Share the Wealth with Lea Koesterer: 2017 Harvest in Occupied Palestine

My friend Mary Wuller told Lea to get in touch with me before she went on her trip to Palestine with Interfaith Peace Builders. We visited at Northwest Coffee in December, and I knew I wanted her to share with us some of her stories and reflections. –Mark

Because I am not an expert, I speak about my own experience traveling with Interfaith Peace Builders, and things that Palestinians themselves told me about their existence under the apartheid regime that exists under Israeli occupation. I gleaned background information from relevant books. Among others they are:

Lords of the Land: The War for Israel’s Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007, by Edit Zertal and Akiva Eldar.

The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine, by Ben Ehrenreich

Living emergency: Israel’s Permit Regime in the Occupied West Bank, by Yael Berda

Issa Amro is the best known Palestinian that spoke with us. He speaks for nonviolent resistance to the brutal apartheid. However, there are many Palestinians passing vital information to the world while quietly doing their jobs. I do not speak for them, but attempt to augment what they themselves have said to me.

Lea Koesterer is a freelance artist specializing in stained and leaded glass and mosaics. Her studio and her home are in St. Louis’s Central West End where she lives with her husband, Terry Werner. She has a BFA degree from the University of Dayton and studied in Venice, Italy. Interest in social justice led her to association with Carla Mae Streeter and the Dominicans in Racine, Wisconsin.  Their motto is “Committed to truth, compelled to justice.” Interest in archaeology, and other cultures and languages gave her the travel bug. After a trip to Jordan in 2013 she was awakened to the injustice inflicted upon Palestinians; hence, her participation in the 2017 Olive Harvest Delegation with Interfaith Peace Builders.

Join us!
Sunday 14 January
Potluck dinner begins at 6:00 p.m.
Lea begins sharing at 6:45
At the home of Diana and Jim Oleskevich
4026 Magnolia Place (not Magnolia Avenue)
St. Louis 63110