none of the people around them were homeless or hungry or sick at the time of its construction or decoration.

Next, our group went to Bethlehem University. What a neat school! It has over 2000 students. About 60 percent of the student body is female. About 70 percent of the student body is Muslim and 30 percent is Christian. They teach a wide range of courses and have beautiful facilities. It was created by the Catholic Church over 100 years ago. We listened to a Power Point presentation on the history of Palestine and had a discussion afterwards. We ate a scrumptious lunch there.

After dining in style, we went to the Deheishe refugee camp. This refugee camp has been in continuous existence for over 50 years(1948)! Really! There are lots more camps just like these also over 50 years old! How tragic! The same families and their children and their children's children have suffered and survived in amazing ways the whole time. They were thrown on land with only trees and caves. Now it is a big city block. They get no water or electricity or services from Israel. Everytime the Palestinians would find a water well in the refugee camp, the Israelis would take it over and charge the Palestinians for it at the cost of over $1.00 per cubic meter(expensive!) Israeli troops regularly come in and destroy houses if they think something wrong happened there. They come in and kidnap children(even young children like 8 years old) in the middle of the night and put them in prison if they suspect they threw a rock at a tank or something like that. The UN is supposed to take care of sewage and garbage disposal and other services, but the UN is on strike right now, so garbage is piling up and stinking everywhere. No one knows when the strike might end. Recently, the Israelis cut off all access to Jerusalem for these people where its citizens have traditionally found at least some work. Unemployment is over 60%. I don't know how they make it. Someone asked them what it felt like to be a refugee. One refugee man said, "We feel like the lowest of the low. We are third class people. Our children are third class people. We are below the local Palestinians who are below the Israelis. We are nobody." That was sad for me. I can't imagine living with that kind of feeling.

Even though their life is oppressive and unimaginable, they have carved out an amazing amount of organization and structure and sanity. The have built houses, churches, roads and more. They paint the interior of their houses with beautiful paintings and poems. The children play and laugh sometimes. I walked around and gave out balloon animals to the children and they loved it! I was VERY popular! Different people gave us fresh grapes they had grown in their gardens. These grapes were huge and delicious! They do all the can to educate themselves, learning English and multiple skills. My emotions kept jerking me all over the place.

Next, we went to a hospital that Palestinian Christians had built with their own time and resources. They staffed it with their own doctors and nurses. It stayed open 24 hours a day. It serves over 120,000 constituents and was constantly seeing patients of all faiths and backgrounds. Doctors perform over 100 surgeries a week! They only collect payment on about 20% of what they do. These were some amazing Christians performing a highly needed ministry with very little.

Finally, we finished off the evening by going to a big banquet at a local restaurant in Beit Sahour. This community of Palestinians is primarily Christian(about 80%). We ate and ate all kinds of wonderful dishes. Our last course was lamb, potatoes, onions and carrots cooked in a large clay pot. Each person was given a pot of food and we had to carefully pour out its very hot contents on our plate. Yum!

We will be here in Bethlehem for another couple of days. The more I hear about these Palestinian people's past, see what they do and see how they live, I simply shake my head in wonder. How have they put up with such mistreatment for so long? I am feeling that it is the Israeli government who are the terrorizers! And what is worse, it is America who is the primary sponsor for this Israeli government terrorism because America gives Israel about 5.5 BILLION dollars every year. That's 15 million dollars a day! No wonder Arab people are ticked at America in general and the American government in particular. I am also realizing that there are lots of fantastic Israeli citizens who are ashamed of decisions and actions made by the Israeli government, and they are doing all they can to bring justice to their Palestinian neighbors.

I met a woman tonight named Allison who has created a web-site at: www.ifamericansknew.org. I can not wait to check out this site and read more about what has happened and what is going on. She is here with her daughter filming a documentary. Allison and her daughter are from California, but the mom graduated from high school in Warner Robins (next to Macon) because her dad was in the military! They are just some of the amazing people I talked to in my journey to discover more and more about the madness of and the miracles in Palestine.

I am very tired and need to go to bed.

