The Library

Second floor reading and common area

Main stairway, window and 2nd floor offices in the foreground

There is something that is soo inspirational about a building that is under construction. You can imagine what it will look like when it's finally finished, that possibilities of all that could be.  

A few days ago we took another tour of the library as a few of the tables were being moved in. 

It's going to be amazing once it's built. A place for learning and reading and eating!

I jokingly said that I would love to come back and be a librarian. If only wishing made it so. 

July 1st is my parents anniversary! Congratulations! I hope you'll be able to put up with each other for many more years to come. :) I kid. I love you both very much. You are phenomenal parents and a great team!  I am sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you in person, but little brother tells me that he has planned fireworks and a parade for you so hopefully you'll be able to make do with one son instead of two. 


 

Graffiti

 No Peace Without Dignity

The barrier is often shorter on the Israeli side.
In order to hide the true nature of the wall,
the Israel side is often packed up with dirt, 
while the Palestinian side is between 1, to 2 stories.
Laced with barbed wire, gun towers and cameras. 

 Long live the revolution. I really love this piece.

 Banksy dove in Bethlehem

One of the bi-products on the separation barrier is the graffiti. Artists and activist from Israel, Palestine and all over the world have sprayed painted their work on the wall of injustice. Some of it is really amazing!

Banksy, a graffiti activist (or all around street pirate) and one of my favorite artists, who also came to the West Bank to paint and express his outrage over the wall.  

It astounds me that so few people know about what is going on here, the very real situation of apartheid, the segregation, the social and political violence, the restrictions on life and freedom, the ethnic cleansing and the racism.

I hope that the least I can do with the blog is convince a few of you readers out there to take a more active role in lobbying our governments for peace and not maintain a strangle hold or indifference and at worst, un-flinching and unquestioning support for Israel.

Here are a few snap shots from the West Bank.    

Bethlehem and other adventures

The Church of the Nativity

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the West Bank about 8 km south of Jerusalem. 


Bethlehem is mostly populated by Muslim Palestinians, but there is a small minority of Christian Palestinians and Bethlehem is one of the major centers and holy places of the Christian faith, the place of Nativity.


Today we were in Bethlehem to conduct the final meeting of the SFP change agents course for women in journalism. The SFP had me lead one of the discussions and reviews of the program. It was amazing to participate in the process of the program and learn about the situation from the prospective of journalistic investigation and reporting and hear exclusive from women on the occupation, the conflict and the peace process. 

Within the Church

 The Church of the Nativity is located in the center of Bethlehem and is located on the spot where Jesus was born, the sight of the stable, the manger and the exact place of birth.

The tapestries within the church

The area is packed with pilgrims and the catacombs are cramped and stuffy, but it was an amazing place to visit. Tapestries decorate the walls of the Church which, is still a very active place of regular worship beyond the pilgrims. There was actually a Palestinian family baptizing their child today as we wondered around the church.

The Silver Star marking the spot of Jesus' Birth

The "manger" where Jesus lay

More tapestries in the church

Bethlehem

The Church of the Nativity Exterior

The bell tower

Happy National Aboriginal Day in Canada!

The Israelis and Palestinians in the office think it's amazing that we can celebrate our differences and especially our indigenous peoples! Issues of land use, right to return and original ownership are prevalent in Israel and Palestine too.

"Keep doing better Canada" From the staff at NSWAS SFP 

Scaling up

This week we are ending our Grassroots Scaling up program. It has been a really great course, although I feel like I could still spend another month analyzing this material. It's interesting that I haven't come across any specialized courses in conflict prevention and peace building and university, but strategic studies is sometimes offered as a class...

Anyways, it's been a fun filled few weeks of work and learning. 

This Friday I am again heading out with the SFP to do some workshops in the West Bank. The professor from the UMASS course will also be coming with us on this trip. One of the change agents groups that the SFP works with are journalists and we're headed out to meet a workshop group to talk about reporting and media perceptions of the conflict. The staff of the SFP are having me take the lead this weekend, wanting much of the conversations to be in English. It would be an understatement to say that I am feeling nervous. Stay tuned. 

