Today has been incredible to say the least.
We started off going to the Wailing Wall. I wrote up a prayer before we got there and put it in the wall beside all the other woman silently praying. The men and woman are sectioned off from each other. These people were Orthodox Jews and they are only allowed in their sectioned areas.
We went through security to get to the Muslim area of the wailing wall. While we were going through security there was a Jewish group. They had to be escorted by security and police as they are are not welcome on this Muslim side. As soon as they came through the gates all the Palestinians started chanting at them. It really was a disgrace they came to this side. It was very hard to comprehend why they would even want to go to the Muslim side. Some people said to provoke the Palestinians. The Jewish leaders want to turn the Muslim side into another synagogue for the Israeli’s. this is one big conflict that is happening now. Already the Jewish people have 3 of their own.
We met with a Palestinian Iman who greeted us. He talked to us about how the Israeli’s are trying to push the Palestinians off their land. Just yesterday 4 Palestinians teenagers were shot dead, the Israeli military said they had knives ready to attack them. The Iman said the military kill these people then put knives on the Palestinians. Like they were set up. Just because they can he kept saying.
They do what ever they want to Palestinians but when the Palestinians try to fight back, homes and families get taken out and killed by the Israeli military.
Some of the words this man was saying (I have it all on tape by the way) it made me cry, I seriously felt helpless that we cannot do anything. The only way to make peace the man said, was to sit down with the Israeli government and for it to be resolved between the two. But this cannot happen because America is so heavily involved. They are the biggest problem, giving Israel weapons.
The government keeps putting more and more settlements into the Palestinian’s land. It is all very complicated.
After hearing this we kept going on to the church where Jesus was resurrected and followed the journey from start to finish of where he was nailed to the cross and taken to. Seeing all the Israel flags hung upon the roofs of the old town Jerusalem streets absolutely killed me. Underneath are the remanding Palestinian arabs that have fought to keep there part in Jerusalem. How the government have put these Jewish settlements there, I cannot understand. Trash is thrown down onto the old town streets from these settlers. They have cages sectioning them in with Israeli military protecting them. (Its like a community ontop of a community that do not like each other) I can understand why there is so much violence and conflict between the Arabs and Jews.
Here we have Muslims, Israeli Jews , Orthodox Jews, Zionist Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and Christians all sharing Jerusalem, the wall and the holy area of where I have just been today. I could feel the tension between everyone. All believing their own faiths and religions, disregarding their neighbours.
At lunch there was another peace talker, this man was an Israeli Zionest Jew. He seemed lost on what direction Israel is going to take, with all the mess that is going on right now he knows something needs to happen, but again it’s complicated. He kept saying it’s like a relationship , we have our ups and downs, this country used to get along well and now is going through such a difficult time, that it needs to get back to how it use to be. For everyone to walk beside each other. Although no one knows how this is meant to happen. How can such peace be made with so much tension and conflict?
Tonight we have listened to the Christian peace maker. I felt horrible, I couldn’t bare listening to him. Maybe he was talking sense in whats happening with the Christian religion but i just couldn’t keep myself focused listening to him, I kept drifting away from his speech. Have you ever listened to someone speak that have the same tone the whole way through with no enthusiasm or personality? It was like listening to a flat line in a hospital. No heart beat. Personally I’m not very interested anyway in the Christian side to these religions. I think half of it is false and made up.
Finishing today I now understand so much more about why Isis is and why people have been acting the way they have. It’s been so much to take in today. It’s all such a big debate, and in a few days we will be talking about Syria and the war there. It’s funny because listening to everything today.. America has such a massive say in everything that is going on today. They are the ones provoking all this mess. And now with a new leader coming up in November. Each peace maker is actually horrified by who the people have to vote for.
Can you Imagine if Trump wins!? This world will get a lot madder than it already is, but then Clinton is no good either! Today has been very overwhelming and such an eyeopener to what’s going on in Palestine, Israel and the world.
One of the pictures attached with the Jewish settlements really took me. This is one of many Jewish settlements living on top of Muslim residents in the old town Jerusalem. They are heavily guarded by the Israeli military. How much i am kicking myself right now by not taking more pictures of all the junk they throw down onto the alleyways of the remaining arab residents and shop keepers of this area.
My world in a diary 