tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54792402011-06-10T14:59:57.622+01:00Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.comBlogger2061100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-11675696407209328682007-08-24T09:36:00.000+01:002007-08-24T09:43:25.442+01:00

A fragment from an ancient Mesopotamian lamentation:"Dead men, not potsherdslittered the way.In the wide streetswhere the crowds once gathered and cheered,the corpses lay scattered.In the fields where the dancers once dancedthe dead were heaped up in piles......."Iraq has been in dreadful places before, it has recovered and it will recover.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-72160590725382039892007-06-14T13:13:00.000+01:002007-06-14T13:25:27.442+01:00

The Foreign Policy Centre (a Labour Party think tank) and Channel 4 are currently running the UK Iraq Commission - described as a British version of the US Iraq Study Group, but with the difference that the hearings are broadcast and the timescale is much shorter, just 6 weeks so as to produce a final report soon after Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister. There are some very interesting witnesses

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-19023927306254951542007-05-16T11:29:00.000+01:002007-06-14T10:13:42.739+01:00

To those who've been redirected here from my old site, and to anyone who has just stumbled upon this page, Ahlan wa sahlan, blogi blogkum (a warm welcome, please consider my blog as your blog) - okay that greeting doesn't work so well for virtual rather than physical guests! I'm kinds busy at the moment with multiple reports, projects and campaigns on the go, so won't probably won't write

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-54894130322878896652007-04-16T08:43:00.000+01:002007-04-16T08:46:57.869+01:00

An old school friend, Rich Ward, has recorded a radio mini-series for BBC Radio Oxford challenging some of the misrepresentation of Muslims in the media. Its available online for the next week here.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-39921250563039108362007-03-19T08:33:00.000Z2007-03-21T08:43:46.080Z

Together with friends from Voices in the Wilderness, Catholic Worker and Fellowship for Reconciliation I helped plant 186 crosses in Parliament Square to remember those killed in Iraq. Each cross had the name of a known victim and together they represented the 186,000 estimated to have been directly killed by Coalition forces (estimated from a survey published in the Lancet in October 2006 which

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-47855681693642251122007-02-26T08:23:00.000Z2007-02-27T11:09:56.631Z

When I began to get acquainted with Jesus in my mid-teens, I was in a pretty miserable state. I had a very low self esteem because I didn't match up at all to the sporty, trendy and confident standard expected at my boarding school. I had been quite heavily bullied and felt no one valued me, and consequently was fairly self-absorbed. One of the amazing things I discovered as I began to get to

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-18537366327941812362007-02-11T19:29:00.000Z2007-05-03T21:55:47.718+01:00

I was just (vainly) doing a search for my name online and I discovered that a letter I wrote to the Daily Mail last month was published (in a somewhat edited form) under the title "Peaceful Majority". As I didn't get a response from them, and don't read that newspaper, I hadn't realised it was actually published!It was written after the excellent Arab Media Watch sent an alert about a column of

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-19623683876136267722007-01-28T08:21:00.000Z2007-01-28T08:23:53.310Z

I've started two new blogs related to projects I'm working on. One is an initiative to evacuate the Palestinian community from Baghdad and the other is a campaign against rip-off privatisation of Iraq's oil fields.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-54184252989661118072007-01-18T09:36:00.000Z2007-01-18T09:41:05.868Z

I'm speaking at a Public Meeting on Iraq in the UK Parliament next Tuesday (23rd Jan, 6-7.30pm, Committee Room 16). It's been organised by Iraq Occupation Focus to brief MPs prior to an adjournment debate on Iraq in the House of Commons on the following day. The others on the panel are Haifa Zangana (an Iraqi writer), Greg Muttitt (author of 'Crude Designs: The Rip-off of Iraq's Oil') and Glen

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-72005327414920971192006-12-30T10:31:00.000Z2006-12-30T11:37:00.092Z

I wish all my Muslim friends and readers God's blessings on Eid al-Adha (The Festival of Sacrifice)!It's an important festival which I think Christians should also celebrate. It remembers the day that Abraham did not sacrifice his son (Issac or Ishmael, depending on you preference). The focus is often on the obedience and faith of Abraham in his willingness to give to God that which he cared

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-60769538190034501862006-12-24T15:46:00.000Z2006-12-29T09:20:49.600Z

For a couple of months I've been trying to find someone to pay for the treatment of Badr, a 2 year old Iraqi boy who is the nephew of a friend whose father was killed by US soldiers last year and who has a life-threatening heart condition . Now I've just heard confirmation that, thanks to help from CIVIC, an American medical foundation has agreed to pay for him to be fully treated in a hospital

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-12311305410887523832006-12-23T17:08:00.000Z2006-12-23T17:16:32.705Z

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-44630076134296150462006-12-08T12:45:00.000Z2006-12-08T17:18:14.708Z

I've just been to the press conference in London (at St.Ethelburgas, a church which was destroyed by an IRA bomb and is now a peace centre) where the former CPT hostages, Jim Loney, Norman Kember and Harmeet Singh Sooden called for restorative justice not the death penalty for their former captors:"We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us. We have no desire to punish

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1163369547913993122006-11-12T21:49:00.000Z2006-11-16T09:18:23.906Z

