So, it's still high holidays season here in Israel.
Luckily, I've been keeping myself busy somehow.
Today is Simhat Torah, and it will be the last random weekday that the buses don't run and stores are closed until I'm guessing Chanukah. And apparently, Chanukah isn't a big deal in Israel relative to Chanukah celebrations in the states.
Yesterday night, to celebrate Shemini Atzeret, which is usually celebrated by a big family dinner (or as my non-religious Israeli Jewish friend likes to describe it: "same shit, different day"), my friends cooked a nice dinner and we topped it off with wine and a long argument about Israeli politics.
I got a nice long history lesson of Israel including all the wars from an Israeli friend, and although I argued that history is always written/re-written by the victors, he insisted that this history was pure fact.
We argued about Israeli independence, al-Nakba, education systems, check-points, etc. It was a good argument, and it's for moments like those that I wanted to come to Israel.
A really good point one of my friends made was that all the security measures and checkpoints are necessary because if they didn't exist, people could not live for fear of bombs every day. I guess that's the idea. Biseder.
But when I told her that walking through checkpoints as a non-Jew or a non-Israeli and being stopped randomly on the street to prove your identity (and your right to freedom to walk around where you please) is humiliating and done in ways that are most often very disrespectful, she agreed.
And she put it this way: The security measures including all the checkpoints, random stops, rude questions, disrespectful treatment is rational though it may be immoral. It's understandable if not justifiable.
Does the Israeli government have the responsibility to be rational or moral? Shouldn't it be both? But can any government be both especially in such conflicts? And even when they're not in conflict, all countries try to promote their own self-interest, and usually rationality wins over morality.
Maybe rationality and morality aren't mutually exclusive. One can make a rational decision that is also moral. Or one can make a rational decision that will ultimately benefit the common good even if at the individual level, the intention was selfish.
I'm sorry if this post confuses you. I'm a little lost myself.
Showing posts with label checkpoint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label checkpoint. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Shuafat Refugee Camp
Yesterday I visited Shuafat Refugee Camp, which is just right next to the Student Village, where most of the guys of G-Town live. I'm not sure what I expected a refugee camp to look like, but I was both surprised and not surprised by what I saw.
First, we drove through the area of Shuafat, which is on the way to Ramallah, and then coasted past the checkpoint into the refugee camp. I find it interesting that there's no problem and no wait to get into the camp. It doesn't matter what you carry in there or who you have in the car with you. The Israeli guards really don't care. If you are under the Palestinian Authority, meaning you don't carry a blue identity card with you proving you are an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident of Israel, you can go in to the camp, but you can't leave. It makes me wonder how one got out in the first place.
Anyway, as soon as we drove into the camp, a little kid started banging the car with his fist as we tried to maneuver through the most narrow streets. There were three women in the car who were clearly foreigners. At first we thought maybe he was hitting the car because a woman was driving, but no, there are many women drivers in the camp. Then we were told he hit the car because he is "of the camp". I can't remember exactly what the term is, but basically, children "of the camp" are portrayed to be violent and impulsive. Probably, he was just trying to make a point that we didn't belong in the camp.
If there is a tension between Palestinians of the camp and Palestinians in the West Bank and Arab-Israelis and Palestinians as permanent residents of Israel, of course it makes sense that there would be some animosity towards anybody more different.
The camp itself was marked by a certain gloom. The streets were more like alleys, and they were dim and narrow. There was trash everywhere. There was colorful graffitti everywhere from Ramadan, from little children just drawing all over the walls, from G-Town and their supporters, from people who had returned from the Hajj, etc. The buildings from the outside looked dirty and run-down. The whole place seemed cramped and overcrowded.
However, when we went into two of the houses of two members in G-Town, the houses were large family complexes. They were beautiful inside with spacious courtyard areas, and multiple apartments. One of the members even had a tropical parrot gracing the foyer and what one might even consider a "boom boom room" for the band.
