People Can Surprise You... For Better and For Worse

            So I want to make a clarification. I don’ t think the average person in Syria would have a problem with the fact that I am Jewish. I don’t even think they would have a problem with all my time in Israel/Palestine once I explained my uber lefty leanings. The reason I can’t tell any one here who I am or where I have spent most of my time the last few years is because of the security forces in the government. From what I have read it seems they are not as bad as they used to be, but there is still a sense here that there is always someone listening, and while I would like to trust every new person I meet, there is really no way for me to know who they really are. I know I’m making this sound like a spy movie, and its really not. I just wanted to make it clear that the average Syrian does not hate Jews and it’s only for fear of being over heard by the wrong person that I stay quiet.

            Along those same lines I wanted to share two stories to give a small picture in to the minds of an average Syrian. Keep in mind though that my sampling is very small so maybe average is not the right word. The first story made me a bit sad but I think was positive in the end.

            I was teaching my second level English class, which consists of two teenage boys who are cousins, and two University students one woman and one man. I was teaching the words most and least, after teaching any vocabulary I try to get the students to use the vocabulary as much as possible in sentences, or by answering questions, so when I asked them which was the least popular football (soccer) team and the first answer was “the Jewish one” I was not prepared. This was not the first time I had heard someone fail to make the distinction between Jewish and Israeli, but it never gets easier. I decided, especially since the student who said this is about 16, that I needed to educate, at least, my four students on the difference between Israelis and Jews, and why it is important to make the distinction. In the end the instigator apologized, and I felt a little better.

            Story number two is a little more positive. I mentioned my wonderful Arabic teacher here before. Some times I think if it wasn’t for her I would have just given up and gone home early. She is truly above and beyond any teacher I have had. She has taken me all over Aleppo, brought me to her house, and to the school she works at. She has become a close friend as well as my Arabic teacher. She is Muslim, wears Hijab (head scarf) and doesn’t drink eat pork etc…, but she is very open about other peoples life styles, and she is now the fourth person who knows I am Jewish, although I haven’t mentioned my time in Israel/Palestine yet I probably will before I leave. She has a master’s degree in Semitic languages, so she actually knows Hebrew, only biblical Hebrew but still impressive. I’ve had a feeling they she knew something for awhile, because since she knows Hebrew she probably notices that most of my grammatical and even some vocabulary mistakes in Arabic are because I am thinking in Hebrew. I still didn’t want to say anything though until one day after she took me to the school she works at.

            The school is a Muslim elementary school on the out skirts of Aleppo. It is called Al Quds School or Jerusalem School.  It was strange for me to walk in to a school in Syria with a giant picture of the Dome of the Rock on the front gates, but I didn’t think too much about it until a few hours later during the third class. I don’t even remember how it came up, but some how the topic of Jews and Israel was raised, and I heard my Arabic teacher say almost the same thing to her students as I had to my small English class just a few days before. For me it was uplifting to hear a Arab teacher explain to her Arab students that there was a difference between Jews and Israelis and that is was important to make the distinction. Also at one point one of the students asked her if I was Jewish because of my name, which is also an Arabic name, but as I am obviously not Arab they were curious. Her response was that she didn’t know, but that maybe I was and it shouldn’t matter any ways, people are people no matter what. I wish I could have video taped this and shown it to all those people in America who think all children learn in school in the Middle East is how to hate Americans. Those people should really meet my Arabic Teacher.

It is so sad to think there used to be sizeable Jewish populations in Damascus, Aleppo, and a few other cities, and now they are all gone except for about 40 left in Damascus.  There is no example of a Jew who is not an Israeli for Syrians to see in the streets. Most of my students have never left the Middle East or even Syria, so it is more than likely they have never met a Jew, or if they did they didn’t know, for example me.   I would love to tear off my mask and tell them that I am sad I wont be celebrating Purim or Pesach this year, but its really not a good idea, so I will have to do what I can in the confines of my public identity, and hope that there are enough other teachers like my Arabic teacher to stop this generation from growing up thinking Jew and Israeli are synonymous, and that a person’s religion or nationality matters more than their humanity.

Actually the way things are going right now I think we could use a few more teachers like that in America as well.

