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Tuesday, April 20, 2004


Continuing the Adventure - Jerusalem, April 17, 2004

--Now that I am back and have free access to the internet, I will try and catch up with what I missed posting about my trip. I left off on the day after Ramallah...--

"Today was a day of many field trips. After our opening Bible Study, we boarded buses and traveled to the area of Haram al'Sharif - the Dome of the Rock - and the al'Aqsa Mosque (masjid). There we learned much of the history of that place, upon which once stood the Temple of Solomon. I already knew much of what they discussed from my own studies, but it was a good review, and both Dr. Sizer and Dr. Burge are entertaining speakers. I did learn, however, that the entire area (the whole of the Temple Mount) is called al'Aqsa, and the building to which I thought that name referred is called something which sounded like "al'Jammal al'Aqsa. (If you know what it is really called, please correct me!) In any event, we were greeted by the Director of al'Aqsa, who spoke to us of the importance of our being there for the peace process. The Trustee of the Waqf (Islamic trust fund) for the mosque also spoke to us. Naim Ateek had previously arranged for us to be allowed into both the Dome of the Rock and al'Aqsa. We were briefed on etiquette and proceeded into the Dome, shoeless. We were the first "unbelievers" to be allowed into it in over 3.5 years. Inside it was amazingly beautiful - the walls were decorated in Islamic mosaic styles. People were in all stages of prayer. Surprisingly, they permitted us to take pictures, which I did, but afterwards felt guilty about it. No one has been allowed to take pictures in there in decades and people were worshipping. I wouldn't like it very much if a bunch of tourists marched into my church to take pictures while I was in prayer either.

Then, we walked down to al'Aqsa, but on our way we were told to go back, that there was a disturbance. The Director had said that we were permitted in, but several of the worshippers weren't having any of that. Taking great offense, they barred the entrance and yelled at us "unbelievers". There was a lot of arguing and yelling in Arabic, which a friend tried hard to follow and translate for me. We left, respecting the wishes of the worshippers.

From there, we got back on the buses and traveled to Abu Dis, a Palestinian town in which the wall bisects the town right down the middle and even cuts off the main road. It was awful to see. In my lifetime, I have never seen a greater injustice! Once the wall is completed in this town it will cut families off from their children. It will destroy their economy, or what's left of it. The wall is a blight on the land so that even the earth cries out against it! As Bruce Feiler once said, the story of successful walls in history is no story at all. We spoke there with a few of the locals and took in their words and emotions - very challenging and heart-wrenching. I collected several rocks from here to remember it by. Moreover, I inscribed into the wall, stone on stone, "Bring down the wall! 17/4/04, Chicago, U.S." in order to show solidarity and to help spread the fact that not all U.S. citizens are bad and pro-Zionist. It was a very difficult part of the day, for me to see this.

From Abu Dis we drove to Bethany (home of Mary and Martha, and Lazarus' tomb) and saw more of the wall. All of it is graffitied in many languages, showing the anger, the resentment, and the illegality of it! The whole damn thing is illegal and no one is doing anything to stop it!! I only hope something can be done in time to save these folks' livelihoods, and their very lives! While carving into it, I scraped my knuckle on it and bled. I know it is small and insignificant, but the symbolism is hard for me to miss. After this, we drove back to Jerusalem and bought things at the Sabeel Center - I got lots of books on the subject of the crisis, some posters, a coffee mug, a beautiful hand-made Palestinian bag, and a few other trinkets. Tonight was the 10th Anniversary of Sabeel celebration, but it was mostly a lot of stuff that didn't concern me, so I left early, as I was falling asleep. Now I go to bed for real, in order to prepare for our trip to Bethlehem tomorrow."

-R

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