22.07.2011                      20.Tammus, 5771

Westjordanland: (mit Video)

In search of the West Bank’s elusive Sufi Trail

Palestinians hope rural tourism will lure tourists away from the beaten path.

Lamb blood is splattered all over the doorway of what was once a church as if someone had just dropped a leaky garbage bag filled with guts from the heavens.  
“The local people continue to follow Old Testament practices. They sacrifice unto God,” explains Maria Khoury as she leads me through the ruins of the Byzantine-era St. George Church on the outskirts of her Palestinian village, Taybeh.
“This is blood here,” she says, pointing to the big red patch at the entry way. “Sometimes we might not have a sacrifice for six months and maybe in one week we might have three,” she adds. “It’s a cultural tradition. It has nothing to do anymore with religion.”…