Sorry Syria I think I liked being a Jew in Palestine more :)

So several people have asked for an update on my life in Syria, and while we all know I am the world’s worst blogger I figured I could at least try for once a month. sorry its long!

I had two weeks before I started teaching when I first got here. I spent some time getting to know Aleppo, and then went to Damascus to visit an old friend and play tourist for while. The old city of Damascus is amazing. I wandered in it for hours, and still didn’t see everything. The best part though was meeting one of the few Syrian Jews still left in the country. The friend I was staying with knows him, and she introduced us. He told me there are only about 50 Jews left in the country, and people just keep leaving. He took my friend and I to one of the few Synagogues still in use in Damascus. It was beautiful, but also sad to see all the aging books, that will most likely never be replaced by new ones, as there would be no one to read them. I also got the opportunity to meet up with a professor I know who was leading a study trip in Syria, as well as a friend whom I had met on a similar trip in Israel/Palestine last year. It was nice to see some familiar faces in such a foreign country, and I felt energized and ready to start teaching and studying when I came back to Aleppo.

My main goal in coming to Syria is to improve my Arabic, and so far that part of the plan is going very well. I have an amazing Arabic teacher who, on top of giving me private lessons 3 days a week, has also been taking my on mini field trips on my days off. She is also working with a group of students from Universities in Washington DC, who are here for a few months to learn Arabic. She has taken me to a few of their events and will be taking me on any of the sight seeing trips they go on, which is nice, because most of the people I’ve met here have been here for awhile so they’re not so in to sight seeing on the weekends.

So far I am really enjoying teaching English. I have to say teaching English to adults who actually want to learn the language is definitely easier than teaching Hebrew to 12 year olds who would rather be playing Nintendo. The lesson plans are pretty much done for me. I just have to adapt them a little to each class, and if there is time try to add some games or other fun activities. My students range in age from 13 to middle age, but most of them seem to be around my age, so it is easy to connect with them, and keep the class from getting boring.  One of my younger students is named Hiba, and while she is only the third Hiba I’ve ever known I think there must be some kind of magic to this name where you must be adorable if you have it.

It has also been very interesting seeing the reactions of my students to the events in Egypt. People here do not talk about politics. There is great fear of the security forces here. You never know who could be listening or even if you do know who’s listening you never know who they might be working for. Even with all this though I can tell people are very interested in Egypt. Every television in every shop I pass is tuned to Aljazeera and you can see people glued to those televisions watching the throngs of people in Tahrir square. It is very unlikely that something similar will happen in Syria. The economic situation in Syria is not as bad as it is in Egypt, and Bashar al-Assad, the President here is actually fairly well liked, so there is not the same mix of desperation and animosity, but who knows. Just watching the news here makes it seem like anything is possible.

So as far as studying and working go life is good, my social life, however, is another story.

I remember the first time I went to the West bank. I was about to start an Arabic language program at Birzeit University. At this point in my life I had travelled to Israel several times, but never ventured to “the other side” and here I was deciding to spend several months there. I told people I wasn’t worried, but in reality I was terrified. I was convinced I wasn’t going to be able to tell any one that I was Jewish or about my “Zionist upbringing.” That first week was hard for me, as I realized just how difficult it would be for me both practically and emotionally to keep lying to all these very nice people I was meeting.

Then, I don’t remember who exactly it was, but one of the staff at Birzeit was talking to the group and he said something that has always stuck with me. He was talking to us about Birzeit and Palestine being an open place. Where it matters more where you stand then who you are. This is when I knew it would be ok to tell the truth, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t mean to say that when I am in Palestine I run through the streets screaming I’m a Jew in Hebrew, but I am pretty open about my religion and my past with any one who I become friends with whether they be American, German or Palestinian. I have never gotten a negative reaction to my identity, at worst I get indifference, at best I get genuine interest in how a nice Jewish girl like me ended up in Palestine. This experience has been extremely positive for me, and I often share it with people I know who are still convinced that Palestinian animosity for Israel comes from hatred of Jews, and not an oppressive occupation.

