Israel 2018: Normalization

It felt normal to be in Israel during three summer weeks 2018. The construction of the Tomb of Maimonides in Tiberias has been finished. The water level of the Sea of Galilee was about 40 cm lower than in the spring 2017. The war in Syria passed the Syrian Israeli border across the Golan Heights and unlike the years before when meditating in the silent retreat, we could hear war.

Blue Mosque, Haram esh-Sharif, Jerusalem. August 2018.

A few days later in Old Town Jerusalem, the atmosphere felt normal to me. I was exited and felt lucky to be there again. The light, the noises and the people living in the city. People are walking in their own pace, based on their prayer times and needs. Last year I was so happy and surprised to not see signs of the tension and provocation, provocations among young people, I remember from my first visit in 2015. The togetherness of Jews, Muslims and Christians is finding its structure and its mode of organization. I noticed small changes. The Jewish house I pass when walking from the Damascus Gate towards the Western Wall is now running a little café, and a Palestinian café has opened just around the corner in the Via Dolorosa, too. The strong Palestinian man, who owns the shop at the corner, wrestles playfully with teenagers while Israeli border police is standing at ease in their guard station nearby.

Jerusalem, Israel, August 2018.

The holy city is opening its gates to the world. The lawns around the city walls seem greener. The walls as such seem to shine. Of course I also want them to shine in the light of peace and freedom. Is that why I am seeing them shine? It’s a beautiful place and many hands are taking care of it, allowing guests like me to visit.

City walls, Jerusalem, Israel August 2018

Time to listen

The Temple Mount (Haram esh-Sharif), the olive trees and the Dome of the Rock, as well as, the Al Aqsa mosque, exhale a profound quietness. They are places to breathe, to take a breath. They are also places to rest and pray. Everywhere in the city, there is a place for someone to sit, to wait, or to pray. In the Jewish quarter, the golden menorah has moved to a new place next to the main synagogue. When will the countless souls that have been traveling the city find their homes? How can we heal the pain of our souls, within our time? How to prepare our house for a time in peace? It’s a worldwide wish. A uniting voice.

Haram esh-Sharif. Jerusalem, Israel, August 2018.

The prophet would say: ‘Don’t move too fast and listen to your heart. God is among us, listening, walking with us, talking to us; within the walls and its open gates. Keep talking with each other and you will see the changes we want to see. Please start talking, every day again, as if we just stopped talking a moment ago.’

Mausoleum, Jerusalem, Israel, August 2018.

My visits to Ramallah and to Nazareth did not change my image of normalization. How to organize every day life in an atmosphere of declining aggression? Traffic pushes through narrow streets and people do their daily business. I hear from locals that daily life is not easy to manage and parents want to see a better future for their children. Normalization meets new dynamics. Israel and Palestine are changing again and again and investing in their future. I think it’s one of the most innovative and creative places on earth, with Israel’s innovative spirit being a strong driver in this economic and social process. Mixing into the sound of the Middle East. Walls are not high enough to keep words and ideas apart. Sound travels. And I believe that within the young Palestinian generation the innovative and creative spirit and start-up mentality will be seen more and more. Within the world of innovation and creativity, there is so much to share.

Stopping by the court house

Normalization, a rule based organization of a state and its society, also means to accept the law and the justice spoken in a court house. What needs to be accepted as the highest authority in a state? We must choose between the law of power, or the power of law. The law of power will end in destruction, the power of law will lead to integration. I went to the court house in Nazareth and the guard explained to me which sessions I could attend and where to find the rooms. Unfortunately, the ongoing sessions where juvenile court cases and not public. It was a sunny afternoon and time for coffee nearby.

Court house, Nazareth, Israel, August 2018.

Ramallah, Palestine, August 2018

How about a union?

