TENT OF NATIONS

Boulders placed by the Israelis to block the farm road

Alaa Nairouz climbing the rocks :)

Friends since their youth, Father Ibrahim & Daoud hadn't seen each other in years

 Being here at this place was one of the most inspiring places we saw as well as one of the most terrifying.  It was through the mystery of God that I even heard about this place called TENT OF NATIONS.  At the bottom of the page, I will put the link to their web page and there is also a web page called FRIENDS OF TENT OF NATIONS here in the U.S.  This acreage of farmland on top of the hill overlooking a Palestinian village near Bethlehem,  has been owned by the Nassar family since before the early 1900s.  There is documentation to prove it.  When many Palestinians were suspicious of registering their land, Dauod Nassar's great grandfather did register and now there is a paper trail to their ownership.  Daoud's grandfather and his family lived in a family cave on the land.  There are 5 caves there now....some are used for housing groups who come to help harvest and some are used as small classrooms. 

To make a long story short, as I was typing name tags for this past summer's camps, I ran across the name Nassar from a church in Richmond.  That afternoon, I received an email inviting me to attend a speaking engagement by Daoud Nassar about the occupation and his farm.  As it turns out, both of his nieces in Richmond had attended our workcamps!  I knew the oldest!

Daoud Nassar

Ranim, Sami & Allie eating carob off the trees

In one of the caves, telling the Nablus youth group about the farm

The Israelis want this land. They tried to take it by bulldozing it and the family was able to stop them through the court system.  To this day they continue to fight them in the courts.     They have done everything they can to deter the Nassar family from staying there.  As you can see, troops blocked the road to the farm with boulders to make it difficult to get there.  They are also allowed no water, electricity or building permits for any buildings they might need.  The only water they get is from rain.  Israeli helicopters fly over the farm making sure that no new buildings are being built, so they group has become inventive and gone underground.  They have underground tanks that same rain water and any gray water they have so that they can water their olive trees and other trees on the property. 

One of the 5 Israeli settlements surrounding the hill

One of the playgrounds with the settlement in the distance

Another of the 5 settlements surrounding the farm

To be honest, they are like sitting ducks on top of this hill, yet they host groups from all over the world to help plant and harvest a wide variety of things.  In 2002, a group of Israeli Zionist settlers came in the dark of night and cut down 200 of their olive trees.  Olive trees take 10 years to grow before they can produce fruit.  A Jewish group from Europe heard what happened , sent the money for new trees and then sent a group down to help plant.  Again, this reinforces that this is a political matter....not Jews vs Christians/Muslims, but Israelis occupying the Palestinians.  The settlements have towers with soldiers that have sniper guns and semi-automatic rifles. It is forbidden to take pictures of the settlements so these photos are rare for the everyday person. Tent of Nations has stones. 

TENT OF NATIONS has quite a ministry.  Although they are Christians, they teach empowerment classes like computers down in the village to Muslim women to help them be more independent.  They also teach nutrition classes as well as other classes. Everything else is GREEN....even the toilets.  They host children's camps for ALL children from the Palestinian town below....Muslim and Christian. 

I am so thankful to be associated with this group.  They are peaceful and refuse to be enemies with anyone.  They keep someone on the farm 24/7 so there is a presence there.  If they didn't, Israelis would seize the opportunity, put a guard tower and wire fencing on the land and begin a settlement on top of the hill.  Also having an international presence helps keep the Israelis at bay. 

We pray for protection for TENT OF NATIONS.  They are not armed.  They continue to do good and peaceful things while being aware of the dangers in the night and on this hill.



Allie & I with the Nablus gang

 



For more information on TENT OF NATIONS CLICK ON THIS LINK: 

http://www.tentofnations.org/