Within the Wi'am community, Thursday's activities included two busloads of elders, women, meeting the new mayor of Bethlehem and presenting him with their concerns and needs. High on their lists...economic renewal...some kind of care for the suffocated tourism sector...safer streets for their children...and cleaner neighborhoods for one and all. The mayor was receptive, attentive and honest: that the war in Gaza has incapacitated the economy here, stranging civic services. Still, he encourage his constituents to work together, to hold governments and elected officials accountable, and (most importantly) to stay--not to abandon this beloved city and their homelands in the West Bank.