What does normalization mean? Does it mean that it is now time for peace negotiations and agreements that begin institutionalizing the togetherness of all people living within Israel/Palestine. What if normalization only allows for the benefit of some people? While other start to give up and get frustrated; this frustration can potentially lead to protest and violence. Violence does not help anyone (“peace is patient”). Violence does not help institutions to grow or be seen in the world. Where is the spirit we can give these institutions? I miss words at the moment. The walls of Jerusalem miss the words; words that we all need to hear. Words of peace and of togetherness. Not only words of recognizing each other as nations and states, but also to realize that as a single state alone we cannot solve the trans-national problems of the future. Let’s talk about a political union in the Middle East. A place where former enemies come together to build political institutions that seek the productive spirit of decision making, solidarity and peace. We can listen to Jean Monnet’s words “Nothing is possible without men; nothing is lasting without institutions.”

Creating a union. Nazareth, Israel, August 2018.

Peace in Jerusalem, peace in the world

Peace in Jerusalem, peace in the world. It is happening every as people work together and interact as neighbors in Jerusalem and across the world. People from different cultures, different ages and different social background cross their paths every day. I felt people’s wish to avoid tensions and to organize a way to live together — to create and keep peace in the city. They are working towards something, I don’t believe that dividing the city again will bring us closer to peace. How can we divide a holy city? If we are willing to put our efforts into dividing the city, why not better use our words and political will to work towards cooperation and integration. We owe it to the future of our world. In order to recognize each other, we must listen. Words between leaders and neighbors; words between mothers and daughters, fathers, sons. Words of freedom, spoken together. The words we want to speak together in the future, let’s speak them out today. Be the light you want to see — be the word you want to hear. Words. Words for future generations. God, the merciful and compassionate is already there, trusting us. Can we create the will to do it together? Based on our words and trust, we can organize political and social transformations, nations need to live together in peace.

My days in Jerusalem, my prayers at the holy places, my thoughts on nuclear disarmament, safeguard and verification, thoughts and hopes for an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, these days left me with feeling: it’s possible. Don’t ask me how or why? Walking through Jerusalem I could see, that by talking with each other, people are organizing peace together. Every day. Maybe the words haven’t changed, instead it is merely the right time to talk, and we can feel it — our wish to talk.

Jerusalem, Israel, August 2018.

Beauty is powerful

“There is hope in the young generation, we build it from the ground” a young woman in Ramallah told me.

I hope the men and women in power will speak the words of the young generation today. To share words of beauty and dignity. It’s time. It’s normal — normal for us to talk. As women and men, young and old together. That is all God wants from us, to meet and to talk, to meet again and to talk again. Talk. Build the institutions that can keep peace in the countries and on our continents for the next generations. Keep talking, be a light. Show it to the world. Together we can build a union.

Jerusalem, Israel, August 2018.

Israel 2017: Following light

I entered the Old City of Jerusalem again, but it took me a few weeks to get there. I chose the Lion's gate to enter, don't ask me why it just felt right to come from East. It was quiet, where was the hate, I could see in children's eyes two years before. Was it gone?

Jerusalem, 2017

Walking circles

Before entering the Old City of Jerusalem/al-Quds, I was near Gaza in Aschkelon, changed buses in Be'er Scheva. Did a headstand at Ben Gurion's and his wife's tomb in Sede Boker in the desert. Meditated in the dessert next to the crater cliff at Mizpe Ramon. Passed at night a skate board park in Eilat at the Red Sea in the south. Was in Akko and Haifa up north. Visited Hebron and Bethlehem. Crossed boarders, and saw walls. Walked in olive gardens in the Jenin hills. Ate sweets in Nablus and drank tea in Ramallah. Prayed in a mosque and honored political leaders of all sides. Walked to monasteries in Jericho and walked the neighborhoods around. Went to see Sefat, on a hill in the Galilee, without having heard of the Kabbalah. Saw Mount Hermon and the Druse city Majdal Shams. Stayed with friends next to the Jordan river in the kibbutz Beit Hilel, near Kirjat Schmona. Went to see the Syrian and the Lebanese boarder. Ate a brezel and pomelos. Could see flowers grow around sheltered places, and monuments of war, and the pain of lost communities. Could find poems of pain and forgiveness and old keys, that cannot find a home anymore. 'Why did you leave the horse alone' asks a poem.  It is the same painful process to build new homes for people without homes all around the country. I could stay in Rosh Pina again, found the olive trees and grassing cows. Something had changed. I walked around Tiberias and walked from Nazareth to Tiberias at night. I woke up in Rosh Pina. I found myself moving around churches, synagogues, gardens and libraries. Deep listening. I saw Jaffa and Tel Aviv and crossed the wish gate again. I wanted to see peace. Wanted to work on a nuclear free world and wanted to feel love. 

