A Palestinian believer writes: I am from Bethlehem. There are six of us children; it’s a perfect number. I am the youngest. I was raised here. I went to school and studied theology at Bethlehem Bible College.
A long time ago I heard about Musalaha, when I was at the Bible College. I went on a desert trip to Jordan. I remember I was recently married and how I have three children. Anyway, it was wonderful. It was really amazing, enjoying the desert and the nature there. But before I went, I thought: ‘How can I meet with my enemy, how can I speak to the Israelis?’ I was suffering a lot as at this time it was in the war, the second intifada.
It was a terrible time in our lives. You know, shooting, tanks, and curfews. It was really hard to wake up in the morning and find bullets outside your house. You think: ‘They were shot here,’ and so the next night you can’t sleep because you are worried, thinking: ‘Maybe tonight it will hit me.’ Especially when there is no electricity – you can’t hear the news so you don’t know where the shooting is. And you think it must be next to your house. All you hear are the helicopters, but you don’t know exactly where they are.