Another house had a balcony covered with grape vines overlooking the camp, and from the top, the camp seemed like any other city. It reminded me a lot of the Islamic tradition of private vs. public space where the outside of buildings and homes most often deceive the viewer to its true hidden treasures inside.
I was not surprised to see how dirty and cramped the camp seemed. But, maybe this is ignorant of me, but I was surprised to see how nice individual houses were inside the camp. Of course, just like Ramallah, the five-star prison, there is always a nagging feeling due to the lack of complete freedom because of the knowledge of the checkpoints just a few hundred meters away.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to visit the separation wall because for some reason, the band members didn't feel like walking around the camp. I did manage to get a few photos, but I felt like it wasn't really welcome by the residents of the camp.
Also, while I was bedridden during Yom Kippur, I was unaware of the riots that occurred in Acre just to the north. Apparently, after the riots broke out, East Jerusalem was on high alert, and there were some incidents of young Palestinian/Arab-Israeli children around the French Hill area who threw rocks at some of the dorms in the Student Village.
Everyday, I feel like I'm starting to really understand the seriousness of the conflict as it has become my reality. But at the same time, I can't really say that living in Israel is dangerous. Maybe volatile is a better word to describe the situation?
Like I wrote in a previous post, there is no intermixing in Jerusalem. The Jews and the Muslims around here seem to just ignore that the other exists or that the other is just like them.
There is no overt hostility, but there is no acknowledgement.
It is a tense peace based on a twisted sense of denial for self-preservation which to me just fosters a growing latent danger.
On our way out of the camp, we were stopped at the checkpoint. This checkpoint was different than the Ramallah checkpoint because instead of standing behind a bulletproof glass window, the soldiers are right in your face and so are their guns. I'm not sure which is worse. I guess it would depend on what kind of day you and the guard are each having.
The soldier asked to see our passports, and asked us why [the hell] were we in the refugee camp. We answered that we had friends in the camp. Yes, she heard us right. We have friends in the refugee camp, and no, not everyone whether he/she is Israeli or not is afraid to visit a refugee camp.
Check out this article that was in the New York Times. It talks about the Heartbeat of Jerusalem concert I went to and has a quote from one of the members of G-Town-Muhammad.
First, we drove through the area of Shuafat, which is on the way to Ramallah, and then coasted past the checkpoint into the refugee camp. I find it interesting that there's no problem and no wait to get into the camp. It doesn't matter what you carry in there or who you have in the car with you. The Israeli guards really don't care. If you are under the Palestinian Authority, meaning you don't carry a blue identity card with you proving you are an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident of Israel, you can go in to the camp, but you can't leave. It makes me wonder how one got out in the first place.
Anyway, as soon as we drove into the camp, a little kid started banging the car with his fist as we tried to maneuver through the most narrow streets. There were three women in the car who were clearly foreigners. At first we thought maybe he was hitting the car because a woman was driving, but no, there are many women drivers in the camp. Then we were told he hit the car because he is "of the camp". I can't remember exactly what the term is, but basically, children "of the camp" are portrayed to be violent and impulsive. Probably, he was just trying to make a point that we didn't belong in the camp.
If there is a tension between Palestinians of the camp and Palestinians in the West Bank and Arab-Israelis and Palestinians as permanent residents of Israel, of course it makes sense that there would be some animosity towards anybody more different.
The camp itself was marked by a certain gloom. The streets were more like alleys, and they were dim and narrow. There was trash everywhere. There was colorful graffitti everywhere from Ramadan, from little children just drawing all over the walls, from G-Town and their supporters, from people who had returned from the Hajj, etc. The buildings from the outside looked dirty and run-down. The whole place seemed cramped and overcrowded.
However, when we went into two of the houses of two members in G-Town, the houses were large family complexes. They were beautiful inside with spacious courtyard areas, and multiple apartments. One of the members even had a tropical parrot gracing the foyer and what one might even consider a "boom boom room" for the band.Another house had a balcony covered with grape vines overlooking the camp, and from the top, the camp seemed like any other city. It reminded me a lot of the Islamic tradition of private vs. public space where the outside of buildings and homes most often deceive the viewer to its true hidden treasures inside.
