Jerusalem and Bethlehem day

Today I did a bit of tourist stuff together with Karen from The Danish House In Palestine who invited me down here to work with the local writers. We went to Jerusalem. First we had to go from Ramallah past a strict Israeli checkpoint. A lot of the palestinians are not allowed to go to Jerusalem, but because we had an international passport we could enter. After Jerusalem we went to Bethlehem in Palestine were I did a workshop with some kids in a refugecamp. The camps here a not tent camps but small cities with real houses and narrow streets. This camp was build in the early 50ties after the Israeli invation. In the camp live 13.000 people on a very small area. At the worksshop I told the kids to paint a painting of them self on the wall. First I did a quick painting of myself and then it was their turn. They kept the concentration half way through the works shop but then a crazy sandstorm came flying in from the desert. Sand everywhere, things were flying round and the the kids found some spray paint and went crazy. Total chaos but pretty fun. In the end we had to confiscate the paint and stop the workshop. The mural turned out pretty alternative. On our way home we past by the birth church where Jesus was born (how do they know these things??)

Christians with a cross walking on the via della rosa in Jerusalem 

The muslim Dome Of The Rock on top of the Jewish wailing wall

The church build were Jesus was crucified 

Graffiti in the church made by the crusaders in the middle ages 

This stencil graffiti is made by the muslims when they come back from a trip to Mecca. You could see it around Jerusalem

Industrial orphanage

Jesus sandal

Holy land T-shirts

West Jerusalem the Jewish
 part

Play that flute girl!

Marcel Duchamp did some art on the palestinian side of the wall.

Overlooking the refugee camp

Painting my self portrait

The kids painting self portraits 

Kids of all ages

You cant see the sandstorm on the photos, but when it came the kids went nuts.

And painted graffiti everywhere. You little vandals.

The result. Kids are funny.

The church in Bethlehem build on the spot where Jesus was born.

Here in the basement of the church is the actual spot. A group of russian pilgrims are kissing it. After this we went home.