Living in hell

On January 12th, we drive to the southern West Bank city of Hebron. This city is literally drowning in a complex, traumatic, and violent history, that has given birth to the outrageous situation we see today.  Most people start the story with the burial of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives several thousand years [...]

We still have hope…

It is 7 am and I am surrounded by a large, warm, welcoming Hebron
family that can’t stop feeding me.  Foolishly I thought if I got up
early enough, I could blog discretely by myself, but this is not the
way of the surround-sound/love/talk/prayer/eat that is the norm here.

So, a bit of information about the [...]

Take me back to my homeland, even as a rose

Today in Israel, a center for culture and science, medicine and high tech, religious revival and literature, famous nature reserves and gorgeous beaches, I learned how to step across coils of barbed wire.  It is critical to walk cautiously, to place your foot firmly at the intersection [...]

If only Palestinians had a Gandhi
Part Three

On January 4th, the health and human rights delegation is scheduled to meet with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Legislative Council member, former Palestinian Authority Minister of Information, and founder of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. We arrive at the modern PMRS offices in Ramallah, only to be informed that he is [...]

I only the Palestinians had a Gandhi
Part Two

As I continue my journey into the West Bank, I find examples of Palestinian nonviolent resistance in the most unexpected of places. At the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem, I wander into a lushly decorated traditional living room, floor to ceiling photos and artifacts, a furnished Bedouin tent, a collection of [...]

If only the Palestinians had a Gandhi
Part One

As I travel in the West Bank and see the ravages of the Israeli occupation and the disintegration of much of Palestinian hope as well as a functional political process, a question keeps haunting me. In the US, people who know only about suicide bombers and militant resistance, [...]

Caution: Vehicles from Both Sides
Alice Rothchild

Welcome to Israel

For me, a flight to Israel is fraught with an intense mixture of excitement, angst, despair, and a powerful feeling of political solidarity.  The Delta flight from New York catches me by surprise with pot-bellied bearded men praying in the aisles, their wives with wigs or [...]