dear friends,
This may be a real short report as others are waiting for the computer. We visited a Israeli settler this morning in a settlement outside of Bethlehem. My friends, and recent delegates, Mike and Judy White can well identify with the experience having recently met him themselves on a trip there. He was very articulate about his reasons for being on the land, and while "sympathetic" to the suffering there, and what has happened since 67, he felt that many of the claims of the Palistinians were unjustified. He spoke little about the illegal nature of the occupation. Finally getting to meet a settler after two visits here, filled in the picture for me. Intractible is the word that comes to mind. I was discourage by the pessimism of both peoples here. The settler,however, felt that his settlement would not be dismantled, and therefore, was not worried. The Palistinians, on the other hand, are very pessimistic. They feel that they, under the occupation have everything to lose and that their leadership is weak and will not represent them well.
I must sign off. Will talk with you tomorrow. Love and peace, Bill
3 comments:
Bill - I'm going to try this again, but don't know if it will work (and you won't know if you never get it, so...). If you haven't gotten the email about the General Assembly - well, you're in! Susan emailed that news to you the other day. Congratulations - I think : ).
Mike and Judy and Ursula all confirm your thoughts on the meeting with the settler. We need to have more visits by the settlers to the territories to see firsthand the results you are seeing. I hope there is an end to the pain sometime in the near future.
Love you - Kay
Hi honey! Perseverence was always a strength of yours (not always true about technology though :^)
Thanks for the note on GA/
I was able to pick up Amal Nasser tonight after her work at the hospital. She came to the hotel where we are staying, and shared her story. I had a hard time closing down the session, though it was voluntary, people wanted to hear her story. She was great!
It was a tiring day, but ended on an interesting note with a trip to a remote village that has seen weekly demonstrations for support. The town of 15,000 evidently sees very few foreigners, so we were a hot item with the kids and youth of the village. Everyone is so welcoming here. I walk the streets of Beit Sahour, and Bethlehem freely, and people greet me eagerly and appreciatively. They are so hungry and so desperate for support, and the world forgets them....
tomorrow we go to Jerusalem to worship at the cathedral and then to TEL AVIV to visit with a government official. In the evening we make our first home stay with a Palestinian family.
Thanks for the e-mail, love you, BIll
Bill, Thanks for planting the trees and for your interesting reports in journal form. Our flights were also delayed by 8 hours. That created some anxiety and frustration in trying to reschedule connecting flights.
Petra was amazing! You must go there on your next Middle East trip. Ann
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