Good Friday in Jerusalem

V and I decided to go to Jerusalem for Good Friday. When we arrived at the Qalandiya checkpoint to go through to the Israeli side, we (well V in particular) had reason to be nervous or at least a little anxious. V has recently received her "huwiyya" visa, which essentially means that she is a legitimate Palestinian, sort of, but that she has given up her rights to enter into Israel. So, instead of bringing her huwiyya she brought a copy of her entrance visa (which doesn't expire until next month) and the receipt stating she was waiting to receive her huwiyya. I know, I know its a little confusing. However many people who are waiting to receive visas do this and are able to pass just fine. So when V arrived at the security counter the Israeli girl working there asked her many questions and in the end would not let her through... no matter what. V asked why and the girl didn't have an answer for her. We had to humbly pass back through the security point/cattle corral to exit back onto the Palestinian side. At this point, we were both annoyed but didn't want to admit defeat so we discussed our options and decided to try to take a "taxi" through another checkpoint (Hezma). We told a couple of shady looking characters who had Israeli plated cars where we wanted to go and how much we wanted to pay and we were off! We devised a plan for if we were questioned by Israeli security at Hezma -- we were all friends, it wasn't a "taxi," and there was to be no mention of any "huwiyyas." Luckily when we arrived at the checkpoint we were waved through quite quickly. Whheeww, what a relief!! Just goes to show how secure the security is.

After being dropped off at the top of the Mt. of Olives, we made our way down to the Old City, through the craziness that happens after Friday prayers, and onto the Via Dolorosa. We stopped at a few of the stations along the way before arriving at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which as expected, was very crowded. Earlier in the day there had been processions and recreations of the day Jesus was crucified; however we arrived too late to see the fully monty, but rather only caught the remnants of it all. It is difficult for me to imagine what it must have been like so many years ago and also hard to get into the spirit of things when there are so many people around. Nonetheless, there were many moments when I couldn't help but smile a bittersweet smile at what is happening in the city where the world's biggest advocate of peace was crucified.

I had expected the Old City to be uncomfortably full of people, but thankfully it was not and we had a wonderful time wandering around and people watching. We stopped at a shop manned by a beautiful, old, toothless Palestinian man. He was pretty much the jolliest man ever, but in an almost senile way. He wanted to marry me. I felt violated. Finally, a trip to the Old City just wouldn't be complete without a quick stop at Jafar Sweets for kanafeh - so naughty, yet so good. Glory, glory, hallelujah!!

Being violated

Jafar Sweets