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Robert Traer, Jerusalem Journal
A PenMark Press Book
These personal
reflections on religious life and conflict in Israel and the
occupied West Bank were written during February through May, 2005,
while the author was in Jerusalem to support Jewish
Israelis, Muslim Palestinians, and Christians working for a
just peace. The author traveled on the West Bank with
members of Rabbis for Human Rights to help protect
Palestinian farmers and children from attacks by Jewish
settlers. He went behind the Separation Wall to talk with
Palestinian advocates for human rights. The author visited
the Western Wall below the Temple Mount where Jews pray, the Haram al-Sharif where Muslims pray, and he celebrated Easter
in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant services in the Old
City of Jerusalem. He also visited archeological sites in
Galilee, Caesarea, Acre, and the Jordan Valley. The author
relates his interviews with rabbis and the Jewish arguments
supporting justice for Palestinians. This book offers the
author’s reflections on the long history of Jews, Christians
and Muslims living in their land. Despite the violence and
cynicism that now mark the conflict in the Middle East, the
author finds hope in the courage and faith of Jews,
Christians and Muslims he met in Jerusalem and in the
occupied West Bank.
You may read a representative sample by
clicking
here.
Contents
Introduction
Alternative
Tourism
The Old City
Greater Jerusalem
Holy Places
Restoring the Old City
Visit to Acre
Water in the Desert
Visit to Galilee
Yad Vashem
Religious Celebrations
Palm Sunday in Jerusalem
Easter and Purim
Sunday Mosaic
Orthodox Easter
EAPPI
Visits
Planting Trees Near
Bethlehem
At Rachel’s Tomb
“Freedom School” in Abu
Dis
Back to Abu Dis
Journey to Jayyous
Fearing Evil in the
Valley
Stones of Hebron
West
Bank Interventions
Rabbis for Human Rights
Men With Guns
Right and Wrong
In the Olive Groves Again
Religious Views
Transforming Difficult Texts
Kiddush HaShem:
Sanctifying God’s Name
Finding Hope
Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem
Telling the Truth
Secular Views
Visiting Mishmar Ha’emek
Kibbutz
The Golan for Development
New Historian Ilan Pappe
Israeli Women for Peace
Working for
Reconciliation
Machsom Watch
Redefining Security
Conclusions
Talking Points: Israel/Palestine
Talking Points: Religion
Land (f
)or Peace
Resisting Terrorism and Occupation
Author
Robert Traer
served as the executive director of the International
Association for Religious Freedom from 1990-2000, and
represented the work of the IARF on religious freedom to the
United Nations. In 2002 he was a Resident Scholar at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in
Israel. In the spring of 2005 he served with the Ecumenical
Accompaniment Program in Palestine/Israel, which is
sponsored by the World Council of Churches. In June 2005, he
participated in the Critical Moment Conference in Geneva
convened by the World Council of Churches and drafted the
conference report. Dr. Traer now teaches courses on ethics
and religion at the Dominican University of California in
San Rafael. He is a retired minister in the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) and a member of the Bar of the State of
Colorado. He is author of Faith, Belief, and
Religion and Quest for Truth. His writings on human rights are available at
http://religionhumanrights.net,
and his writings on Christian faith, ethics and interfaith
dialogue are at
http://christian-bible.com.
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