July 7
I ran into the Daily Show's John Oliver at the Newark airport. I couldn't remember his name so I called him Paul. He mentioned that his name was John, and both John and Paul were early followers of Jesus. I pointed out that they were also Beatles. He was on his way to Orlando to cover the last space shuttle launch. I told him some about the Black Bear Bakery and he thought he could do about 15 Daily Show segments on it, which would probably not be a good idea.
There was extra security for flights to Israel at the Newark airport.
It was announced that the flight would be an hour late because they were lacking a co-pilot who had to drive in from Pennsylvania. Because the plane was to land at 5:30pm instead of 4:15pm on Friday, passengers were told that if they have religious concerns they could rebook for a Sunday flight.
There were even more extra security procedures on the flight - you can't go to the bathroom or leave your seat within 200 or so miles of Israel if you are on a plane.
July 8
I got through passport control very easily with hardly any questions asked, after only a couple questions. It helped I think to answer "Yes" to the question "Are you Jewish"? I actually didn't have to lie about anything in passport control, but I did not openly say that I was going to Palestine.
After I went past passport control, I looked for the people who were supposed to meet me and they were not there. (I think they had been arrested - I will find out today). I looked and looked and eventually I found a British lady who was interviewing with Russian television. She is the deputy head of the Welsh Green Party. She was the only one of around 70 activists flying in from London who made it past customs. All the other activists were detained after declaring that they were going to Palestine.
I started to talk to her and then the Russian TV interviewed me and then all these Israeli newspapers were interviewing me.
The reporter Telem Yahav seemed sympathetic to what we were doing. He said he looked up the Israeli regulations and it is clear that foreigners are allowed to travel in the West Bank. However he said it is just a regulation. There is really no law on this and Israel has no written constitution so the Interior Minister has a large amount of discretion on these things.
Knel Bzanosy from Israel Today asked me if I had plans to make Aliya (immigrate to Israel). I told her absolutely not. My family is in the United States, my culture comes from the United States, and my native language is English. My home is the United States, not Israel. And the United States has been a very good place for Jews.
She then asked me if that means I thought that Israel was a bad place for Jews. I told her that I never said that, and I can't comment on that because I am not an Israeli Jew and am in no position to determine if life is good for Jews in Israel.
I do however firmly oppose the right of Aliyah for only Jews. As a Jew, I have the right to immigrate here. I don't have to believe in God - being a Jew in this sense is a racial category. A Palestinian refugee and his or her descendants do not have this right, although they have a much more immediate attachment to this land than I. If the right of Aliyah were granted to both Jews and Palestinian refugees, it would be much more fair than the present system.
She didn't seem to like my answer, but she did give me her card and said "Enjoy your stay in Israel."
The British woman whom I found at the gate decided she was going to storm back in to passport control and demand that either her companions be released or she be detained (much more likely).
So I was all alone.
I decided to head to Bethlehem - I knew that our group was supposed to meet at the Aida Refugee camp.
Things were a little more difficult being a Friday night, now already 7pm. No buses were running. I took a shared taxi to Jerusalem (the Damascus gate). On the way I met an American and a Colombian studying Christian theology in Jerusalem.
At the Damascus gate I took a taxi to the Bethlehem checkpoint with a Palestinian man who spoke only Arabic and Italian. Using my Spanish we sort of communicated. He left me at the checkpoint with a 12 year old boy named Louie.
The checkpoint is an opening in the giant separation wall. It is monstrosity, kind of like a spook house maze. It is huge, it twists and turns, it has lots of concrete, barbed wire and multiple exit style turn styles. Getting into Bethlehem was easy. The Israeli guard was asleep. I think the patrol the opposite direction a lot more closely.
I walked to the Aida refugee camp, but I couldn't find who I was looking for - I just kept running into that awful wall. I finally decided to just use my guide book and I took at taxi to the Ibdaa Cultural Center at the Dheisheh Refugee camp. The hostel was full but some nice men set me up in one of the buildings in a hall with a mattress. A TV station was filming some young men dancing in the alley. I had to get passed them to get to where I was sleeping and they made me jump in a dance for a while.
At the refugee camp Hamdala is painted all over the walls. In addition to people, the Dheisheh Refugee camp is also home to many stray cats - just like home.
It would be really helpful right now to know how to speak Arabic.
I am now waiting in the Palestine hotel to meet whoever is actually here from our group. I think we will go to Ramallah.
 |
| Poster calling for internationals travel to Palestine to take part in the Palestinian-led "Welcome to Palestine" weeks of solidarity activities |
No comments:
Post a Comment