West Bank part 2

Although only one week has passed I have so much to write about. On Sunday I went back to the West Bank, to see Bethlehem. While the historical and biblical parts of Bethlehem were beautiful (yeah, I was at the exact spot where Jesus was born... no big deal), I overall did not enjoy this visit. I was obviously prepared to see firsthand the hardships that Palestinians faced, having learned a lot about it two days before, but the entire experience was different than what I had expected.

First of all, instead of taking a tour bus we walked across the border into the West Bank. We took a cab to the border, flashed our American passports, and they let us walk across. The border consisted of a passport control building and a long, winding path surrounded by high gates. Once you got to the West Bank side, the separation wall was COVERED in graffiti--things like, "Don't forget Palestine," and "Racist wall" were some of the more mild ones. Anyway once we got there we were immediately assaulted by dozens of cab drivers. Somehow we agreed to get in a cab with this guy that didn't speak great English, but he said he would drive us there and back and wait for us. At first I was irritated because I thought I was being ripped off but later on I was extremely grateful to have him with us.

On the ride to Bethlehem my friend Amanda asked the driver if he knew about the graffiti artist Banksy, who is really famous for his graffiti in the West Bank. The driver showed us a few walls that had his artwork on them, and I actually really liked it.... here's one:



We finally arrived in Bethlehem. This is the first thing that gave me what I can only describe as an "icky" feeling about the whole day: Bethlehem is 100% a tourist town. It somehow felt eerie and weird; even though the people must get a lot of money from the tourists that come it felt very wrong to be lumped in with the group of tourists that go only to see the cool parts of the West Bank and ignore the reality. I had a guilty conscience the whole trip thinking about that.

Anyway, first we saw the Church of the Nativity, which was built over the place that Jesus was born. (I said out loud, "I thought he was born in like... a barn"... which made some of the Christian tourists glare at me). We walked around Manger Sq, got some awesome falafel for 5 shekels ($1.25!), and the cab driver took us to his cousin's store! I didn't buy anything, because what am I going to do with giant wooden carvings of the crucifixtion?, but he offered us tea which was really nice.

After that went to the Milk Grotto Chapel. The Chapel was nice but nothing special, but here's when I started feeling really weird. On the way there this man approached us trying to sell postcards... obviously we were used to getting harassed to buy stuff, but this guy kept following us and yelling at us. Then at the same time this little boy came up to me and started begging for money, just saying "please please please" over and over again. My friend and the cab driver kept walking but I just felt so awful, so on one side I have this crazy guy with the postcards and then on the other there's this poor kid that's breaking my heart, and I kind of ran away from them both. Then we got in the church, at first it was pretty crowded and then it cleared out. I was looking at something in a corner and I realized it was just me, Amanda and this random man in there. I immediately got a bad feeling, and I was just so rattled from before that I grabbed Amanda and we literally ran out. When we got outside the same kid was waiting for me, I gave him a few shekels and we ran up to the driver and told him we wanted to leave.

So the driver took us back to the border. Amanda and I took some pictures of the graffiti on the wall, and as we were walking out we started getting harassed by someone else trying to get us to buy something... seriously, it was never ending. Then we got in line to go back across the border. While it took a minute to come over into the West Bank, leaving was an entirely different story. We waited in line for half an hour and had to go through pretty intense security. On the way out, we saw a woman dressed in head to toe black covering, but she was wearing a veil so thick that I couldn't even see her eyes. She was by herself, and being escorted by two female Israeli security guards. On top of everything else seeing this woman added to the eerieness of the day. Normally when I cross the border to go back into Israel I feel happy, but this time I felt guilty and weird.

As if this weekend wasn't depressing enough, Tuesday was Yom Hazikaron--Memorial Day. In the US, Memorial Day is a party day, but here it's the most serious day of the year. On Monday night I went to a ceremony held by my program honoring those who died fighting for Israel or in a terrorist attack. The ceremony was nice but I was much more moved by the observance on Tuesday. At 11 AM there's a siren that can be heard throughout the entire country. Everyone stops what they're doing, people get out of their cars and stand in the road, to observe two minutes of silence. The same thing happened last Monday, for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). It's really beautiful to me that the whole country observes this together. It reminds you how much this country has been affected by war, even if you don't always think about it everyday.

The next day was Yom Ha'atzemeut, Independence Day, and a fun reprieve from my heavy weekend. I went to the concert at Rabin Square, and spent the next day walking around the beach, seeing everyone out celebrating with their families. I've spent today and yesterday wandering and shopping around downtown Tel Aviv and just enjoying it. What a week...

Here's the rest of my pics from Bethlehem, Hebron and Independence Day.