Nazareth, 2017.

Seeking harmony in the Galilee 

I came back to the Galilee and to Nazareth after the vipassana meditation. This time I did not wait for the bus, as I did the year before, but walked from the bus station to Nazareth. This time, I had time to see the architecture around me. Houses did not follow a clear pattern but followed a different logic, I thought. The place I stayed last year had changed and thanks to the new hosts, a group of British IT entrepreneurs, I could stay for a night. I stayed in Nazareth for a few days. This place was telling me more, than I thought. I had time to explore. And still it took me a few days to walk up the hill to the mosque. There was always a reason not to walk uphill, sometimes the wind just told me to turn left instead of walking straight. I waited for the right moment and could feel the place more deeply. Could feel the love for my father and mother, friends and family. It was hard to feel it all at the same time.  I walked around a lot. I came back again, walked more. After a while it felt less work to feel balanced. There was so much beauty to see, too. I felt welcomed and becoming part of the rich culture in the Galilee, in Israel and Palestine. I was impressed by the light's beauty and brightness. 

Talking to God, thinking justice

Quite often I was in a deep conversation with my heart and with God, as a higher entity. Was I looking to find Jesus? I think I was looking to find my own way. "It is not about Jesus, it is about justice," I thought when seeing the Court House. Nazareth was a place I needed to explore on my own, just following my own ideas and steps. I could feel my feet again, on the ground, staying on the ground. Maybe the first time in my life. I was looking to ground my heart and to connect me to a powerful place. My heart was longing for someone to love, to be loved and to care for someone. I walked following an energy and an energy followed me. It was a deep conversation. A conversation that took place in Nazareth, Tiberias and Rosh Pina, too. It is a mystical place, the Galilee. A place of blessing and wisdom. I met good and strong souls. Reminded me of where I am coming from. Is this the time to build roads again?

Near the Lebanese boarder, Galilee 2017. 

Feeling home

I saw quite clearly: peace is possible and it is happening. Between Israel and Palestine and between neighboring countries. Maybe it is only a wish, maybe it will becoming reality. Maybe it is reality? Maybe someday I will be living in this country, too. The wish for peace I felt so strongly in my heart. Such a true wish. While walking around Nazareth, I thought that many people must work together to try hard to keep this place in harmony. The buildings, the streets and the light seemed to be placed in an order and with care. It just felt good to me to see it. It also felt good to get reminded to my Bavarian roots when seeing the familiar Weihenstephaner brewery signs outside some restaurants. A taste of home on my lips. Talking to an artist who told me that his work will be shown in the Allianz Arena's art gallery, a football stadium in Munich, I felt even more connected to the place. I like how our world keeps moments of openness and doesn't follow a mere two dimensional logic of good and bad or black and white. There is space for light and new ideas. It seems to me the Galilee is not a place that refuses to try new ideas. 

Jerusalem's streets

Jerusalem was waiting for me. I was curious to be back and to see the city. Staying at the Armenian hospice in the Via Dolorosa, I had time to explore the city for a week. I just kept walking around, sometimes running around. I followed my intuition. I had the chance to meet old friends again, got invited and ate dinner by myself. I met new friends. From what I could see I saw one city. A city with different ways to warship God, to follow faith and believes. At the same time, I felt that the place is singing the same song. The atmosphere in the city had changed. Security was organized and children and young men as well as women did not play an provocative and dangerous war. There is tension thought. It was a careful balance, still based on mistrust and hope. The sound of the city had changed within two years. As if people started talking with each other again. At least at some level. As if great brothers tell their little siblings, please, don't through stones, or older sisters tell younger brothers to walk with care and without provoking neighbors. Security people were organized and coordinating with each other, was my, maybe naive, impression. I was surprised. I could not see hate in children's eyes. Jews and Palestinians were playing soccer, playing though at different fields. Old brother took care of younger sisters; girlfriends of their boyfriends. A Jewish girl was reading outside the walls while a muslim taxi driver was praying next to her. 