DAY 4

Today we went to an olive farm and picked olives. It is interesting to think about Jesus going to similar trees and picking them off and eating them. They are quite bitter until they are processed. The Israelis have an intimidating outpost on top of the hill over-looking the orchard where we worked. They ignored us, but it was good expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and their simple existence. There have been times in the past when Israelis have shot at orchard workers, but no one shot at us today. We worked amongst the Palestinians to serve as human shields since the Israelis do not want to shoot at tourists.

We ate lunch right in the orchard. We had rice and lentils mixed together for one dish and cucumbers, tomatoes and onions mixed together in another dish. Also, we had olives. Yum! It was very tasty. Then we worked for a few more hours in the orchard. My arms are scratched up pretty bad just from the tiny branches(not thorns). I was climbing up in one tree when I fell down and landed on my back, scratching it up good, but not breaking the flesh or anything. It's not even really sore. I was able to catch myself for the most part. These trees are only eight or nine feet tall at the most. I'm fine. I sang lots of my Christian camp songs, much to the delight of our team. I even sang We Shall Overcome and Ain't Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round, classic civil rights songs. It felt good being a human shield.

This afternoon, we went to an olive press factory where they turn raw olives into oil. Very interesting in its simplicity. Up until thirty years ago, they used a steam engine to run their machines.

After that, we went to one of the tallest hills in the area. The locals call it "Everest." We had to go through another checkpoint in the middle of a Palestinian neighborhood to get there. Again, many checkpoints are not between the Israelis and the Palestinians like I first imagined. These checkpoints are a big hassle for the locals but not too much trouble for us tourists. We clearly get special treatment, but the Palestinians don't appear to resent us. Anyway, on top of "Everest" our guide was able to show us so much. We could see the roads that Israelis can use and Palestinians can't. We again were able to see this huge wall snaking between the Palestinian neighborhoods and the Jewish territories. It reminded me of the Berlin wall, especially the towers, but this wall is taller and MUCH longer than the Berlin wall. Sad. We could also see where the Dead Sea was located (but not high enough to actually see it) and Jerusalem in the distance. It is a beautiful land in its own unique way.

Next, we went back to the hotel, washed up and got ready for supper. I was dirty! We ate that evening in a local restaurant, again eating local foods. I tried to not eat as much as I did last night. However, the Humus and Pita Bread was particularly good. Our guests for this evening were local Palestinian children. These seven children went to the US last summer for two weeks to be with the families from the church group with which I am now traveling. They are bright and beautiful children and full of life. They are about 14 years old on average. They are all Christian. They all speak passable English and some speak quite fluently. They shared with the group what they had learned since their trip and what they think could make the experience better. They shared what happened when they came back and more. This church in Connecticut is thinking about making it possible for classes/children in Palestine to interact by video meeting technology. They are also rolling around other ideas. Mostly however, the dinner was fun and conversational.

We were told the story of the people of Beit Sahour(a nearby city of 13,000 people), who about ten years ago decided to turn in all their identity cards to the Israelis. They told the Israelis that they no longer wanted to pay taxes because they were receiving nothing for their money. They said, "No taxation without representation." Really! So the Israelis said that they would take all their furniture which they did for a while. The people of Beit Sahour, who are mostly Christian, did not respond with violence. The Israelis saw that it was having no effect. So they came back to each and every family and told them that they could have their identity cards back and that they would not have to pay any taxes. The Israelis needed these Palestinian people to have identity cards more than they needed their taxes. And that's they way things are until this day.

This whole Israeli/Palestinian issue becomes curiouser and curiouser. Again, it is late I am I tired. Tomorrow, I go to some local schools. It should be an interesting day.

DAY 5

Today was a mixture of seeing ministries, tourist stuff and learning more about the Israeli/Palestinian people and their struggles. I continue to be amazed at the people here in and around Bethlehem.

We first went to see a ministry established by Christians to children who are mentally disabled. They help children from age 3 up to 17 and have about 35 children they help. It is organized and run by the Palestinian Women's Union. It is a nice facility, even though it is not large or well equipped. They seem organized and dedicated. The children seem happy and engaged in healthy and interesting activities. Some children were putting together puzzles and some were learning writing and reading. The youngest children were in the middle of their morning nap. Also, some of the children were making crafts with olive wood and creating weavings on looms. These crafts are sold to help support the ministry. Unfortunately, the tourism business is WAY down right now, so they are hurting for funds and support.

