History and Politics

A very long and full day. 15 hours in the company of Christian and Jewish politicians and activists from all around the world.
The 5 photos help me get head around it.

1. We visited factories where Palestinians and Israelis work together - this small boy rode past as we spilled out of one factory. We don't get many donkeys on the roads in North London.
2. Everyone does a years National Service and we chatted to some lovely girls - highly educated, high achievers, in uniform and carrying guns.
3. This lady was a psychiatrist and married to a lawyer. As a family they had decided to live in a 'settlement' in the desert and commute to work in Jerusalem.
We met many who were doing this. This is about history and politics too.
4. A vast desert. This wouldn't have changed much since Jesus was here.
5. 7 years ago, this plot was a car park. It was going to be the site of a new visitors centre as the old visitors centre was found to be sitting on top of 'possibly' King David's palace. We walked in that excavated site. Then as they scanned this proposed new site in the photo before building permission could be granted, they found evidence of more history.
They have uncovered 12 layers of civilisation. 12!

I have learnt a lot today. We also went underground and walked alongside the foundation stones of the Western Wall. We even visited a winery.
And we travelled in a bullet proof coach.