Bethlehem

Friday, April 14, 2017

Yesterday was a really emotional day for me - not like any other.  I'm going to try to go through the day from beginning to end to try to understand why I got so emotional.   I may end up not publishing this post.
Elizabeth (German friend who lives in the apartment with me and is the person I spend the most time with) and I wanted to go to Bethlehem for the day.  We always spend a lot of time with Ja'far, who was the volunteer who always went to class with me on Sundays and Tuesdays, and Saad, his best friend.  (We went to the Samaratin passover with them and we go to concerts and just generally hang out with them.)  They offered to go to Bethlehem with us.  We were thrilled to have them come because they are fun to be with and it's always easier to go places when you have Palestinians who know their way around and also can ask for directions better than we can.  Saad arranged for a taxi to pick us up in the morning and stay with us the whole time in Bethlehem and then bring us back home for 100 shekels ($27) each.
So, Saad and Ja'far were in front of our house at 9 AM (not allowed to enter a girls' house, of course) and then Ali picked us up on the street in front of our house.  The drive to Bethlehem took maybe 90 minutes.  We thought it would be cold and rainy (Why is the weather forecast for Palestinian cities never correct?), so we had our coats, but it was warm and sunny.  It was good to have the taxi to leave our coats in.  First, we went to the Church of the Nativity.  It was kind of crowded.  Yesterday was Holy Thursday.  This year both the Orthodox and the western Easter are on the same day.  Ja'far and Saad asked if we wanted to pray.  We sat down in pews.  Then, after a few minutes, Ja'far asked why were just sitting.  He really doesn't understand Christianity at all.  The church still has the same scaffolding up that I saw the last time.  I didn't take any photos because nothing looked different from two years ago.  I said to Ja'far, "How long does it take to do renovations?  That same scaffolding was here two years ago."  He said they are doing the renovations on Palestinian time.
Then we just went to walk through the market area in the center of town.  There are tons of little souvenir shops with Christian stuff.  We went to a store that had postcards.  I bought 17 postcards.  i will send about four.  The others are to keep.  I might make a collage.  Here are photos of a few of them.

Then, we went to see the graffiti on the Separation Wall.  In Arabic it is called the apartheid wall and that is unquestionably what it is.  The graffiti is very cool.  People are very artistic and witty.  We took photos of ourselves in front of it.  Elizabeth has a photo of herself praying in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, so I took a photo of her praying in front of this wall.  Maybe it shows our different personalities in that I asked her to take a photo of me trying to jump over it.

Then, we went for lunch to a place that had really delicious barbecue chicken - with, of course, the little dishes of hummus, baba ghanoush, and other salads.  Ali, our driver, was always with us.  I think he was actually a friend of Saad's.   (He is a professional taxi driver, though)  Elizabeth took this photo.  It has:  Ja'far, Ali, Saad and me.

You can see the food better here:

There is a famous hotel at the wall.  It's by Banksy, a famous graffiti artist, and it just opened last month.  Elizabeth and I wanted to see it, but the Palestinians had never heard of it.  We asked several people on the street, but they didn't know about it.  Here is a link to news article about the hotel.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/banksy-opens-bethlehem-barrier-wall-hotel.
We drove around a lot trying to find the hotel.  Finally, Elizabeth (because she has data on her phone - I have mine turned off here) looked up the address and put it in Google maps.  It turned out it is right at the end of the street where we took the first photos of the wall.
Next to the hotel, is a store where you can buy paint to add your own graffiti to the wall and then a gift shop.  Here is a photo of the entrance.  I didn't get the name over the top, "Walled Off Hotel."

And the place to buy paints:

So, you can see that, so far, this was a fun, laughing day.  The hotel lobby has other reminders of life under occupation.
Fake surveillance cameras in the lobby:

A statue in the middle of tear gas.