Next, we went to a local school. This is a private school built and run by the Greek Orthodox church. 90% of the students are Christian. There are about 900 students at this school from age 3 to 12th grade. We saw their media center(500 books?), lab and several classrooms. The school put on a presentation for us with choreographed dances and the playing of musical instruments. You could tell they were very excited to be able to showcase their talent. A part of the school curriculum is to learn English so we were greeted in English everywhere we went.

The principal was a most interesting man. His name is George Sa'ada. He received his degree from the University of Southern California. He shared with us his amazing testimony. In the year 2000, he and his wife and two daughters, Marianne and Christine were riding in their car after visiting his in-law's house. They visited his wife's parents often because their home had been accidentally demolished by the Israeli government only 9 or so months before and hadn't been completely restored. About a minute from their home, Israeli soldiers shot at their car and killed their youngest daughter, Christine, who was 14 at the time. The wife took shrapnel, the older daughter took two bullets and George took nine bullets. George was rushed to the hospital and required several weeks to recover. He was not even able to attend his own daughter's funeral. The Israeli solders had set up an ambush to kill several Hamas terrorists and simply shot at the wrong car. He wasn't speeding or breaking any traffic violations. The individual soldiers apologized, but the Israeli government has not yet apologized nor compensated them financially. However, I do not believe there is any amount of money you can pay for a lost life.

What was stunning to me was what George Sa'ada said next. He said that he had forgiven the Israeli soldiers and the Israeli government and held no bitterness to them. Someone in our group asked how he could not be angry. He had lost a home and a child within the span of a year. He said that "it was a gift from God." He said that if you are a Christian, you must forgive. He's right, but it remains difficult to comprehend.

Next, we went to eat lunch at a local restaurant. For the sake of brevity, it was good, local Palestinian fast food.

Next, we went to visit a couple of shops that sold olive wood carvings, olive oil and local wine. I must confess that I sampled the local wine, but I didn't like it too much. It had a syrup quality to it. Strange.

That evening for supper we had the most interesting couple as our guests. We ate with Abed and Allegra Pacheco. Abed is Palestinian and she is a Jewish attorney in Israel. She had grown up in the United States in a strong, Zionist Jewish family and gone to Columbia University to study law. She began to take a closer study at the human rights issues in Israel and began representing Palestinians after becoming an Israeli citizen. At first, her parents and family were mortified and objected until her mom came to see for herself. Her mom now totally supports her daughter's views. Allegra met Abed in court, they fell in love and married. They now have a beautiful, one year-old child, Kudz. Abed has been in prison in "administrative detention" numerous times and tortured four times. "Administrative detention" is where only the judge and the prosecutors can see the evidence against a detainee. His torture consisted of the kinds of treatment the prisoners at Abu Garib prison received in Iraq which was primarily of sleep depravation (4 hours sleep over 96 hours), being bound up in restrictive positions for long periods of time, solitary confinement for weeks at a time and stripped naked. He was in prison while his son was born and the Israeli government would not even let him see or have a picture of his new born son. He still does not know why he has ever been detained because all the evidence against him is secret. There is no place in Israel where Abed and Allegra can legally live together. They have chosen to live in Bethlehem and the Israeli government could arrest her (or him)any time they want.

Allegra gave a short talk to everyone and then took questions. She informed our group that the Israeli government has recently been found to be breaking the Geneva Convention by the International Court of Justice in Europe. Of course, this court has no legal authority in Israel, but this ruling remains significant. One thing I found stunning was her statement that, "Israel is the most dangerous place for a Jew today." This is not just because of the activities of terrorists, but also because of the activity of the Jewish legal system. When asked about the safety of Israeli citizens, she responded, "Yes, Israelis are being killed, but what is the price?" She explained that abusing people and denying them basic human rights as outlined in the Geneva Convention did not justify the draconian activities of the Israeli government. She informed us that there are 500 to 600 children in the Israeli prison system, some as young as 11 years old. She told us that a doctor had been found in the states who would be willing to perform the needed surgery on her husband free of charge for injuries sustained during torture, but the Israeli government would not allow Abed to leave the country.