I have been to Bethlehem ounce before, but only on quick trip, so I am looking forward to going back! 

 

At School and on the Road

This weekend I traveled with the SFP and the World Peace College into the West Bank to conduct a training workshop with the "Young and up-and-coming politicians" group. This workshop group is made up of young parliamentary assistance and mid-level political staffers and advisers to political parties like Likud and Kadima on the Israeli side and Fatah on the Palestinian side. In addition there were several NGO organizers and members of other civil society groups.


The workshop was very interesting to take part in. The complexity and scope of the conflict and the peace process seems to expand exponentially with each meeting. I'm not going to go into to many details on the blog. There a few sensitive issues that are best kept offline, but you should feel free to ask me when I come back. 


Our meetings took place at a small Ultra-Orthodox monastery near the ancient city of Jericho, so after our section of the workshop was over, the director of the SFP was kind enough to take us to Jericho to explore. 


Jericho is one of the oldest, continually lived in, cities in the world and the lowest human settlement on Earth, located well under sea level. Descending from the desert towards Jericho and the Dead Sea, you can feel the added pressure in your ears and body. It was a very strange experience the first time I visited the region.


This time around I was able to explore a few more of the less touristy and more "real" locations around Jericho. As far as West Bank cities go, Jericho is relatively modern. Basic infrastructure is still a major problem. The Israelis restrict the building of sanitation facilities and the allowance of building materials into Palestinian areas is heavily regulated. 

There are many archaeological sites around Jericho as well. This time around we visited the ruins of the Caliphate palace and the Orthodox Christian monastery which is built directly into the cliff face of the "Mount of Temptation" where it is said that Jesus fasted and was tempted by Satan and several other demons. The location was featured in the Exorcist novels, and while I don't 100% believe in pure evil in the terms of hell, or demons, I have to admit that I was a little freaked out when I was wondering around some of the mountain on my own. Creepy.


Enjoy the photos!

One of the symbols of Palestinian nationalism is the key. Inscribed on this key in Jericho are the words "we will return"

Each different city within the Palestinian Authority has its own unique way of making sweets. The national sweet of Palestine is a pasty, with a base layer of cheese, topped with thin pastry and a custard/sugar (sort of creme-brullee) topping. Sooo good.

This is one of the ruins on the outskirts of Jericho. These are the ruins of Hisham's Palace from the Caliphate era.

This rose motif was original decorating a gate area. The walls and upper half the structure were destroyed in an earth quake hundreds of years ago.

The remains of the central palace

One of the interesting things about the palace is the mosaic work. When the site was original discovered it was wrongly attributed to the Byzantine era. This is one of the oldest examples of Islamic mosaic work and one the oldest original mosaic pieces in the world. The pieces from this scene are so small that from a distance it appears to be a tapestry and not millions of shards.

One of the cliffs near in the desert. Note the IDF military base looking towards Jordan on the top.

Jericho from the top of the Mount of Temptation. To the right you can just make out the edge of the Dead Sea and the mountains in the distance are on the Jordanian side.

Some of the caves in the cliff side. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves like these.

This is the tree that Zacchaeus the tax collector climbed to see over the crowd towards Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.

The central Mosque in Jericho. While the mega-phones are primarily used for the call to prayer at for sermons, they are sometimes used for public service announcements and proclamations from the Palestinian Authority.  

Some of the desert. The desert in this area isn't sand, it's mostly rock. Very, very hot.

Art Not Hate

Today was great day to be in Neve Shalom~Wahat-al-Salam and in general just a great day to be alive.

This morning a light fog came in from the sea and surrounded us in a mystical haze as I walked around the village in the morning before work. 

The workday was pretty standard, more reports, editing and research. But, today we had playtime scheduled!

Long before NSWAS suffered the hate crimes of last week, an event was planned to do some art around the primary school with the kids, their parents and members of the community.  After the events of last week, the plan changed and grew into a much larger event. Two of the participants from one of the planned a fun-day for the school, with music, storytelling and painting! 

This morning we sketched images for kids to fill in and marked areas for many small hands to paint around the school. It was such a marvelous experienced. Where ounce there were messages of hate, there are now messages of love and community. 