For years I've been quietly wearing a white poppy in the run up to Remembrance day (the 11th November, when Britons commemorate those who have died in wars, traditionally wearing the Red Poppy of the Royal British Legion which became a symbol due to the flowers that grew in the trenches of the 1st World War). Until this year, most people were unaware of the white poppy's meaning (as only 50,000

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1162312259546894522006-10-31T16:28:00.000Z2006-10-31T16:35:55.776Z

Brian has posted up some excellent interviews on his blog with some of my closest friends from Iraq. Merky talks about his detention in Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca, Majed talks about his first experiences after the war, and Sami of Muslim Peacemaker Teams relates the amazing story of a brave Sunni who died rescuing drowning Shias after a bridge collapse.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1161961965201377282006-10-27T15:50:00.000+01:002006-11-14T14:10:39.940Z

Apparently my sister-in-law in Ohio regularly checks this blog for updates and has told me off for not writing more often. I've got a little to report today, as it's my last day working on Peacemakers and next week I'm starting work on From Crisis to Opportunity, a new project of the Oxford Research Group to develop more inclusive and legitimate approaches to conflict in the Middle East.A bigger

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1160059449904373912006-09-25T15:40:00.000+01:002006-10-15T14:20:30.323+01:00

Human Rights Watch has just published a report No Where to Flee: The Perilous Situation of Palestinians in Iraq. Through Christian Peacemaker Teams I've had close contact with many Palestinians in Iraq and know those who are in hiding in Baghdad, stuck in border refugee camps and a very few who have made it safely out of Iraq.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1156943889418375132006-08-30T13:59:00.000+01:002006-09-06T02:44:49.566+01:00

Before the Monarch flight debacle there was another example of Islamophobia on a flight from New York to San Francisco on August 12. My close friend Raed Jarrar, a secular Iraqi-Palestinian who was groomsman at my wedding in June (when you follow the link he's on at the top of the steps in the first photo throwing confetti and on the left of the second photo), was flying back from NY to rejoin

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1155720880484429212006-08-16T10:13:00.001+01:002006-08-16T10:34:40.486+01:00

I've just started working on a project Peacemakers launched after the 7/7 bombings in London last year to build bridges with the British Muslim community. It's a range of multi-media products (films, commericals, a photo exhibit, a music video, teachers guide book etc.) showcasing the lives of ordinary Muslim, Christian and secular Brits and peacemakers from these communities. The materials are

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153926687176421112006-07-26T10:19:00.000+01:002006-08-20T12:09:35.733+01:00

(1) Stay informed: Wikipedia, ElectionicLebanon.net, JuanCole.com, DahrJamailiraq.com, beirut.indymedia.org, lebanonupdates, Siegeoflebanon, Tadamon, Daily Star (Lebanese paper), Haaretz (Israeli paper), Jerusalem Post (right-wing Israeli paper), IsraellyCool, Lebanese Bloggers Forum, Lebanese blog Aggregator(2) Protest the war. You can do this in demonstrations, letter writing etc. to your own

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153903527208216022006-07-25T21:32:00.000+01:002006-07-26T16:26:29.476+01:00

On 3rd Feburary 2003, five Irish Christian peace activists slipped into Shannon airbase in southern Ireland (through which 1000 US soldiers pass each day) and disabled a US war plane bound for Iraq with their household hammers. Today an Irish jury found them NOT GUILTY, accepting their defence that their action to damage property was intended to prevent a greater crime. This further strengths the

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153467786403588392006-07-21T08:30:00.000+01:002006-08-30T16:47:05.156+01:00

I've just come across an excellent article, written at the start of the current conflict, which lays our clearly the genuine grievances Hizbollah (and Lebanon as a whole) had against Israel as of 12 July. Its by the Council for the National Interest, a lobby group founded (surprisingly) by a veteran Republican Congressman aiming to counterbalance the Israeli lobby in Washington."No one is denying

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153399058728638642006-07-20T12:45:00.000+01:002006-07-20T13:37:38.850+01:00

The backbone of almost every UN mission in the Middle East (and plenty outside it) are invariably Palestinians. The grow up in the West Bank, Gaza or one of the camps in Syria, Lebanon or Jordan and start working in some basic capacity for UNRWA. Gradually they work their way up and prove their worth, and the cream of Palestinian society (highly educated because study is one of the few life

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153386354994271872006-07-20T09:58:00.000+01:002006-09-17T15:29:46.853+01:00

Within the next 12 months there is likely to be a bloody Coup de-tat by senior officers in the Iraqi Army and those close to them. It will entail killing of a large number of the leaders in the current (many of whom are aquiantances or friends) and certainly the murder of Ayatollah Sistani and others in the religious leadership. This is the view of some of the most experienced Iraq analysts I

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153379106817894572006-07-20T08:00:00.000+01:002006-07-20T08:05:06.826+01:00

My friends behind the excellent Electronic Iraq and Electronic Intifada websites have just launched a similar aggregator of news and eye-witness accounts: www.electroniclebanon.net

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153297910132623362006-07-19T08:03:00.000+01:002006-07-19T10:10:07.946+01:00

The famous Biblical quotation "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Exodus 21:23-27) is often misused as a justification for revenge and retributive justice. In fact it was instigated by Moses as a law of limitation. In Genesis there are a number of examples of people who took extreme revenge, massacering whole familes in revenge for an injury. The lex talionis inisted instead that at most

