Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

Actually...more like, where in the world is Stacy?

Instead of doing my Ulpan homework writing an essay about Ethiopian Jewish immigrants, I thought I'd give a little update describing where exactly in Jerusalem I'm located.

Yes, I'm at the Hebrew University, and yes, you've seen photos of my run (my mom says I shouldn't run by the highways anymore because I'm breathing in so many car fumes...she's totally right. I inhale so much exhaust and tire burn that my vision gets hazy sometimes.), but really, where am I?

I have one of these basic maps of Jerusalem that the madrichim gave me during orientation. And to be honest, it's helpful in gauging how far I am from the center of the city, but it doesn't really help me figure out my own neighborhood on the French Hill. I figured out where I am on the map-I'm located way in the upper right hand corner next to the label that says, "Published by Rami Meroz". But, I almost felt like an afterthought.

It actually took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out exactly where I was in relation to the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank, and why people were afraid to walk around our East Jerusalem at night. I was surprised by the fact that there were so many Palestinian people and Arabic writing on stores. I noticed that at the bus stops around the dorms, the "Arab buses" also made their stops, although I never knew where they were going since there were no signs indicating that there was even a stop for them there. While in the city, Egged buses roamed the streets, and I never saw these "Arab buses" anywhere. I even recently found out that there is a refugee camp right next to the French Hill-the Shuafat refugee camp, and the Wall is right here too!

I was confused about why I would hear people saying we're basically IN the West Bank. I thought, no way. We couldn't be! The West Bank and Ramallah are only chimeras you hear about in the news. They don't actually exist.

Well, yes, of course they do. I live only 30 minutes away from Ramallah. After some intense research on Wikipedia, I can explain this a little better for you.

Jerusalem is on the very edge of the border between Israel and the West Bank.

East Jerusalem (where I live), is land that was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War from Jordan. East Jerusalem is where the Old City is located, and where most of the holiest sites for Muslims, Jews, and Christians are located like the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Mount of Olives, etc.

After the 1948 war and the inception of Israel, Jerusalem was split into East and West. West Jerusalem was mostly Jewish and under Israeli sovereignty, while East Jerusalem was mostly Arab and under Jordanian jurisdiction.

Mount Scopus (where French Hill is) was an Israeli enclave in East Jerusalem. So, it was not considered to be part of East Jerusalem, whereas geographically, it is.

Also an interesting statistic that Wikipedia gives is that 42% of the population of East Jerusalem is Jewish-making up 39% of the Jewish population in Jerusalem; 53% of the population of East Jerusalem is Muslim-making up 99% of the Muslim population in Jerusalem; and 3% of the population of East Jerusalem are Christian-making up 92% of the Christian population in Jerusalem.

Of course these numbers aren't completely accurate and are probably skewed and controversial because of political purposes, but it's valuable information nonetheless.

Anyway, here is a useful map: