Days 9 and 10: Tent
of Nations
We leave in the morning to go to the Tent of Nations, about
10 miles from Bethlehem. It is a large site which is run as an organic farm by
the Nassar family, two brothers and a sister. Their mission is to bring people of
various cultures together to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation,
and peace.
The land has been under threat of confiscation by the Israeli authorities
since 1991. But the family has impeccable papers and has fought a
legal battle to stay on the land. Land that is not cultivated is automatically
reverted to the Israeli state, so there is an army of volunteers that keeps the farm
going. The Israelis make their life as hard as possible though. They are not
allowed to erect any permanent structures, so all visitors have to be
accommodated in tents, or when needed in caves! Every so often there are visits
or inspections from the Israeli authorities, and sometimes without any reason
hundreds of trees are uprooted and destroyed. The Nassar family has a rule:
whenever something bad happens, they retaliate by doing twice as much good. So
when 200 trees are destroyed, they plant 400.
We are shown around the farm by Daher, one of the brothers. There are
lots of olive and almond trees and grape vines. They also have some animals, mainly
goats and chickens. There are always volunteers on the farm and visiting groups to help out. In addition to this there are many
groups that meet here for reconciliation projects and workshops.
We first need to decide where we want to sleep. Although it is sunny, it
is very windy and cold at night, so we elect to sleep in the
caves. There is one ‘girl’s cave’ which will house nine women, many of whom at retirement
age. But we will have matrasses and blankets. However, there is only a half
door, so we are open to the elements. There is one electric light bulb. The
site has no running water or electricity (not allowed…..) but they have
installed some solar panels. The water supply is rain water and obviously
precious. No showers……and the nearest toilets are at the other end of the site.
After a lovely lunch with stunning views over the country side (spoiled
by the settlements unfortunately) we set to work. There are various groups
doing different things, but I am asked to do weeding together with one of our
team members, John Henson. The ground is very dry and rocky, but we get the
hang of how to work it after a while and I am greatly enjoying myself, as I love
gardening in any form. The afternoon flies by, although we all miss the regular
tea and coffee breaks we had at the building site. There is nothing like that
here, but we manage with water bottles.
We have our evening meal in a large cave, another interesting experience,
and are joined by Amal, the sister. She is a remarkable woman and has many
stories to tell. The basic message is that their life is made harder and harder
by the Israelis, as they want them to leave, but they are not giving up. The
vision for this farm, inspired by their father and further developed by his
children, is to be a place for reconciliation and to promote understanding, and
they feel this is needed more than ever. In addition there is the element of
sustainability and eco-farming. Amal works as a physiotherapist in Bethlehem
during the day, then comes back after a hard day’s work to run this place and
meet visitors. I do not know how she manages….it seems too much, particularly
with the lack of creature comforts, but she is a special lady. Her daily
journey has been made much more difficult in recent years because the Israelis
have erected a roadblock made of large boulders on the access road, so cars
cannot get past. She has to walk (or drive their one car which is still on the
property) to the boulders, then walk across and is met by a taxi to take her to
Bethlehem. There is no reason for this at all, there is no threat from this
farm in any military sense, just plain harassment by the authorities.
We spend the evening listening to her stories, and we sing lots of songs
which is great fun. Then it is time for bed, which
will certainly be a different experience as I have never slept in a cave! I am
lucky as I brought a sleeping bag, the others have to make do with the blankets
which are very thin. But we just get on with it. It gets colder and colder in
the night, and many of us need to go to the toilet, which means the nearest
bush outside….none of us gets much sleep! We make do with wet-wipes in the morning
and there is a sink where you can brush your teeth. It’s fine really......but
having to do this every day would be quite hard.
Our first job in the morning is to each plant an almond tree, which is a
lovely activity. Then we go and build a retaining wall (the hill is made up of
terraces). I go and hunt for suitable stones, which are then put together like
a ‘dry wall’. It’s interesting and different, but after a few hours some of us
are ready to drop and we have a break. Daher quickly finds us some more work to
do though, but we can do this sitting down. We make wire cages to put around
small trees to protect them from animals.
Everybody is pretty exhausted and after lunch it is agreed we will go
back to Bethlehem and spend a few hours at the Holy Land Trust. This is a bit
of a refuge…..some of us go for a beer in
Manger Square but many go up to the meditation room and fall asleep on
the confortable floor cushions. We manage to get a little bit cleaner at the HLT
toilets, but we are a sorry, smelly and sweaty sight. This would not matter too
much if we were going back to the hostel, but instead we are spending two
nights with families in Bethlehem. What a first impression!
I have been paired up with Diana, and we are picked up by Athullah who
takes us to his beautiful home in Beit Sahour. His wife Jamila is waiting for
us, beautifully dressed, and we have to apologise for the state we are in. But
she takes little notice, as she immediately recognises us from a television
report about the Battir house build. Of course this is a good subject to talk
about. They both speak quite good English and regularly have people to stay.
Jamila is part of an Arab dancing/singing group and has been to Holland for a
cultural exchange visit. What a coincidence, as I come from Holland so we have
lots to talk about! They are a lovely family and the meal they serve is really
delicious. They are Muslims, but are very welcoming to Christians and have
close relationships with their Christian neighbours. Indeed, some of the grandchildren
attend a Christian school, even though Athullah is a religious teacher in a
Muslim school. Athullah says grace before the meal, and it could just as well
be a Christian prayer. They make us feel so very welcome.
We get shown to our room and have a shower and bed! What luxury after
last night! It has been a good lesson for us not to take things for granted.
Tomorrow morning will be spent at the HLT and we are free to explore
Bethlehem, in the afternoon we go back to Battir for the final
celebrations.
If you want to find out more about the Tent of Nations, please visit:
Here are a few pictures of the last few days:
View over the surronding countryside from the Tent of Nations, with Israeli settlements
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