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153210677628373782006-07-18T09:08:00.000+01:002006-07-20T10:47:12.296+01:00

I've just received a request for donations for refugee relief in Lebanon from my friend Sam Rizk who runs the Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue, an arab peacebuilding NGO which works across the region but is actually based in Beirut. They are trying to raise $150,000 for initial work providing food, hygiene and bedding to 1500 refugees from the South. This document provides the

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153135876466989722006-07-17T11:48:00.000+01:002006-07-17T22:19:02.170+01:00

I arrived in Jordan at 5.30am this morning. As ever the Hashemite Kingdom is a little oasis of peace in the region. I'm only about 100 miles from Beirut but of course there is no immediate sign of that conflict here. I haven't yet had a chance to talk to many Jordanians, but I intend to do that and join in with any demonstations happening here in the coming days. I emailed a dozen friends in

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1153152097322070792006-07-16T16:57:00.000+01:002006-08-23T21:20:12.673+01:00

I'm afraid that the story about our fairly unremarkable wedding registry (in our eyes) just won't die. The latest article is Charity Begins At the Altar in the Chicago Tribune who even sent a photographer around to snap us in London last week. "It might seem that Alexander and Elliott, who fell in love while doing volunteer work in the West Bank, have a one-of-a-kind wedding registry, an

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1152888153999322812006-07-14T14:38:00.000+01:002006-07-16T16:50:38.803+01:00

"In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place." For once I agree with President Bush. Unfortunately his analysis of causes turns out to be a little limited as he continued: "And that's because Hezbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. The best way to

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1152549605594791252006-07-10T17:37:00.000+01:002006-07-17T14:57:31.080+01:00

Not content with just one wedding, we had a second ceromony in London last Saturday (8th July) to involve our friends here. It was a really fun day and it was wonderful seeing everyone and watching new friendships (and possibly new romances...) forming amongst our guests. Some photos have been posted online by Tim, which at the moment are the only ones we have - if you took any please could you

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1151682669750281362006-06-30T16:47:00.000+01:002006-07-10T13:04:06.983+01:00

There's an important article in Newsweek about the US government refusing to employ Danny Kopp who recently moved back to the US last year after spending his life in Jerusalem where his parents pastor the Baptist church. He speaks perfectly fluent Arabic and understands the region better than anyone I know but apparently he is considered to be "too close". When my wife Jenny was considering

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1151682447611087192006-06-30T16:02:00.000+01:002006-07-12T12:57:17.676+01:00

I just did a Google and found some more articles about our Wedding registry that I wasn't aware of. We continue to find the interest amusing as we didn't think that asking for charitable donations as wedding presents was particularly unusual and really is one of the least strange things about our lives! Here a good piece in the Rocky Mountain News (Colarado paper) "Some save a piece of the

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1151421275910043222006-06-27T15:40:00.000+01:002006-06-28T00:57:57.896+01:00

We had a wonderful honeymoon in St.Lucia, in spite of Jenny getting stung about 200 times by tiny jelly fish while diving. We're now in Missouri where she is packing up her life in preperation to move to London on Sunday (her UK settlement visa came through in double quick time, el-hamdullilah). Next week will be busy planning the UK-half of the wedding festivities (i hope to see lots of you

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1150656421985016852006-06-18T19:44:00.000+01:002006-07-19T10:11:20.976+01:00

Can you believe it? I'm struggling to! Some pre-wedding photos should be posted here and I'll put up a link to the Wedding day photos as soon as they're online (any guest reading this please email us any snaps you took). We're off on honeymoon in an hour so bye for now! - A very happy Justin.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1150430213568908832006-06-16T04:50:00.000+01:002006-06-16T06:42:27.430+01:00

Jenny and I thought that probably the most normal thing about our relationship was our wedding registry, but somehow the media have got interested in it. KMOV, the local TV station in St.Louis came and interviewed us about it today and it aired on the 5pm news and is the most viewed news item on their website here. Its kinda embarrassing. Watch out for the bit in the video where they zoom in on

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1150293200096713162006-06-14T14:36:00.001+01:002006-07-17T21:55:24.100+01:00

Jenny and I wandered out in St. Louis' Forest Park (the largest municipal park in the US, twice the size of Central Park) with a photographer friend of the family to get some pre-wedding photos as we have very few decent ones of us together. The full set is here

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1149578003379534112006-06-06T08:01:00.000+01:002007-05-03T21:54:11.392+01:00

This is hilarious article about"ALT WEDDING REGISTRIES" by Karen Von Hann in Canadian Globe & Mail (3 June 2006) mentioning our wedding registry, which the journalist stumbled acro"What to get the couple who have everything? How about livestock? When Jenny, 24, and Justin, 27, tie the knot next week, the two Christian peacemakers, who are based in Amman, have asked their wedding guests to chip in

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1147878252493185342006-05-17T16:01:00.000+01:002006-06-13T18:25:09.073+01:00

Speaking at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon this week, Noam Chomsky painted a gloomy picture of international affairs under the US empire. At the end, when he was asked by a member of his audience "Is there any hope?", he mentioned "International solidarity movements, such as those in Central America and Palestine, and Christian Peacemaker Teams, who actually go to places being

