The last
few days have been busy! We have filled our time with excursions to the
religious/political sites in Jerusalem. In the picture above, Ann and I
touch the stone on which Jesus' body was prepared for burial. I am not a
religious person, yet when stuffed into the church of the
Holy Sepulcher with hundreds of passionate pilgrims; when standing at
the Western Wall with the Orthodox Jews; and when wandering on the Temple Mount
among Muslims, you can feel how passionate these very different groups of people
are about their religious places in Jerusalem. I feel that coming to
Israel is the only way I could have truly felt this passion, which
has fueled so much conflict.
Furthermore,
we have witnessed first hand the “Israeli/Israeli conflict,” as our multiple
tour guides and experts with whom we have met have all had very different
opinions on the political situation in Israel.
This was most apparent during our morning tour with Ben from Ir Amim, a very left wing organization. Our usual tour guide Avi was so opposed to some of Ben's comments he interjected often. Through this exchange we were able to see the type of debate that takes place among Israelis themselves. This debate has contributed, no doubt, to the Israel/Palestinian stalmate of today. Both Ben and Avi agreed, the support of the international community will be needed to help Israelis overcome their differences and reach a solution with Palestine, and both agreed that this help cannot come soon enough.
- Clare Gallaher
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