Blog entries 2013

I am sitting in Ben Gurion Airport watching all the Christian pilgrims leaving the Holy Land. We are traveling on the Sabbath so we are… Read More »

After seeing patients in a PMRS clinic in Qalqilya, a northern West Bank city located against the Green Line, I join Suhad Hashem, an extraordinary,… Read More »June 25, 2013 Qalqilya: The Ariel Finger

The drive to Nablus is uneventful, unlike the experience of two of our delegates who got stuck in a massive four hour happening at a… Read More »June 24, 2013 Nablus: Resilience and Resourcefulness

I have seen many photos of the destroyed village of Lifta, which dates back 1,000 years and has tax records from the Ottoman Empire. The… Read More »June 23, 2013 Lifta: Eracing History part three

We are back on the highway with Thabet from Adalah and I am puzzled why Israeli authorities are putting so much energy into displacing the… Read More »June 23, 2013 Wadi Aliam, the largest unrecognized village in Israel part two

Today we take the long drive south to the Naqab (Negev) to tour with Thabet Abu Ras of Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority… Read More »June 23, 2013 We shall not be moved: Bedouins in the Negev part one

I have to interrupt this message: Last night around midnight, the streets all over Palestine erupted with joyous crowds, cars honking in a delirious cacophony.… Read More »June 22, 2013 Symbolism meets solidarity: the Saturday mobile clinic

Iyad Rishmawi appears to be an older respectable kind of gentleman, balding, neatly dressed, but the guy clearly has a sense of humor. He wants… Read More »June 21, 2013 Beit Sahour: A True story of bovine resistance part two

We are staying in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, in a guest house which started in 1948 as a place for poor women to sew clothes,… Read More »June 21, 2013 Battir: The colonization of the conifers part one

Amal, one of the Palestinian-American members of the American Jews for a Just Peace – health and human rights project, has invited us to visit… Read More »June 20, 2013 Deir Istiya: A little taste of paradise part two

Visiting and staying overnight at the Balata Refugee Camp in the Yafa Cultural Center guest house is always a sobering reality check and every year… Read More »June 20, 2013 Balata: the occupation of body and mind part one

Jonathan Cook is not yet done with our unconventional tour of Nazareth and we soon find ourselves listening to Abu Arab, a dignified 78-year-old man… Read More »June 19, 2013 We are the stones part three

Dripping from the penetrating sun, we board our bus with Jonathan Cook and begin the winding uphill drive to Nazareth Illit. We are greeted by… Read More »June 19, 2013 Nazareth: The Law of Unintended Consequences, Nazareth Illit part two

The Al Mutran Guesthouse in Nazareth is a charming old Arabic home transformed into an simple but elegant guesthouse with open patios, pink geraniums and… Read More »June 19, 2013 Nazareth: The logic of Israeli citizenship and nationality, down the rabbit hole again part one

We arrive in the stunningly beautiful port city of Haifa, a muggy heat descending over steep hills winding to the port, towering cranes like gigantic… Read More »June 18, 2013 Haifa: Love and sex in the age of apartheid