About 6 months ago I was living in Bethlehem, and while I was having an amazing time I realized I was not accomplishing one of my main goals, which is to learn to speak Arabic at least on a conversational level. I had thought about going to Syria to study Arabic, because almost everyone I’ve ever known who speaks Arabic well learned in Syria. Sadly I didn’t have the funds to just run off and study. Then I hosted some couch surfers one of whom had been teaching English in Aleppo, Syria. I thought hey this is perfect. I can work to support my self and also take Arabic. So I contacted the school, had an interview, bought a plane ticket and a little over one month ago I found my self in the Damascus airport.

I had been told by friends who had travelled to Syria that its not a good idea to tell people I have been in Israel, or that I am Jewish. Here when people talk about Israel they don’t even say the actual name for fear of who might be listening. They call it Disneyland. Which is funny to me for several reasons, one that Walt Disney is fairly well known as an anti Semite, and also for the reason that while I’ve been to Israel/Palestine half a dozen times I’ve never been to Disneyland.  I heeded my friends’ warnings and even when I had my interview over skype, I told the school I was in Chicago, when I was actually in a friend’s apartment in Beit Sahour.

I knew I was going to have to be careful, but I thought this experience would be like my experiences in Palestine. I thought that I would be able to be more open about my identity after getting to know people. This has not been the case. Currently there are only three people in Syria that know that I have spent time in Palestine/Israel and that I am Jewish. In the last few weeks I have met tons of new people and always the questions are, “have I traveled in the middle east before, how did I decide to come to Syria, what was I doing before I came here, and what do I plan to do after I leave. I’ve never thought I was very good at lying, but so far I think people buy my answer of having only travelled in Jordan and Egypt, being an international relations major, wanting to work on my Arabic, and having a friend who taught at the school where I am teaching last year, which I guess is technically all true.

I have really been enjoying my time in Syria so far. I have an amazing Arabic teacher, and I am really enjoying teaching English. Its been very interesting to watch my students try to grasp my language. The people here are warm and friendly, but every time I meet a new person, and give them a false story I feel like someone is kicking me in the stomach.  It is hard to make friends when I can’t tell people about the two largest parts of my identity. I also often wonder if the Syrians would still be so warm and friendly if they knew. Deep down I think they would be. Like the teacher at Birzeit said it’s more about where you stand then who you are, but because Syria is a place where you never know who is listening and who they work for, its better if I just keep lying, as painful as that may be. I joined a gym while I’m here so I just have to hope the endorphins will keep me up beat until its time to go home 

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 ☺

Jordan is for lovers, and adventures in pissing of Haredim by praying

YEAH!!!!!! I GOT A THREE MONTH VISA!!!!!!!

I was legit worried about this but I used my magical Hebrew speaking powers and conviced the lady that I was going to get a student visa but hadn’t had time before I left, so she told me in a very stern voice that it was very important that I get my student visa and then she gave me a three month stamp woooo! I could feel a huge weight lifting off of me after that. It was the perfect end to a wonderful vacation.

Wadi Rum was beautiful and fun. We hiked on Monday and Tuesday and Monday night we slept in the middle of the dessert and saw more stars than I have ever seen in my life. We also saw a bunch of shooting stars it was very cool. We were also serenaded by our Bedouin guide, and his cousin, who played the oud. It was a wonderful evening. Tuesday we hiked the tallest mountain in Jordan (look it up its not as impressive as it sounds) Then we headed to Aqaba to meet Sandra at our hostel. We spent the next 36 hours relaxing in beds, on the beach and by the pool. We did some snorkeling and wandering of Aqaba but mostly we just lay around, which was amazing. Thursday morning Naomi and I headed back to Eilat and I got my golden ticked aka three month visa. We we welcomed back to Jerusalem with cold and rain ☹ but we survived the treck home and made latkes for dinner (yum!)

