Today is a day off and we're able to spend it doing things we want to do. Except we can't really because everything here is so complicated unless you know what you're doing.
Thanks to a lot of plan changes by the people we're staying with they are able to take us to Ramallah for the day. We want to go and see the political centre of the Wets Bank, and see the city.
A long ride begins with a trip through one of the Israeli settlements. Positioned at roundabouts are 400 year old Olive trees, these trees haven't always been located in the middle of settler roundabouts, in fact in most cases they were on Palestinian land. On some of these Olive trees you can see the chain marks where they were uprooted and replanted here.
The settlement is a bit like Las Vegas, an Oasis in the desert, and a complete incongruity with the surrounding area. A lot of the people who live in this particular settlement probably aren't even aware of the political nature of their home, they live here because they get a better standard of living than they could get if they lived in Israel proper.
We visited this settlement last time we were here, and it has grown since then to include an aerospace university. Building, or expanding settlements is prohibited under UN law, but the there are cranes and signs of new development everywhere- how can a peaceful solution to this ever be found?
On the way to Ramallah we drive passed a lot of Bedouin camps, some of their Olive groves have been cut down to make an Israeli road through the area safe, but others remain undisturbed. The Bedouin live simple lives in ever decreasing areas as they too are closed in by walls and have their access restricted.
The first checkpoint we attempt to cross into Ramallah is very busy due to construction work and we decide on a different route. After this detour, and a quick bathroom break in a very swish Palestinian mall we are in the Ramallah centre.
We drive straight up to the Palestinian Authorities headquarters where, after a brief chat with some friendly soldiers, we are allowed to go and have our pictures taken at Yasser Arrafats Mausoleum. (Pictures to follow). It's a very surreal moment, but we're glad to be there.
We are shown to particular landmarks. A police station which was targeted by air strikes following the lynching of two Israelis who found themselves the wrong side of the West Bank. The second place is a small restaurant where, around a month ago, an undercover Israeli patrol rushed in, removed a diner, and executed them in the street. Our guide's friends were dining there at the time.
Following these inauspicious stories, and after walking through the busiest town centre I've ever seen in my time here we end up in a very Western Pizza joint. Just to make sure I get my full worth of experience I forgo the pizza and fries option and pick out "stuffed pigeon"- revenge for my life in London at their mercy. The meat is scarce, but the rice that comes with it is delicious. I recommend it!
Camilla and I break from the party at this point to have a look around on our own. The very first stop is an Ice Cream shop. We have been told that Ramallah is famous for it's rainbow ice cream combinations, and the one we pick up doesn't disappoint. It quickly drips onto all of our clothes in the heat of the day.
We stumble blindly down a few streets, discovering a Canadian Embassy, and some taxi ranks before finding a large fruit market where we buy some Limes for gin later, we are created warmly by all who see us.
The next stop is for Arabic Coffee at a small restaurant cafe and we sit under the blazing sun watching Ramallah life go by until we decide it is time for us to take our bus.
We expressly wanted to take the bus back on our own to get the full checkpoint experience, as faced by most Palestinians. We board a number 18 from Ramallah to Jerusalem and ready our passports.
A the first checkpoint the bus is waved through, and we realise that we have missed the opportunity to get out and walk through the turnstiles and metal detectors that face most Palestinians. We are happy to be through without issue and decide we'll walk through at Bethlehem checkpoint on another day.
About 200 metres past the terminal is a flying checkpoint. After about a half hour of queueing a girl from the IDF boards the bus and asks to see everyone's ID. Both myself and Camilla oblige but it turns out Camillas passport hasn't been stamped at the airport, and she's missing her Visa. We are asked to step off the bus while she sorts it out. (I'm allowed to stay in the bus if I want but I decide against it!).
The bus moves on as we wait for a call to her captain. In the end we have to walk back to the terminal to get it cleared. It's a 20 minute walk back to the terminal, and when there we aren't sure who to talk to. In the end we decide to walk through the pedestrian turn styles and ask when we're inside. We wait for red lights to turn green, and for people to shuffle their way forward until it is our turn to have our bags scanned and walk through metal detectors. As we approach the window to show our documents to the wall we realise that we're probably not going to get anywhere.
After five minutes of Camilla trying to explain the situation through a thick reinforced window she is waved through in frustration, I pass without incident. Outside we finally approach the IDF soldier at the terminal. One helpful soldier get us back on a bus with assurances we will pass this time.
Almost as soon as the doors have closed we doubt this will be the case, we have no names to refer to, and Camilla still has no Visa. In the end when we get back to the checkpoint through the traffic queues the same IDF girl asks us if we are "OK?". We say "we are" and she waves the bus on. The checkpoint takes 2 hours.
Back in the Old City by bus we walk up the mount of Olives to our home where we drink GandT and snack on pistachios bemoaning our very own "checkpoint story".
It's the same story for many Palestinians every day.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Day 5 - Friday
It's an important morning as we are going to meet the mayor of Beit Jala. It turns out to be an excellent discussion, he expresses a lot of the frustrations of the town and the farmers place within its' structure.
If the Al Markrour mountain region is annexed to Israeli the city will be reduced an area of 1 mile by 1 mile. 100,000 inhabitants have already had enough and emigrated. When we walk into the municipality building there is a large panoramic picture of Chile on the wall. More citizens live in Chile now than do in the city itself.