I was not surprised to see how dirty and cramped the camp seemed. But, maybe this is ignorant of me, but I was surprised to see how nice individual houses were inside the camp. Of course, just like Ramallah, the five-star prison, there is always a nagging feeling due to the lack of complete freedom because of the knowledge of the checkpoints just a few hundred meters away.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to visit the separation wall because for some reason, the band members didn't feel like walking around the camp. I did manage to get a few photos, but I felt like it wasn't really welcome by the residents of the camp.
Also, while I was bedridden during Yom Kippur, I was unaware of the riots that occurred in Acre just to the north. Apparently, after the riots broke out, East Jerusalem was on high alert, and there were some incidents of young Palestinian/Arab-Israeli children around the French Hill area who threw rocks at some of the dorms in the Student Village.
Everyday, I feel like I'm starting to really understand the seriousness of the conflict as it has become my reality. But at the same time, I can't really say that living in Israel is dangerous. Maybe volatile is a better word to describe the situation?
Like I wrote in a previous post, there is no intermixing in Jerusalem. The Jews and the Muslims around here seem to just ignore that the other exists or that the other is just like them.
There is no overt hostility, but there is no acknowledgement.
It is a tense peace based on a twisted sense of denial for self-preservation which to me just fosters a growing latent danger.
On our way out of the camp, we were stopped at the checkpoint. This checkpoint was different than the Ramallah checkpoint because instead of standing behind a bulletproof glass window, the soldiers are right in your face and so are their guns. I'm not sure which is worse. I guess it would depend on what kind of day you and the guard are each having.
The soldier asked to see our passports, and asked us why [the hell] were we in the refugee camp. We answered that we had friends in the camp. Yes, she heard us right. We have friends in the refugee camp, and no, not everyone whether he/she is Israeli or not is afraid to visit a refugee camp.
Check out this article that was in the New York Times. It talks about the Heartbeat of Jerusalem concert I went to and has a quote from one of the members of G-Town-Muhammad.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Five-Star Prison
Today is the first day of classes!
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in Ramallah with an Arab-Israeli friend of mine.
During rush hour, it took us around 40 minutes from the Muslim Quarter in the Old City to arrive in Ramallah, but on the way back, it only took 15 minutes including our stop at the checkpoint to get back to the Student Village.
It's weird to think of visiting the Ramallah as portrayed by the media as the center of the First and Second Intifadas. Aside from the omnipresence of abandoned construction sites and a checkpoint to get out, it seemed like a regular city just like any other.
It reminded me of a less crowded and smaller version of Cairo or Alexandria with a bustling downtown area, and I felt like I was in a totally different country than Israel just a few miles away. I guess I was in a different country.
We drove next to the Israeli-West Bank separation barrier, went to a mini-mall, visited the tomb of Yasser Arafat, ate some delicious Lebanese food, walked around the streets of downtown Ramallah, and found a nice restaurant to smoke shisha before heading back to Jerusalem.
I learned a few things during my trip:
So, I remember being first confronted with the term "Arab-Israeli" soon after arriving in Jerusalem by some other Arab-Israelis living in the Student Village. I was confused by their vehement reaction to my asking them if they were Palestinians. I understood that maybe they wanted to prove their right to be in Israel or their "Israeli-ness", but I was thrown off by the rancor in associating themselves with Palestinians.
edit: most Arab-Israelis in East Jerusalem are permanent legal residents as opposed to Israeli citizens
Finally, I must comment on my first check-point experience. The check-point station is right outside of Ramallah, and we had to climb out of the bus and wait in a line to have our ID cards checked by the IDF.
My Arab-Israeli friends had told me their personal horror stories dealing with checkpoints, and so I was not surprised to see them overcome such a frustrating situation with humor. One of them is a big football-playing type, and on the possibility of getting strip-searched he lamented, "I forgot to wear my thong today." although others were less than jovial about waiting in the queu.