A language of truth

Art and design, a language I observe when traveling, told also a story beyond hate and pain. I saw many colors and symbols of togetherness, love and hope. In a sculpture park in a shopping district, sculptures showed women dancing, laughing, children pouting, colorful butterflies sitting on an olive tree. It seemed to me that the artistic language overcame the sorrow and pain from the Holocaust and from building a country for the Jewish nation. I think this also could be true for the Nakba and the pain of building a new home for the Palestinian nation.  A painful process in many ways for everybody. I saw signs of hope and peace. Music and art is a rich language and it is vital for everyone in the Middle East.

Jerusalem, 2017

I slept in the rose garden for one night between the Parliament of Israel and the Supreme Court of Israel. Following the principles of human rights is such an important process we are in. It is about speaking and doing justice. Especially at such a holy place like in Jerusalem. The places where we decide about the space between right and wrong and the places of tolerance and forgiveness are not only the holy sites but also the houses where people meet to come to conclusions, forming compromises. I want to see this places strong and shining in the light of truth and honesty. I want to see, that we take care of mother nature. Taking care for people and nature is an art. 

For me it is hard to see the state of Israel and the state of Palestine as two separated entities. It just doesn't make sense to me. The landscape doesn't invite clear separation. The country seems only to function as one unite. I wonder how this can be organized. From just traveling and from seeing the place with my own eyes, I only see Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Palestine. The place can hold it and the place cannot be divided. It is a holy place. I don't see God wanting the place to be divided. It is also a facts that within the past 70 years, Israel has become a state. It is real and it is in many many ways very beautiful. For me the question is, what will happen in the future and how will we see the place holding all expectations?  

Finding love

When walking Jerusalem's streets, under the olive trees in Jenin or in Rosh Pina, my heart was filled with love. I needed to tell and I needed to find someone to share my love. Finding God was an honorable experience. Dancing around the hills in Nazareth was so needed for my soul. I felt grateful every day. Meeting strong people, warm people and wise people filled my heart with joy and make me think. I also saw pain and sickness. Heavy sadness on shoulders and hearts. I saw fences and walls. I tried not to judge but to listen and to listen carefully to all I knew and learned. What could I see?

Jenin hills, 2017

I fell in love with a woman and got lost. When passing a silver smith in Old City Jerusalem he asked me to step in and look at his work. I was wondering what will come to my eye. A turtle shining in read and yellow, to symbolize the ocean and life, a with stone to see trinity and wisdom, a Lion of Judea covered in blue Roman glass symbolizing humility, justice and care. And I saw two tears holding each other, a silver work embedding a white, colorful glamourous stone, expressing all emotions I've felt. He saw it. The man asked me to come back again the next day and I did. He told me that a Beduin sheik told him that I will find someone, "the lady in America" as he said, to give it. I believed and payed half the price, promising to come back again next summer to pay for the rest.  

Is God coming home? Does he play soccer?

Can I trust my intuition the way I do? The weeks in Israel and Palestine, in the Galilee, at the ocean and in the dessert showed me that I can. At least most of the time. Not all of it makes sense right away, I admit, and still, what I feel and see holds truth. I hope it does and I hope my feelings will serve me well in the future. All the places I went to and all the people I spoke to, what kind of feelings did I perceive? Many wise people are working together, I intuitively would say. Maybe it is also the light or the moon that sometimes tells the story of truth and honesty. In 2017 the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter holidays happened to be in the same week. Jerusalem was a busy place. The power I felt when joining Jewish prayers or Christian prayers was strong. The Temple Mount, the Haram Al Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), kept its calming and quiet energy. The things you can buy in the city speak a language of happiness, peace and togetherness. Even the T-shirts in the shops are sending positive messages. The Western Wall has a loving and warm vibration. I hope to see this strong language of peace, justice and sustainability to spread and to be understood in the world.  

