My first week in Abu Dis

I arrived in Abu Dis last Tuesday having spent two weeks participating in the Lajee Centre’s 15^th International Summer Camp in Aida Camp, Bethlehem. As soon as I arrived I was adopted by the local volunteers. The summer camp has been great fun so far; the highlight being a trip to an outdoor swimming complex in Jericho. The children were in their element there and, even after 4 hours of swimming, ice creams and falafel were not enough to prise them out of the water. At the weekend the local volunteers took us to visit Nabi Musa, a 13^th century mosque believed to mark the grave of Moses (Nabi Musa). The following day we visited Nablus and after wandering around the Souk took a short taxi ride to a nearby village, Sebastia. There we explored Roman ruins and a Byzantine church. As we were enjoying the sunset over Nablus one of the local volunteers received news that a 21 year old Palestinian had been shot dead at a nearby check point. UN figures show that since the beginning of this year an average of 37 Palestinians a week have been injured by the Israeli forces. Despite visiting lots of human rights NGOs with the Lajee centre, such as the Badil Centre and Addameer, and talking with ex-prisoners I still find it hard to fully comprehend all that people have to endure here. If you would like to find out more about Saturday’s shooting the linked article may be of interest, http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767096. R

Enjoying the swimming pools in Jericho

Nabi Musa