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So here we are in the midst of increasing violence and I really don't know where to begin.

The conditions for children are not much better than for chickens. Every day we have to argue with the Israeli soldiers to get the children to school....this is often acrimonious and whilst we are being told that they cant go to school because they will only be taught to be terrorists...and we are saying that to keep them at gun point or under prolonged curfew will teach them to be angry and aggressive....the children run like little rats into the school doors. It is such a strange way of life for them all. Of course they are frightened or even terrified of the soldiers and because of curfew their parents cannot accompany them to the schools or bring them home. There is a determination to get an education and when I look back on my schooling and how excited we were if we got a day off, I am just so full of admiration for their determination.

Have I met a potential suicide bomber? Yes! A twelve year old. I stayed with the family when they were having their windows broken at night by Israeli settlers. During one night the settlers stole his puppy. He was as distraught as you would expect a 12 year old to be, but neighbours gave him a scrawny little pup which he fed and cuddled. Two days later the settlers threw the body of the first puppy back into his garden; it had been shot several times. When he saw it he went crazy and banged his head and fists on the wall and screamed and screamed I asked his mother what he was saying and she said "He just wants to be a suicide bomber". Since then the child has been uncontrollable: he refuses to go into school, but stands outside throwing stones and hurling abuse at Israeli soldiers and settlers and I fear he will get injured or shot very soon. If you saw him you would be as anxious as I am; he is such a cute little fellow, but he has been shut up with his mother, three sisters and two older brothers for far too much of his young life.

So this is the problem: a cycle of violence where one side is openly heavily armed (soldiers and settlers carry machine guns) and the other side is oppressed, suppressed and humiliated to the point where a few will become potential suicide bombers and many will become depressed but most will carry on trying to make as normal a life as possible for their families and they will welcome us into their homes and feed us and we will play with the children and if it gets late we will stay the night and have breakfast with them. So yes, I have no difficulty in telling you that I am pleased to be here in Hebron, witnessing for peace and working to reduce the violence in the country, with the Christian Peacemaker Team. I hope to serve for three years here, but may get arrested and deported at any time: we all have to be prepared for that.