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1145693817663888182006-04-22T09:08:00.000+01:002006-04-22T09:16:58.023+01:00

Today there is a memorial service for Tom Fox in Washington. As I'm here in Baghdad I sadly can't attend, but I remember his simplicity, commitment to Iraq and non-violence, practicality and gentle nature. He was far from a perfect man, but Jesus shone through him very clearly. Here are a few words written for his memorial by Norman Kember, who spent the first 3 months with him in captivity:"His

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1145125388646975312006-04-15T17:53:00.000+01:002006-04-15T19:23:08.830+01:00

Holy Saturday is an appropriate time to be in Baghdad. In the Gospels it is a time of gloom. Jesus has been seized by a religious militia, brutally tortured and then executed. His lifeless and mutilated body is lying in a stone tomb. His family and disciples have run out of hope and were probably afraid also for their own lives.That situation has a immediate resonance here in Iraq. Today dozens

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1143535594097836912006-03-28T09:14:00.000+01:002006-04-14T09:32:39.626+01:00

They media coverage over the past few days has been a depressing postscript to the freedom from captivity of Jim, Harmeet and Norman. Almost as soon as their bonds were cut loose the attacks began, showing little sensitivity to their families and the 3 men who had also just been informed about Tom's death. One radio programme in the US told its listeners to phone the CPT offices in Chicago and

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1143109958658493162006-03-23T10:21:00.000Z2006-03-23T21:44:09.396Z

This is wonderful news this morning that Norman, Jim and Harmeet my CPT colleagues were rescued this morning. The reports I have heard so far say that no one was harmed in the release, and if this is true then that is a relief as none of the three would want anyone to be killed to secure their freedom. I am grateful for the many people who worked for their release, both those involved in this

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1142133182006193872006-03-11T23:51:00.000Z2006-03-16T10:06:19.463Z

I will always remember Tom Fox as a dear friend and the truest model of Christ-like nonviolence that I am likely to meet, and whom I aspire to emulate. Amidst the chaos, confusion and stress of Iraq, Tom managed to maintain a steady calm, a consistent faith and a gentle sense of humour. When my heart was rushing at 100 beats a minute in fear, worry or anger about something going on around us in

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1141753928950381692006-03-07T17:37:00.000Z2006-03-07T18:09:28.316Z

A new video was released yestarday on al-Jazeera. It showed 3 of my colleagues from CPT who were kidnapped and, at a time when hope could have been dwindling, it is reassuring to see them alive. My closest freind amongst the group, Tom Fox, did not feature in this video. I echo the statement CPT has released:"We do not know what to make of Tom Fox's absence from this video. However we do know

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1141763591757400792006-03-06T20:15:00.000Z2006-05-28T14:46:13.393+01:00

So I'm rushing around South Africa with 10 Iraqis. We flew in from Dubai on Sunday night and in 5 days are going Joburg > Cape Town > Joburg > Durban > Cape Town > Joburg! We met today with Archbishop Desmond Tutu who still has the humility and childlike humour I remember from back in 1994 when I heard him talk at St.Aldates Church in Oxford, although he is visibly frailer. We're meeting with

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1139612103684978822006-02-10T22:52:00.000Z2006-03-25T21:04:12.886Z

I'll write up a full reflection tomorrow, but for now here's me at a demonstration here in Amman, Jordan about the Danish cartoons. My sign says "Show respect to muslims and their Prophet" 

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1138042901630997012006-01-15T19:00:00.000Z2006-01-23T19:04:35.836Z

My friend Phil Sands, a British journalist, was kidnapped on Boxing Day but freed by US soldiers who stumbled across him accidently during a house raid on New Years Eve (as an independent journalist, no one had realised he was missing - see his accounts in the Scotsman and San Francisco Chronicle).It is good news that Phil is free, however his translator Salam, who is one of my closest Iraqi

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1137181991522527962006-01-13T19:38:00.000Z2006-01-14T22:47:29.976Z

Eid Mubarrak. As the whole Muslim world commemorates Ibraham's willingness to obey God through sacrifice I pray that people will be convicted by the story of Eid al-Adha that while God asks for obedience he never wills the death of innocents.Apologies for my silence over the last month. I've been waiting for something positive to say about my abducted friends from CPT, but unfortunately there is

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1134000212381807282005-12-07T23:33:00.000Z2005-12-08T10:10:08.773Z

As the clocked past midnight, Baghdad time, Al-Jazeera just aired new footage and a statement from the Swords of Righteousness Brigade extending the deadline for the execution of my friends and colleagues by 2 days. I have had a strange peace about the situation though I knew, rationally, that the original deadline might have been real. I pray that the new deadline is also flexible because 48

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1133740208336378302005-12-04T23:22:00.000Z2005-12-05T00:21:50.200Z

It has been an incredibly distressing week in many ways, but one thing which has kept many of us going has been the huge outpouring of support for our friends in Iraq. Not only have dozens of volunteers associated with CPT worked around the clock, but hundreds of others have organised vigils, written articles, attended prayer meetings and expressed their respect and concern for Tom, Jim, Harmeet

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1133605975221968522005-12-03T08:41:00.000Z2005-12-03T10:32:56.726Z

