Wailing Wall Partition - Men on left, women on right.
Today was a very full day. I hate travelogues which give a "blow by blow" account. I will list here at the beginning what we "did" today and then tell you my highlights and insights. First the schedule:
Breakfast was at 7:30 (yummy yogurt!)
At 8:30 we met at the hotel with Jeff Helper who works for ICAD (The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition) Jeff is an Israeli Jew who works with ICAD in direct action to non-violently resist Israel's demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories. Over 18,000 homes have bee destroyed since 1967.
After this Yacob (I lost his card, and will include his last name later), who works with ICAD, took us on a tour of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territory.
We had lunch and then went to the UN headquarters here in Jerusalem to hear about their humanitarian efforts in Gaza and the West Bank
After this we did a very fast walking tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. We "walked" through the Via Dolorosa (way of grief or way of suffering) ending at the Wailing Wall.
We came home to our hotel, had dinner and then a team meeting. I stayed after the meeting to worship with the group from England. They are four lovely young people who are for the most part Quaker. We used a reading, silence and sang a Taize song at the end. It was great just to worship.
Now, as to the things that stuck with me or perhaps I should say, "stuck on me." I am very struck how much Jerusalem has changed since the last time I was here. I know that 1987 was a "gentler time" in the overall picture of strife (at least in January of that year). I wept twice today. The first was when we saw the wall which is separating east Jerusalem from West Jerusalem. It is a partition which causes great grief and trouble for the Palestinians. The way land has been (and continues to be) annexed away from its owners, the roadblocks that even today caused long travel times to places that should have been more accessible, the poverty inflicted on residents who are prevented from having access to safe water, sewage, schools, roads, sidewalks and even trees; all of these things were visible and unnecessary.
The second time I wept was at the Wailing Wall. I remember being very troubled and angry the last time I went there as well. The Western Wall of the Temple mount is a sacred place for Jews. It dates from the second temple period...it is part of the temple built by Herod in 19 BCE. It represents the remnant of the most holy of places for Jewish people. People can pray at the Wailing Wall but it is divided down the middle with a wall which separates the men from the women. Praying together is not allowed because the men will be distracted by the presence of the women! Below is a picture of the "wall of partition" between east and west Jerusalem. The Wailing Wall is at the top of this report because for some reason the blog program will not let me bring it down.
So, I have been struck today by how very much Israel / Palestine is like South Africa during partition where people were partitioned off from one another and given different rights and priviliges and denyed home lands. I'm sure some of this sounds like a radical perspective and I haven't presented Israel's perspective, which I will do. It is however, the situation that I am observing. I am trying to listen very carefully.
I have to go because my computer is running out of battery power. I have to charge it in my room but have no access to wireless there. Here in the hotel lobby there is access but no plug! So that's it for now. More tomorrow!
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