Letter from Palestine, 6. A friend.
8th October 2004
Dear friends!
Time is running! Now I am in Beit Sahour. Journey for Justice (JfJ) starts tomorrow. The Danish group has arrived. The Norwegian group comes tomorrow. I don’t have the full overview of the others, but at least there is one from Panama (who is Intern in the World Alliance of YMCAs in Geneva) and several Palestinians here, and we have the volunteers in JAI, from Wales, USA and South Africa, so it is a good international group. I attended the JfJ last year, that was how I was caught by the Palestine interest and I wished to come back. JfJ will be here a long week, staying in Beit Sahour and visiting several places in the West Bank, Israel and Jerusalem. You can follow us daily on http://www.ej-ymca.org/site/journeyforjustice.cfm
The last week I have spent some time in Jerusalem and some in Jericho. I travelled on my own my first time on Wednesday. I had been told to take a servis (minibus) from Damascus gate in Jerusalem to Abu Dis, and a new servis to Jericho. There was no servis from the bus station I thought it was, there was only a taxi driver wanting to earn a lot of money by driving me the whole way. But I managed to ask and found at last a bus in the right direction. In Abu Dis I was a bit confused, but I managed to pass a wall and get into a servis which I thought was going to Jericho. It was only going to Azarya, a few minutes from Abu Dis, but there I found a new servis driving me to the check point of Jericho. It went well, and I came through only by showing the soldier my red passport (it is the first time they did not check my picture and visa).
It was good to come to Jericho and experience that I had been missed. I forgot to mention it when I compared in my last letter, that the people there also gave me a feeling of Bangladesh, with their warm and open welcome. Today I have taken a direct bus from Jericho to Beit Sahour. When we passed Azarya, I thought that we were soon there, Bethlehem is not that far from Jerusalem… But it took time, in steep and bendy desolate roads. I wonder where I have been. But now I am here, with a feeling that I can manage on my own, it feels good.
I have called this greeting “A friend” because I want to tell about a friend I have got in Jerusalem. I have “reserved” this week, to honour him by telling about him in this letter before his 50 years anniversary 13th October. (When I write about a friend and he is soon 50 years, it might seem strange. But age is a bit strange here. My hostess in Jericho, who I would guess was about 30, has passed 50… - and she calls me baby face, I am really small.)
John was born and raised in a Jewish family. They moved from Morocco to Israel when he was 9 years old. But he became sceptical of parts of Israel’s policy. When he was 31, he distanced from Judaism and became a Christian. He was baptised by and Anglican priest in Australia, and so it is in the Anglican Church, St. George’s Cathedral, in Jerusalem, that I have come to know him. I met him the first time almost five weeks ago, and after that we have often talked after services and Evensongs when I have been there.
John has also helped me to know Jerusalem more. When we went Via Dolorosa, he took me up on the roof of the Ecce Homo Church, where it is a nice view over the whole of the Old City. Sunday almost two weeks ago we were in the German Roman Catholic “Dormition Church” attending a service in the morning before we went to St. George’s. He wanted to take me there because of the beautiful song. The languages were German and Latin, so I did not understand everything, but I could enjoy the impressions. It is nice with services at different times, then I can attend more than one… Last Sunday we went to the Lutheran “Church of the Redeemer” besides the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We attended the English service in the chapel, where a small congregation gathered, we could also have chosen Arabic or German.
Though John has been a Christian several years now, and has a strong faith, he has not been to many different churches. He has been in prison for 18 years, 11 ½ of them in solitary confinement, as a political prisoner. He worked several years with Israel’s secret atomic program in Dimona. His conscience forced him to inform people about what was happening. His story was published in Sunday Times 5th October 1986, after weeks of interviews. Sunday Times was however not the only one following him. Israeli intelligence knew what was going on, they lured him to Rome, kidnapped him and brought him back to Israel.
Some might start to recognise the story? John Crossman is his Christian name. He is better known as Mordechai Vanunu. His highest wish is to leave Israel, but though he has finished his sentence and came out of prison 21st April, he is still not a free man. Israel says he still might know some secrets after 18 years. He is not allowed to leave the country. He is not allowed to speak with foreigners, particularly not journalists, but that restriction does not work…
John; a friend who has given me a hope for humankind, a hero sacrificing 18 years of his life to let the world know, a Christian who has walked with a crown of thorns, carried a cross, but still believes in a better world.
You can read more at http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/
Humble greetings from Hanne.
