This must not become just a memory!

Well I am back, safe and sound. I have been spending the last week trying to figure out how to integrate what I know now, and how to go forward. I feel a sense of urgency, and a feeling of ‘displacement’ – a sense of being out of place and out of time that has nothing to do with jet lag. I have the strong urge to run up to perfect strangers and tell them “You need to know what I know!!”, but I do not want to be arrested or committed, so I don’t. Prior to leaving I said I felt like I had two jobs – my real job and the job of getting ready to go. I still feel like I have two jobs - my real job and the job (the responsibility) to tell everyone the story – the truth that is Palestine. I am afraid that I will let down all the people I met there, that just asked us to tell the truth. But there is so much to tell.

I think I will start with general impressions that I have taken away from the experience. Then in further posts I will go through our itinerary to give you a deeper look at what I saw.

The first thing I should say is that although I am not optimistic for the future of Palestine, I am hopeful. Jean Zaru, the clerk of the Ramallah Friends Meeting differentiates hope from optimism this way – optimism is based on facts; hope is based on faith. And the people I met are filled with faith and hope. There is also a sadness that is inescapable, and of course anger. But the people I met have found a way to move beyond that and try and cultivate hope for their community. So how can I be anything but hopeful?

With that said, the “two state solution” is all but dead. It is not possible to see the facts on the ground, to read the maps, to experience the military presence, to navigate the maze of ‘walls’, fences and checkpoints and the “Israeli only” infrastructure with out knowing that the Israeli government never intends to leave the occupied territories.

It is hard to watch the news now that the West Bank is so familiar to me. Someone that I met in Bi’lin has been arrested. I fear what Annapolis will bring. The rumors we heard while in the West Bank have broken into the American media – that the Israeli government is planning for a crackdown after the talks. And America continues to sleep.