Inshallah

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Bedouin Tent at Jabal Al-Baba

It's a turn of phrase that is frequently used in this part of the world, and one that I find myself saying more frequently as time passes... Inshallah.  In Arabic, it means something like, "God willing" or "If God so wills". It is the answer to so many questions...
     Is this where I catch the next bus? Inshallah.
     Can we come see you tomorrow? Inshallah.
     Do you think you'll pass the checkpoint in time? Inshallah.

Jabal Al-Baba (The Mountain of the Pope) is a small Bedouin community, located slightly northeast of Al-E'izariya, known in the New Testament as Bethany (hometown of Jesus' friends Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus). The 300 people who live here, many of then children, are descendants of people displaced from the Negev in 1948. 

Jabal Al-Baba is one of many Bedouin communities at risk. 

Planting a tree with Attalah

In 2014, 14 homes were demolished here. Paperwork has been filed to demolish the rest of the buildings to make way for settlement growth. Due to an encroaching wall, they are no longer able to move their herds and work as shepherds - although they still keep a small number of animals. Although they live with the threat of demolition and an ever growing separation wall, they are not without hope.

A few years ago, they decided the best way to resist the pain of the occupation was to find new and creative ways to be who they are. Attalah, the community's leader, has created a kind of a "Bedouin Experience Camp" in which visitors can come and sample traditional food and stay overnight in an authentic goat-hair tent. The hope is that if Jabal Al-Baba is sustainable and brings in tourism dollars the civil authorities may change their minds and let them live in peace. Inshallah.

Attalah has become a good friend of ours, we are always provided for with such wonderful hospitality (we all think his sage tea is the best we've tasted). He invited us to plant trees with him a few weeks ago, but we had some scheduling conflicts that led us to push it off. Today, we finally had the chance to return.

What is Firas Holding?

If you look carefully at this picture you may be able to figure out what Firas is holding. Do you see what it is? It is a discarded army helmet with a portion of the top cut out. This is the container that Atallah uses as an underground planter for the tiny saplings. He is taking an item of war, and turning it into a bed of peace. Inshallah.

Here's the thing about the trees we planted. Attalah has invited each person in our group to return in a few years to check on "our tree". As the soil crumbled through our fingers, he told us that now that we have a stake in the community, we are welcome to return at any time. But I wonder, when we do - what will we find? Hopefully, we'll see a community that has been left to live their old way, with a new twist. We'll see that our trees have grown strong and tall, and that the many children have grown to be a blessing to their community. And maybe the dream that seems so far off, the dream of peace, will have crept just a little bit closer. Inshallah...