By Patty Keane and Dan Riordan

Today we had a chance to catch up on our sleep as we didn’t have to leave the hotel until 10am — such a treat!

At 10:30 we attended the Christmas Lutheran Church service in Bethlehem. The minister, Rev. Mitri Raheb, was very welcoming and acknowledged our presence during the service which was conducted in Arabic accompanied by English translations whenever possible. At coffee following the service, among others we met with some folks from the World Council of Churches working for 3 months in Palestine to be witnesses to the Israeli Occupation and to support the Palestinians who are living under this Occupation. They were an inspiration!

Lunch at the Mariachi Restaurant at the Grand Hotel followed. Though it was a beautiful restaurant, the service was slow and put a dent into our afternoon activities. But we made the best of it and in the end were able to see all the sights scheduled.

Following lunch we visited Herod’s Castle, also known as the Herodium. It sits on a truncated cone-shaped hill visible throughout Bethlehem and is the highest peak in the Judaea desert. We later realized we can even see it from our hotel room’s balcony!

From the Herodium, our small bus took us to Shepherds’ Field where, the gospels tell us, the Angel of the Lord appeared before the shepherds, announcing the birth of Jesus.  Several different groups were singing carols in the beautiful Shepherds’ Field Chapel which offers excellent acoustics. We joined in and enthusiastically sang “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

In one of the caves at the Shepherds’ Field, Beit Sahour

The final place we visited today before returning to our hotel was the Church of the Nativity. Here we saw part of the original mosaic floor, put in place in 326AD! We also witnessed the spot where Jesus is reported to have been born. The whole church is under considerable re-construction — which luckily will be completed before Christmas this year. We were lucky enough to see a baptism in progress in the Greek Orthodox part of the church and then the final moments of a wedding in the Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine. Both reminded us that this is the oldest continuously worshiping Christian Church in the world, and not a museum.

Marianne Saadeh, Usama Nicola, and Yigal Elhanan

After returning to our hotel, we heard guest speakers Yigal Elhanan and Marianne Saadeh from the “Bereaved Families Group.” Yoga, an Israeli Jew, and Marianne, a Palestinian, had both lost sisters as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The “Bereaved Family Group” is remarkable in that it is made up of both Palestinians and Israelis working together for justice for both groups.

This week so far has introduced us to so many courageous men and women who are working hard to bring peace and justice to all living in this region.

By Bev Henkel

Three days of getting to know each other, 3 days of meeting the “other.” How open have I been to meeting, listening and respecting the “other” at home and as I travel in Israel/Palestine?

Our day began with a buffet breakfast after which we left in a bus for Hebron. Katie began our day with several reminders: Blessed are the Peacemakers and Love your Neighbors as yourself. After a time of silent reflection Katie closed praying, “open us to visions we have never known.”

This day would be full of experiencing the unknown. Our first stop was at the last remaining Ka9iyah (scarf) factory in Palestine. As a weaver I was overwhelmed and overjoyed to see 9-10 large fly shuttle looms warped and weaving scarves. The warp and weft was line sewing thread with 25-36 ends per inch. Men checked the machines and retied new warp as needed. Beautiful colors and patterns.

Last Kufiyah factory in the West Bank

We then continued into Hebron to the Souk (market) where we walked to the Christian Peacemakers building.

Experiencing the result of Pilgrims of Ibillin and Joan Deming’s relationships with Christian Peacemakers we were met by Art, a volunteer from Toronto, Canada. He shared the importance of an International presence in Hebron. Their work with children includes a pre-school and walking older children to school and back home after school. There is an Israeli military presence in Hebron that can make it difficult for these Palestinian children to get to school. This is one of the “realities on the ground” in Hebron. Another is the violence from Israeli settlers. An adult International trained in non-violence and conflict resolution is vital here.

We then walked to the Abrahamic Mosque. Shoes off, cape with hood on for women so our heads were covered, we entered to be at the place where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah are buried beneath this Mosque in a tunnel grave.

We walked back through the souk to Al-Basha Restaurant near a glass factory. We visited this glass factory and watched as men blew beautiful items which were sold in the store.

We now drove as close to Tent of Nations as we could get, walked in to the gate to be treated by “We Refuse to Be Enemies.”

Daoud Nassar and Usama Nicola

The Nassar family has been on this land since 1916. They are a Christian Palestinian family. Their farm is now surrounded by 5 Israeli Settlements or Colonies. They have limited water, no electricity until solar was installed recently by International friends. Here again we heard from Daher as he gave us a tour, and was in a cave while his brother Daoud told their family story: Summer camps for children, International visitors and volunteers. He graciously shared of their faith that is the foundation of their perseverance. I was struck by the following:

• Tell folks to come here and visit, even if they only walk to the gate and then go home.
• An International presence is making a difference.
• We refuse to be enemies. Violence only produces more violence.
• Blessed are the Peacemakers, not the Peace talkers.
• You have an opportunity to begin a relationship with the people we met today. Their stories are worth hearing.

Use a search engine to find:

1. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). You can sign up for a weekly report with photos. Easy to read.
2. Tent of Nations. You can learn in dept of their work and commitment to “Refuse to be Enemies.”

By Beth Nelson

Children play on the Wi’am playground while we learned the basic Occupation “facts on the ground” from Usama and Zoughbi.

We began at Wi’am Center in Bethlehem, where we heard from Zoughbi Zoughbi, its founder and director. In short, his message was about finding and creating beauty and giving hope in spite of challenges facing the Palestinians. The center is literally next to an Israeli guard tower, where armed soldiers keep watch over the area. It was quite a contrast.

Children in Aida Refugee Camp were also busy being children.

From Wi’am, we walked around the Aida Refugee Camp. As we passed through the streets, children approached us with smiles on their faces, some even requesting we take their pictures. Our guide led us to the Seraj Library and to the Al Rowwad Center. Both places appeared to be refuges within the camp. These are places where young people can go and do things that kids their ages should be doing…playing, dancing, doing, doing, doing. It was evident that the staff and the young people take pride in these places of refuge.

The third place we visited was Hope Secondary School in Beit Jala. What was striking was the evidence of a Christ-centered education. While the student population is about half Muslim (the other half being Christian), this Christian school appears to be a success story. The director shared with us about the school offering “a second chance” to students who might not have any such hope elsewhere. How uplifting!

Laila and Khader from Hope School, along with Joan and George from Pilgrims.

Our final visit of the day was to the International Center of Bethlehem. Here we learned about the Diyar Consortium. A detail that sums up the hope and resilience is that lovely stained glass ornaments are fashioned of shards from windows that have been broken by bullets and bombs. Good things are happening at this place.

Let us pray that God’s hand is at work in bringing hope to the oppressed of Palestine. Perhaps He will bring about a miracle and soften hearts so that all His children can live together in peace “…the wolf will dwell with the lamb…” (Isaiah 11:6)