We walked through a narrow cage-like passage, put our bags through an x-ray machine and proceeded through a metal detector to show the IDF soldiers behind bulletproof glass our ID cards. It was surprisingly easier and faster than I expected; though really, the process depends on the mood of the guard on duty that day.
Next time , I think I'll go visit Jericho.
Also, here are some interesting articles I found through other blogs (although one is from last year):
The road to peace
on the new Prime Minister Livni
(picture on top from: here )
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in Ramallah with an Arab-Israeli friend of mine.
During rush hour, it took us around 40 minutes from the Muslim Quarter in the Old City to arrive in Ramallah, but on the way back, it only took 15 minutes including our stop at the checkpoint to get back to the Student Village.
It's weird to think of visiting the Ramallah as portrayed by the media as the center of the First and Second Intifadas. Aside from the omnipresence of abandoned construction sites and a checkpoint to get out, it seemed like a regular city just like any other.
It reminded me of a less crowded and smaller version of Cairo or Alexandria with a bustling downtown area, and I felt like I was in a totally different country than Israel just a few miles away. I guess I was in a different country.
We drove next to the Israeli-West Bank separation barrier, went to a mini-mall, visited the tomb of Yasser Arafat, ate some delicious Lebanese food, walked around the streets of downtown Ramallah, and found a nice restaurant to smoke shisha before heading back to Jerusalem.
I learned a few things during my trip:
- The choice of toy for little boys in Ramallah (and in much of the Muslim Quarter in the Old City for that matter) is plastic guns.
- The malls are catered almost entirely to the youth population, which makes up around 50% of the demographics in West Bank and more in Gaza.
- Palestinians like to construct multi-leveled buildings in the West Bank because in Jerusalem they are limited to building only three-story buildings. However, the Israeli government can find any arbitrary reason to halt construction, or more often raze the building even if it is located in the West Bank after money and time are spent. Also, there were some very beautiful apartment buildings that must have cost a fortune to build but are now nearly worthless as they are behind the separation barrier. These explained the multitude of half-built buildings everywhere.
So, I remember being first confronted with the term "Arab-Israeli" soon after arriving in Jerusalem by some other Arab-Israelis living in the Student Village. I was confused by their vehement reaction to my asking them if they were Palestinians. I understood that maybe they wanted to prove their right to be in Israel or their "Israeli-ness", but I was thrown off by the rancor in associating themselves with Palestinians.
- I asked my friend after apologizing for sounding ignorant, but what was the difference between Arab-Israelis and Palestinians? He explained that Arab-Israelis are citizens of Israel albeit second-class citizens who live in Israel, and they carry around blue ID cards. Palestinians on the other hand, carried a different ID card and are not Israeli citizens. Therefore, Palestinians in the West Bank see Arab-Israelis almost as traitors while Jewish-Israelis see them as Palestinians.
edit: most Arab-Israelis in East Jerusalem are permanent legal residents as opposed to Israeli citizens
Finally, I must comment on my first check-point experience. The check-point station is right outside of Ramallah, and we had to climb out of the bus and wait in a line to have our ID cards checked by the IDF.
My Arab-Israeli friends had told me their personal horror stories dealing with checkpoints, and so I was not surprised to see them overcome such a frustrating situation with humor. One of them is a big football-playing type, and on the possibility of getting strip-searched he lamented, "I forgot to wear my thong today." although others were less than jovial about waiting in the queu.
We walked through a narrow cage-like passage, put our bags through an x-ray machine and proceeded through a metal detector to show the IDF soldiers behind bulletproof glass our ID cards. It was surprisingly easier and faster than I expected; though really, the process depends on the mood of the guard on duty that day.
Next time , I think I'll go visit Jericho.
Also, here are some interesting articles I found through other blogs (although one is from last year):
The road to peace
on the new Prime Minister Livni
(picture on top from: here )
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