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| Travel stories from studies in Australia and the Middle East |
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 Tel Aviv. As seen from Old Jaffa.The last two days of my travels were spent in Tel Aviv, the closest major city to Ben Gurion airport. Tel Aviv is really a beach city with great quality of life for its inhabitants. It's filled with little coffee shops, friendly and outgoing people and absolutely wonderful falafel and shoarma places.  Tel Aviv. Beach city. Tel Aviv. Town hall. The duck was placed there as a sign of protest against Tel Aviv's architectural style. Tel Aviv'ians are some of the most moderate Israelis around. Many of them are mostly interested in establishing good quality of life for their family and themselves. Unfortunately, in a conflict this deep in society, pain transcends everywhere.An Israeli friend made me aware of this sign, which states in Hebrew "Never stop dancing". It's placed in front of what used to be the Dolphin disco, a beach-side place very popular with the Tel Aviv youth. June 1st, 2001, a suicide bomer walked into it, carrying on him a small explosive device filled with screws and nails to make it a highly lethal tool. While it was never fully clear who was behind the bombing, Israel accused Jamal Mansour, a Hamas political leader who originated from Nablus. He was killed on July 31st of that same year when an IDF helicopter fired on the building of his research organization. It's clear that the conflict brings much grief on both parts of the population. While there are ways to deal with territorial conflicts, the narrative on both ends in Israel has become so charged that it's almost impossible to navigate the requirements on both sides and get to a solution. In Tel Aviv, I actually got shouted at for the first time in many years, by a couple of Americans on so-called "birtright" trips. Essentially these are trips in which foreign Jews are invited to visit their ancestrial homeland, and see whether they wish to take up their birthright to live in Israel. While I'll greatly miss the many fantastic Israelis and Palestinians I've met during my stay in the country, I will not miss the opinion that precludes in some areas in which Genesis 13:15 is given more importance than a UN resolution or the human bond of an agreement. | ||
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 Something truly sad happened while I was in Jerusalem. Around lunchtime, July 2nd, a Palestinian inhabitant of East Jerusalem who worked for a construction firm building a new railway system in the city, used his bulldozer to flip over a bus, and crush several vehicles. The entire rampage left three people dead, in one of Jerusalem's busiest streets, Jaffa Road.One of the primary responses which was brought up by public opinion was to "fence off Eastern Jerusalem", which would essentially make its inhabitants West Bank palestinians. It would also violate Israel's own principle of keeping Jerusalem "undivided". While it would increase the potential for a Palestinian 2-state solution to work, it would also cut masses of people out of their job and decrease their living standards. As such, doing so in response to an event like this would be rash, and any such decision should need to be discussed at a much higher level. Ehud Olmert, the Israel Prime Minister did decide against this solution, as East Jerusalem residents, under law, have similar rights to other Israelis and could as such not be detained or "moved away". This just to illustrate that people here are very much living next to another instead of with eachother. If public opinion calls for part of the society to be abandoned, that society really hardly exists. | ||
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 Jerusalem and inhabitant. Picture from the Mount of Olives.Jerusalem, final destination of this overland trip, and one of the most contentious places in the whole world. Nowhere else do you find as many ancient relics important to the major religions, in many cases to two or three of them. The largest city in Israel, it is squished between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. I stayed there for about a week, much of it in East Jerusalem, which until the 1967 Six-Day War was a part of Jordan, not so much Israel.  People living in this part of the city have Israeli permanent residency, but mostly identify themselves with the Palestinians. East Jerusalem is also home to the majority of tourist sights, which makes for a lot of religious tourists visiting. Most of the sights are located in the Old City, the walls of which you can see in the picture above. Much of the inside of the old city consists of small souqs, or shopping streets, which tend to get very busy during the day. Jews consider Jerusalem a sacred site as it housed the original Solomon's Temple. Today still, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall play a large role in Jewish cultural society. Jewish comparative study of biblical texts (so-called Midrash) claims the Temple Mount to be the initial spot from where the world expanded to its present form. It was the spot where God gathered the dust to create the first man. The Western Wall, or Kotel, has a dual role, both in Islam and Judaism. Jews consider it the sole remnant of the Holy Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. It is strongly believed the wall will never be destroyed by promise of god, and it is frequently visit to pray and mourn the destruction of the holy temple. At the same time, it's the closest place Jews can go to the Even ha-shetiya or Foundation Stone, as Jews are not permitted to go onto temple mount. In Islam, the Western Wall appears to have gained importance only relatively recently. As Christians did, they used to refer to the wall as a "wailing wall" due to the Jewish conduct regarding the site. However, it is now considered as the place where Muhammad tethered Buraq, a creature from the heavens that carried him from Mecca to Medina. In the recent past, a war of words has erupted denouncing the validity of either Jewish or Islamic claims to religious importance of the wall.  