Ghost town with the EAPPI

We started the day leaving the host families‘ houses, then at 9:00 am the whole group joined the service at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. After the service we went to „Temple Mount“ in the old city of Jerusalem. Afterwards we headed to the Western Wall.
At noon we caught up with the whole group and went to pick some „Falafel“ which are delicious Palestinian sandwiches. We took a bus to head to Hebron. Then we headed to the „Martyrs Street“ where three members from the „EAPPI“ (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel) were waiting for us to pass and introduce to us the area called „Ghost Town“. We had to pass a checkpoint before getting to the street, which was really hard because it took us some time to get security checked by the soldiers.

Our Palestinian friends were also strictly checked at the checkpoint by the Israeli soldiers.
It was a big difference between before the checkpoint and after it. Before we were at a very crowded place where many people were talking and selling their goods at the market place in the city. The moment we were through the security check everything was quiet except one palestinian man who came out of his house saying „Welcome To The Apartheid“ which really touched us as a group because we felt that the man is living in seperation from his country and his people. We tried to pass the whole street but our fellow Palestinian friends were forbidden to continue walking the street. A soldier stopped them because he mentioned that it was an Israeli area and Palestinians are not allowed to visit it. The rest of the group was able to pass through where the members of the „EAPPI“ showed us the street and gave us some information about what happened during the years of massacre and some facts about the country. At the end of the street we were able to get back to the Palestinian zone where we met our Palestinian friends at the „Abraham’s Mosque“. There we were shown the whole Mosque and were told some facts about the life of Abraham which is an important character in muslim religion as well.

After that we had some spare time to spend in the great city of Hebron where we went shopping and met really nice people who greeted us with great welcome. Afterwards we headed back to the bus which took us back to Talitha Kumi in Beit Jala.  

Yousef & Johnny & Fritz