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Published: December 7th 2011
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Dec.7, 2011
I went on a quick tour of northern Israel and the Occupied Syrian Golan. It was a fascinating trip and I only wish I could have stayed in each city longer—especially Haifa and Nazareth. Of course, when I complained about the trip’s length to my roommate in Ramallah, who is from Hebron, she kindly reminded me that at least I had the opportunity to go. As a Palestinian, she cannot.
Before visiting Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I was vehemently against going to Israel, as a way of rejecting its policies toward the Palestinians. But I changed my outlook after coming. I’ve decided that in order to get a better sense of the occupation—including why it’s so distant to many Israelis—and the people living here, I have to see and talk to different sides.
Israel is so vibrant and cosmopolitan that even young Palestinians from the West Bank sometimes go to Tel Aviv or Haifa to party. The trip is risky for some. Only cars with the yellow Israeli license plates can enter Jerusalem and Israel, and West Bank ID holders are banned from going. Sneaking in a Palestinian, non-Israeli citizen or resident, into Israel
can lead to jail sentences or deportation (for foreigners). But I’ve learned that such harsh punishments don’t necessarily dissuade the dedicated party-goers.
THE TRIP
Arab Palestinians comprise over 20 percent of Israel’s population. Less than 10 percent of them live in mixed towns such as Haifa, Jaffa-Tel Aviv, and Nazareth. The rest either live in exclusively Arab towns and villages and/or unrecognized encampments.
A Palestinian friend of mine, living in East Jerusalem, rented a car and we embarked on our trip around 4pm on a Saturday. It was dark by the time we reached Haifa two and a half hours later. The city is absolutely mesmerizing at night. Lights glisten from the city center and ships cruising the Mediterranean. The electricity consumption is unusually high! The most exquisite site was no doubt the Baha’i temple, which sits on Mount Carmel overlooking the German colony. Its golden dome burns even brighter at night than it does during the day. The Baha’i religion began in Iran in the 19th century but its founder, Baha’u’llah, came to Palestine in order to escape persecution.
My friend explained that Palestinians and Israelis live in relative harmony in Haifa. Some Israelis apparently
see it as a model of coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. On the other hand, the majority of Palestinians living in Haifa currently rent their homes (often from Jewish housing agencies) after losing them in 1948 (al-Nakba). And the municipality has done little to restore historic Arab neighborhoods.
We ate dinner in the German colony, which recently experienced a flourishing of Palestinian-owned cafes and restaurants. The place we chose was Fattoush, the first of such restaurants to open in the area. After some delicious seafood and Fattoush, we headed toward Nazareth to stay at al-Mutran, a very cute and cozy guesthouse. I even found a rare commodity in al-Mutran: hot water! The night couldn’t get any more perfect.
Unfortunately Nazareth, a largely Christian city, is dead on Sundays. I walked around the Old City early in the morning and came across only birds and cats. The city has the largest Palestinian urban population in Israel. But there are two Nazareths: Nazareth and Upper Nazareth. The mostly Jewish settled Upper Nazareth was built above the old city in 1957, as a way to counterbalance the Arab character of the city. Nazareth has been left underdeveloped by the Jewish municipal
authorities. Upper Nazareth continues to expand and receive government resources while Nazareth suffers from a housing shortage and one of the highest unemployment rates in Israel. Nevertheless, the city is absolutely magical and I would love to visit it again.
We had to fly through our other stops in order to see all we wanted to see by the end of the day—Akka, once a major port in the Mediterranean; Kiryat Shmona, a city bordering Lebanon; and Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the northern part of the Occupied Syrian Golan.
In Kiryat Shmona, I drove alongside military tanks for the first time in my life. It was NOT comfortable. I did not dare take any pictures. The area is a prime Hezbollah target during times of war. For example, over 1,000 Hezbollah Katyusha rockets hit the city during the 2006 Lebanon War. Only ultra-nationalist Israelis tend to live here. Some of their houses have a prime view of a Lebanese town, only meters away.
The occupied Golan is full of plateaus and farmlands. I took over the wheel and drove up the windy slopes of Jabal al-Sheikh Mountain. The mountain was founded by the Persian Hassan
Sabbah in 1090 AD and is the highest mountain in the region. The Druze in Majdal Shams consider themselves to be part of Syria but their village is currently separated from Syria by a fence…The second border I got to see in just one day—I’d see my third while driving along the Jordan valley on the way back to Ramallah.
** I use the “Palestine & Palestinians” guidebook published by the Alternative Tourism Group for many of my factoids.
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