Art gallery in Sefat, 2017

The Jewish boy I was playing soccer with around midnight in the Jerusalem's Sacha Park tells me that it is important for him to feel proud to be a Jew. To see him and his friends eating pizza, playing soccer, dancing to Rap music at midnight and to still be a religious person made me feel proud of him and his friends. It made me proud to see. There is a Jewish state, yes there is. I see signs of peace, this gives me hope. What do I miss to see. What needs to be done to see real peace, for all people living in the borders of Israel and Palestine? I want to come back again. 

I wonder how redemption will be possible, especially in a world of military deterrence. What does it mean to be Jewish and living in the Middle East? What does it mean to be a Jew in our world? Does God really need to be protected by deterrence? Does redemption need deterrence? He might walk around between us, playing soccer in the Sacher Park. What does it mean to train parkour in the Jewish Old Town -- ask Sami. He is very patient in his wisdom. Redemption needs recognition, justice and words of mutual honor to open hearts, walls, and boarders. 

We can talk to each other.

Israel 2016: Feeling water

Three weeks in the Galilee and in Jaffa/Tel Aviv. I wanted to travel slow and to stay close to the sea. During the days around Christmas and New Year 2016, I attended a 10 day silent retreat at a vipassana center close to the Sea of Galilee. 

Watching birds flying from north to south over the Jordan valley, I was wondering if my wings are going to take me back to this place again. So hard for me to imagine that in recent decades and still today the idea of enmity and hate is so pronounced and constantly manifesting itself in our thoughts, words and deed . My wish to walk the path for peace and to constantly be a honest voice for peace did grow with every day in silence. And still I knew, I am only at the beginning, learning, and trying to understand. The silence in the Galilee was opening my heart; I hope words will open our hearts in the future, too.

Where did Josef come from?

Nazareth is a place I knew from biblical stories, Christmas plays and from church services. I was curious to see the place and its people. A place that was home for Jesus' parents Maria and Josef. Who was Joseph? After the retreat, I took a bus to Nazareth. It was a cold night, already dark. From what I could see through fogged up windows, was that the architecture of houses and mosques were interesting to me. From what I saw, it seems each house had its own character. When I exited the bus a nearby electricity wire was sparking for a moment. It was a cold night. I found a hostel to stay. A place very close to the Basilica of Annunciation, Mary's church. The hostel was unique and the young lovely Maronite couple were great hosts. My heart felt my Bavarian souls and long parts of the evening with guests from Canada and Russia, we were exchanging music ideas on youtube. 

Nazareth is surrounded by hills. I had one day before going to Tel Aviv via Haifa. On top of one of the hills there is a mosque and I saw church towers. Maybe I could walk up in the afternoon, I thought. The Basilica is a massive building. Visitors enter the yard around the church through a gate. The motives of a sailing boat and a harp -- navigation and music -- are motive at the side entrance. It speaks to me. For some reason, the water was almost exploding and jumping up my fingers when I touched the water basin when entering. The church has two level. The lower part, with the chapel of Mary's annunciation is wide and dark, kept strong. I was wondering how people are able to keep the strong energy balanced at this place, when sitting down next to a quite Franciscan monk. The upper church was brighter, with motives from around the world, blessing Mother Mary. Was thinking of my grandmother Mary. Why do we wait for Jesus to come back? What if every child is Jesus? There is more to learn and to understand about power, gender and justice. I sat and listened silently. A pain walked up my skull to the crown of my head, I was frightened. I sat quietly and waited till the pain was gone. 