We asked her about what she believes is the solution for the problems she sees. She said that what is needed is lobbying on the US government to stop supporting the Israeli government until they stop their human rights violations. It is United States law anyway that US funds can not support governments or projects where human rights are being violated. She also supports one state and not two states (one for Palestinians and one for Israelis). She said that the Israelis have taken so much land, the remaining land is not viable to create a Palestinian country. I have looked at the current Palestinian proposal by the Israeli government and "Palestine" is divided into three parts. She said that the Palestinian Authority is dead and not viable as a ruling agency for the Palestinian people due to the pressures and harassment by the Israeli government.

Finally, she applauded our interest in this issue and hoped we would speak up. She said, "Your silence makes you complicit." She pointed out that many Germans did not speak up when Jews were being killed and persecuted prior to and during World War II. I find it amazing that all this came from an Israeli citizen and Jew. I believe she is guided by her conscience. My own conscience is moved by Allegra's testimony and also by the life of her husband.

It is past midnight, and I must go to bed.

DAY 6

I had another good day today, although not as dramatic or mind boggling as other days.

Today started with our group going to a Greek Orthodox Church worship service. The church was packed with about 300 people, maybe more. The service started at 9:30 a.m. The sanctuary was full of icons, paintings, chandeliers, candles and other items which were highly distracting to my focus. Not only that, people constantly moving around, helping the priests(two of them) with the vestments, the staffs, candles, pictures, furniture and everything else. Groups of people were moving from here to there constantly. At the same time that there were these distracting movements and distracting items (although beautiful), everyone else was chanting (singing?) the worship service in response to the chanting (sing-songy) statements by the priests. Everything was in Arabic. It was not very inspirational to me.

The average age of the congregation was about 35. Everyone who needed it had a little book with the chants and responses but most people had obviously memorized everything. The worship service was over an hour long, so we are talking about a lot of memorizing. This church does the same worship service each Sunday with one exception; they read a different passage of scripture each week. That's right, no sermon. So, my pastor, Jim Dant, has met his match as to who gives the shortest sermons in the world!

After the service, we went to a back room of the church for a short reception with the priests and several of his assistants. They served us Snickers and Mars candy bars and these tiny drinks which looked like red and white grape juice. Everyone took a glass, so I did too. Everywhere else I have visited, people have served juice, so I thought it was juice or wine at worst. Mistake. I took a sip and whew! That was some STRONG wine. I did not drink any more. Afterwards, I found out it was Brandy. That's the first time in my life I have ever tasted hard liquor. Oh well. It did not really bother me since it was a mistake of ignorance, and I chuckled to myself.

We then went to some caves that are reputed to have been where the shepherds who saw the angels once lived. The caves were fixed up with altars, icons, candles, pews and more. It had been arranged for us to have our own private worship service there with just our group and few of the Palestinian children who had come to visit in America the prior summer. Most every group member participated in the worship service. I gave the invocation.

After that worship service, we divided up into groups of two or three people and went with different Palestinian families to eat lunch with them and spend the afternoon with them. The host family I visited were the Khairs. The dad and mom were Elias and Suhair. They had three children, Imad, Ala and Ather. Ala is a girl and the other two are boys. Imad is fifteen, Ala is ten and Ather, six. Elias is a carpenter, like his father (and like Jesus perhaps!). They live in a three story house, but only on the first story. Elias' sister and husband live on the second floor and his father and mother live on the top floor. While the house is nice and attractive, their space is limited.

They served us a great lunch of grilled chicken, rice with almonds, stuffed cabbage leaves, spiced corn and more stuff I can't remember. It was very good. After lunch, we toured their wood-working shop and garden. We visited and played. I made balloon animals for all their kids, and all the neighbor kids and all their kinfolk's kids. We went to a neighbor's house who raised pet canaries. There were birds everywhere! We were taken to older parts of Beit Sahour(a suburb of Bethlehem) to see the architecture and people. We visited a well which supposedly was once visited by Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Our hosts were gracious and friendly. While their command of the English language was not great, it was adequate to discuss everything we wanted to discuss. One of the more interesting conversations revolved around the lady who raised birds. She has a son named Mazin Qumsiyeh who taught at Yale for six or seven years. She told me his teaching contract was not renewed because of his Palestinian activism and the influence of Jewish Zionists against him because of his views. This son has written a book about the Israeli/Palestinian issues and this lady gave me a copy of her son's book. I look forward to reading it when I get a chance. I gave them an autographed copy of my dad's latest book.

