trip to bethlehem

Today we took a trip into the West Bank. Jordan came into Jerusalem from Jaffa and spent Shabbat with us. Then we woke up early this morning and prepared for our trip into the West Bank. We took an Arab shared taxi to the checkpoint where we were dropped off. Together we walked through the security checkpoint and alongside the fence/wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian Territories.

Our first destination would be the Church of the Nativity but in order to get there we would need to take a cab. None of us know the language, I know a few absolutely random words and phrases but that gets me nowhere in the West Bank. I quickly found a friend, a taxi driver named Qnais, a sweet, bubbly, middle aged man from Bethlehem. He took us through the city stopping to allow us to take a few photos. He kept calling me "Boss", which I found to be amusing. He dropped us off in front of the church and wished us well. After going through the church itself we decided to explore the city of Bethlehem. We entered a bustling market place and in just a few minutes we saw no more tourists, no more internationals, just Palestinians going about their daily lives buying, selling, and bargaining. Its funny how similar the Israelis and Palestinians really are, this scene was one that was mimicked in Machane Yehuda, a large shuk in Jerusalem.

After our journey through Bethlehem we visited the Dheishe refugee camp. Walking through the "camp" (not the typical refugee camp - there are buildings and houses, etc...) we saw a very unfortunate sight. It felt like a third world country to me, the great disparity between the city of Bethlehem and this refugee camp was very evident. Once again I made some friends along the way, 2 shop owners who asked me to take their picture. We chatted for a few minutes and one of them asked me where I was from, I said New York City. He went on to explain to me how he spent 2 days in New York 6 summers ago and how he liked Texas better. I laughed at his 10 minute anecdote that he struggled through due to his lack of English vocabulary. He definitely had very high spirits for someone living in a refugee camp. I liked that about him, it shows that there will always be people in this world who would rather smile and laugh then complain about the situation they live in or ask for any sort of pity. He was very optimistic and very kind, and as I was leaving he told me welcome and I told him shukran. He got a kick out of that, a white American girl trying to speak Arabic.

When we reached the end of the camp the houses became nicer, beautiful, well built, and clean. This was so radically different from the beginning of the camp. I soon found out that most of these nicer houses are owned by members of the Fatah Party and the Palestinian Authority. Unfortunately corruption is something very common in this world but I blame many of the conditions of the Dheisheh refugee camp on the government on Abu Mazen, and on Fatah. There is no excuse to allow this level of suffering while government and Fatah party officials live in the lap of luxury.

Finally, our short field trip came to an end we walked alongside the security fence/wall towards our checkpoint to enter back into Israel. The things written on the wall ranged from powerful, to meaningful, to pleading, to cruel, to anti-Semitic, and to memorable. Is was definitely a thought provoking and powerful way to end our trip. I think I will make my way back to Bethlehem next weekend and explore some more, maybe visit another refugee camp (there are 3 in Bethlehem). Tomorrow I go to Beit Jala for an interfaith encounter, it should be powerful and emotional. I can't wait until then! That's all from now but I'll write another post after my visit to Beit Jala tomorrow.