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Wendy Reports
Wendy in Jerusalem June 29 2005 |
News at PNVRC.net
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Dear Friends & Family,
I am happy and thankful to say that Cathy and I arrived in Jerusalem this morning. We came via Amman, Petra, Aqaba, Eilot and the Dead Sea. Petra is an ancient city in Jordan that was amazingly carved out of the mountains. The remains are beautiful and fascinating. The driver who took us from Amman to Petra told us that he was Palestinian. The previous evening the hotel proprietor had told us that he was Palestinian and that, in fact, 80 percent of Jordanians are Palestinians that fled the 1948 and 1967 wars with Israel. (I actually think this percentage is high but his point was the sheer numbers of Palestinians displaced by these wars.) Anyway, the driver was very proud of the fact that he travels all over the Middle East taking people places and also visiting himself. However, even though he is Palestinian, born in the village of Lint which is now Ben Gurion airport, he sadly told us that he can only take other people to the border of Israel and then he must turn back.
The reason we were touring a bit before entering Israel was to help create the impression that we are tourists. International peace activists have often been turned away at the borders and we were worried about getting in. As it was, when we crossed the border from Aqaba to Eilot we were detained 4 hours! We were both pretty calm but we knew things were not good when three people came up to us while we were at the passport control window and asked us to follow them. Even though they had already checked our luggage, they went through it again, but this second time through every fractional inch of it! They even looked inside the finger puppets that are a gift to our friend's children in Deir Ibzi'a. The interrogation stage was also quite an ordeal but we got through it and after we signed a statement that we would not interfere with the duties of the Israeli military, we were allowed into Israel. I was very thankful and relieved.
We will spend the night in Jerusalem and then head off for Deir Ibzi'a tomorrow for a few days before we start our work at the IWPS house.
For peace and justice in the Middle East.
Wendy