Damascus Gate

Adrian Grima will be speaking about his recent trip to the Middle East this friday 27 May, 7.15pm, at St James Cavalier in Valletta. He wrote at length about his trip for Babelmed.net:

The van ride to Ramallah takes about 15 minutes. It’s heart-rending. Every minute of the way I hear harrowing stories about how the Israeli establishment is squeezing the Palestinians out of Jerusalem. I’ve read about this in one report after another but here I can see it happening. That, in itself, is a privilege. Many of my friends in Al-Bireh and Ramallah cannot visit Jerusalem. Israel, the “only democracy in the Middle East,”(1) has denied them access to their magnificent city.

Khaled Katamish, the director of El-Funoun has never been to Jerusalem, he’s not allowed to – it’s so close and yet so frustratingly far. I remember him telling me about this in Malta – he seemed calm at the time, but he can’t have been. For him, when friends visit Jerusalem they are making a statement for him and his people too. “It’s important that you go,” he had told me on the telephone. And when Khaled tells you something like that, you know there are so many reasons you can’t even start to imagine...

Distances - Wired Temples

European Cultural Foundation