Echoes of demonstrations past

Among the highlights of this Friday in Jerusalem was going to a demonstration. After lunch and dialogue with alumns from Hands of Peace, most of us walked less than a mile from our hotel to a demonstration that has happened every Friday at 3:00 pm for more than two years. The demonstrators are Palestinians who have been evicted from their homes and/ or had their homes destroyed by fiat of some branch of the government of Israel. We talked with many of the people--at least two had or were in imminent danger of losing their homes.

The little boy in the black shirt was leading the chants on the bull horn--accompanied by a great diversity of supporters. I spoke with an older man from Provence who was with a group who came specifically to join the protest and another woman from a World Council of Churches' group dedicated to peace-making and peace-keeping. Several little children undercthe age of 10 were waving flags and keeping time to the drumbeat that for many reverberated up through their feet.

The pottery pictures were taken at a workshop just across from the Legacy Hotel in Jerusalem. The potter is a woman so highly regarded that her work has a greater presence than that of any other middle easterner at the Smithsonian; so great that she was invited to do restoration work in the mosque at the Dome of the Rock.