It is becoming obvious to me in this society that who you know is more important than what you know. Relationships are everything and virtually the only thing. Relationships are the basis for business, where you sit in church, where you go to church or school and where you live. As we rode around town, our host family seemed to know everyone and said hi to everyone. These relationships are vital because their society is self-structured and guided. There are virtually no police in the city and did not see any Palestinian police with guns. I have seen only one Palestinian police car the whole time I have been in Bethlehem and the surrounding cities. Even so, there is relatively little crime or disorder. They have no trash collection service. There are no stop lights in the city and almost no stop or yield signs. I can not believe they do not have more car crashes.

It is also obvious to me that this society is suffering economically. Elias used to be able to do work in Jerusalem , but now he is prohibited from doing so, just like all his Palestinian neighbors. He speaks Yiddish, English and a little German, in addition to his native Arabic. He does fantastic kitchen cabinetry, and used to make a good living making custom kitchens in Jerusalem. He used to have five employees, but now has no employees. In Beit Sahour, there are abandoned buildings everywhere. Elias is sad for his city and his fellow countrymen. Elias told us that he hoped to make his city a better place for his children, but now knows that it is a worse place for his children than it was for him.

Supper was in a restaurant decorated to look a little like a Bedouin tent. The food was good and we had no special guests. Frankly, I was glad for the mental rest.

Keep praying for me! All your prayers are making a difference!

DAY 7

Our group woke up early today and headed north, near Nabalus, to the home of Ibrahim Khalil. Ibrahim is in his mid-forties, but he looks older. He is gaunt and wears pale pants and a white, short-sleeved, button-down shirt. He speaks broken but easily understandable English. He welcomed us into his home, which looks much nicer on the inside than the outside. There is a pause between each sentence as he shares with us his journey. His child was crossing the road about a year ago and killed by a car driven by an Israeli settler. The settler never stopped and never called an ambulance. His child is far from the first to die in this manner. He has joined a group called Parent's Circle (www.theparentscircle.com) where Israeli and Palestinian parents of deceased children can work towards mutual understanding. He is not responding to violence with violence. Furthermore, he took us to the top of his roof to show us, in the distance, his 300 or so acres of Olive trees that he is not allowed to harvest because they are "too close to Israeli settler homes." On top of that injustice and indignity, the day we arrived, he had discovered that about 300 of his Olive trees had been chopped down by Israelis in the night. We could also see this broad path of wanton destruction. How difficult it must be to first lose a child and then lose your main livelihood. How he was even able to talk coherently and calmly with us amazed me.

We then went on to meet with Father Elias Chacour, a Christian priest in Ibillin, just north of Nazareth. I have read his book, Blood Brothers, and I recommend it to everybody. It is a moving testimony of his life as his home was taken away from him and never returned, how his father and older brothers were shipped off and told to never return (even though they did two and a half months later). His father saw unusual intelligence in Elias and had him schooled far from home for many years, and Elias eventually went to seminary. He has built not only a church but a series of schools for the children of Ibillin, from kindergarten all the way to creating a college. Father Chacour possesses unusual insight, passion and wisdom. When you are in his presence, you know you are speaking to a dedicated Christian.

From there we went to our hotel on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, across from Tiberius. I placed my suitcase in the room and set out alone for the shore. The weather was calm and the clouds spangled the sky in varying shapes as the sun set in the distance. I took off my shoes and placed my feet in the soothing, fresh water. The shore was rocky. I pulled up a plastic chair and sat there for over half an hour, thinking and praying, my feet soaking. Fish jumped out of the water and Kingfisher birds flew just above the small waves. The lights of Tiberius shimmered on the opposite shore. It was interesting thinking about Jesus experiencing similar scenes. As day gave way to night, I looked into the sky and the first constellation I could make out was the northern cross. It was fitting.

