Jerusalem - Day One

Thursday 21.Aug.08
After breakfast I headed out to the old city of Jerusalem. I entered at Jaffa Gate, where David’s Tower is located. The old city is unreal; a labyrinth of alley-like streets filled with markets, vendors, and restaurants. I managed to make my way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I have to admit that I did not know much of the church, but quickly found out upon entering. On the ground lay a wet stone. Many pilgrims surrounded the stone praying and soaking towels in the water; kissing the stone, dipping their fingers in the water, etc. I found out that this was allegedly the stone where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial. In the middle of the church is the actual ‘holy sepulcher,’ in which is the stone that enclosed the cave that Jesus was buried in. There was a large line to get into the area that the stone was in. I didn’t go in. I was amazed by the reactions of a lot of the tourists there. They were so serious about what they were doing. Head coverings, cross signs, kissing and touching certain holy relics.

When I finished looking around the church I decided to try and make my way to the Damascus Gate because according to a guide book I had there was an open market on the other side of the wall. When I neared the wall I was stopped by some Israeli policemen who told me that the area was only for Muslims, but that at 1:30 to 2:30 it was open to the public. A shopkeeper who was nearby offered me a cup of Turkish coffee and I accepted – my first one! The shopkeeper’s name was Basem. He lived right next to his shop. He didn’t know English very well; however I was happy to just be there hanging out and people watching. The Israeli police were really nice and I met several of them as there was a police station just one door down. It was interesting to see the interaction of Basem who is an Arab and the police who are Jewish. They were like old chums – joking and laughing, sharing cigarettes, etc. It was beautiful. I hung out there long enough to also have my first mint tea. It was delicious and Basem even made it without sugar. I got a lot of comments on my feet tattoos. The Arabs that I met thought that they were nice, but too big and not a good place to have them. They felt that they should be smaller and maybe on my upper arms. The Jews thought they were beautiful and said nothing about the size and placement. Interesting juxtaposition. As the afternoon wore on, I probably could have stayed all day, but I had to meet Kherieh at 2PM. I made my way back to the hotel, sweating the whole way.

Later in the day Kherieh, Vicki, and I made our way north towards Nablus and to my official first entry into the West Bank. The separation barrier is pretty unreal. It is larger than it seems in photos and really does look like the walls of a prison. The road to Nablus was nice, albeit winding. I have been quite blessed to not get motion sickness so far on this trip. I saw settlements which are evident by their strategic location on top of hills and quality of construction, and Arab villages which are easy to spot because of their towering minarets and decrepit buildings.
We neared the checkpoint that I have heard so much about – the one that is extremely difficult to enter and takes a special permit to get through. We turned left and started heading up a hill before we reached the checkpoint. This road is only to be used by the Jewish settlers or Israeli plated cars. We reached a village at the top of the hill which is a “Samaritan” village. Samaritans are a small Judaic religious group who have their own Torah and believe it to be superior to that of traditional Jews. Because it is such a small group (about 700), there is a lot of consanguine marriage and therefore a lot of disabled people live in this village. Our driver parked the van and within minutes we were picked up by another driver who had Palestinian license plates.

We then made our way through the “checkpoint,” which was more like a barrier with two Israeli soldiers guarding it. They waved us through and within a few meters there was another van waiting to pick us up. This van was an an-Najah University vehicle. The reason we had to cross through the barrier in a Palestinian plated car is because Israeli plated cars are not allowed into Nablus. Nablus is absolutely beautiful and located along hills and in a valley. It is quite grimy and there was a lot of trash everywhere. Children played in the streets and the drivers were insane. We arrived to the an-Najah University campus which is huge and gorgeous overlooking the city of Nablus. The graduation was held at an outside amphitheater at the back of the campus. We were met by security personnel who escorted me, Vicki, and the original van driver to our seats – front row of course. We arrived around 4:30 and although the graduation didn’t begin until 6:00 the place was packed. The graduation was awesome and I was so glad to be there. The graduates filed in wearing their caps and gowns and keffiyeh patterned sashes. There was a choir who sang the Palestinian national anthem – yes they do have one. The families of the graduates were so excited and crowded around in front of us to take pictures of and give flowers to their loved ones. It was beautiful and chaotic and I loved every second of it. Unfortunately we had to depart at 6:30 because the checkpoint closed at 7. We were given VIP treatment and the ceremony. We were offered water a few times and paths were opened to us when we needed to leave.

We left the same way we came, although we had a different driver for the Palestinian plated car this time. I can’t even imagine having to do this twice a day, 5 days a week like Kherieh does. A simple thing like going to work is something that so many people take for granted. We made our way back to Jerusalem, which is stunning at night.