Jerusalem - city of peace

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Hello everybody....
here I finally am after a long trip from amman to Jerusalem. The trip was so tiring and like chewing gum. I left Amman at 8.30 in the morning and it took exactly 7 hours to get to Jerusalem which is not far at all (without borders it would be a one hour drive) I caught a service taxi to the Jordanian-palestinian border, after passing the jordanian controls (loong queues and waiting times) everybody had to get on a bus that would bring everybody over the king hussein bridge to the israeli border controls, from there right into the luggage check and passport control. It was so ridiculous!!! They treated everybody as a potential state enemy. We were 2 big bus loads of palestinians and a hand full of tourists and diplomats, we went through a metal detector, our luggage was x-rayed (which is a good thing of course) then my bags were searched through. After that a massive queue. Then we had to go through a certain machine that seemed to xray everybody!! After this we entered a big hall where we were supposed to get our passport stamps. There were queues for palestinians and a small one for tourists so i thought it all would go quick... At first they interviewed a woman for one hour while all other tourists had to wait. Then the israeli border oficials left.. and we waited for another hour. They returned and it all went so slow. ONce it was my turn I was asked all sorts of questions repeatedly over and over again. "whats your purpose to enter Israel? Whats your occupation? Whats your purpose to enter israel? ("yea yea i intend to blow up the wailing wall arrghh silly people) Where in Israel will you stay? Whats the name of your father? Whats your purpose to enter Israel? Do you have any relatives in Israel? Why not? Where in Israel are you going to stay? Whats your purpose to enter Israel?" etc etc The palestinians were already on the other side of the border while we all still had to wait. I became friends with 2 jordanian nuns and a priest who were on their way to Bethlehem. They helped me big time during all the border procedures. All of you know me as a rather calm and patient person but i was close to explode. We were treated like animals who no one cared about. Fortunately my interrogation lasted only 5-10 minutes. Then finally we moved on to the baggage claim. All our bags were thrown on the floor like rubbish and i found one of my bags open on the floor!Fortunately nothing got lost. I was so so so close to explode. A few people did. A young mother had a crying kid and she just screamed at everybody to let her through. I sent a sms to a friend that I was through the borders and immediately 2 security guards came up to me asking whether this mobile has a camera and if I intend to take pictures. Silly people again!! I was merely sending a sms with my mobile camera pointing to the floor... (in the whole area i travelled its illegal to take pictures of bridges, governmental buildings and border crossings/checkpoints) In the end my new friends and me had our stuff and waited for half an hour to get a bus from the border through the westbank to Jerusalem. It is a quite mountaneous area but not too strongly populated. I arrived in the palestinian part of Jerusalem (the oldcity) where i was told the directions how to get into the old city. I had a strange feeling when I walked through Jerusalem the first time. The bus station was very dirty and I walked through dirty roads, obviously a poor area. Was I on the right track? Then finally I saw a wall which looked like the old city wall. My backpack became so heavy.... I entered the old city via the damascus gate and immediately i felt like at a different place. People and shops everywhere and it was extremely packed. While i walked with my backpack through the narrow roads in order to find accomodation a man offered his help. My first experience with palestinian people was a lovely one. He probably got a commission for taking me to that place or maybe not, at least I quickly found somewhere to stay. The place was a classic!!! Adventurous when youre a male or travelling with more people but i felt really uncomfortable there on my own. I was welcomed by an elderly white haired arabic man of maybe 75 years who reminded me a bit of the protector of the holy gral from indiana jones. He was sweet and limped up the stairs to show me my room. I was really worried hed fall down the stairs. We entered a dark and dusty loft with broken windows, spider webs and lots of rubbish piled up. The old man pointed at a door and after opening i found out that it wasnt really what youd call a 7 star appartment. Alltogether the room was 2,50 x 2,50m, the carpet was stuffed into the room and i was scared to have a look at what may be hiding under the bed. One of the windows was broken and another one was stuffed with towels... Fortunately i had my own bedsheet with me.... What a sad place.... at least it probably was the cheapest place available all over israel/palestine.
After loading all my bags into my room i left in order to explore the city for a bit, but i did not get far. First a man invited me for a tea, served me with hommos and bread and i ended up taking care of his shop for 40 minutes after he left "ill be right back" lol people came and asked me for prices. "how much is this? how much is that?" Later on i tried my luck to go further only to be invited for having another tea just around the corner. There i ended up staying till 9pm and spent such lovely quality time there having a very deep conversation about life and its happy and sad parts.
Right now Im feeling a bit sad after having a long talk with the hostel owner. He said there were such great times in jerusalem when his hostel used to be full. He always had around 130 people staying and ince the start of the intifada in 2000 there are averagely 20-30 people staying. For 2 years it has been safe and calm now in jerusalem (yes!!) but somehow the medias kept many tourists away. He is very frustrated also about what israel is doing to his people, the palestinians. He knows that his place is rubbish but he doesnt ahve money to renovate it. He said one thing and i froze when I saw the look in his eyes while saying "this is only the beginning of the end, this is my country and i will die here in palestine" The staff in this hostel were the most open people in Jerusalem i met who werent shy to express their political opinions freely. For someone who was never in touch with wars and unrests this can be a big shock (i was a bit shocked at first) The hostel staff dont hide their attachment to the 2000 Intifada (the palestinian uprising against the israelis triggered by sharons visit to the al aqsa compound) and also openly show their intense anti-america and anti-israel feelings. All this is emphasized by the walls showing pictures of palestinian martyrs. So its not really the place to show off your love for sharon or bush hahahaha But then again... the staff is very very helpful and friendly, whenever you pass them they invite you for tea to have a chat with you. It's the place to go when you would like to get an unbiased and honest impression of those people the medias describe as palestinian patriots. For an european their views can appear very strict and a bit scary, but there i kind of learnt to understand their motives a bit better, or at least saw how they think. Inside they are very kind people but who have a big amount of anger inside of them against certain individuals. My advice: as a girl you easily feel lost between all those eccentric characters with strong political opinions so its better to go there with company (or stick to the old man at the reception). They sit all day long on the roof wearing armless shirts drinking tea... some of them appeared quite run down... it seemed like this place also hosts quiete a few homeless palestinian males...
At least this was finally a place with hot showers!!! yayyy

