She lay in my arms. Just weeks old, a tiny baby. Her Palestinian father had just handed her to me at the infernal steel border building at the exit of Gaza into Israel. She did not cry. She just looked at me with her beady, dark eyes.

Her father was trying both to open her pram, and steady his wounded wife in her wheel chair. Their luggage was scattered at the final entry gate as if just thrown through it.

continued:

http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/bring-israelis-palestinians/24316

Eric Appleby: Visitors to this blog may appreciate the heartfelt poem posted on the Encompass message board by Amit, its coordinator in Jerusalem:

my friend,
my dear friend,
what happened to you
you used to be so lovely and full of dreams,
you used to call this land the holy land and there’s nothing holy in watering it with blood,
you used to be so much more creative, if you can create bombs and war strategies surely you can create peace, if you can dig death tunnels surely you can dig your way out of this,
if you can believe in your strength to carry the heavy losses, surely you can believe that under the hard skin of your enemy there is a beating heart like yours,
what happened to you, my dear friend, that you covered yourself with fear and hate, show me where it hurts, so i can kiss you there, and remind you that whatever illness your heart caught, there is nothing you cannot overcome, whatever horror scenarios and memories keeps you shivering in the shadows, greater are the wings that hope will give you,
rise from this war, my friend, awake from your nightmare,
you have proven yourself to have such powers and bravery to stand in front of your enemy, now use them to cleanse the enemy within, now use them to be free from fear,
if you are who you say you are, my friend, and you are,
please stop hiding
if you want to be a light to the rest of the world,
well, my friend, it is time to shine.

[NYCP] Bach – Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major (Siwoo Kim, violin)