A second video was released by Jazeera last night showing my friends from CPT looking in worse condition and with a threat to kill them on Thursday unless all detainees are released. This is dreadfully ironic given that the primary work of CPT in Iraq has been helping detainees, both of the Occupation and of the Iraqi government.In April I joined the Iraqi Islamic Party in a rally of hundreds of

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1133296782950021862005-11-29T20:38:00.000Z2005-12-01T08:57:00.736Z

It's now almost 24 hours since the video of my CPT friends appeared on al-Jazeera. Until that point I'd been rushing to try and return to Baghdad ASAP but since then I've been glued to the phone & net, not leaving my desk (and sleeping under it). I've been tangled up in some of Iraq's horrors before (Ghareeb, Enzo, Simonas, Marla, Khalid and my own death threat) but that's not really much of a

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1133254187337212592005-11-29T07:48:00.000Z2005-11-29T15:42:01.366Z

On Saturday four people with Christian Peacemaker Teams, one a close friend I worked with in Iraq earlier this year and another an aquaintance, were kidnapped in Baghdad. CPT has issued this statement:"International violence-reduction organization Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) confirmed today that the four humanitarian workers kidnapped in Baghdad on November 26 are associated with their

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1131434091181990332005-11-08T06:54:00.000Z2005-11-08T07:14:51.226Z

Today marks an ignoble aniversary. On 8 November 2004 the US military, with approval and support from Britain, began the systematic destruction of a city of 200,000 people in an operation originally and appropriately codenamed "Thanksgiving Massacre". When I visited 5 months later the 1000+ bodies had been buried and the blood had been washed away, but the devastation remained.Reading that 60% of

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1130572621113541142005-10-29T08:26:00.000+01:002005-10-29T09:52:37.853+01:00

There is a distant rumble and it is not a bombthe rhythmic beat is not small arms fireit is thunder and the first rainsto wash away blood and dustan Iftar for the earth after a six months fastdrink deepthis year we neednew lifeurgently

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1129832252937228992005-10-20T12:35:00.000+01:002005-10-20T19:44:25.386+01:00

So I've just 3 days of travel getting from Tuwani to Baghdad. On route I've bumped into various friends (including finally meeting the elusive Azzam, the "capitalist dad" and only non-blogging member of the Jarrar family) and I've been on tender hooks worrying about Jenny facing attacks from Israeli settlers. In Iraq the controversy continues over Saddam's trial and the referendum results. The

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1129572775567123002005-10-17T18:23:00.000+01:002005-10-17T19:44:47.413+01:00

So my life continues to be surreal. Lets start with the good (wonderful) news. Last night, as she sat shivering on a rock on a windy hillside shortly after sunset above the village of Tuwani in the southernmost part of the West Bank, I got down on one knee amidst the thorny shrubs and asked Jenny for her hand in marriage... remarkably she said YES immediately! My cunning proposal plans had been

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1128595473415937042005-10-06T10:50:00.000+01:002005-10-06T11:44:33.476+01:00

Before sunrise on Tuesday, 20 Palestinians (including 8 children, a 77 grandmother and two disabled men) piled into a delapitated bus in Baghdad and travelled the perilous Anbar road past Ramadi and Rutba (risking attack from Americans, terrorists, Iraqi security forces and criminal gangs) to the Syrian border town of Al-Waleed. They were accompanied by 3 friends from Christian Peacemaker Teams

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1128501929776832652005-10-04T15:47:00.000+01:002005-10-05T09:45:29.846+01:00

So, for the first time, I'm actually out in the Middle East during Ramadan. Shia Muslims begin fasting today, while their Sunni cousins began yesterday (the lag is a result of slightly different methodologies in judging the beginning of the lunar month). I began fasting yesterday with the Sunnis and intend to carry on through to the end of the Shia period, so as to be in equal solidarity with

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1126955409621929382005-09-17T11:27:00.000+01:002005-10-02T13:38:04.696+01:00

Hi folks. Sorry for not blogging for ages - if its any consolation I haven't been calling my mum so often, and I'm afraid you guys are second in line... but I'll try to be more a more faithful blogaspondant in the future.I've actually had three gorgeous, though hectic, weeks in the US & UK meeting my habibti's family and introducing mine to her. I was a few hundred miles north of New Orleans when

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1124101403667667082005-08-15T11:00:00.000+01:002005-08-15T11:23:23.690+01:00

So we're sitting here in Baghdad on tender hooks waiting to see if a Constitution will be approved today. So far I get a different view from everyone I speak to. Apparently there is going to be a leadership meeting in about 30 mins to decide on whether to ammend the Transitional Administrative Law to get a week's extension. The Americans are furious of course and twisting arms to get it signed

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1122990038501170412005-08-02T14:01:00.000+01:002005-08-02T14:40:38.586+01:00

If it wasn't so incredibly serious I would say the constitutional drafting process is a complete joke, particularly now that the US Ambassador has bullied the Iraqis from taking the one month extension that most wanted. But it wouldn't be diplomatic of me too say too much, so I'll give you a joke that has been circulating in Iraq:A Brit, an American and an Iraqi died in a carbomb and went to Hell

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1122312157065004012005-07-25T17:33:00.000+01:002005-10-02T13:43:04.960+01:00