The hotel has a museum.  It costs 15 shekels for internationals and is free for Palestinians.  I commented later that they didn't ask for ID.  Ja'far said, "We look like Arabs." (Actually, Saad doesn't)  But, later I thought that they wouldn't want to ask Palestinians for their IDs in a place like that.  If you don't understand how Palestinians feel about being asked for ID, read my previous post on the Samaritan passover.  Below you can see a graffiti image of an Israeli soldier asking the donkey entering Bethlehem for his ID.

Anyway, we went into the museum.  It is hard for me to describe accurately because I got so emotional but I will try to tell what I remember.  The first thing I remember seeing was a box that shows a suitcase and asks "If you had 30 minutes before your home was demolished, what would you save?"  Please read ALL of the description on the plaque below and look at the 2 photos.

In the first room, there were plaques about the occupation:

In this room, there were also examples of bullets and other military materials.  They had a film that Elizabeth and Ja'far watched.  I started to feel really sick in this room.  I was afraid I would pass out or vomit, so I went into the next room without seeing even half of what was in there.
In the next room, there was a phone.  Sometimes, when the IDF is going to bomb a house, they call the home to tell the people that they have five minutes to get out.  (The IDF often doesn't wait the 5 minutes after the phone call.)  The sign over the phone explains about the IDF calls and says that you can answer the phone when it rings.  The woman in the museum told me to go ahead and answer the phone.  I didn't want to because I knew I was already too emotional, but I did.  It's an actual recording.  It was in English.  Maybe the say it in Arabic after.  I don't know.  It was chilling.  After that I walked around that room a little.  The others came in to look at things and I just started to cry.  Ja'far put his arm around me and said, "It's okay.  I got emotional in the other room, too."  Later, Elizabeth told me that he cried when they were watching the film.  It's so unlike Ja'far.  He's always a jokester.   Or, if not, he will say defiant things about the occupation - never sensitive things.  Saad is the super-sensitive one and he was okay.  I tried to stay in the museum, but couldn't stop crying, so I left and went to the gift shop.
I still am not able to get over it all emotionally.  My stomach is in knots as I am typing this and tears are running down my face as I type this - and it's the following day.  I don't understand why Bethlehem hit me so hard.  I walked through the checkpoint and showed my passport in Hebron.  I read all the history in the Arafat museum in Ramallah.  Those things made me sad and angry, but nothing has hit me like this.  Maybe because I know it's close to when I will go home.  I will need to find something happy to do today.  (It's Good Friday!  Ha Ha!)

One last photo:  The US government provides Israel with BILLIONS of dollars in WEAPONS.  By giving weapons, we are not only giving them the means to brutally oppress Palestinians, we are also sending the message that the solution is through killing people.

Samaritan Passover

Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Last night, we went up to Mount Gerizem to see the Samaritan Passover.  The Samaritans live on a mountain right near Nablus.  Their religion is similar to Judaism, but there are 6000 differences between their holy book and the Talmud.  They have always lived here.  They work and go to school among the other people of Nablus.  Their passover is on the same day as the Jews in Israel.
I went up on the mountain last week with Elizabeth, Ja'far and Saad.  We wanted to get information about the passover.  There is one big difference between the Samaritans and the Nabulsi.  The Samaritans drink alcohol.  Alcohol is illegal in Nablus.  So, many people go up on the mountain to buy alcohol.  We went in a little grocery store there to buy a soft drink.  It was full of all kinds of alcohol.  They also had things like corn and peas, but it looked more like a liquor store than a grocery store.

When we were there last week, we could see the preparations for the passover.  You can see the piles of olive wood and lemon tree branches.

We asked about the passover and they said people are welcome to watch.  Then we walked back down the mountain.  It is very steep and took about an hour.  I'm glad we took a taxi up, but the views on our way down were beautiful.

