Distpatch from your favorite Middle East corespondent

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_11565672

I found this article in the Denver Post online, and was phenomenally impressed with the writer )

Insightful article on Gaza Crisis

For those of you who are interested, below is a link to an incredibly well-written article about the war in Gaza by perhaps the best writer in Israel today:

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056955.html

-6 and snow . . .

Back in Moscow again.

The West Bank

Should be seen and experienced by all.

Market in Ramallah

Kids grilling shashlik on street in East Jerusalem

Downtown Ramallah

Woman in Ramallah

Man walking in Ramallah

Still here, cowboy?

Kids in market

Protests at the Damascus Gate

This deserved a blog entry in itself:

Protests

Woman shouting protests at Damascus Gate

Taglit

Is a Hebrew word that means “discovery”.  It is most commonly associated with the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, which allows for free passage to the Holy Land for young Jewish people all over the world.  My first trip to Israel was via this program; on this trip we traveled from one end of the country to the other, visiting historical sites, making friends, creating glowing memories that would last for a lifetime.

But if my first trip to Israel was something of a “birthright” (whatever that means), then this second voyage truly a Taglit.  On this trip I saw a side of Israel I never knew existed.

Checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah

The trip didn’t start out with that purpose in mind.  I had mostly decided to go back to Israel to seek out sun, fresh juice, plentiful hummus, and old friends.  Flying into Ben Gurion Airport was several times cheaper from Moscow than it would ever be in the States, so on Christmas day I booked my ticket and toasted “Lechaiam”  to the dark Russian night.

Of course the next day the war started.  Still, I went confident that, as long as I restricted my travels to the northern part of the land, I was perfectly safe.  But it was kind of strange traveling through such a peaceful, gorgeous setting, with the knowledge that there was such a bloody operation going on only 160 kilometers south of me.

Tel Aviv - Jaffa

Perhaps that is why I sought an alternative to Jewish Israel on this trip.  After spending a few days in Tel Aviv, I headed north up the coast, to Haifa.  I had wanted to see for myself this famous port, this point of entry for so many into the country.  While there, I took a trip to the Ba’hai gardens, the most important holy site for the people of this small religious sect.

Ba'hai gardens - Haifa

One night in Haifa was enough, and so the next I cruised on to Nazareth, which was a pleasant surprise and an awesome place to visit.  This is the largest Arab city in Israel is full of winding streets, vivacious market vendors, and beautiful scenery.  My hostel was run by a group of Christian volunteers who ran daily hiking expeditions on the Galilee’s “Jesus Trail”, a four-day hiking circuit that covered a lot of holy sites.  I was ready for 20km and some sun, and the walk itself was beautiful.

Taylor, the Jesus Trail, and the Sea of Galilee

I had a great time in Nazareth.  There I also became aquainted with the first Palestinians I had ever met, and they introduced me to a side of the Israel narrative I had not known about before.

This side of the story was laid out for me in even more detail during my travels to Jerusalem, where in the space of 18 hours I saw:

An Israeli soldier induction ceremony

Soldiers psyching selves up pre-induction ceremony

and war protests at the Damascus Gate:

War Protests at the Damascus Gate

In addition I also made forays into Bethlehem, Ramallah, and other pars of the West Bank.  This was territory unlike any other I had ever seen, and so different from the Israel I had become acquainted with on my first trip.

Israeli Settlement on hill outside of Bethlehem

After 10 days on the road, I returned to Tel Aviv for one last night, and have now flown safely back to Russia.  I am very glad I took this trip, and think it was very important that I did so.

You see, I had left Israel the first time with beautiful rosy imagery of the life and the people in that country.  I still harbor those images and memories – they are very dear to me, and show the beautiful side of the Jewish narrative in the land.

But there are lots of narratives at work in Israel.

The Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Each narrative has its own tale of woe, injustice, misery, and redemption.  These grand narratives clash mightily at the smallest thing, and the repercussions of these fights are .  . .  well, sixty years have shown us that.

I don’t know what to do about the clashing of cultures, of peoples, of narratives and ideologies on this small strip of land in the Middle East.  But I do know that, in order to better understand the situation, I have to better understand the circumstances of the people, all the people, that exist in that territory.  And I have to better understand the role that the Jewish people are playing in it.

On this trip I looked Israel from the eyes of Jews, but also non-Jews about living in the land.  It brought a lot of disturbing questions to my mind, questions that absolutely need to be asked, but questions that I’m not sure how to answer.   I don’t know if anyone does.  But I know we can’t avoid them anymore.

The Eastern Wall

I saw a lot of this country on my first trip to Israel.  But there was also a lot I didn’t see.

Qualandia Checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem

This wall lies 3 km to the east of the Old City of Jerusalem, and stretches all along the border between Israel and the West Bank.  It is approximately 20 feet tall, and stretches for 680 kilometers (three times the length of the Berlin Wall).  It is illegal for Palestinian residents without a work permit to pass from one side of  it to the other; likewise, Jews without a pass cannot pass from Israel into the Palestinian territories.

Twice on this trip I penetrated this boundary to see what lay on the other side of it (and thanks to my shiny American passport, was able to do so relatively easily).  It was like voyaging between two different worlds.  On one side you’ve got the wealth and the infrastructure of the Jewish state, and on the other side . . . desert, desperation, high unemployment, small possibilities.

I remembered from my first trip to Israel that there is almost no interaction between Jews and Arabs on this small strip of land.  But this was the first physical manifestation that I saw of this reality.

Wall Grafitti

As I talked to my friends, and listened to Israeli news about how the campaign in Gaza would help get rid of the terrorists in the land, I grew slightly sick to my stomach.  These walls, these frontiers, these bars between discourse, interaction and understanding, breed fear, war, and suffering.  Until these obstacles are removed, until the walls come down, there will be no reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.  There will be no peace.

I am too young to remember the Berlin Wall, but on my recent trip to Berlin I marvelled at the ease with which Katy, Jack, and I, strolled back and forth across Checkpoint Charlie, from one side of Berlin to the other.  I remember hearing my dad’s stories, about the incredible experience it was to travel to Germany in the 60s, and pass from one side of the wall to the other.

Perhaps this is the Berlin Wall of my generation; perhaps one day I will tell my children about the Palestinian woman at Qualandia checkpoint who could not pass from one side to the other because some item of her clothes kept setting off the metal detector; perhaps I will tell them about the maze of paths, the long lines, the suspicious looks of the border guards, and the desperation you feel to move across the border, and out into the light.

Ramallah Checkpoint

Perhaps one day this will all be history.

Ich bin ein Berliner

It’s been five months . . .

Since I rode a bike.

Get up on your bike!

Tel Aviv

Someday I will come to this city and never leave.  Tel Aviv is one of the my favorite cities in the world.  It’s not just the breathtaking sunshine, gorgeous weather, and amazing setting of the town.  It’s not just its laid-back, yet cosmopolitan scene, or the pleasantly liberal attitude of the people here.

It’s also the fact that people get up early to go running and biking on the beach.

My people ).

Tel Aviv – View from Jaffa

Artists Market in Tel Aviv

Making Pomegranate Juice in the streets

Making Lavash, a flat bread, in the market

Running on the beach at sunset

Gym equipment makes up the playgrounds of Tel Aviv

Catching up with friends in Israel

One thing I was able to do on this return trip to Israel was get together with, and spend more time getting to know, some of the awesome people I became acquainted with on my first trip to Israel.  Rotem, Amir, Shachar, Jared, and Avi, thank you so much for helping to  make my second trip to Israel a special one.

Taylor and Amir

Taylor and Rotem