Creative entrepreneur in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

A major coup this week was meeting with Sam Bahour. A friend first told me about him, years ago, constantly sending me forwards from Sam. Finally I put myself on the list and have appreciated his original writing and his choice of forwards. I’ve used some of them in my work, for my list, such [...]

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Water in Salfit, sewage from Israeli settlements

Photos
Wadi Qana is a place almost as soothing as it is beautiful: a fertile valley with seven main natural springs and nine smaller ones, and the endless Wadi Qana river running through it. The river meanders from Huwara, south of Nablus, to Jaljuliye, south of Qalqilya, and then flows into the Yarqon, or Naher el [...]

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“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby”

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great [...]

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Walk Jerusalem to Bethlehem

They set out from Bet-El [north of Ramallah]; but when they were still some distance from Efrat, Rachel went into childbirth, and she had hard labor. When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Have no fear, for it’s another boy for you.” But as she breathed her last—as she was [...]

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Cambridge to Bethlehem people to people delegation

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At the UNRWA school in Aida refugee camp
Her eyes and the tattoo on her hands are Palestinian,
Her name, Palestinian,
Her dreams and sorrow, Palestinian,
Her kerchief, her feet and body, Palestinian,
Her words and her silence, Palestinian,
Her voice, Palestinian,
Her birth and her death, Palestinian.
—Mahmoud Darwish

Writing at 9:22 pm on November 22, 2007 in a smoky Internet café, [...]

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How the situation looks to me, provisionally, moment by moment, concentrating on the West Bank (recalling Mark Twain’s title of a similar effort written in 1869, Innocents Abroad)

Slide show: Days of Horror, Nights of Love

 
Truth is a rough, honest, helter-skelter terrier that none like to see brought into their drawing rooms.
—Ouida

Some feel the West Bank is relatively quiet with fewer attacks on and by the army. However, Israel is consolidating control, building the wall, patrolling the streets, while many places suffer frequent [...]

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Nablus and Environs, Winter 2007: the City of Fire and the Region’s Hydropolitics

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Traveling to Nablus from Ramallah was more terrifying than wandering around the region or the city. In Nablus the threat is kidnapping. I was advised by J of the International Solidarity Movement where I stayed overnight not to be out after 9 pm, probably not to visit the old city alone, and Kanan gave a [...]

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Building justice with peace, step by step: Good Water Neighbors’ Paths, a project of the Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)

Photos of visits to Wadi Fukin and Tsur Hadassah

Photos of conference
Love was the first motion, and then a concern arose that I might feel and understand their life and the spirit they lived in, if haply I might receive some instruction from them, or they in any degree helped forward by my following the leadings [...]

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Divided Jerusalem (Cambridge-Bethlehem delegation, part 2)

Photos
One dream of note (perhaps the romantic and erotic influence of Jerusalem): with a male friend he and I while nude explored a sand dune landscape. We ascended a high hill, noted land features, found we were near a large restaurant. I grew afraid someone would notice us and call the police. I also spotted [...]

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