So, last night, we took a taxi there at about 5:30.  I should also mention that this is the first time I saw Saad and Ja'far since before I went to Jerusalem and they acted so happy to see me and told me over and over that they had missed me.  (I was only gone for a weekend).  They are really sweet.  I bought prayer beads for them in Jerusalem.  (Of course, they can't go there without a permit and the Israelis never grant permits to Palestinian men under 35.)  When we got to the top of the mountain, there were buses and tourists there.  The big gate was almost closed and soldiers were guarding it.  A guide told us that they were not letting people in.  Your name had to be on a list. He was upset because he had brought tourists in.  We stood around for a while and then they started letting people in.  I think they had collected money from some people and were giving them prime seats in stands to watch.  Once those people were in, they were willing to let us be on the street to watch.  We needed to show ID.  I didn't have my passport with me, but I showed my Israeli visa card and a copy of my passport that I had in my wallet.  (I like to leave my passport in the house so I won't lose it.)  They looked at my ID and Elizabeth's passport and said we could go in.  Ja'far and Saad said we should go on our own, but we said we weren't going if they couldn't go in.  They gave their Palestinian ID's.  The soldiers took them and went to make a phone call.  We had to wait a while and then they let them in.  Saad told me later that his heart was pounding when they had his ID.  They are really terrified of the soldiers.  Ja'far won't admit it, but he said he wouldn't go back to see it again - "and let those guys be in control of whether I enter."
We found a spot outside a railing to watch.  There was another gate there, but a soldier was allowing only Samaritans to enter.  The Samaritans were dressed all in white.  Their heads were covered, but not by kippas - most men were wearing baseball caps.  Some had rubber boots on.  They slaughtered 55 sheep.  We could see them leading the sheep over to the area.  The sheep definitely did not want to go.

They were definitely fighting going there.  Ja'far said that in Islam, you aren't allowed to kill an animal in front of another animal.  (The actual slaughter itself is basically the same for Jews and muslims.  You slit its throat and say a prayer - "God is great." in Arabic for the muslims)  We couldn't see the actual slaughter itself from where we were standing, but we saw people come back with bloody knives.  They had pits where there were fires going.  Kids and adult men would throw lemon branches in to keep the fire high.  Once the sheep were slaughtered, thew put them on large skewers and were lining up the skewers.  They also would take the skins and hang them on a pole over the fire.

We were standing and watching for a couple hours.  It was getting late and it looked like they weren't going to get to roasting the actual lambs for a long time.  They kept bringing more and more skewers over.  Buses were leaving.  We decided that we had seen enough. But we did see that they use aluminum foil when roasting them.

We started to walk down and we could hear music coming from a house.  We went to see and it was a muslim family who were playing music, etc.  They invited us in.  There were some people up on the roof and we went up with them.  We watched while some danced in the yard below.  Ja'far commented that it would have been better if they had refused us entry and we had found this gathering instead.  (That's what had happened to some of the people at the house.)  I think Ja'far was really uncomfortable with the whole thing.  I will have to try to talk to him about it another time.  Anyway, we met some musicians who will be playing at the festival on Sunday.  They are from several European countries.  We stayed about 30 minutes and then walked down the mountain.  I was definitely quite tired when we got home.  We stood on top of the mountain watching for about 2 hours and then it was about an hour walk home.  My feet were really hurting!

Jerusalem

Sunday, April 9, 2017

I'm back in Jerusalem for the weekend. I came Friday. Usually to come to Jerusalem from Nablus, you first take a bus to Ramallah.  (That's what I did when I first went to Nablus). But when I went to the bus station yesterday morning, they said there were no buses to Ramallah and told me to take a "service" (shared taxi) to Qalanda. It turns out Qalanda is just outside Jerusalem.  Then, I just got a taxi to my hotel (through the checkpoint, first, of course)   I'm staying at the Jerusalem Hotel.  I booked there because Saint George's was full, but I actually like it better.  It has a restaurant, which Saint George's doesn't and it's right in front of the bus station - and even closer to the Damascus Gate.
It's easy to go from the hotel to the Damascus Gate and then into the Old City.  I was surprised at how many Israeli soldiers there are.  I don't remember there being that many two years ago.  I took the following photo at the Damascus.  There are more stations of soldiers all through the Old City.  In this photo, the soldiers were patting down a guy while another soldier held her gun pointed at him.  I can't imagine why.  There are shawarma places and everything else in the Old City, so obviously there are knives.  There are no metal detectors when you enter.  The soldiers are behind their barriers.  They must have called the guy over.  They do these things just to scare and humiliate Palestinians.  After I took the photo, I stood near the barricade until they let the guy go.  Palestinians often tell us that they are safer if we are beside them because the soldiers don't want to be seen mistreating Palestinians in front of internationals.