Friday Morning Miriam, Naomi and I woke up at 6am to go to the Kotel (western wall) for Rosh Chodesh. We were participating in a half prayer service half demonstration with the organization Women of the Wall. It used to be illegal for Women to hold group prayer at the Kotel. There was a court battle and now it is allowed only on Rosh Chodesh, and women are still not allowed to read Torah or wear Tallitot there. This is one of the many things that makes me question the claim the Israel is a democracy. At last months service a woman was arrested for attempting to read Torah and wearing a Tallit. It is simply mind boggling that prayer could be considered illegal just because of the gender of the person who is offering the prayer. It makes me very sad and angry that the “leaders” of my religion have decided that I am not allowed to pray in the same fashion or places as men are. As we were holding our service and singing we were called bastards, Nazis and several other not so nice names. Most of the yelling was in Hebrew, but at one time I heard a man in an American accent telling us that we were “responsible for the death of six million Jews” I’m sorry what?!?! How messed up in the head do you have to be to think that women praying out loud at the Kotel is what caused the Holocaust? The whole experience was sad and on top of everything it was cold and raining the whole time. In one news article a Rabbi said it was Hashem crying because of our deeds. Naomi said if anything it was Hashem crying for the treatment we received while trying to execute the simple act of prayer.

Shabbat was spent going to Kol Haneshama ( a reform synagoge in Jerusalem) for services which is always a nice familiar Shabbat experience, and dinner with some lovely ladies of Pardes. I should be heading back to Bethlehem in a few hours unless I get some indication that a good bye party is happening in Jerusalem this evening. I am excited to be going home, to see my roomates and to sleep in my own bed after so long.

Shavuah Tov and Merry almost Christmas!

No visa for you!

A of all I re read my last blog post and realized the end is rather preachy, so sorry for that and Ill try not to do it again. I should know enough that any one who is reading this is my friend and probably doing many things in their own right to make the world a better place.

So this post is mainly going to be about visas and the Israeli government’s aversion to giving them to people. It started (at least on my radar screen) with the denial of Sarah and Jason’s application to extend their visa to December 30th. They as you know had to leave several weeks ago to the sadness of every one here. Soon after we learned some other friends of ours also had their visa application sent to committee, which is exactly what happened to Sarah and Jason before they were denied. I learned about a week ago they theirs was also denied and they will be leaving very soon. Then one of my roommates went to Germany for a few days to renew her visa when she returned she was told she had to go to the ministry of the interior, and was not even any visa. Most people at least get 2 weeks or a month, but she got nothing and now just has an appointment at the ministry and is doing her best not to freak out. Just a few days ago another friend of mine told me her application to extend her visa was also denied. She is studying at the conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, but she is not Jewish. This is the reason she was given for not being able to get a student visa. All of these people are either studying or doing good works in the community. None of these people are a security risk to Israel and none of them are looking to live here permanently. The worst story is when my former roommate from when I lived in Birzeit came to visit me. She was denied entry completely. The scary thing is that she told them she was coming to visit me, and they told her that she was being denied because my visa expired on December 14th, which is does. I am not sure that this is the real reason she was denied, but it makes me a bit nervous. They have also changed their rules for check points. There are three check points (Bethlehem, Beit Jallah, and Beit Sahour) where people can go in and out of the west bank. On Thursday I tried to go out through the beit Jallah one with one of my roommates and we were made to get off the bus and told we were no longer allowed to go through that check point, and that we had to go back to Bethlehem and go through that check point. I am not sure what is going on, but it seems to me that the government is trying to make it more and more difficult for internationals to be in the west bank. Which makes sense from their position. They don’t want us here to see, document and publicize all the shitty things they do. All of this is making me very nervous as I am leaving for Jordan tomorrow for my first visa renewal run, and now I am less confident that I will get my three month visa stamp or even be let back in the country. So if you think about it between now and Thursday night send some positive energy my way.

On a lighter note, on Friday morning I went to Tel Aviv for a Human rights demonstration. (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447411598&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull) It seemed like there was a sign there for every marginalized group in and out of Israel. The most prevalent were for Palestinians in Israel as well as in The west bank and Gaza. This made me just a little more hopeful than I usually am. It was nice to see Israelis enmass in support for Palestinian rights. I just wish there were more of them, but hopefully some day. The march/rally was very spirited and a really great experience over all. My only problem was that it was in Tel Aviv. This sort of thing is much more needed in Jerusalem. If we could get all these lefty telavivians out of their bubble to protest at sheik Jarah for example I think it would be much more effective than walking the streets of tel aiviv, but I guess you have to take what you can get and hope this will be come something bigger and further reaching.

Okay don’t forget to think of/pray for me that I get back in to the country on Thursday!

Oh and HAPPY CHANUKKAH!!!!!