Our Mideast travels have taken us from Bethlehem to Haifa to Nazareth in the last two days, and we had two experiences that help us identify with the experience of Palestinians here. Our bus driver Hassem is Muslim and our tour guide Ibrahim is Greek Orthodox, and both are Palestinian. We drove through a security checkpoint on the way to Taybeh, and the young Israeli soldier randomly told us that we were not allowed to use the road that would take us there directly. We had to take a lengthy detour on a much smaller road, which made us 45 minutes late. Yesterday, we went through a checkpoint as we left the West Bank and entered Israel, and an Israeli officer walked through the bus with a surly look and examined each of our passports.
Palestinians have to get used to these delays and harassment techniques, and we got a little taste of how that feels. We have also heard stories from our tour leaders and local residents that remind us for some Palestinians, the Occupation of their land makes them feel they are living in an open-air prison.
Fortunately, there are light moments. We enjoyed meeting with a Bahai leader and seeing the gorgeous gardens of the only Bahai temple in the Mideast. We talked with a Sufi Muslim Sheikh in Nazareth, and as he was singing one of his traditional songs, the church bells from the beautiful Church of the Annunciation nearby began to play. We stayed in a hostel overlooking the city of Nazareth last night and in the courtyard there was a lovely wedding reception going on. They invited us to join in the dancing, and along with mostly Palestinian/Israeli songs, we also danced to Elvis Presley and "YMCA." It really is a small world.
Today we drive to the Golan Heights to meet with a Druze religious leader and then will go back to Tel Aviv. This is a rich religious and cultural journey, and each night we spend time reflecting on how we can act on what we have witnessed when we come back home next Monday.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam.
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