Jerusalem, the holy city?

Hello Friends,
I have been sick for a couple of days so will use that as an excuse for the messed up order in this blog. Generally, if I am very careful I can get things loaded properly but it takes time and is easy to mess up. So I decided not even to try to fix this one. The story line is at the bottom - read it first. The pictures are for the most part in reversed chronological order. So read first and then view the pictures from the bottom up or not as you please.
Fred


Mom talks with the press.

After the police and soldiers left these little girls decided to take their own action of passive resistance. They blocked the street. Note: It is an seldom used side street and their attention span was rather limited. But they learn early here what life has in store for them.

A settler approaching the home from which this family was evicted.

An Israeli soldier.

I thought this was an interesting reaction to a awful situation.

The closest four individuals from left to right: 1. Richard from the UK - an international planning to write a book entitled "2-4-6-8 Israel is a fascist state" (Note: He was a soft spoken gentle man. I enjoyed working with him. I did challenge his choice for a title suggesting that a more undecided audience might pick it up if the title were more neutral.) 2. the father of the evicted family. 3. the officer in charge as best we could tell 4. my MPT coworker.

Bald man is the father watching his possession being loaded and hauled away.

Father in blue jacket approaching officer as his belonging are loaded. There was no physical violence. This family has been through this routine before. I would guess that they know the futility of active resistance.

This picture is very out of order but rather interesting. This is a corner on the Dela Rosa, the path that Jesus is believed to have carried his cross. The plague on the wall is one of the station of the cross. The two uniformed men are Israeli police (or soldier - I still have trouble with the many levels of gun toting uniformed individuals). The two in white shirts are settlers or so we believe. All four were carrying M-16s. Settlers seem to have free range when it comes walking around with their weapons.

This is family's tenting site the day prior to the raid that I experienced. The tent was brand new and just erected to replace the previous one that was taken. It was used one night only. I was able to grab a couple of hours of sleep in it.

START HERE !

Greetings Friends,
Golly I don't want to offend anyone's sense of the holy city but there is much going on there that is ... well .... unholy.
One of my team mates and I traveled to Jerusalem to provide some relief to a group of internationals who were camping on the street to provide support for a Palestinian family who had been evicted from their home. Seems that Jordan OKed the use of the land when they governed the area and the UN helped to build homes in the area for a number of families. Some Jewish folks claimed ownership based on some documents from Istanbul. Turkey had not allowed access to their records until recently. Long story short ... the Israeli courts said "Yep, evict the Palestinians and move in the settlers." I guess they do believe in the right of return after all. If this policy is applied across the board there will be a lot of Israelis in Israel proper not to mention the settlements who are evicted. Don't hold your breath.
We were to stand watch for two nights. We split the first night. I slept half and stood watch half. A combination of not enough food, not enough water, and not enough sleep did the old man in. This kind of work is better left to the young and there are a bunch of them here. So I spent the second night and then some in a cheap hostel. I am home now in Huwwara and still feel exhausted and sick.
The evicted family has been living on the street in make shift tents and with much support from neighbors, friends, and internationals. The police and military tear it down periodically. They did so the morning I was there. Most of the family was gone (school, work, or at neighbors) and only three internationals(self included) were present. About eight vehicles appeared suddenly with about 25 police and military. They took everything of significance – tent, mattresses, clothes, food from the table, the table, chairs and so on … leaving only some old pallets that they break up for fire wood. It was a strange feeling to be in the middle of all this tension, hatred, and firepower. At the same time we were simply told to move to the other side of the street and then ignored as we took picture after picture. The first had been to call for help which I did. About a dozen other internationals appeared within 15-20 minutes but the show was over by then. The media came to interview. The father sat quietly. The mother gave a long, loud, angry statement to the press.
It is getting colder so this style of protest will be more and more difficult. The family rebuilt the camp with purchased or donated materials and started over as they have done many times before.
I did have some time to tour a bit of the old city – very interesting. I plan to take a few days to myself before leaving the country and do the tourist routine. I hope to see more of Jerusalem.

With Peace,
Fred