On friday morning I woke up squashed (on a small mattress) between an unbalanced Israeli boy, and an adventurous american girl. I turned over and went back to sleep. This was all in preperation for the Adventure of the Weekend. Our small adventuretjies have expanded alarmingly to include people from entirely different continenets and social spheres. This time my NGO crew was comming along!
The plan was to meet at 7 at the central bus station. half 8 saw myself, the above (and previously mentioned) american friend, the UK guy, and a French girl. However, there was also a woman of French heritage who had lived in Israel for the last 25 years, and a Swiss boy who didnt bring his passport, as well as another French boy -this time with an Arabic name. Let me list the risks: it is illigal for Israeli's to go into Palastine. The Israeli woman took her entry certificate out of her french passport, or something of the sort, and hoped that they wouldnt look to hard. She reconed that the worst they could do was not let her in and send her home with her tail between her legs. The Swiss boy, did not realise the issue with HIS passport upuntill we were about to leave Palastine to return to Israel, and Ismail had already been questioned sufficiently at the airport and felt he could deal with it again. We met up with my sister (who is not allowed by rules of her program to go accross the 'border'). We hoped on an Arab bus heading to Bethlehem "Beit Lechem". My UK buddy speaks Arabic so we managed pretty well.
The bus was one that avoids passport controll completely, and so we were in without the expected complications. We walked, without a map, in what we hoped was the direction of the famous church of the Nativity in Beit Lechem. There were many of tourist attractions relating to the birthplace of Jesus. There was the field where the shepards came from to see the new born king, the inn that Mary stayed at, as well as (on a differnt note) David's Well. It was a beatiful city, we saw the view through barbed wire and torn fences. It was quite on a Friday as most Muslims were praying and the Christian perhaps sleeping. We almost caused a national dispute by trying to put cheese and zatar (hyssop) on the traditional breads when we were offered zatar OR cheese. They do not mix in the oven apparently. . .
After being in the beautiful Church, through the Humble door (one is forced to bend upon entering/exiting. its about humbling oneself) we went to find a place to satisfy the stomach. The usual falafel pita emuslion. And Finally, finally we set off to find the Wall.
This one is the Seperation Barrier, or the Apartheid Wall for the not-so-PC. It is the physical barrier between Israeli and Palastinian Authority.
I will add pictures as soon as I can
It was a kind of spiritual, reading the protests, prayers, demands, hopes, threats, promises, expression of the people from the Other Side of the Wall. After walking to the end of it, a silence had falled between us all. No one knew what to say. I heard a sigh or two. Very little eye contact.
However, the other side was hopefull. There was a cute chinese resuarant accross from the Barrier, and its menu was too painted onto the wall. In response to that someone had copied the format and painted a 'menu for peace'. There was also a picture of a dove, and another, my favourite of the wall crumbling and a bright shiney city of peace behind it. There was also a giant sheep?
After a pee stop in the Chinese Restuarant we discovered that we were right at the border controll area. It was at this point that someone mentioned to the Swiss man that he maybe should have brough along his passport. It was, all in all, the most nerve-racking 30minutes of my life. We couldnt even guess which of us (the undocumented Swiss, the Israeli or the frenchman with the arab name) would be arrested first. Then we couldnt find the exit. Then it was suddenly deserted and none of the doors opened. Then someones glasses got caught in the scanner and searching for them undid our whole system of order (twins for distraction, then Israeli, Israeli distracts Arabic-name, whom distracts from the issue of the swiss)
We were at the final checkpoint, the passport one. The woman barely glanced at all of ours. We were through. My FrenchIsraeli who had worked for Medicans Sons Fronteirs proudly said, "I really am without boarders!" And all of us Refugee-NGO workers could breath a sigh of relief.
We did more Churches in East Jerusalem, and then I left the peeps and sought out my South Africans, and a synagogue. It has maybe been too much and I needed grounding. I left them for a few more hours to have shabbat dinner at one of my favourite Israelies, its really nice to be a part of someone elses family for a few hours. And then it was time to head back to the work homies.
An awkward Night was spent in Nahlaot-the religious neighbourhood in Jerusalem in the house of a colleague's religious grandmother. (We all had to pretend we were American Jewish girls making Aliya. It was me(jewish), an american who is not really jewish, and the boy from switzerland. I guess it was hardest for him...). The toilet paper had been pre-broken.
Everything was done in a bit of a difficuilt OCD fashion, it is hard to be under others house rules, but we slept and woke up ready for part two...
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