Blogs from Jerusalem District, Israel, Middle East - page 7

On Monday I left Amman for Israel and the West Bank. I had stayed the night with one of Tad’s friends from CIEE who graciously allowed me to stay with him. After waking up early, I took a taxi from Paris Circle to the north station, which I managed thanks to Tad’s Arabic tutoring. Normally people take a shared taxi from the North Station to the King Hussein / Allenby border crossing for like 5JD, but I got really lucky and a bus to the Allenby bridge was leaving just as I got to the station and I was able to hop on for 3JD. The bus wasn’t even remotely full. Quite lucky really. After driving through the desert for a while, with some towns interspersed, you arrive at the border crossing. I have never been ... read more

My arrival into Israel was, as anticipated, a bit tricky… After the flight from hell, where I was bombarded with a continuous promotional spiel from a screeching stewardess, the last thing I needed was a grilling from Israeli security. Unfortunately, a few ‘undesirable’ stamps in my passport meant that I was grilled at passport control for about 10 minutes. She then gave me a piece of paper in my passport, which, little to my knowledge, informed the next set of interrogators that I was ‘dodgy’, and so I was again pulled to one side and grilled by two security staff on the baggage collection floor, for a further 15 minutes. (This was actually quite mild I’m told… some people are held for hours, often without explanation!) However, after pulling out my guide book, making great exclamations ... read more

So today I went to Jerusalem, because I love the city but also because I really wanted to visit Martin and Liz's internship. Martin really enjoys it and I think Liz is liking it more everyday. I really love Jerusalem and a small part of me is really sad that I didn't get placed there...but I'm also super happy that I got placed in Tel Aviv, as it is a very Western City and I don't feel a large sense of displacement living here. While I didn't find the internship too exciting I think that their mission and their goals are very admirable and very similar to Windows. Radio doesn't really do anything for me, unless it's a station that is playing the latest songs in Philadelphia. I talked with Liz mostly, although I did see ... read more

ברוכים הבאים צו “אונזער ארץ-ישראל רייזע” בלאג נאך די פילע בקשות וואס מיר האבן ערהאלטן פון פאמיליע און פריינט, נאכ’ן הערן אז מיר גרייטן זיך ארויסצולאזן אויף א צוויי-וואכנ’דיגע באזוך קיין ארץ הקדושה, און האבן חשק מיטצוהאלטן אונזער באזוך אין ארץ-ישראל, שטעלן מיר אייך דא פאר אונזער בלאג ווי מען וועט קענען אי”ה מיטהאלטן – בריחוק מקום ובקירוב לב – אונזער באזוך אין א”י בעזהשי”ת. מיר האפן אי”ה צו ‘אפדעיטען’ א טעגליכע באריכט יעדן טאג ווי מיר האבן באזוכט; סיי די מקומות הקדושים אד”ג, און דערביי �... read more

Our tour guide Dalia, who grew up in a kabutz, began our tour on top of the Mount of Olives. What a sight! The whole city of Jerusalem faced us. Closest to us were huge cemeteries completely covered with graves of Jews going back many generations. We could see many significant landmarks including the Dome of the Rock (the 3rd holiest site of the Islam faith), built on top of King Herod's Temple. The walls of the old city we see now were built by the Ottoman Empire. Other sites pointed out, but which we did not visit, included the high priest Caiphas' house (where Peter denied Jesus 3 times), a church located where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper in the upper room with his disciples, the general location of Pontius Pilate's headquarters and the Mercy ... read more

Now I'm going to tell everyone about my second day, even though technically I'm on my third day because I passed out yesterday and didn't even have time to write. So if my recounting of the 2nd day isn't as intelligent as the first blog entry, I apologize. So on Monday, we went into the West Bank. The itinerary for the day was all about listening to the Palestinian narrative and their side of the story. We started in Ramallah, at the the local PLO headquarters. We were listening to the PLO's Negotiation Affairs Department. The first presenter was very factual and I learned a decent amount about the Palestinian narrative as well as basic facts I didn't know before. For example I didn't know that the Palestinians had agreed to a compromise in 1988 and ... read more