Traveling in Palestine is never simple. It begins with simply explaining what I mean by Palestine. (For the record, I'm talking about Gaza and everything within the Green Line.) Every day presents a variety of challenges. There are the simple difficulties of moving from place to place on the most deliberately complicated system of roads ever developed to the spiritual and mental challenges of witnessing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
Over the last six days, I, and five other teachers, have been chaperoning seventeen students around the West Bank. It has been one of the most rewarding things I have done as a teacher. A few of the highlights have been guiding a group of students through the old city of Hebron and letting them witness the most invasive aspects of the Israeli settlement project, watching students learn about the effects of agriculture and waste disposal on the Jordan River Valley and the Dead Sea, and sitting in the Meetinghouse in Ramallah as the students talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Quaker perspective with Jean Zaru.
I feel an unbelievable sense of gratitude for being so fortunate to have these experiences and being able to share them with such an amazing group of students. It would be so easy for a group of American teenagers to spend their spring break relaxing on a tropical beach. Instead they spent it learning first hand about one of the most challenging and long-lasting conflicts in the world. I really do have hope for the future.
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| Entrance to the IDF "Civil Administration for Judea and Samaria" |
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| Young girl in Jifna |
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| Separation wall in Bethlehem with Palestinian olive groves and an Israeli settlement in background |
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| Palestinian girl in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem |
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| Hebron |
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| Students learning about the water issues of the Jordan River Valley with a FOEME representative |
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| Students preparing mud bricks |
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| Learning about the process of soap manufacture in Nablus |