Dear friends!
Time is running! Now I am in Beit Sahour. Journey for Justice (JfJ) starts tomorrow. The Danish group has arrived. The Norwegian group comes tomorrow. I don’t have the full overview of the others, but at least there is one from Panama (who is Intern in the World Alliance of YMCAs in Geneva) and several Palestinians here, and we have the volunteers in JAI, from Wales, USA and South Africa, so it is a good international group. I attended the JfJ last year, that was how I was caught by the Palestine interest and I wished to come back. JfJ will be here a long week, staying in Beit Sahour and visiting several places in the West Bank, Israel and Jerusalem. You can follow us daily on http://www.ej-ymca.org/site/journeyforjustice.cfm
The last week I have spent some time in Jerusalem and some in Jericho. I travelled on my own my first time on Wednesday. I had been told to take a servis (minibus) from Damascus gate in Jerusalem to Abu Dis, and a new servis to Jericho. There was no servis from the bus station I thought it was, there was only a taxi driver wanting to earn a lot of money by driving me the whole way. But I managed to ask and found at last a bus in the right direction. In Abu Dis I was a bit confused, but I managed to pass a wall and get into a servis which I thought was going to Jericho. It was only going to Azarya, a few minutes from Abu Dis, but there I found a new servis driving me to the check point of Jericho. It went well, and I came through only by showing the soldier my red passport (it is the first time they did not check my picture and visa).
It was good to come to Jericho and experience that I had been missed. I forgot to mention it when I compared in my last letter, that the people there also gave me a feeling of Bangladesh, with their warm and open welcome. Today I have taken a direct bus from Jericho to Beit Sahour. When we passed Azarya, I thought that we were soon there, Bethlehem is not that far from Jerusalem… But it took time, in steep and bendy desolate roads. I wonder where I have been. But now I am here, with a feeling that I can manage on my own, it feels good.
I have called this greeting “A friend” because I want to tell about a friend I have got in Jerusalem. I have “reserved” this week, to honour him by telling about him in this letter before his 50 years anniversary 13th October. (When I write about a friend and he is soon 50 years, it might seem strange. But age is a bit strange here. My hostess in Jericho, who I would guess was about 30, has passed 50… - and she calls me baby face, I am really small.)
John was born and raised in a Jewish family. They moved from Morocco to Israel when he was 9 years old. But he became sceptical of parts of Israel’s policy. When he was 31, he distanced from Judaism and became a Christian. He was baptised by and Anglican priest in Australia, and so it is in the Anglican Church, St. George’s Cathedral, in Jerusalem, that I have come to know him. I met him the first time almost five weeks ago, and after that we have often talked after services and Evensongs when I have been there.
John has also helped me to know Jerusalem more. When we went Via Dolorosa, he took me up on the roof of the Ecce Homo Church, where it is a nice view over the whole of the Old City. Sunday almost two weeks ago we were in the German Roman Catholic “Dormition Church” attending a service in the morning before we went to St. George’s. He wanted to take me there because of the beautiful song. The languages were German and Latin, so I did not understand everything, but I could enjoy the impressions. It is nice with services at different times, then I can attend more than one… Last Sunday we went to the Lutheran “Church of the Redeemer” besides the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We attended the English service in the chapel, where a small congregation gathered, we could also have chosen Arabic or German.
Though John has been a Christian several years now, and has a strong faith, he has not been to many different churches. He has been in prison for 18 years, 11 ½ of them in solitary confinement, as a political prisoner. He worked several years with Israel’s secret atomic program in Dimona. His conscience forced him to inform people about what was happening. His story was published in Sunday Times 5th October 1986, after weeks of interviews. Sunday Times was however not the only one following him. Israeli intelligence knew what was going on, they lured him to Rome, kidnapped him and brought him back to Israel.
Some might start to recognise the story? John Crossman is his Christian name. He is better known as Mordechai Vanunu. His highest wish is to leave Israel, but though he has finished his sentence and came out of prison 21st April, he is still not a free man. Israel says he still might know some secrets after 18 years. He is not allowed to leave the country. He is not allowed to speak with foreigners, particularly not journalists, but that restriction does not work…
John; a friend who has given me a hope for humankind, a hero sacrificing 18 years of his life to let the world know, a Christian who has walked with a crown of thorns, carried a cross, but still believes in a better world.
You can read more at http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/
Humble greetings from Hanne.
posted by Hanne at 1:55 AM
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