Today, I went to Saint George's for the Palm Sunday service.  Some people bring bouquets with flowers and palm (mostly children).  The dean of the cathedral asked everyone to put their bouquets on the wall with the palm crosses and olive branches provided by the church.  Then the archbishop blessed all of them.

People who brought bouquets took theirs back after that and the rest of us took an olive branch or palm cross.  The dean joked that we would need to bring them back on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday for burning.  Then we all processed into the church.  The service is very nice because it is in English and Arabic.  When they sing a hymn, people just sing in whichever language they prefer.  The readings were done in both English and Arabic.  We sang some hymns in Arabic only.  The archbishop gave the sermon in Arabic and then English.  At the end of the service, they asked all the children to come up and process out with the clergy.  It was very cute.  Then, we were invited for coffee in the guest house garden.  I tried to find someone who would want to go up to the Mount of Olives with me and then process down, but most people didn't want to go and other groups were going later in the afternoon.  I needed to get back to Nablus.  The buses to Ramallah go at all hours, but I wasn't sure how late I would be able to get a bus from Ramallah to Nablus.  Also, my ankle has been hurting.  I slipped on the stairs on March 6 and my ankle is still swollen and hurts at night, so I think I should try to pamper it a little.  I walked through the old city one last time.  It was much less crowded and there were fewer soldiers, too.  I got a shawarma sandwich.  I got one for lunch from the same shop all three days.  I like that shop because I order in Arabic and the man answers me in Arabic.  It took about three hours to get back to Nablus.  Buses leave when they are full, but both buses filled quickly.
From Jerusalem to Ramallah, I had to pass the wall and checkpoint into Palestine.

It turns out that the Israelis are closing the border on Monday because of Passover.  Passover celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from the Egyptians.  The Israelis don't seem to see the irony of celebrating their freedom while occupying Palestine and continually taking more land for settlements.

A refugee camp

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
On Sunday, we took a tour of Balata Camp.  I had asked Jafar and Saad if they could take Elizabeth and me.  They also invited three Danish volunteers.  We went to the camp and then a friend of Saad's who lives in the camp met us to show us around.  The camps were established right after the establishment of Israel in 1948.  Many people were driven from their homes.  They were camping out in many different places and the United Nations told them they couldn't assist them with people all over the place, so they asked everyone to move to one of their camps.  All the camps are on land that the UN leased for 99 years - either from a government or from a private owner.  Many refugees in the camps still have the keys to their houses in Israel.  I'm sure the Israelis who are now living in the homes changed the locks long ago, but it's a symbol for them.  At the entrance to Balata, there is a big key.  At the top it says 1948 and "We will return" in Arabic.

There are only two streets in the camp - the one with the market and the one with the UN school.  Here's the wall of the school:

Here's the street with the market.  On this day, it had been raining all day, so there were few people outside.  I saw more people and lots of vegetables for sale on another visit.

Here's an alley.  Most people's doors to their homes open onto an alley like this.  You can see our friend Saad (his back is to us), the guy who gave us the tour, and Jafar.

Here's a cemetery.  (It looks the same as the cemetery across the street from my house.)

The guy who gave us the tour invited us into his place for coffee.  It was beautiful!!!  I haven't been in any other refugee homes, but I know that most are not like this.

