Palestine

And yet they stay

enero 19th, 2010
in:
I am continually inspired by the grim determination of the At-Tuwani villagers to nonviolently resist expulsion from their lands.  I found the pictures the link leads to very moving.  Always think about stuff like this when propagandists talk about Israel "making the desert bloom."  I am 100% certain that no one will ever be held accountable for this.

So much has been destroyed

enero 12th, 2010
in:

I'm just feeling kind of sad.  Drew Herbert has left the team; the agents who wanted to see my novel manuscript before I left the country have politely declined to represent it; I was out visiting friends in the Beqa'a yesterday who are barely making it financially; young kids in our neighborhood keep getting detained and blindfolded as "practice" for the soldiers;  and I can't see the situation here ending other any other way than sadly. 

Demolitions in Al-Bweireh on New Year's Eve

enero 1st, 2010
in:

Before I forget,  my younger colleagues working in Hebron and At-Tuwani want to start a movement that will call the last decade, "The Singles."

 

School Days and a poem about Apartheid

diciembre 15th, 2009
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I know it's been a long time since either Markie or I have written, but just when I see a block of time I can write, something comes up. Visitors drop in and today a squad of soldiers appeared on our roof. They had maps and it looked like they were a new squad trying to figure out where things were in the Old City. Markie will have pictures and video up, shortly, I hope. (Our internet is down, so I'm writing this in a word processing document).

 

Kerem Shalom, Gaza and Anna

febrero 15th, 2009
in:
Kerem Shalom, Gaza and Anna

Jeff Halper, the messianic friend of Osama Bin Laden

febrero 15th, 2009
in:
Final notes part 1 Jeff Halper pics

NOT FOR CHILDREN (My column on the Gaza War)

enero 29th, 2009
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In the Presence of Burning Children

Rabbi Irving Greenberg wrote the following rule for discourse on the Holocaust: "No statement theological or otherwise should be made that would not be credible in the presence of the burning children."  A picture I saw this week of a baby's corpse burned from bombs Israel dropped on Gaza brought that phrase to mind.

What I've been doing for the last 15 days

enero 22nd, 2009
in:
I guess I must have been pretty busy since I haven't had a chance to blog. Every day of visiting seems to require a day and a half of write-up, and even though there is no Hebron team here, people keep dropping in, and of course you can never turn away a visitor in this culture. I'm really happy that Jessica Frederick has joined Jim and me. She just finished studying Arabic in Damascus and genuinely enjoys visiting with new people (for me, it's the dues I pay to be here.)