Heres a very true review about this hostel i once found online that truly describe the character of this place😊

" Worked here for a few month before being deported.. It's a wonderful place! The family that runs it has some really eccentric characters and the whole hostel is just too mad to be true. Hosting nothing but mad prophets and seemingly lost backpackers and the odd journalist/activist. It's cheap and in the most amazing location. Cold as hell in the winter months."

hehehe

Man im so sick of all this unright happening on earth. Most of the palestinians are not terrorists as much as not every israeli a zionist or every german a nazi! there are good and bad people everywhere!! On my whole trip i only had lovely experiences with arabic people and their culture (ok im seeing it all only from the tourist perspective, every society has their own probs of course)
To put it into brief words: Jerusalem seems to be quite safe even though the atmosphere is quite tensed. People dont smile as much like in jordan but they are very welcoming (at least the palestinians). havent been to jewish areas yet so i dont know yet what they are like.
anyway, this were the news for today. Tomorrow ill check out the old city :o)
so long...

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Photos

Soldiers in jerusalem
They were too hard to catch on photo as they hate to get photographed, so the pic is not clear

Comments

[CROW]

keep it up
Hey nicola , u are doing great JOB keep it up. prayers ..

[Paulo]

When u get the Mount of the Olivetrees
Wow, such experiences!!! When u get the mount of the olivetrees take some pics (if it is allowed). I would like to see this so famous biblical place ;0) Hey, little Nicola, you're always in my prayers. I am OK here and Claudia is OK too. I know you'll have much more things to tell when u come back. Seee you. Pls, keep in touch :D