I left New York on 09-11 as part of Group 9 of the Ecumenical Accompaniment to Program for Palestine and Israel, which totals 29 people: 5 are from South Africa, 6 Swedes, 5 Norwegians, 5 Danes, 5 from UK, 1 from Germany. We will be located

in Jerusalem, both with East Jerusalem groups and Israeli peace groups, in Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, and the villages of Yanoun, Sawahreh, and Jayyous-Tulkarm. The villages and Bethlehem are all very near and, in most cases divided by, the Wall, which is generally known here as the Apartheid Wall.

I arrived in Jerusalem 9-12 and breezed through passport control. (Well, that is a relative term. I'm sure the agent didn't remember me for five minutes, but my anxiety level was just high enough to have made it more like slightly turbulent).

Our accommodations in Jerusalem were at a hotel in the property of the Latin Patriarch (Roman Catholic Church), aptly named The Knights' Palace. Certainly some of it is very old. It is very comfortable, the food is great and the water is drinkable out of the faucet. It is also on the edge of the old City of Jerusalem in the Christian Quarter, meaning you have to walk a bit downhill into the rest of the City.

During the five days between arrival and our departure for our assignment in Ramallah on the Occupied West Bank, we participated in very concentrated presentations and discussions of many different topics related to our presence among the Palestinian population. We had 3½ hours of Arabic language 'lessons' based on a handy, quite comprehensive book written by the teacher. If I had more time to study I'd be capable of more than the five words I now use regularly in public. You would be able to guess all but one, which is schway, schway and means slowly, slowly. This is vital when in any vehicle driven by a Palestinian or by an Israeli. We visited the heart of the old city, not including the Temple Mount/Al Aksa Mosque, which was first said to be closed, then a day or so later not closed, and then a day or so later closed, maybe. That is the way with very many supposedly public places and areas of human habitation around here.

We spent a day discussing proper behavior (both the kind that is polite and considerate and the kind that will keep you from getting mauled), our various assignments and what to expect -- and 'be sure to expect the unexpected'!! We talked about the nature of our commitment to non-violence, which is a mandatory part of EAPPI. Having a group of South Africans among us -- 3 of them Quakers (Friends, from here on) and one a Lutheran Pastor-- was interesting because they have quite strong and particular positions on non-violence.

One of the women about to end her assignment in Ramallah arrived to escort us on our first trip out to Ramallah, mid-day on Friday, 09-17. It was uneventful, in the context of the daily life of full-time residents of this place, but not to a newcomer. It is (and will be for probably six more weeks at least) dry, dusty, quite hot in mid-day, though cool and breezy in the early morning and evening.

The road out of East Jerusalem is north, for a significant part the exact route of the Wall. In the process of building this structure the road has been largely destroyed, but is the only fairly direct way for those with West Bank ID permits to drive north to Ramallah. The vehicles, not all that old for the most part, are rapidly loosing their springs and suspensions, and the passengers are likely to feel the jolts severely. Then, after a 20 minutes drive or so, the traffic, no matter what kind of vehicle, except of course if it is an IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) vehicle, grinds to a halt.

Kalandia check-point, midway to Ramallah, is not an attractive place. Vehicles jockey for position to drop off passengers, to line up to pass, to turn around to return to Jerusalem (only certain ones are allowed to continue), to pick up passengers, all without traffic directors, lines on pavement, largely spottily paved, a bit like a herd of sheep trying to sort themselves out. People climb out, trudge for 5 minutes in the hot sun, line up, proceed through depending on the 'orders of the day' and/or the inclination of the guards at the checkpoint. All this is watched over by armed soldiers perched on the rocky, dusty banks along the length of the checkpoint sitting or standing in the shade of odd circular structures covered by heavy camouflage netting. The guards stand in the shade of wood or canvas spread over the sides of the mostly metal frameworks.

If, for some usually undiscernable reason, one or more of the lines is closed, the line at the existing passage stretches for half an hour or more. One exits to face the same hot, dusty, noisy, mess that one left on the other side. The main difference is that the 20 minutes or so into Ramallah is along a road not, perhaps not yet, destroyed by Wall building. It's perhaps a little better than a NY City street after a hard, snowy, salty winter.

At night it is a cooler, but much more unsettling trip.

So, we arrived in Ramallah and I am now signing off to attend a conference on Islam in Palestine.

September 27, 2004

My Arabic phrase book says the proper response to Marhaba is Marhabtain (or maybe that's just the response for a female). Obviously I'm not up to carrying on a conversation in Arabic yet.

We had a very busy day today. The four of us were greeted by possibly the most important woman in Ramallah, along with a group of Swedes and Norwegians who have been supplying scholarship money to young women who live in a boarding school which is owned and run by the Palestine Women's Organization, Inash el Usrah. The woman, Rima Tarazi, is one of the founders of the this organization and is the sister of the just retired, very long time President of Bir Zeit University, which we visited after a luncheon party at her home around the block on the way to the PLO compound. They are also our 'neighbors'.

After hearing a good deal about Bir Zeit's considerable efforts to defend the rights of Palestinian youth to an education I rode back to Ramallah sitting next to a young man who is studying electrical engineering at BZ. It is about a 15 minute ride, and inevitably I was asked the question: why is the U.S. Israel's best friend?

Think on that a bit. I've tried to avoid much of an answer to what has been a repeated question for the last 2 weeks. I've given it much thought and I'll share my answer with you next time.

September 29, 2004

Tune in for Chapter 2 of Anne's first weeks in "The Holy Land"

I volunteered and was accepted in May to participate in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), a program created and sponsored since fall, 2002, by the World Council of Churches. The U.S. sector is administered by Church World Service. The program sponsors "Christian volunteers to live and work in Palestine and Israel to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and advocacy efforts to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza" including the construction of the Wall on Palestinian territory. As you might assume, these volunteers pay their own travel and living expenses (at the same time receiving $400 a month allowances).