Communication between emigrants and those who remain is poor, but a lot of the farmers we talk to want to join families abroad.
After having our photos taken by the official photographer with the mayor, and a few that we take of the mayor pretending to write stuff down for us come out really well. On the way out he shows us his cabinet of treasures from the local area and abroad. One of the objects is an image of St George killing the dragon which is sculpted from local rock. They don't have access to the quarry it came from any more as the settlement of Har Gilo was built near it, and the lost access.
There's always a Norwegian connection, recently visitors from Tromso, a town in the North of Norway have left him a glass polar bear, when he discover Camilla is from Norway he pulls out some guide books, and we have a surreal "small world" moment as we leaf through the official Bergen tourist guide with the Mayor.
We head back out to the mountain for some really good interviews with farmers whose castles have recently been renovated. One of the more powerful moments is when I ask a girl what she thinks about the wall cutting her off from this land. "We're already in a prison" she replies, "so what difference does another prison make?".
The farmers we talk to are always able to smile in the face of their losses, but when we press the farmer to talk about his thoughts at being unable to come here he is unable to reply, "It's too difficult to think about".
On one of the previous days we were invited by one of the interview subjects to return to his farmland for dinner. We do so, and are treated to an amazing array of homos and falafel, as well as chicken. It's hard to accept their generosity, they give, and are pleased to give, so much to us as their guests, it's a real pleasure.
Following lunch we have a look at a demolished castle. The land owner built the castle whilst waiting for his permission slip to come through from the Israeli courts. The castle stood for 8 months, but because of a delay in the permission process the Israeli army demolished it. The rest of his farmland is untouched, and he is still keen to farm, having done some work to rebuild the terraces and steps up to them. For now his neighbours help him out.
We end up leaving in quite a rush, having spent too long (as usual) talking to them and taking photos. We end up with a whistle stop tour of the Cremsian vineyards, where some amazing wine is produced. Rather than take a tour, our guide knows the monks that run it (he used to play football there) so we are let in the back door and given a tour of the barrels by one of the people who works on the wine.
We learn a whole lot in about 5 minutes, and just have time to stop to pick up a bottle for ourselves before we are again, rushed back to Bethlehem to meet our World Vision contact and return to Jerusalem.
We spend the evening making sure all of the notes we have taken are transcribed and then settle back with some Gin and Tonic, and freshly picked Almonds to talk the night away with some of the people we are staying with.
Tomorrow is the weekend.
If the Al Markrour mountain region is annexed to Israeli the city will be reduced an area of 1 mile by 1 mile. 100,000 inhabitants have already had enough and emigrated. When we walk into the municipality building there is a large panoramic picture of Chile on the wall. More citizens live in Chile now than do in the city itself.
Communication between emigrants and those who remain is poor, but a lot of the farmers we talk to want to join families abroad.
After having our photos taken by the official photographer with the mayor, and a few that we take of the mayor pretending to write stuff down for us come out really well. On the way out he shows us his cabinet of treasures from the local area and abroad. One of the objects is an image of St George killing the dragon which is sculpted from local rock. They don't have access to the quarry it came from any more as the settlement of Har Gilo was built near it, and the lost access.
There's always a Norwegian connection, recently visitors from Tromso, a town in the North of Norway have left him a glass polar bear, when he discover Camilla is from Norway he pulls out some guide books, and we have a surreal "small world" moment as we leaf through the official Bergen tourist guide with the Mayor.
We head back out to the mountain for some really good interviews with farmers whose castles have recently been renovated. One of the more powerful moments is when I ask a girl what she thinks about the wall cutting her off from this land. "We're already in a prison" she replies, "so what difference does another prison make?".
The farmers we talk to are always able to smile in the face of their losses, but when we press the farmer to talk about his thoughts at being unable to come here he is unable to reply, "It's too difficult to think about".
On one of the previous days we were invited by one of the interview subjects to return to his farmland for dinner. We do so, and are treated to an amazing array of homos and falafel, as well as chicken. It's hard to accept their generosity, they give, and are pleased to give, so much to us as their guests, it's a real pleasure.
Following lunch we have a look at a demolished castle. The land owner built the castle whilst waiting for his permission slip to come through from the Israeli courts. The castle stood for 8 months, but because of a delay in the permission process the Israeli army demolished it. The rest of his farmland is untouched, and he is still keen to farm, having done some work to rebuild the terraces and steps up to them. For now his neighbours help him out.
We end up leaving in quite a rush, having spent too long (as usual) talking to them and taking photos. We end up with a whistle stop tour of the Cremsian vineyards, where some amazing wine is produced. Rather than take a tour, our guide knows the monks that run it (he used to play football there) so we are let in the back door and given a tour of the barrels by one of the people who works on the wine.
We learn a whole lot in about 5 minutes, and just have time to stop to pick up a bottle for ourselves before we are again, rushed back to Bethlehem to meet our World Vision contact and return to Jerusalem.
We spend the evening making sure all of the notes we have taken are transcribed and then settle back with some Gin and Tonic, and freshly picked Almonds to talk the night away with some of the people we are staying with.
Tomorrow is the weekend.
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