Israel and Palestine

Ok, so, the next day, after getting some much needed sleep, since the dinner went until about 1230, Zoe and I met up with Sarah in the Old City, where her hostel was, to explore the city more. We found a café, which was great; I had a lovely pizza sandwich! And then we explored the Jewish market, which was really awesome. And, sorry to say it, but the difference in cleanliness between that and any Arab market I’ve been in is astounding! It was so clean, butcheries had meat refrigerated (what?? How bizarre!) and the fruit all looked so good and fresh. After a walk around and then walk looking at some architecture, Sarah headed back to her hostel and I went back to Zoe’s to have some chill out time. I actually don’t remember what we did for dinner, obviously wasn’t memorable, but we then spent the night just hanging out with some of Zoe’s friends from the program. It was interesting to hear their stories and perspectives from life in Israel, since they’re so close to Jordan but their world is so far away.

The next day, Sarah, Zoe, Zoe’s friend Rob and I all met up to head over to Rammallah, arguably the most important Palestinian city, excluding Jerusalem depending on your political preferences. The Palestinian Authority is headquartered there, as are many shops. Again, it was bizarre that a town only a short 20 minute bus ride away was so different. It was entirely Arab, probably dirtier than Amman, not by much, and a lot smaller. We walked around getting a feel for the streets a little bit, realized we didn’t really know what to do there, but decided to visit Yasser Arafat’s tomb, which also happens to be where the PLO is headquartered.

I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the whole complex was. The tomb was beautiful, tasteful and incredibly respectful. The whole area had a really pleasant reverence to it, in sharp contrast to the chaos that constantly occurs in the area. We then went to a nice little café in the town center called “Stars and Bucks” which I thought was really cute. Then we decided to cross back over to Israel.

Now, there was essentially no security going into the West Bank. Going out is a different story. As Zoe told me, this border crossing was by far the most violent during the Second Intifada, and it’s arguably the most intense security border crossing. And there is a distinctly pro-Israeli and a distinctly pro-Palestinian viewpoint on the situation. I’m not going to say my view point, or that I adhere to just one view because I think the situation just can’t be simplified like that for a foreigner, but I’ll say more so what I experienced.

We walk up to the gate, and there’s probably 100-150 pushing their way into three small, single file gates. It literally looks like a cattle being herded into a cage for butchering, bars and all. It must be one of the most de-humanizing experiences I’ve ever had. There are no guards anywhere (apparently because during the Intifida, there was so much bloodshed here that none of the Israelis want to risk it. We pushed our way into the gates, but not without a significant amount of comments in Arabic from our fellow border crossers. Basically just derogatory foreigner comments, but a little harsher than usual. I wrote them off as the stress of the situation. Every 5 minutes or so, the gate allows maybe 5 or 6 people through per gates, so everyone is just pushing together until then, and when people go through, there’s a great surge forward Then, in between these surges, not just me, but Zoe and Sarah as well, were all grabbed by random Arab youth as we were packing into the gate. I became so livid. The boys continued laughing, as if they had never done anything. While I have felt only respect in all of my classes and in my homestay from any Arab man I’ve met, I’m used to disrespect on the streets. It’s just a way of life. But this sent me over the edge. I snapped off for about five minutes until I got my bearings. We pushed through the gate and made it to gate two, where we waited before we could have our bags put through a metal detector. There still were no live guards.

The same boys pushed ahead of us in line. I then went on a probably unwarranted blanket judgment rant about Arab men. The boys caught on that we spoke in Arabic after awhile and stopped being as harassing. But I didn’t care at that point because damage had been done. Then, I caught the glance of an Arab man in his late thirties near us. He obviously understood what I had said. And the look of shame in his eyes is one I will never forget. He genuinely just felt ashamed of the image that these boys were casting on Palestinian society. He quickly motioned for my friends and I to move ahead of him and told the boys to move behind us. We said that it was OK, we didn’t have to move, but it was nice to have that respect. We finally make it to the metal detector, throw our bags in, walk through and show them our blue passports, which of course, being American, is pretty much a go-ahead anywhere. So bizarre, when many of these people have to cross the border every day for work/family/food/things and they have a horrendous time, and yet being American gets you a free pass anywhere.

We head back to Jerusalem, and Sarah and I split off and visit the believed tomb of Jesus, which was really a beautiful garden, just such a peaceful place that we both needed after the emotional border crossing. Then, we went up to the Mount of Olives and saw an absolutely incredible sunset over the whole city. I really started to understand the sense of spirituality that people feel in this city. For centuries, religions, states and peoples have fought over this city. But just looking at it, I felt… just a feeling. I don’t know if I would say it was that this city is sacred, but it definitely felt like I could tell this city had a set-aside role in the world.

We then headed over to near the Old City to find some food. We ended up finding a great little pub, where I had amazing burger, and some nice Israeli beer again. It was just nice to relax for a little. We then met up with Zoe at what was supposed to be a discussion between the editor of the Jerusalem Post and the mayor. It turned out to be more of a public interview of the mayor, but was still somewhat interesting. We ended the night with a dance party in one of the student apartments. It was really fun, but after the long day, I was more than ready to crash.