Bethlehem

The Human Rights Track spent Monday in Bethlehem.  We met first with Sami Awad of the Holy Land Trust, an organization devoted to building a popular movement of non-violent resistance in Palestine.  Sami explained that they are comitted to building a new leadership structure by organizing popular committees inside Bethlehem and focusing on defining issues that will enable resistance and that will also empower the local committees.  He acknowledged the challenge of buidling the confidence of the grassroots amidst the general sense of desperation in the general population but believes that they must build a new infrastructure to prepare for whatever form the post occupation period brings.