Jerusalem, Western Wall. The Western or "wailing" wall Jerusalem, Old Town. Temple Mount. Jerusalem, Old Town. Shopping streets. West Jerusalem. City center.While West Jerusalem is only a five minute walk away from the Eastern suburbs, it feels like a different country. The East feels like most of the Muslim countries I visited on the trip, while the East feels like back in Europe. There are some distinctions though, that show an uneasy combination of life: even entering a coffee shop is a bit more tense. You're requested to open up your bags and show their content before being allowed entry. In addition, it's quite obvious that most East Jerusalem inhabitants routinely get their passports checked while moving around. Both parts of the city have historically been split, and only since 1967, when East Jerusalem was annexed, has the city been joined together. Palestinians have always viewed East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, whilst a lot of different players have very different views on its future: the United Nations, in resolution 478 called the Israeli law which annexed Jerusalem as the "complete and united" capital of Israel to be void. However, in 1990, the US Senate adopted a resolution stating Jerusalem was Israel's capital and should remain an "undivided city". Many of the parties with an interest to the conflict, or whom often portray themselves as mediators clearly do have some strong statements indeed.  Har'Homa. Neighborhood/settlement in East Jerusalem.During the 2001 Taba summit in Sinai, Israel did show itself to be inclined to a solution in which Jerusalem would really be the capital of two states - Israel and Palestine, with sovereignty of each states over neighborhoods with dominance of its respective peoples. Unfortunately, as so many before, a peace agreement was never reached. In the meanwhile, solving the territorial issue has become more complicated. In the picture above, you can see Har'Homa, by Israel considered to be an integral neighborhood of East Jerusalem, populated by Jews. However, the settlement is built upon a hill and is not directly connected to East Jerusalem with the exception of public transport. While people living their do not consider themselves to be settlers in the same way as the people in Hebron, Har'Homa is conveniently located between East Jerusalem and Betlehem on the West Bank. Future territorial resolutions in which East Jerusalem can be latched onto the West Bank as the Palestinian capital become significantly more difficult as time passes. | ||
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 About two years ago, I spent an evening sitting in an alternative movie theater watching "Paradise Now". Despite the convincing title, the movie actually doesn't portray paradise, but the life of Palestinians trying to make their way there - it shows the background behind a suicide bombing. While it was a good story, and I'm controversially happy to see humanization of any conflict (public opinion tends to be too black and white), what really stuck with me was the sheer beauty of the city of Nablus, where the story is told. Nablus, population 134,000 is one of the largest population centres in the West Bank, and is located approximately 60 kilometers from Jerusalem, strategically wedged in between rocky Mount Ebal, and Mount Gerizim, home of the Samarians. Abroad, it's most well known for the olive soap which is made locally but exported as well.  Most countries advise against travel to Nablus, as it has the reputation of being a hotbed of the Palestinian resistance. In many ways, it is. Dating back as far as 1936-1939, the city was a site of local resistance against the British Mandate. Today, it harbors many of these same sentiments against Israel's presence in the West Bank, and Israel. Regardless, Nablus is in many ways a very safe city with little violent crime.  Much of the protest history can still be seen today. Nablus' city centre is covered in protest signs, memorials for martyrs and generally people being very interested in what is happening outside their down.This makes sense, as Nablus is one of the most isolated cities in the West Bank. The hills are effectively no-go zones for Palestinians, as they are either difficult to climb, or are the home of other population groups, such as the Samaritans, a religion based on the Torah. Their entire population group is only 712 large, of which the majority live on Mount Gerizim. In order to enter or exit their city, inhabitants need to pass through the infamous Huwarra checkpoint in the South, or Beit Iba in the North. At both checkpoints, any luggage and identification is verified while Palestinians wait inside a mantrap. Foreigners are allowed to pass next through the mantrap after a brief check on the ID, and some questions on "why did you visit Nablus?". Because of the sheer beauty of the hills, madam. Fact of the matter is that this checkpoint actually has proven its use: at a small number of occasions, someone was in fact caught with pipe bombs while exiting the city. Regardless, the way they are set up deprieves denizens of the city from their humanity, and thus increases the long term chance of violence. It's truly sad. I'm pretty sure there is no real solution here. At college I had a decent look at resource mobilization theory, which essentially states that while frustration incites violence, resources make it happen. Removing the checkpoints removes frustration in the long run, but in the very short run makes for a massive influx in resources. Adding checkpoints and barriers, as is currently happening in Israel, starves the society from resources, but increases frustration. As such, the path currently taken is one of long term violence, and the path which could lead to a mid-term solution is socially unacceptable.   