Deityblog

Okay, no time or money to write much, but I'll include this tidbit copied shamelessly from an email to Yaakov:
This week has been pretty incredible, the most incredible thing being that I've only been here a week. It feels like a lifetime, with my eyes getting opened up wider and wider by the minute. The highlight of this week, I suppose, was going to Ramallah. Yes, that's right. I was at a meeting in East East East Jerusalem with the Palestinian delegation of the Sulha organizers--in the home of this guy on the Palestinian Legislative Council, Farsik, who is beyond us ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, which for me is incredible and awesome and wonderful. He's working on getting at least 100 Palestinians, in addition to tons of Israeli Arabs, to the Sulha. Also at the meeting were Gaby Meyer, the Sulha organizers who's a wonderful guy and a total hoot, this guy Mahmoud who's also on the PLC and is mamash a mensch, Ibtisam, a religious Muslim woman from the Galil who is involved in all kinds of community-building and peacemaking efforts, including this one, one of Eliyahu's best friends, and just more amazingly cool beyond beyond people that I was blown away at the honor to be with. Afterwards, Judius, a Catholic Arab from the Galil, suggested we "go to a falafel place for lunch right across the checkpoint", ok....suddenly we're across the checkpoint and in a taxi right into the heart of Ramallah to go to waht Judius says is "a really nice restaurant." I was a *little bit* freaked out, thinking of the lynchings of Israeli soldiers that happened there and all sorts of other awful things, but I tried to be cool, and it totally helped that I was surrounded by beautiful people putting their lives on the line to make peace. The restaurant was nice, had good salad I guess, but it was also an oasis for peacemakers, it seemed. The maitre'd is part of Chefs for Peace, two guys from the Arab Parliament walked in, the very same two Arafat had screamed at earlier in the week for their peacemaking efforts with Jews. So Ramallah, oddly enough, was a good experience. Draining, but good. And don't tell my mom. Really.