CPT update

Meaning Christian Peacemaker Teams. Remember them? How could you forget?

Are they still in Iraq? Indeed they are!

'The deteriorating security situation in Baghdad seriously affected CPT's presence. In November 2005, four CPT personnel were taken hostage, resulting in the murder of CPTer Tom Fox and the rescue of the remaining three in March 2006. Following an evaluation phase, CPT relocated its violence reduction work to the Kurdish north of Iraq in late 2006, based in Suleimaniya.'

To resort to Oscar's well-worn but indispensable gag, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh. 'We are peacemakers, our mission is to promote alternatives to violence, we'll go anywhere so long as it's not too, like, violent.'

Please don't think I'm calling them chicken from the safety of my cosy Berlin living-room, though. They're very much in business on the West Bank, and you can read (see 6 November 2006 entry) about their encounter with a (female) Jewish settler who shouted abuse and then, I regret to say, kicked one of them. Truly, it is hard to come to terms with the realization that there is so much hatred and violence in this world.