Eye witnesses:
Ecumenical Accompanier's reports
21.05.07 Maps
I love maps. I am a person that can study maps for hours, follow the rivers and the borders, the location of the towns and try to imagine how the places look in reality – or remember places I have been to by visiting them again...
21.05.07 Palm Sunday in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Ecumenical Accompaniment team joined 1000s of pilgrims marching down from the Mount of Olives, through the Kidron Valley, and through St Stephen’s Gate into the Old City. It was a kaleidoscope of colour and sound.
21.05.07 Living with Settlers
“Go back to your home” a child who recently became a settler in Hebron, asserts. The receiver of the hostile words is an older Palestinian father who wants to go to morning prayers in the local mosque.
21.05.07 Movement Restrictions beyond Security: Wheelchairs, bicycles and family visits
I was on my way to Jerusalem for a day off, when I saw a typical case of rejection at the large terminal-like checkpoint called Gilo: A middle age couple and their daughter were at the first ID check, just past the first metal...
6.03.07 The wall at Umm Salamone village, near Bethlehem
What hurts most is seeing what has not been destroyed yet. The sun shines over Umm Salamone’s terraced olive groves and the mountain slopes overgrown with herbs. We are in a village just south of Bethlehem. It smells of thyme and...
3.02.07 If you are a Palestinian and you are arrested by an Israeli soldier...
On Saturday, February 3, 2007, I went with my EAPPI colleagues, Rune and Anna and our coordinator Valentina to help Palestinian farmers plant olive trees near the village of Al Khadr. We accompanied the staff of the Joint...
2.02.07 Reclaiming the land with prayer
“Allah O’Akkbar”, some two hundred men are chanting. “God is Great.” It is Friday and time for prayers in the village of Umm Salamone. But the venue is not the Mosque this time. Surrounded by women and children holding up...
1.01.07 Al Walaja – soldiers could come at any time, and any hour to demolish a home
Al-Motaz is the 20 year old son of the family whose house was demolished on December 12th in the town of Al Walaja, located south east of Jerusalem, close to Bethlehem, in the West Bank, in Palestine.
28.12.06 Christmas in a tent
We are sitting in a tent in Al Walaja. It is a village just outside Bethlehem. The tent is quite big but worn, and the grey canvas won’t keep the rain out. Between two small wooden beds the ground is covered with tarpaulin...
22.12.06 Silent Night
A dozen Palestinian men are lying on the ground by a metal gate on the outskirts of Bethlehem. It is 3:07 am on a clear, chilly night. To keep warm, the men have covered the asphalt with cardboard.
