Change is good

oh dear another month…. I think if there were an award for laziest blogger I would get it ☺
There have been some interesting changes in my life since I last wrote, and all for the better so that’s good.

First of all we started doing some painting at the center I am building for Paidia. I think the last few months I was getting a little depressed because I have not been doing what I set out to do here (play with children and speak Arabic all the time) because of the set backs Paida has experienced my role was changed from coordinator of the stepping stones program to basically manual labor and building of this leadership center. In the beginning It was fun, but then Jason was kicked out, and it was really only me and Saleem and some times various volunteers, and then Andrew came and he was supposed to take over. I was quite relieved as it was stressing me out to be in charge of something I knew nothing about. Unfortunately about three weeks after Andrew got here he had to go back home for a family emergency. Once again no ones fault, but I feel like I get left with a burden that should not be mine, and on top of everything it was just going very slowly partly because there were so few of us around to work on it, and partly because the weather started getting yucky soooo when we finally did some painting and built a path and a wall and I could actually see some progress that was exciting and made me feel a little better, and starting at the end of this month I will be spending more time on programs and less time on the center so I think that will also do me a world of good.
I also joined the gym here. Ive been meaning to do this for about 5 months, but didn’t get around to it for one reason or another. Finally I was getting so gloomy about work and bad weather that I decided I needed an endorphin fix or I was going to crash and burn, so I’ve started running again and it really is amazing the change I feel in my self.  If you are ever depressed I seriously suggest running a few miles its like drugs only legal and with less negative after effects.

Another change I have had is that I started to take a class at Pardes. Pardes is what I have dubbed the egalitarian Yeshiva that several of my friends study at. They were having a course in studying peace and conflict resolution through Jewish text and I jumped at it. I’ve been taking it now for a couple weeks and I love it. I love learning again, and the people in my class are extremely intelligent and insightful. I also just like being in a community of Jewish learning for a few hours every week. It’s very refreshing.

Experience number three is Encounter. So, many months ago my friend Robert’s wife Avi sent me an email with a job listing for the program director for an organization called Encounter. Encounter takes Diaspora Jews that are spending some time in Israel on trips to the west bank. Many of them are rabbinical students doing their year in Israel. They bring speakers and generally do their best to give as much of the Palestinian narrative as possible in 36 hours. It’s an amazing program and even though I was not really qualified for the job I applied any ways.  To my surprise I did have an interview but not the job, but a couple months ago. I heard from the director or Encounter that she would like to meet with me and see if there was a way I could work with Encounter in another capacity. So we met and had a “not interview” After our meeting I was invited to come on the next Encounter tour to see what it was they did.  I of course accepted and prepared to go on a tour of the city I live in.

The tour was two weeks ago. I call it a tour because I’m not sure what else to call it, but it was much more than that. It started with an orientation the Sunday before. We got to know each other a little bit, and talked about what to expect on the trip. It was all a bit weird for me to be with so many people who had never been to the west bank before. While I know I myself had 2 years ago almost to the day experienced the same fears and apprehensions that these people were experiencing I was still surprised at many of the questions asked, and assumptions held, and this theme continued for me for most of the trip. It started early Thursday morning. The group came from Jerusalem I met them at the Hope and Flowers school out side of Bethlehem.

I wont go in to the details of each speaker over the course of the two days, but I found I was constantly biting my tongue when someone asked a question or made a comment that I found to be outrageous The one thing I was unable to bite my tongue about was when I heard several people talking about the one sidedness of the presentations and speakers. I had a few conversations about this, and it was amazing to me that I had to explain that of course it was one sided. We already know the Israeli and Jewish narrative, and our speakers have a limited amount of time to talk to us. They’re going to use that time to tell their story not the Israeli one. While I was frustrated much of the time I did make one realization that gave me so much more respect for my fellow participants on the trip. Most of the information that we took in over the course of 36 hours I have been able to slowly take in over the course of several years, and even at that rate it was hard and painful for me. I can’t imagine hearing so much that goes against what you think you know in such a short time. It is very hard, and for the most part people were very open to listening and only wanted to learn more when the trip was over. Over all this was an amazing experience for me. I learned so much about my self and my peers. I hope our conversations will continue. I gave an open invitation to the group it they wanted to come back to Bethlehem or any where in the west bank really I would be happy to host or help. Well see what happens with that. I am also really hoping to do more with Encounter. Their work is so important, and I would be honored to be a part of it.

Ok that’s it… today is my favorite holiday Singles Awareness Day!  See my posting from two years ago to view my thoughts on this lovely day esp in this lovely country. 

