There is no economy, no tourists and the inhabitants both Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs wander around aimlessly. In Jericho where there are 7 natural springs of water, the houses were no better than in the cartoon of Fred Flintstones. Concrete slabs for walls and one for the roof, with holes as windows. I saw men walking around without shaving in dirty clothes that you would not see in an Oxfam shop, women sitting under half dead trees on broken plastic garden chairs, hair open and uncombed in dirty worn out clothes. Children playing over rubble in the front and around the so-called houses.

Has the world gone mad, does no one see this as injustice? Cannot Amnesty International say that this is wrong? I would say most of the Jewish community in the UK would cry if they saw this first hand as this is what the Nazis did to them around the second world war. The Nazis gave the appearance that all was well with the Jews, they had banks, money in their hands, wore hats and coats and went about their daily business.

What they couldn't hide was the dead women on the pavement that every one was walking around….which went against the image of normality they were trying to portray to the world. That is what is happening today within the walled hamlets and towns. In Israel today it is just the case. Occupied Palestinian houses are left to crumble surrounded by electrified fences, moats and concrete walls while new towns are being built rapidly on land where olive trees used to flourish. The Israelis do not need the houses but use them as a buffer zone to keep a space between the Arabs and the Jews.

What is so astonishing is that life seems to go on with every one moving around as though all is OK, except there are huts with soldiers with machine guns on every road junction, just out of sight of the tourist camera. Why can’t both live side by side, why does one need to be over the other? Whole Jewish families of up to 10 members come out and sit on the road side benches enjoying the sun while others wander about as nothing is wrong. I can say I saw no one starving as in Africa but there is nothing else. I saw one UN jeep leaving Bethleham as we waited to have our IDs checked at the checkpoint manned by very very young soldiers with machine guns. These were no more than 17- 19 year old college students as in UK, some Israeli soldiers were so young they had not yet grown a proper beard.

What an age to harden their hearts against the Arabs so they will be even bitter when they grow older! It is because of this my husband and I decided to turn our venture of helping Muslims in Palestine. One way of doing this we thought was to organise a Muslim Marriage introduction service which adheres to strict Islamic rulings. Although I gave out funds to refugee families, it all seemed too little. The big charities are not able to reach everyone. I saw no signs of any of the large UK based Muslim Charities. Any money raised will go to Palestine by our hands inshallah.