Augusta Victoria Hospital CorridorRosemary Radford Ruether
Daniel Barenboim in concert at
Ramallah Cultural Palace
Apologies to all our faithful readers for the inexcusable hiatus! Since we came back from our Christmas break in Istanbul we’ve been busy.
The weather here has been cold, but not like in Canada. We had a few days of about
- 3 to -4C at night and 5 to 6C in the day time. Today, January 25, it was + 8 to 10. The grass is now bright green and some flowers are still blooming.
Donna resumed her duties in the Palestinian Lutheran School System this week and experienced the “joys” of going through the Bethlehem checkpoint twice a day 4 days a week. The Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoints get pretty loud and aggressive at times. She’ll be giving an update on her work in the schools and archivist duties soon.
Dale is busy at Augusta Victoria. Management is focusing on preparations for a major inspection by the Israeli Ministry of Health at the end of January. As if that isn’t enough, AVH is preparing its part of the LWF annual report, and the Midterm Development Plan for both of which Dale is doing his share of research and writing. Construction of a new paediatric ward is underway. It will house ten beds and a child-friendly chemo therapy area. We are still waiting for CIDA’s decision on a proposal Dale prepared before Christmas to fund the addition of 12 beds to the present geriatric ward. In the network of six East Jerusalem Palestinian hospitals AVH has developed specialty care in adult and paediatric cancer treatment, adult and paediatric dialysis, geriatric care, and diabetes care. AVH is an exciting place to work in!
Apart from our work, we’ve done a few interesting things in January. We heard Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether discuss her new book "America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence". She has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and is well known as a groundbreaking-figure in Christian feminist theology. She talked about the dangers posed by nations who think of themselves as “chosen”, namely, the U.S. and, of course, Israel.
That same weekend, we attended a Barenboim-Said Foundation Concert at the Ramallah Cultural Palace in Ramallah. Daniel Barenboim played 3 sonatas by Beethoven to a standing ovation, plus Chopin’s Nocturne as an encore. Although he is a pro-Palestinian Israeli, and not very popular in Israel, the beautiful hall was packed with Palestinians, internationals and dignitaries from the Palestinian Authority and numerous consulates, including the Canadian. The concert was held to dedicate a new grand piano that had been donated by a couple of German women who had been impressed with Barenboim and the Ramallah theatre.
Dale attended a symposium at the Notre Dame Centre on whether or not Annapolis and George Bush’s visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah would bear fruit. One thing his visit did do was cause a day of major traffic snarls and business closures for kilometers around Jerusalem – all in the name of security. The opinion of the Palestinian on the street is that Bush is more trouble than he’s worth. Every Palestinian knows that U.S. policy favours Israel.
This past Thursday Dale played bridge with, among others, Mordechai Vanounou. He is an Israeli engineer who blew the whistle on Israel’s nuclear programme a number of years ago and spent 18 years in prison, 15 of which were in solitary confinement. Mordechai is now a Christian, a member of Redeemer Lutheran, and unable to leave Israel. He has just been sentenced to 6 months community service for breach of parole. An interesting guy! Google his name and read about him on his website.
Last Saturday we had dinner with a friend from the guest house, an Australian drama and English teacher, at the Seven Arches Hotel on the Mt. of Olives just above the Garden of Gethsemane and Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept) Church. Beautiful view of Jerusalem from the restaurant!
Well, that’s the catch-up. We’re probably going to the Erez checkpoint at Gaza tomorrow to take part in a solidarity demonstration for the Palestinians in Gaza who are being blockaded by the Israelis and deprived of food, fuel, medicine, and access to cancer care at Augusta Victoria.
We’ll write about that later.
The weather here has been cold, but not like in Canada. We had a few days of about
- 3 to -4C at night and 5 to 6C in the day time. Today, January 25, it was + 8 to 10. The grass is now bright green and some flowers are still blooming.
Donna resumed her duties in the Palestinian Lutheran School System this week and experienced the “joys” of going through the Bethlehem checkpoint twice a day 4 days a week. The Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoints get pretty loud and aggressive at times. She’ll be giving an update on her work in the schools and archivist duties soon.
Dale is busy at Augusta Victoria. Management is focusing on preparations for a major inspection by the Israeli Ministry of Health at the end of January. As if that isn’t enough, AVH is preparing its part of the LWF annual report, and the Midterm Development Plan for both of which Dale is doing his share of research and writing. Construction of a new paediatric ward is underway. It will house ten beds and a child-friendly chemo therapy area. We are still waiting for CIDA’s decision on a proposal Dale prepared before Christmas to fund the addition of 12 beds to the present geriatric ward. In the network of six East Jerusalem Palestinian hospitals AVH has developed specialty care in adult and paediatric cancer treatment, adult and paediatric dialysis, geriatric care, and diabetes care. AVH is an exciting place to work in!
Apart from our work, we’ve done a few interesting things in January. We heard Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether discuss her new book "America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence". She has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and is well known as a groundbreaking-figure in Christian feminist theology. She talked about the dangers posed by nations who think of themselves as “chosen”, namely, the U.S. and, of course, Israel.
That same weekend, we attended a Barenboim-Said Foundation Concert at the Ramallah Cultural Palace in Ramallah. Daniel Barenboim played 3 sonatas by Beethoven to a standing ovation, plus Chopin’s Nocturne as an encore. Although he is a pro-Palestinian Israeli, and not very popular in Israel, the beautiful hall was packed with Palestinians, internationals and dignitaries from the Palestinian Authority and numerous consulates, including the Canadian. The concert was held to dedicate a new grand piano that had been donated by a couple of German women who had been impressed with Barenboim and the Ramallah theatre.
Dale attended a symposium at the Notre Dame Centre on whether or not Annapolis and George Bush’s visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah would bear fruit. One thing his visit did do was cause a day of major traffic snarls and business closures for kilometers around Jerusalem – all in the name of security. The opinion of the Palestinian on the street is that Bush is more trouble than he’s worth. Every Palestinian knows that U.S. policy favours Israel.
This past Thursday Dale played bridge with, among others, Mordechai Vanounou. He is an Israeli engineer who blew the whistle on Israel’s nuclear programme a number of years ago and spent 18 years in prison, 15 of which were in solitary confinement. Mordechai is now a Christian, a member of Redeemer Lutheran, and unable to leave Israel. He has just been sentenced to 6 months community service for breach of parole. An interesting guy! Google his name and read about him on his website.
Last Saturday we had dinner with a friend from the guest house, an Australian drama and English teacher, at the Seven Arches Hotel on the Mt. of Olives just above the Garden of Gethsemane and Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept) Church. Beautiful view of Jerusalem from the restaurant!
Well, that’s the catch-up. We’re probably going to the Erez checkpoint at Gaza tomorrow to take part in a solidarity demonstration for the Palestinians in Gaza who are being blockaded by the Israelis and deprived of food, fuel, medicine, and access to cancer care at Augusta Victoria.
We’ll write about that later.
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