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12 days in a state of apartheid
Last month, MARY ADOSSIDES went on a short study tour of Palestine with the Israeli Commission Against House Demolitions to witness the realities of Palestinians struggling to survive under Israeli occupation. This is her diary of who she met and what she saw

Day 1: Bethlehem. There are lots of warnings to group members before we arrive: “If asked just say you are visiting the Holy Land and Israeli sites, suspend your Facebook and Twitter accounts, don’t mention divestment, boycott and sanctions.”

We catch a sherut (shared taxi) from Ben Gurion airport to Hotel Jerusalem, meet the Israeli Commission Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) group and transfer by minibus to Bethlehem, a Palestinian neighbourhood under the Palestinian Authority (PA). 

From our hotel window, we can see the eight-metre-high separation wall with its barbed wire running along the top, watchtowers and cameras.

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