maybe its just baby steps...

last night i had an amazing and hopeful experience! i was invited to eat dinner with two older activists elana and david, and their daughter rachel. elana and david had been living on a kibbutz from 1955 until 1990, and now they live in Jaffa, in a mixed neighborhood. the area itseld is very much different than tel aviv. they live in a very modest apartment with their daughter where they have tons of books lying around, the floors and walls covered with them. they have been activists for a very long time. david just finished a book about the strategy of economic violence (my words) in regards to the jewish development of industrial areas of arab neighborhoods within israel, stifling any potential growth and creating resentment. he explains how it is accomplished, not simply through the simplistic and reductionist arguments. anyway, very interesting. and we had a very vigorous discussion about what is happening in the occupied territories, where i actually found myself between them and their daughter in terms of "radical" political beliefs! that was interesting, indeed. but they all gave me several contacts, including a man in tel aviv who has a store four blocks from where i am staying that is all organic products and he is an acupuncturist. also several people in jerusalem, free places to stay, international cafes, you name it. in fact, they put me in touch with a man who is a chiropractor who essentially spends all his time going (with a group of people) between different towns in the west bank to give treatments! he invited me to go with him next week to jenin for four days, and to a couple of other places. i think i will spend most of next week with him. he is getting me security clearance to travel, so i might actually be able to get needles in! when i visited ronin (the acupuncturist in tel aviv) this morning, he gave me a good place to go buy needles, so that is what i am going to do next. i also shared the 5np with him, and he was excited. so after i get out of this internet place i will get breakfast, probably coffee, and then get needles, then go to jerusalem where i will stay the night, then tomorrow go to bethlehem and then on tuesday to ramallah to meet with the other contacts that i have there. i will return to tel aviv on friday and leave with physicians for human rights on saturday with their mobile clinic and return to israel on sunday and i will meet with harry (the chiropractor) and go with him. so loosely, that is the plan. interesting. i am not getting my hopes up about any of this, as we all know it can change very quickly and unexpectedly. but for now its good news. and i even got to give david a treatment last night for sciatica that has been bothering him for a year since he jumped in a demonstration against the war in lebanon (he is 70). he got a lot of relief, and i felt good that i can at least do something. hopefully i will be able to do more. but it was nice to hear support from elana and david with the project, and they have more contacts among activists here than anyone else, so it was quite a fortuitous encounter. they are great people, making me feel very welcome, and even loved. above all, there was a feeling of solidarity. and it was good. hasta pronto...