Palestinian Jordan Valley - Visit by Tao Center members

A group of peace activists from The Tao Center came to the Palestinian Jordan Valley to help the Palestinians. They slept in Aqaba and rose at dawn to clean out a blocked water spring so Palestinians could use it. Then they gave amazing Shiatsu treatment sessions to both Palestinians and Israeli activists.

I was invited to give them a background talk about the Palestinian Jordan Valley. I spoke about the various means by which Israel attempts to ethnically cleanse the region of its Palestinian inhabitants (water denial, land confiscation, firing zones, military maneuvers and the physical disconnection of the Valley from the rest of the West Bank) – all in order to be able to annex it with as few of its inhabitants as possible.

Prior to this talk I was invited to receive a Shiatsu treatment by Christa, an Austrian activists who belongs to this group’s world center (the group has branches nearly throughout the world). For an hour and a half she ‘worked’ on me, after which I simply floated in air… It was amazing. At the same time the rest of the group moved through the village streets and painted naïve wall paintings under the logo “Be Free Palestine”.

At lunchtime I spoke with the group’s master, Riuken Anadu, who has come to Israel to do good, and has given treatments and music performances in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

We then drove to En Sakut to check on the springs, in view of the fun days planned for August 18 and 25. There we found a Palestinian family from Tubas and a religious Jewish family, one beside the other, while each family was minding its own business, no special tension between them.