8th, February 2009
Day 1: Arrival
After months of planning and anticipation, we celebrated the beginning of the 2009 Olive Tree Campaign- Olive Planting Program - tonight. Thirty-seven men and women from eight countries -- Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and the US -- arrived in Beit Sahour and settled in either with a host family or at the Sahara Hotel. After dinner, everyone gathered at the YMCA for introductions and a briefing about the overall program. Nidal Abuzuluf delivered a short description of the Joint Advocacy Initiative and Jawad Musleh spoke about the Alternative Tourism Group. Refreshments and mingling followed until the participants made their ways to bed in preparation of the big days ahead.
Day 2: Bethlehem
Shepherds Grotto:
The morning sun shone through a haze of clouds as we stood on the hilltop known as Shepherds' Field where the New Testament says the angels announced the birth of Jesus. The day's guide, a curly-maned and energetic Palestinian named Ayman Abuzuluf from the ATG, provided historical insights against a troubling backdrop. Behind him, atop the next hill, squatted Har Homa, an Israeli settlement. The juxtaposition of an ancient holy site with contemporary politics presented us with a stark introduction to the Holy Land.
Apartheid Wall
The tour bus, then, took us into Bethlehem to the foot of the Apartheid Wall. This part of the wall consists of some ten vertical meters of concrete and goes out of its way to separate Palestinians from Rachel's Tomb, a site holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. But, against the wall's imposing injustice, a series of graffiti artists and concerned individuals have touched the concrete with messages of protest and peace. Claire Gilpin, a twenty-four-year old who joins the Planting Program from London, found the visit to the wall the most impactful part of her day.
"Seeing the locals walking by the wall in their day-to-day life, I just found that so poignant," she said.
Claire had a rough introduction to the Holy Land at the Tel Aviv airport where Passport Control held her for more than four hours under suspicion of terrorism solely because she had previously visited Syria and Yemen. As she waited in the detaining chambers she was "ready to just go home," but now that it's over she feels that "it was in a way quite a good experience." She waited alongside many Palestinians for whom this is routine, so now she "knows what it's like for them."
Refugee Camp
After the wall, we visited the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. Though stricken with poverty and displacement, the camp's streets filled with beaming children excited to see us and speak a little English as we strolled along. Joyous cries of "Hello" and "What's your name?!" flew out from every corner. We enjoyed a classic Palestinian lunch of maqlubbeh, or upside-down, at Ibdaa, the camp's cultural center.
Herodian
After lunch we rode by past a handful of Israeli settlements to Herodian, an ancient fortress built by, guess who, King Herod. From the top we could see across the Judean desert and beyond the Dead Sea to the Jordanian mountains.
Church of Nativity
The afternoon ended with out return to Bethlehem and a visit to The Church of the Nativity. Incense and candlelight complemented the humility of the holy place. Down underground at the traditional site of the stable's manger, Jesus' birthplace, John Anderson, a Presbyterian minister who joins the program from San Francisco, read a simple and appropriate poem.
Documentary screening
From there the participants went their ways for dinner and a rest. Tonight we closed our eventful first day with a showing, at the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour, of Occupation 101, a documentary that presents an overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