Learning from a plastic weapon

Before entering the church, I bought a few crosses to bring back to Germany. I also passed a place selling toys on the street. I picked up a plastic machine gun and felt a sudden ager arising in me. Was it the memories of my time in the army or the latest news of a shooting in Tel Aviv? I don't know. I just touched with the back end of the toy -- the thing you put on your shoulder when shooting -- the vendor's table and a plastic piece broke and ruined the product. Now I was in trouble. The man selling the product started talking to me. I talked back and complained about selling weapons and his responsibility of what we give to our children. He explained to me, that children want things and we need to make them happy -- a little boy just walked a way with a new plastic dagger in his hand and a smile on his face. I felt not understood. I was not in a mood to start a discussion and payed for the toy to then put it part by part and piece by piece in the next trash bin. This all happened only a few steps away from the Basilica's entrance. I felt bad watching the man's face saddening. At the same time I wanted him to understand that we all should care for what we do. And I felt angry. I apologized since I didn't mean to destroy anything. When returning to Nazareth the year after, he changed his products focusing more on arrow and bows and hunting rifles. He even sold an Austrian product that has the same weight and massiveness of a real gun. He recognized me again, we smiled, and we were shaking hands again. 

Nazareth, 2016.

Less weight, more love

Walking around Nazareth was not easy for me. And I could not walk up hill. I just couldn't. Instead, a man showed me the house of a famous Oud player (see as an example for the music the The Secret Trio). An Oud is a mandolin like string instrument. The musician wasn't at home.  There was a little church, called Christ Church on my way. When entering and sitting down I felt the heaviness on my shoulders leaving into the ground. I felt relieved for whatever reasons. The sun was shining directly to the place I was sitting at this moment. It felt good to me. This country, I thought, is a place of many many wise people, why is there not a political institution, such as the council of wise people, who are discussing political issues in a way that is not based on majorities and power. Maybe there is one, and I just don't know. I left Nazareth with all this impressions. A bus took me to Haifa. Leaving Nazareth I saw a Statue of Liberty and felt some pain of hoping to be back in the U.S., somehow again. A bird wants to come back to places he felt love.

In Haifa, at the train station, there was fresh air and a feeling of breathing freely. 

The wish gate

Staying in Florentine, a neighborhood in Tel Aviv,  filled my heart with happiness and love. I found signs of love almost at any corner -- I also wanted to; I needed it. In my own little story, I wanted to free Andromeda, a beautiful princess from Greek mythology, chained on the rock next to the Jaffa port entrance. There is no need to hold love chained for years and years. It was good to see how cultures can inspire each other when living together and starting to speak one language, using different words. I went to pray in the St. Peter church in Jaffa, a synagogue in Florentine and a mosque near the Perez Peace House. I talked to a silver smith, musicians and bought a table. The ten commandments, and a series of pictures symbolizing peace, faith and health, found in Michal Meron's art gallery (https://www.michalmeron.com/) are also now at my place in Berlin. What are the common roots we share? Believing in the same principles of justice, peace and honesty is unique to all of us. 

Wish gate. Jaffa, 2016.

Walking around old town Jaffa is refreshing and inspiring. Napoleon was there and Egyptian traders. It has been connecting point between cities and coastal routs for centuries. Free movement is not possible at the moment, as much as I wanted to cross the wish bridge, it wasn't possible -- it was under construction. The wish gate is on top of the Jaffa hill. Pass it and your wish will become true. My wish is peace in the world. This wish is spoken out on the Jaffa hill, next to the sea. Again and again.

Looking back

This time in Israel, I wanted to find places that offer a shelter and a balanced harmony. I stayed close to the ocean in Tel Aviv, finding what I wanted to find. I was surprised by Nazareth and its energies, knowing I wanted to come back to find the path uphill and to see the architecture in this area again. I still wanted to know who was Jesus's father Josef. I didn't learn much. I also hoped that I could help Andromeda to free herself from her chains. There is no need to hide beauty from light. I was hoping to come back again.

