New Project

Allow to me to apologize for the month-and-a-half absence from the blog. In January, I moved to a different program in my school, and the switch was not as seamless as I would have liked, especially regarding attention to this work. As for the good news, I am starting a new project to detail not just my travels, but the travels of my schoolmates as we venture "over the line" into the Palestinian territories. Over the past three months, several of my peers have joined me on a quest to experience and learn more about the conflicts and issues that Israelis and Palestinians face on an everyday basis. Five students, five stories.

Bethlehem, Part 2

As quickly as the concrete walls rose up from the cracked and rock-strewn ground, they fell away into the stepped hills of Bethlehem. Politicos and activists will have much work to do if they intend to create a one-state solution because entering Palestine was like crossing into a new country.

Twenty minutes from scurrying Hassids strolled Keffiyeh-clad Palestinians, their wooden canes clacking against the chipped pavement. Stretch taxis jumped curbs and screeched around little old ladies in hijab as they walked under blue-tinted posters of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Just as the settlement freeze has left hundreds of Israeli homes unfinished, years of uneven incomes and trickling investment has left much Palestinian construction in a state of almost-built and almost-repair. Rebar sticks out of half-plastered foundations and ghostly looking apartment buildings whistle as the wind blows in through window-less frames.

Walking around Bethlehem was like viewing people through a one way glass; as if they could look curiosly at my face unaware that I could see them. Even as I stood on the other side of the separation wall, I would feel very separated until our counterpart Ghada Issa, administrator of the Hope Flowers School, picked us up in her silver four-door Hyundai.

Ghada would take us to the school and into "Bethlehem Part 3." To be posted soon.

Bethlehem, Part 1

For one day out of many, the rocks stayed on the ground. The masses did not assemble, and the police stayed restless at their posts.

A tiny blue Arab bus bounced over every pothole on the Bethlehem Road as it winded its way south outside of "international" Jerusalem, into "municipal" Jerusalem, and out into the rolling Judean Hills of the West Bank. From the outside you could have seen our noses pressed to the glass, our eyes scanning every square inch of landscape.

We searched for clues as to the dynamics of this conflict. Black water tanks belong to Arab villages, and white ones cover the homes in Israeli settlements. As if to keep you from getting lost in the scenery, the gray wall snaked into our view every other moment, just when we started to forget that the white tanks must be separated from the black tanks.

More of the same passed our windows until a large concrete section of the security wall rose out of the sandy dirt like a giant gray monolith. Checkpoint Bethlehem.

Regularly Scheduled Programming

This posting marks the resumption of semi-regular blogging about my journey to learn about peace-making in Israel and Palestine. In other words, my mid-winter break is over. My parents are here visiting, and in the spirit of "doing, not just saying" --regarding the peace process-- they are allowing me to join them as they visit the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem tomorrow. The Hope Flowers School is "a unique school teaching peace and democracy and aiding trauma-reduction and community development in Bethlehem" (http://www.hopeflowersschool.org/). Recently, two terror attacks jolted Jerusalem and the West Bank from relative calm. A rabbi from a northern settlement was gunned down by militants while driving his car. The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade took responsibility. Also, an Israeli bus was fire-bombed Molotov cocktail-style resulting in one severe injury. In Hebron, Palestinians scuffled with Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers and other West Bank hotspots saw flare-ups. These attacks, and the resulting response from the IDF --to search out and neutralize suspected terrorists responsible for the attacks-- could make our Bethlehem visit come at an inauspicious time. A report on our hopefully trouble-free and peaceful trip to come soon.