Missing Blog Post - Travels through the West Bank

I didn't want to publish this piece until after leaving Israel.

Buying coffee on the side of the road from local kids in Jenin

Missing Blog Post

You might have noticed (or will soon) a small discontinuity in my posts revolving around the week following my trip to Eilat.  My friend Nick arrived and after spending two days in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, we headed up north.  The story continues on my blog until Nazareth.  At this point, I must continue in brief via email as our travels took us into places that aren't technically allowed according to my program.

Mosque overlooking the city Nazareth

After leaving Nazareth, we headed south towards Jenin, a city located in the west bank.  Arriving at the border, we found a locked gate going in and a long line coming out.  I told Judita and Nick to stay in the car, and went to the gate, hailed the border patrol, and then approached.  I explained that I needed to enter the area even though it was already closed.  I was told that I could take a taxi and cross as a pedestrian, but that driving would be impossible.  I explained that I was going to Efrat the following day (where I have family) and thus needed my car.  After spending about ten minutes, a supervisor came over and we spoke in English and Hebrew for a while, eventually settling on me being able to cross the border into the west bank three hours after it closed for the day.  This might beat out getting into the DMV after hours, skipping the line and having my paperwork handled by the manager of the office.

I drove in through the exit, had my passport checked, thanked the officer who had been called for the special exception, and started driving south.  Once in the west bank, the contrast of socioeconomic levels became immediately apparent.  That was the predominant thing I noticed.  The second was that almost every road, and every building repair had a sign saying that it was paid for by USAID.  There are different types of Palestinian controlled areas in Israel, those with Israeli army presence, those with no israeli army presence and those with palestinian police control.  We were in the latter type.

We meandered south through small towns, with many mosques dotting the horizon, often times sharing the road with herds of goats and sheep, sometimes passing three men sharing a donkey ride, and all on cell phones.  Only my blackberry with the AT&T chip worked - our israeli cell phones showed my available service.

We continued south heading towards Nablus (Shchemm) which was originally a samaritan city.  Very interesting group, they follow the Torah, but not the commentary.  We came into the north endo of the city, and I stopped a guy to ask him where something was.  He didn't seem to understand so, I showed him my book.  He took the guide book and ran down the street, and up to a house.  We all watched - amused and shocked.  He then ran to another house, then came back, opened the rear door of the car, jumped in and pointed to where we could go for someone to translate.

A few minutes later we were at a place where kids come and play video games, an arcade.  I went in and left the car with Nick and Judita.  Kids crowded around, interested in the newcomer.  Not many non arabs make it this far I imagine.  After explaining that I was hoping to find a certain square, near the mosque and the hammam, he told me in broken english to sit.  I realized after a moment that he was bringing tea.  Now, the kids stopped playing, and all crowded around to listen.  I got up and brought in Nick and Judita.  We all had delicious tea, and talked a little about us and asked some questions.  I got antsy that the car wasn't locked, and checked.  I was right, I also wanted to straighten it out.  All these kids appeared and wanted me to move it into a garage, I said no.  Some of them tried to pull me out of the car and drive.  I became forceful at this point, making it clear they were not welcome to touch the car.  I put the car in park, and locked the doors.  Went back in.  The gentleman who spoke some english said that one of the boys would come with us to show us where the places I wanted to go are.

We left the place, and when I got in the car, and turned around there were four people in the back.  We started down into the valley.  Many turns later, we were in the souq, and went to the hammam, and the mosque.  The hammam was much more authentic than anything I have seen prior.  First was a room full of men playing backgammon and smoking hookah and talking, the social part.  Then, there was a second room where the actual hot room was.  We didn't stay because Judita had nowhere safe to sit and read, and I didn't really trust the guys we were with who spent most of the time just professing their love to her.  She took it pretty well.  I let them know we were hungry, and we drove to another part of the city and had ok schawarma.  At least it was only 8 shekelim!  In most of Israel, it would be almost 4 times the price!

Right before arriving, we were pulled over by the palestinian police.  There was yelling and screaming in arabic, and then two of the guys got out of the car.  Apparently, everyone has to have a seatbelt in the west bank as well.  We said we wanted to leave at that point, but they directed us to a romantic overlook.  This annoyed me, and I made it clear we were going soon after arriving.  We went back to our kind translator (it was now rather late at night) and asked for directions to Bethlehem (inadvertantly, this would take us to Jerusalem our actual destination as well).  We had to stop to confirm directions once on the way, but otherwise arrived safely.

Overlooking the city of Schemm or Nablus

The following morning we left from the Palm Hostel, and headed to Jericho which was a bit of a letdown.  Walked the ruins of the oldest city in the world, and then headed to Bethlehem to see the place where Jesus was born, also visited a few other churches, and unfortunately parked in a mosque parking lot.  The overflow from the moque prayed in the parking lot, so we were stuck for forty minutes.  The strangest parts were going to Rachel's tomb, which is approached by traveling down a series of narrow streets with very high walls on either side.  That, and upon coming in, an old man chased our car screaming down the street for a good 100 - 200 meters. We chose not to stop.  

It was amazing to see the contrast from the rest of Israel to the west bank, to experience the night and day of the socioeconomic scales tipping from one to another in a matters of meters.  We stopped at a road side coffee place and had 1 shekel coffee.  This would be unheard of anywhere else in Israel.

The trip definitely affected my view of the country, and I think I understand a little more of the conflict.  On the other hand, I was troubled by signs that made terrorists (from what I understood) into heroes, adorning many walls in different cities.  It has raised a lot of questions, and hopefully I can discover a few answers before I leave Israel and in the time that follows.