Israel 2015: A green dessert

Greening the dessert

Have you heard of the saying: "Peace in Jerusalem, peace in the world?" This words are traveling with me, since a Jew in Rosh Pina told them to me. It was a January weekend in 2015. It did snow the day before. People were happy and smiled in the café. I came to Israel to find inner peace. First, by joining a silent meditation retreat in at the Sea of Galilee. Secondly, by finding forgiveness for the German past and guilt I felt because of the Holocaust. The silence in the Galilee opened my heart. A man, a rabbi's son from Denmark, told me that my generation is too young to be called guilty for what happened during World War II. It was important for me to hear his words. I found what I wanted to find and still had 10 days before flying home.

Rosh Pina, 2015.

Despite of my gratefulness, my heart kept traveling with a pain I could not leave behind me. Why war in this area, why all the conflicts around this place on earth? Rosh Pina and its olive trees became a hill to me I wanted to come back. It was snowing again when I walked home from the Tangerine bar. The man I was talking with told me that he had seen Lebanon, it is beautiful, but he only could see the beauty from inside a tank, when he was a soldier. Jim Morrison's music almost over-tuned when we both were listening to the silence after his words. How many roads must a man walk down? I walked home in the rain, wondering what stories this country would hold for me. What is needed to establish honesty and trust? What is needed to green the dessert?

Peace in Jerusalem, peace in the world

The snow greened the desert for a few days. Brought fresh air for a while. "Peace in Jerusalem, peace in the world." The city was not in peace, when I arrived. I felt it more than I could see it. My friend from Rosh Pina told me not to go into the Old City on my own. So I decided to walk for a day around the Old City walls before entering it. It was a difficult walk for me. Not because of the police who stopped me in Mea Shearim, nor because of the group of boys hanging out a street waiting to through stones at cars; it was also not the tree I took a rest under on the shepherds fields. I don't know the reasons, it was not easy to keep walking around the Old City. In my inner eye I needed to protect the city from people who wanted to harm the holy rock. Rumors of extremists eager to blow up the Temple Mount became a reality to me, so my mission was to protect the city. When passing the cemetery on the northern wall, I started walking down into the valley to see a Pharaoh's tomb, but I turned around when too much fear came to me. Too dark and too late and I had not finished my walking around the Old City idea. A man offered me a cigaret and we both went back uphill, deeply listening to our thoughts. He gave me one of his last papers to roll a cigaret, and when I lost one and the wind carried it away, I felt I did a mistake, since even a cigaret paper is of value for someone who has only little and shares. Did I respect him well enough? 

Jerusalem, 2015.

There are many stories people bring back from Jerusalem. My story is that this day started with me sitting under a tree in the Jewish neighborhood and an old man passes me. He asked me: "Do you also talk to the big man" pointing in towards the sky above us. I nodded. There wasn't much more to say. When I finished my cycle around the Old City, and when entering Jaffa street I suddenly felt a strong stroke hitting my body and my eye sight changed, it got darker. There was not much I could do but to keep walking and to wait till my eyes would start seeing in full brightness again. It only took maybe a minute till things were okay again. I sat down, ordered some sweets in a bakery and drank water. When sitting on the table the plastic-box with the sweets moved towards my hand. Maybe it was the table that was not even, maybe it wasn't? All this energy and all this love in me and around. I struggled with the balance around me. An old man passed and asked for money. I gave him some coins and he did wish me: "May you always be in good health." I felt grateful for his words. His words keep traveling with me. When entering the Yehuda Market I turned around after a few meters, a load of energy moved towards me again, as if all the fruits in the marked where thrown to me at the same time. I turned around and chose a more quite street to pass the block. 

Happiness was filling my heart and my exhausted body, when I returned to the friends' place I was staying at. This night the Arab Jews in the marked played Arabic music. I was too tired to go there. My wish was, that the peace I felt for this city would be felt throughout the world. It is a big wish in me. Too ambitious to become real at that night.

