Christian Peacemaker Teams and my time in Hebron

Christian Peacemaker Teams was founded in the the mid 1980s. The Mennonite church had a major role in its foundation but it now includes people of many faiths as well as non-religious people. The CPT mission is to end violence and oppression through creative non-violence (see cpt.org).  CPT has small teams in Columbia, Iraqi Kurdistan, the Greek island of Lesbos and Palestine.

I will join the Palestine CPT team in the West Bank city of Hebron as an intern for two months from early November to early January. At the moment and before joining the team,  I am participating in a two week CPT delegation to learn about CPT's work. I have come to Palestine/Israel   for a significant period  in order to gain a more direct understanding of what is happening  here than I can obtain at home or from a short term delegation.  I also hope to enhance the  work I do for Palestinian human rights with  Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME.org).

Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank with 750,000 Palestinians and 150 - 800 Israeli Jewish settlers.  The  exact number of settlers depends on  how and by whom the counting is done. Some settlers, for example,  only spend weekends in Hebron. Hebron is the only city in the West Bank with settlements in the middle of the city and is a focal point of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.

I will be blogging from time to time  while I am here.