A media frenzy greeted us (pictured right), with at least 40 journalists hovering round the 700 demonstrators, TV teams trying to record the chanting, photographers jostling for the same shots, and everyone watched by 150 heavily-armed Israeli border police and soldiers.
Despite being a card-carrying journalist, writing now and then for Middle East International magazine, I really wonder about the whole profession. Call me naive, but with this many news agencies covering each and every sneeze from either side, how is it that nothing ever gets any better here?
Either we're not doing our jobs properly to bring a clear understanding of the truth before the public or else people don't really care. Bad timing, journalists or people - whoever is guilty - as we're approaching the point of no return.
I had never been to a joint Israeli-Palestinian demonstration before and was curious to see how many Israelis were present. There were about 20 or 30 of them. The most obvious ones of them (pictured below) reminded me of the "The End Of The World Is Nigh" billboard people you see in high streets, which seemed like a pretty accurate metaphor when considering the support likely for their aims from the wider Israeli society.
There is sometimes a real sense of arrogance that comes off these Israeli peace people. Its root is self-congratulation, as if they feel that they should be put on pedestals for their solidarity with the Palestinians 'in the middle of their hostile society'.
My feeling about this is that they need to grow up. The day we believe we should be treated specially for simply doing what's right and what every person should be doing is the day we should stop, take time out, and think about who is really likely to be served as our beliefs are acted out in reality. The water from the wells of our souls spills into the world we move around in. Don't think that the taste of pride doesn't matter just because the thirsty people drinking don't seem to be complaining. Every action has a reaction at some level.
To be honest, my encounters with those Israelis who are from the "peace movement" have been mostly negative. A lot of them consider themsleves left-wing. When you get into a conversation with most of them however, their beliefs about - say - Palestinian terrorism (and in particular, how little time it takes them to get around to this issue) betray a very right-wing naivity concerning the dynamics of violence.
Just the simple act of believing that Israeli soldiers have the potential to be racist, murdering thugs also seems to be difficult for many of them. One Israeli who rang me at Birzeit during the September 1996 clashes, to ask how I was, refused to believe point blank that Israeli soldiers were shooting live ammunition at Palestinian demonstators even though their own lives were not endangered. "But they must be in serious danger to be doing that," she said.
The sad fact is that these so-far-out-of-our-experience levels of human evil are always hard to really take on board. You might believe it happens, but that belief will never really amount to anything unless you actually see it happen in front of your own eyes. Experiences like that teach you severe lessons about human nature, so severe that one of the results is a profound humility. You suddenly realise that your worldview - something that you considered to be a near-perfect lens - was just so damn far from reality.
Maybe I'm expecting too much. We're all imperfect, I just wish that we'd stop forgetting that.
Nearby Beit Sahour has a history of joint peace activities with Israelis, perhaps increasing the ratio of Israeli participants a little. Nevertheless, at some level it was nice to see Israelis and Palestinians chatting and laughing together as one would expect normal people to do.
The Rapproachment Center in Beit Sahour, set up by Palestinians, exists to set these kinds of cross-cultural encounters up. The individuals concerned, both Israeli and Palestinian, believe them important. Ultimately, whatever you feel politically about these kinds of meetings in the current period, this is what one day must happen.
Seeing the flagpole on the right, held by an Israeli demonstrator, was strangely moving. I am so used to seeing Israelis treating Palestinians as less than themselves, that this image of an Israeli holding one of the most pervasive and powerful symbols of Israel - their flag with the Star of David, flapping alongside a Palestinian flag, was hard to take my eyes off. The thought of a true coexistence always feels so far away. Mixing the symbols like this has a dual effect of taking you into the future while simultaneously clashing two seemingly unreconcilable histories together in the present.
This guy from Rabbis for Human Rights was funny. He just kept standing there with his kippa and banner, grinning at me while I was taking the photo, as if saying, "Hey! I'm a rabbi. For human rights!"
This whole diary thing is turning into an interesting learning experience. Everything seems to take forever but the feedback makes it worth it. It's distilling my tumultuous thoughts about the events I see and freeing me from their power to overwhelm and paralyse. The feedback is letting me know that there are a bunch of people out there who care about what is going on. One of the main ideas behind the diary was to produce something that I would have appreciated were I stuck back in UK and this goal seems to be being achieved. But there is so much to do! I was thinking the other day that I maybe manage to cover about 20 percent of what I think should be done. Imagine what it would be like if there were others doing this...
Fortunately, Abu Ghnaim is well researched by the ARIJ website listed below, which frees me from having to dip too far into that and away from writing about the people and general impressions. An e-mail from the Jewish Communications Network came just as I was writing up this section, saying that they had given the Diary their "Cool Jewish site of the Week" award, a bizzare acolade for a website by a Christian that spends a significant time trashing the actions of the State of Israel, don't you think? I appreciated this a lot. Judging by their review, I think a big part of what they appreciated (apart from the fact that I'm obviously not a Nazi) was my listing of Israeli websites to offer other viewpoints. You won't find many websites here which offer a link to the settlers' council of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hey, why not? It's all part of the rich tapestry of life here.