I feel that I should say that I have friends in Nablus who are refugees.  If they grew up in the camp, they consider themselves refugees.  They have never been to the city their family is from.  You would never know that they are refugees unless they tell you.  (Sometimes I ask).  

Jacob's Well

Friday, March 31, 2017

Today, I just stayed in Nablus.  In the morning, I went to the market to get some vegetables because there would is nothing available on Friday evenings.
In the afternoon, I took a taxi with Elizabeth and Will to the Church of Jacob's Well.  We arrived at 2:05 and the sign on the gate said it's open 9-12 and 2-5.  We walked down the street a little to stall for some time.  The church is right at the entrance to Balata Camp.  We walked down the street to look at the entrance a little.  (I had been there before.)  Balata has a reputation as being a rough area.  People have told us we shouldn't go in the camp unless we have a local person with us.  As we walked down the street, a group of teenage boys came up to talk to us.  They didn't do anything wrong and they were polite, but it feels like when you talk to kids in a rough neighborhood at home.

Then we went back to the church and rang the bell.  A man came and invited us in.  When I was there two years ago, there were crowds of people. This time, it was only the three of us.  He showed us around and took us downstairs to see the well.  It is said to be Jacob's well and also the well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman.  He poured some water into the well and told us to listen carefully to hear how long it takes the water to reach the bottom.  It was quite a while.  It is definitely a very deep well.  We drank a little of the water.  This is an orthodox church and the priest there is Greek and was sent there by the patriarch in Jerusalem.  I saw this man the last time, painting icons.  Today, he was in Jerusalem.  He has painted all kinds of paintings on the walls of the church and has painted many icons.  He also makes mosaics.  Here's the man who gave us the tour:

Here is the well

Icons for sale

Before this priest, there was another priest.  He was killed by an Israeli settler.  He was chopped into pieces with an ax.  After that, all the Christians who had been coming to this church were afraid and left.  There is no congregation anymore.  There are no services at the church.  The priest goes into Rafidia on Sundays and has a service there.  Sometimes, groups of Russians, Greeks or Armenians come and then there is a service in the Jacob's Well Church.

As we were walking back, we decided to look for Tell Balata.  It is the ruins of the original city at Nablus.  Will study archeology, so he was very interested in finding it.  We followed signs and found it.  It's bigger and more organized than I expected.  It has a visitor center also.  We saw a short film and wandered around the tell.  They charge 10 shekels for that.  Then we took a taxi home.

A little while later, we went out for one last walk.  We walked around our neighborhood and looked for the Roman amphitheater.  Heide had told us she saw it.  Right about when we had given up and bought ice cream in a store, we saw it.  It's very overgrow and full of garbage (including an old washing machine!)  It's really a shame that it has been so neglected.  

Sebastia

Thursday, March 30, 2017
Today, I took a day trip to Sebastia with Elizabeth and Will.  They are two new volunteers who came just this week.  Sebastia is very close.  We didn't need to leave early, so we had breakfast at the market at around 10:30 and then left Nablus at 11:30.  We had a traditional Palestinian breakfast: salad, hummus, felafel and pita.  (I think I took the photo too early - before he brought the hummus and the tea.)

It took only 20 minutes in the shared taxi and cost only 5.5 shekels to get there.  It has lots of ruins.  We went into the visitor center and the man there came out with us to show us the ruins.  He showed us around for about 90 minutes or more.  The ruins are quite amazing.  They have some from the Canaanite period, the Hellenist period, Roman and Byzantine.  Unfortunately, there were very few people there.  It really would be a wonderful tourist site if more people would come.  Sebastia also is supposed to be the place where John the Baptist's body is buried (not his head - that's in Damascus).
Here are some photos:

Some pretty wildflowers

Here's a rock from the Hellenic period that has the Olympic symbol on it.

I climbed up a hill to take a photo with the Palestinian flag.

Here's an interesting mural that was on a wall on the road going into old Sebastia

And, just as we were going to look for the shared taxi back to Nablus, we passed a man selling cotton candy!