Prayers for God

Walking the Old City of Jerusalem is easy, especially when somebody knowing the place takes you for a walk. A German friend offered to walk with me, so I could see the Jewish quarter, the Muslim quarter, the Christian places and the Armenian part of the city. We walked together to see the famous holy places for all three religions. We started in the market eating some sweets. The city as such is a temple, as I told a Jewish friend a few days later, when watching the city from the top of an old synagogue. I was impressed by the dignity of prayers. There is so much truth in it and many people dedicate their lives to pray to God -- an entity of mercy and compassion, peace and love, truth and tolerance we gave so many names to. With the Christian faith, my parents gave me, I was able to enter all holy places with the dignity of respect and tolerance. I remembered also my friends words from Rosh Pina, who said that we share common roots. Maybe seeing these roots is a cornerstone for friendship and peace. In becoming aware of our forefather's thoughts, we will learn what we share and have in common. Without trying to be judging, my travels took me back to our prophets and fathers Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Noah. 

Lion and lamb

Abraham's and his wife's tomb is in Hebron. A city that felt in a certain way familiar to me, since huge football advertisement are making me feel welcomed and back in normality. Though the political reality is dense in the city. The old building with the tomb, is split in a Jewish and an Muslim part. The police man at the entrance did ask me if I have any sharp things with me. My reply was that I only have a sharp mind. I think I was not lying. When visiting Bethlehem the same afternoon, my taxi driver Nasser took me to a souvenir shop: Without really knowing what I did, I decided to get an olive wood carving with a lion and a lamb, symbolizing the soft and the strong in one. I also picked a dark stone with some green and blue Elat stone inside, as a symbol that all darkness and pain carries new life in it. There is always hope. I was satisfied when I found an old painted tile in Jericho in the evening with a motive of two birds sitting on some leaves and a clear rectangular blue edge. For me this is the symbol of two nations living within clear boarders. 

Hearing Stones be thrown 

The atmosphere in Jerusalem was not in order in early 2015. Young people where provoking each other on their way to school. Teenager, with machine guns did guard tramway stations. Anarchic style security. I was wondering why this is happening. Young people I talked to had no friends on the other side of their culture. Old people I talked to still knew friends from either the Jewish or the Palestinian world around them. Why did it end?  When I passed a group of young Palestinian school boys and in my naive way I told them to leave me a little bit of space with my luggage, I heard little stones and a glass bottle being thrown behind me on the cobble stones. When turning around I could see hate in a young boy's eyes. Why? I wondered. And I also realized that it is so important for me to not express my feelings but to do all to keep the dignity of the kids high and respect their way of being.  It was also time for me to leave Jerusalem, wondering when to be back again. Nasser drove me to the Death Sea and I found a place to relax for a few days. 

Leaving with mixed feelings

I left Israel with the impression of having been in a wonderful country. A place I need to learn more to see and to understand. The love I felt and the relieve was immense and badly needed for my soul. The visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial side, so clearly showed me that the Holocaust was an attempt to eliminate all Jewish communities from Europe. The pain of countless victims made me cry there. Seeing a photograph of Adolf Hitler and a few of his fellows wearing Bavarian traditional cloth, back in the early 1920s, made me feel sad and so ashamed. Visiting Israel, meeting Jewish friends, saying shalom to the man next to me after the silent retreat, made me feel happy from inside. Also seeing the political institutions, the parliament, the courthouse and the museums that reminds us of our duties and our obligations, made me feel proud. And still, the energy and the aggression I felt in many parts during my travels made me feel concerned. What if our children's future is at stake because of internal extremism and misuse of political and social power? I didn't like what I heard when Jewish voices told me that is our land and I didn't like to hear when a Palestinian man told me, that his forefathers have been living here for 4000 years and that he just will wait till the Jewish people will be gone again. Both views did not seem right to me.

Jerusalem, 2015.

Mother Nature's voice

I left the country with the wish that one day there will be a natural reserve in the Galilee around Mount Hermon comprising parts of Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. It is possible that at the end it is also Mother Nature who decides about the future of a country for all children of Israel and Palestine. Water management is an issue for all people in the borders of the state of Israel. Water will remain the source of life also there. Taking care of Mother Nature is a duty we can manage more efficiently if we speak in one voice and if we decide to make decisions together.

Taking care of an old tree needs many good souls and a lot of wisdom.