LWR Hospital and Stop the Wall

 We visited Marty and Angela Zimmann in their new home on the Lutheran World Federation Campus on the Mount of Olives.

Then we met Rev. Mark Brown who shared the history of Augusta Victoria Hospital in caring for the Palestinians, first as refugees and now as the only tertiary care cancer facility available to them.  He shared his perspective on the Occupation and recommended Peace Now as a well documented, respected source of information and policy.

We delivered gift bags with pencils, small notebooks and activities for the children.  The director of nursing said they will be a blessing to the children when they are undergoing dialysis or chemotherapy.  These gift bags were given in honor of the third grade children at Central Lutheran School who are our prayer partners.  

Then we visited the Church of the Ascension (Acts 1).  

St Thomas depicted with Kaiser Wilhem's face.

St Paul depicted with Martin Luther's face.

Stop the Wall 

We had a tour and information session with Palestinian Anti-Apartheid activists from Stop the Wall.  They took us on a tour of the areas which were historically and recently part of Jerusalem but now due to the wall have been cut off from the city.  Not only are they cut off from their neighbors and families, they have been encircled by new roads, creating complete isolation.  No building permits have been issued in years.  When a family undertakes a renovation or expansion, their house is demolished because they built without a permit.  They are sent a bill for the demolition.  We went for a walk in the neighborhood of Silwan and visited a family with a beautiful home which will be demolished because of a bus transportation center that is being built.  The family will be sent a bill for the demolition!  The oppression is well documented; we were given a report published by The Civic Coalition-Jerusalem