Alastair Mitchell

Bethlehem.

I enjoyed writing some nice things yesterday, as recently by blog has been a little depressing – due to the experiences of the family that has recently come under Israeli attention. Unfortunately, I write tonight with further bad news.
The army returned to the house of the girls in question last night, after we got back from Jericho. As before, they arrived in the middle of the night dressed completely in black, with their faces painted black.
While we were in Jericho, one of the girls had said to me that ‘you always think that you get used to this, but at the time when it happens, you don’t. Last night I was shaking.’
I don’t blame them. Last night the soldiers returned, and when the family still did not produce the younger brother, they started getting tougher. ‘Ok, in that case, when we find him, we’ll bring his head to you’ they said. Then, when one of the girls started to cry, the officer said looking her in the eye, that ‘this girl will cry each day and every night from now on’.
The army left saying that tomorrow they will return with their ‘worst’ soldiers. I dread to think what is going through the minds of this family right now.
When I think of a young girl, inside her home, crying in fear of what the army of a so-called civilised nation will do to her and her family, I am reminded of Anne Frank.

The irony of that comparison is as shocking as it is acute.

Jericho.

Today we have come for a day out to Jericho with the students from the Bethlehem branch of the conservatory.  At 260 metres below sea level, it is close to the lowest point on earth and is therefore consistently hotter than up in the hills where Bethlehem and Jerusalem are situated.  It is well known for its orange and banana trees, and at this time of year it provides an opportunity to enjoy the summer sun once again – during the real summer, it is better to stay in the hills as temperatures here reach uncomfortable levels.  As well as being the lowest city on earth, it is also the oldest continually inhabited.
The drive between Bethlehem and Jericho is quite spectacular as the landscape changes from mountainous to flat desert, and the civilisation changes from urban to Bedouin tent dwellers.  In Bethlehem you are never far away from the past, but going down towards Jericho is like stepping back into it.