That evening after supper, our group went to a local resort, famous for their hot springs. The water was warm and the place designed for the rich and famous. There were bathroom assistants and cute little refreshments stores of all types. Local music and steam filled the air. As we were about to leave, I went to buy a Nestle Ice Cream bar and tell two of our group members it was time to go. A college-aged girl heard my directives and said, "Where are you from?" I responded in French, "Pourquois est-ce que vous me demandez? (Why are you asking me?)" And she nodded her head and said, "Oh, you sounded like you were from the south, like Georgia." I decided to confess and told her I was from Georgia. She became excited again and asked, "Where in Georgia?" I told her I was from Macon, and she said that she had worked in a camp in Clayton, Georgia. I told her that I had once worked in a camp in Clayton. Excitement again rising in her voice she asked, "What camp?" I told her I worked at Camp Dixie and taught horseback riding. She told me that she had gone to a Jewish camp. She went on to say that she loved Georgia and could not wait to go back. She said that the people of Georgia were so friendly. She didn't like New York, and she definitely didn't like Florida. I told her that indeed, most people in Georgia were very friendly. She then said, "But you know what? I took my friend from Ethiopia to the Dairy Queen in Clayton, and they wouldn't serve her because she was black." I said, "Oh, that's terrible! I am so sorry that happened to you and your friend. That was not right." She agreed and asked, "Where have you traveled in Israel?" I told her we had traveled to Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and that tomorrow, we were going to Nazareth." She looked displeased and asked why I was going to those cities. I told her that our group was looking at the difficulties and issues facing the Palestinian and Israeli people. She quickly responded, "There are no problems." I said, "If you are an Israeli." She shot back again, "What are you talking about?" I said, "You," and I pointed my finger at her, "can go to Dairy Queen." Her expression chilled and with icy words she said, "Have a nice trip." I said good-bye and left. So much for southern people being nice, but I took no pleasure in saying those words. I was deeply sad for her and hoped she would gain understanding from her experience in Georgia and our short conversation.

DAY 8

The next day was a whirlwind of tourist activities. We went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus supposedly delivered his Sermon on the Mount. This place is shaped like a natural forum, which helped me understand how Jesus could talk to 5000 people without a microphone. We went to the ancient city of Capernaum, where Peter's house is reputed to have been. We went to the shore where Jesus supposedly told Peter to cast his nets on the other side. All these places have churches of one variety or another. We then traveled to Nazareth, about fifty minutes away, and saw the place where Mary supposedly lived and another place where Joseph supposedly lived. Again, huge churches dominated each location.

I was not as moved by these unliving stones as I had been by the living stones I had spoken to only days before. Their stories keep creeping back into my thinking. As I drove down the highway with my Palestinian driver to the airport, I again saw the stark differences between the land of the Israeli and the Palestinian. Huge skyscrapers with bright and beautiful lights dominated the sky. Modern TV-like billboards flashed commercials of modern conveniences. An advertisement for the movie, Alien vs. Predator, whizzed by. That could be the title of a documentary for this region, I thought.

Our taxi was stopped by an Israeli guard right before we entered the airport. I was asked a few questions like, "How do you know this driver?" The driver was asked to get out of the car and interrogated for five minutes out of my ear shot.

It is good to be back in the US and be with my family. As I took a shower this morning, I realized I didn't have to worry about my water consumption. As I ate my breakfast, I didn't have to worry if there would be food. As I prepared for work, I didn't worry about if or where I would work. As drove to work, I didn't have worry about checkpoints. My perspective has changed.

In the face of what I saw and heard, I must respond. I have decided on two main courses of action. First, I will tell as many people as I can about what I experienced and challenge them to learn more themselves. Second, I will pray and ask everyone who will to pray to do so. Pray for healing, pray for peace and pray for justice. So, speaking the truth in love and praying for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven is always a good place to start. So, send this e-mail to whoever you can. Learn more if you want. Let us pray, let us pray, every night and every day. The need is great.

Books I would recommend are:

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman (a Jewish reporter for the New York Times)
Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour (a Palestinian Christian priest)

Web-sites that I have never looked at extensively, but MAY be helpful to learn more:

http://www.ifamericansknew.com/
http://www.icahd.org/eng/
www.theparentscircle.com
http://www.stopmoskowitz.com/
http://www.arij.org