As mentioned, Nablus is littered with signs and monuments honouring martyrs for the Palestinian cause. At first these look very intimidating, especially due to the manner in which some of them are depicted. Many of them are wearing bulky shirts or weapons.This is in sharp contrast to the local people themselves, who are also more than happy to tell you the story behind each and every one of them. It's important to have some background as well: Nablus, as the centre from where resistance is often organized, is under curfew for quite a few days every year. In a period starting June 2002, granted, during the second Intifada at a period of intense violence, Amnesty International reported over 70 days of 24-hour curfews across the city. As the IDF forces regularly enter the city, violence is common. Crackdowns generally happen on members of specific organizations, such as Hamas. During these crackdowns, deaths are not uncommon. As such, not all these "martyrs" are suicide bombers or people who took someone else's life. Many of them were innocent bystanders. People in Nablus are generally very outgoing. They tend to ask foreigners where they are from, and love striking up a conversation (as far as their English and your Arabic takes you). I actually ended up in a local spicery factory, tasting some of their local tea and discussing the location of Belgium in Europe with a couple of students, one of them leaving to study medicine in Germany shortly.  Nablus. Water melon salesmen. | ||
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Ever since the annexation of East Jerusalem, the town of Ramallah has served as the unofficial capital of the Palestinian Authority. It's a city of some 118000 which contains some of the most thriving businesses of Palestine, as well as several government institutions, such as the "Palestine Standards Institution". Getting to Ramallah from East Jerusalem is a breeze - a wide road runs there and you generally don't need to pass through any checkpoints. However, easy isn't exactly my middle name, so together with three friends we decided to make our way there from Hebron. This is an interesting adventure, as it shows the difficulties Palestinians encounter in getting to their capital. Based out of East Jerusalem, it's easy to take a sherut, or service taxi from the city centre to Ramallah. These taxis wait until full, and then depart for Jerusalem. Prices are relatively low, not more than 10-15 sheckles each. Inhabitants of East Jerusalem are permitted to enter the West Bank, and thus can run these lucrative taxi routes. When you're based in Hebron, on the other hand, you're based in the Palestinian Territories. Palestinians are not permitted to enter Jerusalem, and as such cannot take the main highway through Jerusalem towards Ramallah. They would end up at one of the many checkpoints along the security fence, and would be turned back (at best). Below is a picture of the Calandia checkpoint, which shields Ramallah from Jerusalem.  Instead, they have to take smaller Palestinian roads which circle all the way around Jerusalem. This UN map gives a good few of the intricacies involved. In all, getting to Hebron from Jerusalem takes about 35 minutes, getting to Ramallah from Jerusalem about 15, and getting from Ramallah to Hebron about 2h30. And even during that trip, an unexpected checkpoint was thrown up, where I was interrogated as to my business in Ramallah by an IDF soldier. Tourism didn't seem to be an effective answer. Antonio, a Venezuelan whom I was making the trip with, suggested "Buying the handicrafts". Have to try that next time. Once we got there, the people were amazingly friendly. The guy in the picture at the top of this blog entry noticed I was photographing the view from Ramallah's main drag, and we ended up having a nice chat with them, all local students. Shortly afterwards, Sam, a local business owner told us about his local business, a Chicago-style fast food restaurant, and the three US branches he had recently started. They're all over in the US, and run by his brother, but once I make it there I'll certainly pay them a visit. Being a Palestinian, he couldn't deliver to Jerusalem. Too bad.  Ramallah initially gained importance in the Palestinian sense when it was chosen by Yasser Arafat to contain the Mukata'a, or the Palestinian West Bank headquarters. Arafat, depending on your source either the greatest figure in Palestinian life, or the one blockade to every near-Peace agreement, was locked into his Mukata'a by the IDF after attending a meeting there during which a twin suicide bombing took place in Haifa.It currently still houses its grave, which is treated with significant respect by the local population. The Mukata'a still serves as the West Bank office of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Compared to many other countries, Palestine is a very moderate Islamic society, and Ramallah actually has a female mayor, Janet Mikhail. The entire conflict also isn't much grounded in religion versus religion, but is neck deep into a territorial conflict. Religion however doesn't make it much easier by imposing requirements in the sidelines which are not compatible with actual peace. "The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." (Genesis 13:15) | ||
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