Palestine - Walking for Peace

 



I went to Palestine not knowing what to expect and not particularly believing that peace could be achieved by the simple act of walking as proposed by William Ury (William Ury@ TED) the founder of the Abraham's Path Initiative (www.abrahamspath.org).
I joined API on their exploratory walk of the West Bank of Palestine in late February. My job was to walk the path and document the journey through photographs. API's goal is to facilitate an experience of the other side of the Middle East. They believe that the simple act of walking and experiencing a community and its people first hand will connect people powerfully, and reinstate a belief in a shared humanity.
Our small group of 8 international people walked, ate, and stayed with the locals throughout our trip. We experienced their wonderful hospitality while on our 140 mile walk from Nablus to Hebron.











Although I was there as an observer it was difficult not to become affected by the politics and the humanitarian issues I saw being played out all around me.   Long 8-10 hours days of walking in intense heat with limited food gave me lots of time to ponder 'things', one being my reason for being here.  As an agnostic I struggled to understand where I stood in the balance between all the opposing yet intensely genuine opinions being thrown at me day to day, village after village. What did this land, the heart of the world's 3 major religions and a place of intense modern conflict have to do with my life experience? What wisdom could I offer?  What did I really believe and where were the answers to be found?

5 days into my walk climbing out of the Jordan valley up to the Jerusalem Plateau it dawned on me that I was not here to find answers but to let go of what I thought my/the story was. What was I holding on to so tightly it prevented me from moving forward in my life? The very things in life you think are not negotiable actually are or so I realized as I trudged up the 'Valley of Death' in the hot sun with my soul bared and my ego in shreds.  I was in was a strange and very different place internally and externally.
This is what being on a pilgrimage is I began to understand. This is where the contemplation of the meaning and the realization of how to get to peace begins, within and without.
Here are the pictures that don't do justice to the experience but in the end I came away believing that YES, peace can be achieved simply by walking.


Read more about our journey at: Wend Magazine: Path of the Patriarchs
and Bark Magazine: Dogless in the Desert
Photos by Claudia Chang and writing by Jayme Moye