A few days ago the Kurds unveiled an expanded Kurdish region which they want enshrined as an appendix to the new constitution. As I understand it the claim represents not simply areas which currently have a majority Kurdish population, but areas which they believe did so at some point in the past 50-100 years.I'm afraid I only have this low resolution photo of the map which is confusing as it

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1121360796850667252005-07-14T17:52:00.000+01:002005-07-26T05:22:31.116+01:00

Ashkur-allah! Thank you for everyone who prayed for Khalid. We heard the good news this morning that he is safe, albeit in a mukhaberat (secret police) cell. He was picked up from university on tuesday as he arrived there to collect his final exam results. We don't know why he's been taken exactly, perhaps for what he writes against the occupation on his blog. Whatever the reason, I am sure it is

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1121243469419897052005-07-13T09:19:00.000+01:002005-07-14T18:13:07.826+01:00

Please could you urgently pray for a freind, K, who vanished in Baghdad yestarday. We were due to meet today and he was going to bring a supply of chocolate he had bought for me in Jordan. His family have searched hospitals and morques, thankfully without result. The most likely explanation is that he has been detained by one of the many branches of the US army, Iraqi Police, Iraq National Guard,

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1120845476473806062005-07-08T18:03:00.000+01:002005-07-10T11:31:47.633+01:00

Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the BBC: "There is no evidence [it] had anything to do with the Iraq war." But he went on to assert, without giving any evidence himself and in very Bushian language: "the people who make these kind of attacks are about destroying the very essence of our society: our democracy, our media, our multicultural society and so on. That's not about Iraq or any other

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1120832498190819882005-07-07T23:36:00.000+01:002005-07-08T16:04:33.470+01:00

I stood hypnotised by BBC World, part of my brain knew people in the room were trying to talk to me but I couldn't resolve their words while I struggled to comprehend what was happening. I was sitting in Baghdad, on a remarkably calm day (with a coolish breeze and little background small arms fire) watching scenes of devastation back home in London. I tried to call my sister but the mobiles

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1120380460125570892005-07-03T09:36:00.000+01:002005-07-03T09:47:42.196+01:00

So it seems that Paramount is planning a film about my friend Marla Ruzicka's life. I find the idea that millions will see her story at the cinema quite surreal (and reliving the horrible day of her death will be really painful). But then Marla's life was surreal in the extreme, and perhaps this could be a great memoral for her, particularly if it stimulates real international action for the

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1119523484052227132005-06-23T11:22:00.000+01:002005-06-23T12:04:25.330+01:00

"If the state of Israel doesn't want us, we don't want it," 28-year-old Drori Stuan told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. His family has lived in the Kadim settlement in the northern West Bank since 1983. It is one of four small settlements in the West Bank that the Israeli government is planning to evacuate later this year. Drori's family has applied for political asylum in the Palestinian

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1119108455745230352005-06-19T16:03:00.000+01:002005-06-19T22:10:04.433+01:00

Apologies to friends/readers for not posting for a while. I've had a hectic month, a week in Basra for a trade union conference against privatisation, a week back in Palestine supporting people being terrorised by settlers and the apartheid wall, a few days back in the UK (sadly for a funeral)... and now, of course, I'm on my way back to Iraq!I'm afraid I'm hooked on this bleeding, welcoming,

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1119215354132354372005-06-18T21:29:00.000+01:002005-06-19T22:09:14.176+01:00

Today Burma's democratically elected leader, Nobel prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, turns 60, after 15 years under almost permanent house arrest. Her party won a landslide 82% victory in the 1990 elections, but the military dictatorship refused to recognise it and instead increased the repression of their rule.My international focus has been largely orientated towards the Middle East, but many

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1119284842152587372005-06-14T19:08:00.000+01:002005-06-20T17:27:22.153+01:00

So this blog is 2 years old as of 7.08pm today. I turned 27 (ich, that's ancient!) last week. A lot has happened in the last two years: I've been to Iraq four times (and met many groovy Iraqi bloggers) and also to Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, France, America and India campaigning on Jubilee Iraq; I've made two trips out to central africa to research HIV/AIDS; changed jobs three times;

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1117630174579415132005-06-01T12:31:00.000+01:002005-06-01T19:34:21.543+01:00

"Marhaba. Smell the jasmine and taste the olives. Jawwal welcomes you to Palestine," said the automatic text message as my phone roamed onto the Palestinian network, and the welcome has already been echoed by dozens of impoverished, abused and occupied people who have piled me with tea, food and kind words in the 24hrs I've been here. I had a marathon trip on Monday, driving from Basra to Kuwait,

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1116268213449383072005-05-17T19:30:00.000+01:002005-06-01T14:04:46.226+01:00

Graffiti on the wall of an Iraqi shop in Madaba, a mainly Christian town in Jordan.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1116264819397858582005-05-16T17:04:00.000+01:002005-05-16T18:45:19.676+01:00

The guidebook for donors that I wrote last year, on HIV/AIDS in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, has been published by New Philanthropy Capital. Please pray that it can result in many new grants to the excellent organisations profiled in it who are tackling HIV/AIDS in a really dire situation of conflict and poverty. UNAIDS says the infection rate in the Middle East and North

