2 Sides to Every Story

Today we had a neat opportunity to have two tour guides that showed us around: Kamal, a Palestinian and a Israeli settlement guide. We first went to the Tent of Nations which is a Palestinian family's property that is surrounded by settlements. They have been fighting for their land for over 20 years. The Israeli government is trying to make it difficult for them by not giving them building permits, tearing down their fruit trees, and currently building a school that will close off the easiest route to their home. The man that talked about his family's land talked a lot about peace. "The Bible said to be peaceMAKERS not peaceTALKERS" they work together with volunteers to help raise awareness about their situation and are hopeful for the future. It was a great opportunity to hear another testimony from people who are living in the heart of oppression. But if you talk to an Israeli about this situation they would also try and present a logical explanation as to why the Palestinians need to leave their land. So it's a very tricky issue and as we've been told over and over again, people hope we walk away with this confusion rather than walking away with clarity. Let me tell you, they're achieving that!
Hearing the story at the Tent of Nations 

Sorry for the sideways pic! But absolutely love the messages that the Tent of Nations is trying to promote! This is their brochure. 

Then we went to a cute coffee shop with pastries and coffee. Enjoyed having some iced coffee as opposed to the hot coffee that we are always being offered! Then the Israeli guide we had today took us to his settlement. Israeli settlements are places in the West Bank that Israelis have settled in and live among near Palestinians. We went to his home and had the opportunity to ask him and Kamal questions and hear them debate. In some regards they agree but their views of history and opinions of what is happening vary a lot. It's hard to hear of these people living in hostile environments, they want peace but just don't know how to go about it. 


In the Israeli settlement gathered around and talking about politics 

After talking about politics for quite a while we went to Hebron where we had lunch in a Muslim home. It was delicious as always. Then Kamal took us on the Palestinian side of Hebron where we went to a mosque that stands over the site where Sarah (from Abraham and Sarah) is buried. We got to go in and see the beautiful mosque and experience some of the traditions (women covering ourselves in robes and taking off our shoes before we entered the main area). This building is half of a mosque and half of a synagogue as they share this holy site. 


Then we went to the Hebron market on the Palestinian side. Most of the shops in this market are now shut down. Right above this market are Israeli homes that have come in and been built above them and they dump out their trash on top of these markets. So the shops put up metal netting to prevent it from landing on the things that they are selling. But then they started throwing down liquids such as eggs, human waste, bleach.... and so many shop owners left. Meanwhile there are many Israeli military towers everywhere that can see this taking place. We talked to a shop owner who talked about this. It was heartbreaking to hear him talk about it and know that this is their reality. "We are human too" is what he said and it made me tear up. Know that I'm not trying to take sides on this large political issue. I'm just confused by all the hurt and pain I see on both sides and it is so hard to see. We walked through this market and people walked beside us trying to sell items to make a living because not many people want to come to this market anymore. Little boys came up and tried selling us bracelets and trinkets. These little girls came up to our group "20 shekels, 20 shekels" Heartbreaking....
A view of the netting above the market place 
A view of one of the military towers from below 

The little girls that were selling purses; Ben ended up buying two 

Once we made it through the market we left Kamal who couldn't go on the Israeli side and we went through a checkpoint where we crossed through and met our Israeli guide. The difference in the sides of two parallel streets was astronomical. It was hard to experience two very different conditions right after one another. Of course, the people on the Israeli side ignore the differences and when asked about them our guide wouldn't really acknowledge them. 

Today was a lot to process, it's a mentally challenging situation to try and think about this and then to see it as well. Thankful to come back every night and process it through with people!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bethlehem: The Other Side

Image
Today was a difficult day with lots of information to absorb and hard material to think about and hear. But it was definitely a learning opportunity and such a great experience to hear from many different native people. When most people think about Bethlehem their thoughts immediately go to Jesus' birth and the Christmas story. While we did focus and sight see around that area, most of our time today we focused in on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. It's something that can be displayed one sided and growing up in the United States I realized I am very naive to the hardship that these people face on a daily basis. And to hear this conflict presented from real people rather than the media was a heart wrenching experience. So we woke up and went to Bethlehem which is about 5-10 minutes from Tantur where we are staying. Now to get into Palestine it requires a passport because it is a Palestinian region. Israel is currently in the process of building a wall around this whole...
Read more

Home Sweet Home: Reflections

I'm HOME!! Flying into Seattle I was absolutely giddy with excitement; to see family, friends, the mountains, and be back in my little nook of the PNW that I call home. The first few days I was running on pure adrenaline. Then jetlag kicked in as the week went on but I never felt it as bad as I thought I would. The hardest part of coming back wasn't the jetlag but adjusting back to the culture. It's hard to return back to normal after seeing some of the things that I saw in Israel. Seeing all the pain and hearing the stories of Israeli's and Palestinians who long for peace but just can't seem to get it. Having conversations with these people as they beg for us to not forget them in our prayers. And then going to places in the Holy Land that are recognized as places that our Savior could have walked! All of this happening in the same place: tension in a land that should be peaceful. And then returning to the United States, where I feel so removed from it all, and lif...
Read more

Belegan: Total Chaos

Image
We had a new tour guide today, Hannah, as we made our way back to Jerusalem! As I'm sure you've noticed, we tend to visit Jerusalem a lot and that's mostly because there's so much to see there. Monday we focused on the temple and the ancient history (Old Testament), Thursday we visited the Dome of the Rock and were on the Temple Mount, and today we focused on Jesus' life (mostly leading up to his death). It's Not About The Location, It's About Connecting With The Story One thing to remember throughout this blog post and when attending the Holy Land in general is to not get caught up in the logistics. Many holy sites act as memorials to recognize certain people or events. It can't be certain that these events happened directly in the spot that they are today. The guides have been doing a good job reminding us that this is so much more than the concrete images we see. Our faith has the opportunity to grow as we relate what we know in the Bible to diffe...
Read more