How are we going to plant roses?

Today was a cold and windy day.

With Achmed we did a wide tour up to the border of Lebanon.

We visited the sites of the Iqrit and Bar'Am villages. The sites, not the
villages. The reason? They do not exist anymore. They were destroyed.

Actually it was a depressing day. Not because of what we have seen but
because the lessons learnt from such experiences. I am not going to bore
you with those lessons.

I am going to share one photograph with you. It is actually a bad
photograph. The legs of the boys are cut off on the photograph.

The three boys were playing. Look at the boy on the left. His face was
covered. He saw me and came towards me, holding his hands and arms as if
he were holding a machine gun. He then lifted his arms, the gun, and
started shooting.

It was only a game, like we played cowboys and crooks when we were young.
To him it was reality.

It is again a lost generation of youths, Palestinians and Jews.

How can we expect of them to plant roses if their reality is violence?
Rockets. Hatred. Distrust. Sealed-off borders.

Both sides are victims. Both sides are perpetrators.

I experienced so many parallels with our past in South Africa. However,
there is one big difference. We made the choice for peace and not for
rockets. We overcame the distrust.

The longest-lasting impression of today will, again, be the hospitality
shown towards us. Strangers gave us to eat and drink more than we could
ever dare to drink or eat.

"Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something
you do, Something you are, And something you give away." Robert Fulghum

Regards from the sad and exciting country.

Lodie