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1115548539670475462005-05-07T11:35:00.000+01:002005-05-08T13:23:04.870+01:00

Yestarday something wonderful happened. At a time when Iraqis are being increasingly polarised along religious and ethnic lines, a courageous group of people stood against this. In its first public action the recently formed Muslim Peacemaker Team (MPT) arranged for a group of 15 Shia from Najaf, Kerbala and Baghdad - including 3 women - to visit Fallujah and show solidarity with its vilified

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1115388659968922592005-05-06T14:53:00.000+01:002005-05-08T12:50:30.106+01:00

I watched the first depressing few hours of UK election results with some fellow Iraqi refugees here in Jordan, who have fled here following death threats. We cried as we watched the British people endorsing the Blair regime, despite the devestation it has wrought in Iraq. The only real controversy in the last few weeks, and generally in our media, has been whether Blair lied to the British

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1114421611474753252005-04-25T09:34:00.000+01:002005-04-26T10:39:20.623+01:00

The upcoming British election is presenting a big moral dilemma to many of my friends who opposed the war and the ongoing policy failures in Iraq since the main opposition party, the Conservatives, supported the war as enthusistically as the Blair government. While the third party, the Liberal Democrats, has been more critical of the war, the general perception is that it couldn't get the large

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com220tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1113997715649215602005-04-20T12:20:00.000+01:002005-04-20T12:48:35.653+01:00

This is the most painful thing I've ever done and it breaks my heart in pieces, but I have left Iraq.It turns out that my name has appeared on a Black List of priority kidnap targets. I'm not an important person, but with the British elections coming up I am the only Briton left who does not live behind concrete barriers and armed guards, and so am easy target. The fact that I stongly opposed the

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1114098781430005502005-04-19T16:53:00.000+01:002005-04-21T17:28:21.983+01:00

Jill reads memories of Marla emailed from friends around the world at the memorial service in Baghdad today. Some of her favourite music from Neil Finn, Sinead O'Connor and the Beach Boys was played and a collection was taken for Faiz's widowed wife and children.There is now a lot of good information on the CIVIC website: articles about Marla, a place you can write messages and make donations and

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1113765901786431252005-04-17T18:45:00.000+01:002005-04-17T20:44:18.513+01:00

Last night I went to the Hamra hotel, home to most of the foreign journalists working in Baghdad, to attend one of Marla Ruzicka famous parties. She'd told me 8.30pm, but there was no sign of her in her room or elsewhere in the hotel and I couldn't get through to her phone. I spotted some journalists sitting by the pool and shyly enquired "Do any you know Marla?" They turned to me and laughed "

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1113510692747810242005-04-14T21:31:00.000+01:002005-04-14T21:40:24.490+01:00

So I'm not going to write about all the bombs which go off while I'm here. In part this is because I don't want to worry my parents who'll be reading this blog, and in part because the violence here is just so routine that they hardly register. But this one time I'm going to try and give you a feel of what its like to live through these events on the ground.So it was about 9.30am this morning

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1113066879049695712005-04-09T18:14:00.002+01:002005-04-09T19:25:55.460+01:00

I'm being chivied to leave the internet cafe, so can't write much now, but here are some photos from the Shat el-arab (the river Delta between Iraq and Iran which has been the focus of many wars). The ship lying on its side was one of Saddam's yaghts (help i can never spell that word!) and I'm am standing on a boat with an oil worker from the local trade union.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1113066836610728282005-04-09T18:13:00.001+01:002006-05-12T21:42:46.020+01:00

This is Zeynab, maybe the most famous Iraq 11yr old in the world. 17 members of her family were killed by an American bomb in March 2003, which also destroyed her right leg. A Palestinian friend paid for her to go to London to get a prothetic leg fitted, which is where I met her. She is pictured with her father (her only close relative still alive) writing messages to friends in England. The

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1112895209728825032005-04-07T18:27:00.000+01:002005-04-09T18:29:11.826+01:00

So after a grueling 10hr journey, being stopped at about 30 checkpoints, I arrived in Basra. Typically for Iraq none of the contact phone numbers I had were working, also typically for Iraq within 30 minutes I had dozens of new friends! A couple of them are looking over my shoulder as I type this (and they owner of the cafe won't accept any payment of course!). One of the people we wanted to meet

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1112281293118470992005-03-31T16:01:00.000+01:002005-04-01T15:12:18.013+01:00

The Iraq TV channels have been showing footage of hundreds of Iraqi Christians, dressed in white, participating in the mourning for Imam Hussein. Many people here in Kerbala have mentioned this in very positive terms. I've walked all over looking for them, but in a crowd of millions I've had no luck. Nor have I been able to find any mention of it in English language media - so you heard it first

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1112250225687256612005-03-30T22:23:00.000+01:002006-06-23T00:01:27.980+01:00

It was pretty apocalyptic stuff. Millions of pilgrims dressed in black, the giant mosques of Imam Hussein and Abbas lit up in red, Muqtada Sadr's Madhi army drapped in white indicating a willingness to die chanting loudly, groups of hundreds rythmically beating their chests (and, though I haven't seen it yet, some self-flagilating with chains and swords). And to top it all off there were dozens

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1111943669971051322005-03-27T17:55:00.000+01:002005-03-27T18:24:59.530+01:00

