peacetraveler22 | Entries tagged with west bank

"If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion." - Noam Chomsky

The famous American-Jewish author, Noam Chomsky, has written a lot about the West Bank, but I believe this quote hits closest to my heart. I've already told you how I feel about Palestine in my stories from Ramallah and Sebastia. I think many Westerners live in some sort of "comforting illusion" about this region. Believing only what they see on the news. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we see mostly horrific scenes from Gaza - dead children, bombed out apartments and buildings, extremists using humans as shields...Constant debate about Israel's military tactics in the area, yet also a strong understanding and justification for the defensive actions taken to protect Jerusalem and other parts of the country. However, the West Bank is much more than Gaza. It's a land filled with ordinary people, living in an undeniably oppressive environment. Colorful street scenes await your eyes around every corner, in a third-world sense. I felt the whole time that people on both sides of the Separation Wall are essentially imprisoned, but in very different ways.( Read more... )

Just a few months ago, I was roaming the streets of Israel and Palestine. Now I watch tensions and rockets escalate each night on the evening news, and I think back to my time in the West Bank. I became so tired of the crowds in Jerusalem that I couldn't wait to escape into less traveled areas, and let's be honest - many foreign tourists are scared to venture out of Bethlehem and travel deeper into Palestine. For me, the emotions of exploration, which were silenced during the first few days in Israel, immediately came to life when we entered the West Bank.

While my friends went to visit yet another church in the rural village of Sebastia, I decided to investigate the narrow, secluded streets where the church sat. I turned a corner and these children peeked outside their door, intrigued and happy that a foreigner was in their remote village. "Hallo, hallo, where are you from?" It was the same greeting all Palestinian children gave me during the journey, but the smiles of these boys captivated me in a special way. As always, I was struck by the innocence, beauty and curiosity of children, no matter the nation. They typically see only one race - human. As it should be.( Read more... )

Hello dear friends! I'm now back in America after a memorable trip to Israel. Somehow I misunderstood the point of the sponsored tour there. I thought we would spend most of our time in Israeli-controlled areas, when in fact most of it was spent in Area "A" of the West Bank, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. I can only say that it was an amazing and eye opening experience. Perceptions of a place and reality often don't coincide, and it was the case for me in the West Bank. In the future, perhaps I'll write some posts and impressions about the journey. We visited many areas, including Jericho, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Sebastia. We were stationed in Bethlehem, and it was there I experienced the burning sensation of tear gas for the first time when a disturbance occurred at a checkpoint located close to the hotel. Overall, this is an incredibly interesting region of the world, with complex layers of human emotion tangled in webs of cultural and religious identity.( Read more... )

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In the end only kindness matters...

Entries tagged with west bank

Journey Through the West Bank - Palestine

Sebastia - A Look Inside Rural Palestine

Return from the West Bank

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June 2017

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