Graduates from the school, parents, teachers, community members, brothers, sisters and of course the students all came together to have a sort of “in your face” fun day, which seemed like exactly the right response. We are not afraid to be together. We are not afraid to be happy. We will go on, together.  

Such an amazing day!  


The SFP and the World Peace College are continuing the UMass course and we're all headed to the Dead Sea and Jericho this weekend to do some training with the "Young and up-and-coming politicians" workshop group. Both the professor from UMass and myself are excited to meet the participants. I am curious to hear what students from Israel and Palestine who study politics think about the conflict, the Arab Spring and International Relations. It's going to be a very enlightening weekend!

Enjoy the artwork!  

Recess!

Some of our handiwork. I almost fell of my ladder as my helper bolted to chase another student with a water balloon.

Show and Tell Art!

So glad to see T-rex!!

This is the headmaster of the primary school. A big man with a heart of gold, he has earned the respect and love of so many students and parents that have come through here.

The pictures don't really do the day justice. It was amazing to see all of these families, Jews and Palestinians, painting, talking, laughing together. Quite a contrast to the rest of the country.

 

Hey everyone! Thank you for the "snail mail!" I was so happy to find letters in my mailbox this morning. I am planning on sending a bunch of letters and postcards out to people this weekend, so if you would like to get mail please e-mail me your address! 

Shalom~Salaam! 

School for Peace and the World Peace College Continued

A few people had asked me for more photos and details about where I am working, so here we go!

My corner office at the SFP

The School for Peace and the World Peace College are housed in the School for Peace Offices, which were constructed with donations from various friends associations in the US, UK and Europe. The SFP building houses several offices, a small kitchen area and a meeting room. We also have a lovely garden out-front where mint and fruit grows in case we need a snack or tea. 

The SFP is attachment to the Robert Nathan Wing. This hall provides extra classrooms and workshop spaces for the SFP which will also serve as lecture halls once the World Peace College gets underway. 

Exterior of the Robert Nathan Wing

Right now the UMassB program is being run out of the Robert Nathan Wing. One of the interesting things about some of the lecture halls is the addition of a two-way mirror that "connects" two classrooms. I didn't make the connection before, but I figured out it's purpose; for both conservative Ultra-Orthodox Jews and conservative Muslims, teaching both men and women in the same classroom goes against the custom, so the two-way mirror allows the SFP to accommodate this traditions. In addition, if there are participants who wish to remain anonymous, they can be on one side of the mirror. 

Two way mirror classroom

The Robert Nathan Wing main hall

If you walk out of the Robert Nathan Wing, there is another community garden that leads down towards the rest of the village.





To the East of the SFP is the primary school and kindergarten, which hosts the children of the village of NSWAS and children from the surrounding areas. Both Arabic and Hebrew are taught at the school, which is both an amazing opportunity and an immense challenge for the staff. 

Playground area of the NSWAS Primary School

To the South of the SFP is the Fred Segal Library. This amazing space is still under construction, but should be open to the public within the year. The Library will be the primary "institution" of the new college. It's two floors, with conferences rooms, offices, kitchens and business center.   

Exterior of the Library

The UMass-Boston program has started. There are currently twelve participants, making it a very personalized course. The staff at the SFP and the professor running the program were hoping for a much larger group of participants. Unfortunately do to time constraints and other scheduling and funding issues, this was the only time the class could be offered. 


There are elements of the class that I have encountered in other politics science, IR and sociology classes at Mount A, but this is the first time I have participated in a class specifically geared towards conflict prevention.

One of the other difficulties is the terminology used in conflict resolution and IR theory. Realism, liberalism, IR and political paradigms have been drilled into me since day one of my undergraduate degree, but conflict theory, game theory and IR paradigms are terms that many of the participants from Israel and Palestine has never heard of before, which has been a significant challenge to overcome. The language that we use in "the west" is pretty inaccessible in a different culture of academia. 

Life has returned to normal since the vandalism of last week. Several groups have come to the village to show solidarity with the community and life continues on...