A sign of hope

Today our day begins with a visit to the Hand in Hand school. This is a bilingual school where 1/2 the students and teachers are Arabic and 1/2 are Jewish. The school goes from pre-k to gr 12 with about 560 students in total. Each class In the younger grades has 2 teachers and both languages are learned and used. By middle school there is only one teacher and kids are expected to be proficient in what ever language the course is being taught in and it varies and is mixed.

We get a chance to talk to the a director of the society, some students and a teacher or two. The school is built on the premise that if we can get younger generations to know one another as people then we plant seeds of hope for them treating one another and developing policies and a land around those same principals. They work hard to demonstrate that respect In all that they do. Not only do the kids get to know one another as friends but their families end up interacting too and becoming friends and break down stereotypes of one another. Unfortunately there are not a lot of these schools around and there is quite a lot of politics involved in getting each one started with resistance to the idea coming from both sides. The kids we talk to there are very enthused about the project, their school, their friends from different cultures and about what they hope the future will bring with this kind of engagement.

From here we journey to mount Zion, the last of the holy places for Christians that we've not visited yet. Here archeologists have found evidence of what would have been the high priests house, the dungeon and the torture chamber. ( I remember when I was in Europe the first time and how shocked I was that the residences of bishops had torture chambers in them too!) This is likely to be the spot that Jesus was held after he was arrested and brought to the high priests house. Again the steps that are here date back to the time of Jesus and lead up from the Kidron valley and the garden of gethsemane. The court yard and church on this site is also there to commemorate Peters betrayal of Jesus in the courtyard. As usual, there are bus loads of weeping pilgrims singing songs about how "Jesus died for me and my sins" and praying prayers asking for forgiveness. Too much worm theology for me.....it must be time to go!

Today is the Israeli equivalent of remembrance day for military soldiers who died I this ongoing conflict. It backs on to the national holiday of Independence day and so there is much celebrating and hollering this evening coming west Jerusalem. Here in east Jerusalem, the Palestinian quarter, things are quiet and subdued. The group gathers to reflect and integrate tonight while sound of fireworks and large gatherings of people are heard in the background.

Tomorrow is an unstructured day in Jerusalem. We shall see what it brings .