Our phone lines are flooded, would you believe, so I haven't been able to email or blog easily for almost a week. In the meantime I've managed to go to 4 Easter services here in Baghdad, one Chaldean, one Roman Catholic, one Anglian and one ecumenical. I've started teaching myself to read arabic, and was able to semi-sing along with some of the hymns (well, at my current speed i managed about 1

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1111341454797543252005-03-20T17:53:00.000Z2005-03-21T17:52:23.070Z

I have a moral dilemma for George Bush to grapple with.Here is the situation: after a horrific accident a lady is languishing in hospital in a persistent vegetative state, being kept alive artificially. Medically she has no chance of recovering and her loving husband says she would want to die peacefully. The doctors agree to stop feeding her intravenously, and soon she will die. Only thing can

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1110980155888741032005-03-16T13:06:00.000Z2005-03-17T13:53:50.740Z

In a strange way I feel more aware of what is happening in Iraq when I'm home in the UK than out here in Baghdad, because my internet access here is so limited. At present I'm sharing a very unreliable dial-up internet connection with my 5 collegues, and we only really get a semblence of a connection when the electricity is on (still only a few hours a day). So I can't continually scan the news

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1110891473243472502005-03-14T12:57:00.000Z2005-03-16T19:02:00.890Z

“Our hearts are open, but our borders are closed,” said Sheikh al-Jumaily of the Furqan mosque, as he urged us to draw international attention to the devastation of Fallujah and the ongoing suffering of her people. Nothing in my experiences in Iraq and Palestine really prepared me for what I saw today – it reminded me most of old film reel of Hiroshima or of Dresden after the firebombing. Whole

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1110476841874551722005-03-10T17:41:00.000Z2005-03-13T07:21:26.116Z

The plane made its infamous corkscrew descent to Baghdad, spiralling to deter heat-seeking missiles, but by now this maneuvour was so routine for that most of the passangers that they were sleeping through it rather than clinging onto their seats for dear life. I was preparing my suncream for the blazing Baghdad sun I'm familiar with, but actually it's gloomy and pouring with rain here - feels

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1110199882171271722005-03-07T23:45:00.000Z2005-03-07T21:10:57.590Z

I've just returned to Hebron (al-Khalil in arabic) 20 mins ago, from the village of Tuwani where I have been for the last four days. At 8am this morning (6 hours ago) two Israeli soldiers were shot an injured by gunmen at the checkpoint near the Tomb of Abraham, about 100m from the flat I'm in now. A 14yr old boy was killed by Israeli soldiers and a women serious injured in two other incidents at

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1109884137001779582005-02-20T21:06:00.000Z2005-03-03T21:25:21.940Z

The encroachment of settlements that I saw yesterday around Bethlehem is even more intense in the countryside southwest of Bethlehem. Daud Nasar’s farm is ringed by three expanding settlements: Neve Daniyyel, Rosh Zurim and Efrat, plus their outposts (trailers on hillstops metastasised from the established settlements in order to sprout new tumours). The settlers are desperate to take control of

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1108889302894060182005-02-19T08:43:00.000Z2005-02-20T21:19:51.993Z

I’ve seen many maps of The Wall and of settlement expansion, but it feels a whole lot more sinister seeing an satellite photo superimposed with the new route (ain the Israeli media) and seeing that it snakes less than 50m from where you’re now sitting. Jad Issac trained as a botanist but, as a result of seeing his home town of Bethlehem gradually being encircled and gobbled up with settlements,

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1108852412032602632005-02-15T22:07:00.000Z2005-02-19T22:33:32.036Z

Today I made my first new Israeli friend this visit. He was an orthodox Jew in the Old City running athe Museum of the Third Temple. The museum contains a detailed model, based on a prophesy in Ezekiel, of a temple building which the most extreme Jews (and Christians) want to see build on the Temple Mount – of course the Dome of the Rock would need to be demolished first to make way for this. I

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1108850826761506992005-02-13T21:57:00.000Z2005-02-19T22:07:06.766Z

Even before the plane took off from London my neighbour was crying. It wasn’t my fault this time, rather the tragic injustices of the Middle East (which will be the substance of my life for the next few months) had decided they couldn’t wait for a few hours while I read a book and watched an in-flight movie, but had come to meet me here on the tarmac of Heathrow airport.Jamal is a Palestinian. He

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1107455075745500072005-02-03T17:54:00.000Z2005-02-09T18:15:25.226Z

There's a season for all things they say, and I'm now very much in a season of flux. I arrived back in Britain last week from my training with CPT in Chicago and felt profoundly lost. I find it hard to readjust after having lived shoulder to shoulder with a small community of people through an intensely emotional and exhausting month. I've been flittering between home, Oxford and London since

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479240.post-1105835578841324552005-01-16T01:25:00.000Z2005-02-03T18:53:38.136Z

Hey there, apologies for not posting for ages. At the end of December I was finishing up my job at New Philanthropy Capital, then on the day after Christmas I hopped on the plane to Chicago, where I'm training with Christian Peacemaker Teams for a month, with a view to joining their team in Iraq if this is possible. The training is very intense but I'm doing it with an incredible bunch of people.

Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12642923865054637365noreply@blogger.com3