Correction

sooo apparently I was misinformed. The reason the settlers refer to the structures at osh Ghrab as illegal is because technically the land still belongs to Israel. The land was confiscated by the IDF and they left but the confiscation order doesnt have an exiration date so until there is an official order for the land to be returned to the ownership of the municipality it is technically Israeli land. This however does not change the fact that the land was taken in the first place and as far as I am concerned is really Palestinian land and in no way are the settlers entitled to take it over for their own purposes.

Anarchists, left-wingers and international activists

wow a whole month has gone by. Its amazing how time flies when you’re not blogging ☺

Its not that nothing has happened I just lost my desire to write for awhile, but now it’s back in full force. I think, due two a few recent events. First was the detention and deportation of an American friend of mine, and the continued detention of another friend. Here is an article about the situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8458566.stm

If you read my earlier posting about visas you already know the situation here, and how hard it can be to get a valid visa if you are an international who is here for other than “legitimate” reasons. Ma’an is a Palestinian News agency, but Israel does not grant work visas to their journalists. Jared has been here on three month tourist visas for two years he is known by the IDF and many government officials because of his job, and it is only now that Israel claims they must deport him because he is a security threat. Jared was scheduled to have a hearing today. I haven’t heard any news yet on what happened, but it seems more than likely that he will be deported just like Faith was a few days ago. These two people are as far from a security threat as I could possible imagine. They are just internationals trying to live and work/volunteer in the west bank and according to Israel that means you are a security risk.

The other event is actually retaliation to something some friends and myself did. In Beit Sahour is there a very nice park called Osh Ghrab, where Paidia has our climbing tower. Across the road from the park and up a hill is an abandoned army base. When the IDF left this base the ownership of the land reverted back to the Beit Sahour Municipality, but there is a group of settlers who are trying to reclaim this land and take it over. They call it Shdema. They meet there almost every Friday and make speeches and are generally not nice. There used to be racisit and nationalist graffiti all over the site on the old buildings that said things like “this land is only for Jews” etc… Last Friday my self and some other people (mostly Jews) went to the site and spray painted versus from the bible and rabbinical sayings that pertain to how what these settlers are doing is against Jewish ethics and values. Such as Do not steal, do not covet your neighbor’s house etc… ask me if you want pictures. While we knew this was unlikely to unharden the hearts of the settlers we thought it may be the only way to get through to any of them. We also knew it would upset them to see they were being fought with what they think of as their own words. Sadly, we did not foresee their reaction. This past Friday they decided to retaliate by going to the Park across the road and spray painting Jewish Stars and other sayings similar to what used to be on the army base buildings all over the park. IDF soldiers that were present at the time allowed this to happen and did nothing to stop them. Arutz Sheva an Israeli right wing news agency did an article on it. (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135548)

In it I, and my friends are referred to as anarchists, left-wingers and international activists. While I don’t see any of these names as insults or negatives I do think it is interesting that they lump them all in to one category, and also that they don’t think for one moment that this was done by fellow Jews, some of whom are very pro Israel, just not pro crazy settler. In the article the settlers are referred to as Nationalist Activists and it talks about their “ongoing effort to make sure the recently abandoned military base site does not fall into enemy hands.” It also says “Shdema activists went down to the illegal structures the Arabs built at the foot of Shdema and spray painted all of the Arabs' illegal structures from within and without, on the walls, doors and floors.”

It is utterly amazing to me that someone who calls them self a journalist can actually print something like this. This land legally belongs to Beit Sahour. Im not sure what laws they are looking to when they site the buildings and climbing tower at Osh Ghrab as illegal structures. I would like to just dismiss these people and say they are the crazy minority, but they are growing and it scares me and makes me wonder if peace will ever be possible here as long as these people filled with so much hatred are allowed to have so much freedom and power.

On a lighter note, before all of this happened I had Christmas in Bethlehem! This was quite the experience. I went to my first Christmas mass at the Lutheran Christmas Church. It was nice. They had the service in Arabic, English and German, and we ended with a candle light procession while singing silent night to a reception. Then we had dinner with all 20 of us, Katie, Bethany and I all had guests. At some point all the lights went out and when they came back on there was some guy dressed as Santa Claus giving out hats, masks and noise makers. I wasn’t sure if it was Christmas or Mardi Gras. After Dinner we went to Manger Square, which is a large square outside of the Church of the Nativity. There were a bazillion people there. They had built a large stage and there were concerts and performances going on. It was pretty great. We ended the night with wine and cookies at our house. I think over all a pretty great Christmas. One thing I have learned while here is that there are three different dates for Christmas. The catholic/protestant one is Dec 25th. Then there is the Greek Orthodox Christmas, which was a week ago, and last but not least is the Armenian Christmas, which is on Tuesday. The one on the 25th is the most celebrated, but the lights stay up until after Armenian Christmas. So If you live here you get three Christmases…. Its almost as good as eight days of Chanukkah ☺