the west bank experience (part 3 cont.)

the daughter of the person i was going to meet, met me at one of the checkpoints. she was waiting with her little brother, looking rather uninterested. we went through the checkpoint and they took me up a hill, through rubble and garbage. the passageways were not determined by anything but rocks and the direction upward. i can't believe that they climb up and down to get into town. the house was hidden from view by growth of trees. there, heshem greeted me and welcomed me into his house. the rooms were clean and well-maintained. he showed me to his sitting room and told me his story.

heshem is in an difficult predicament as he lives right below one of the most religious fanatic jewish settlers in the area. he is involved with the organization called b'tselem, an israeli human rights organization of the occupied territories. the program distributes camera and video equipment to the palestinians who live near military outposts, settlers, checkpoints, etc. they record their daily life, living precariously on the edge of potential violence. it goes without saying that heshem has had a difficult life. the settlers above continuously throw down garbage, old machinery and rocks, trying to maim him and his family. heshem believes that two state solution is not the way to go. he thinks that it will only cause more problems and violence between israel and palestine. he is determined that one state is the answer; everybody living together in peace as one. the separation, for heshem, has gone on too long. he also gave me his opinion of hamas, saying that the hamas party was the one at the moment that appeared to want and bring about change to palestine.

after much talk, he showed me around his house. the trees on his property were cut by jewish settlers and one is barely flowering. the windows of his house were broken so heshem installed metal grills. now the settlers use long sticks to get through the grill. heshem said that there were many graffiti on the walls and doors but he painted over them. he showed me one door where there is still the star of david as he wasn't allowed to paint over that by the IDF, who told him that if he did, they will arrest him. all the natural walkways into his house are blocked. on the roof, his water tank was shot and couldn't be repaired.

heshem had several videos he wanted to show me so we went back down to his house. the first video he put on showed heshem trying to pick up the olives from his olive trees. the IDF only allowed heshem to do it. while he was gathering olives, the settlers saw him and came down, screaming. they were calling him a stealer, a murderer, and a nazi. a woman started wailing in the middle, creating a commotion. she kept saying things about how the jewish people have no land and no way of life, that everything they have is being stolen, etc. the next video showed a gathering of jewish school girls chanting "die arabs" "murder the arabs", etc. the third video, by a swede, showed a group of palestinian girls on their way to school. they were bombarded by jewish girls and boys who kept pushing and hitting the girls, including the teacher. the IDF stood around doing nothing while the teacher pleaded with them to do something. the boys threw rocks at the girls from below. the last video i saw was frightening in all levels. heshem told me that several years ago, there was a curfew installed so that the palestinians were not allowed to leave their houses for several hours. during these hours, the jewish settlers would come into their villages and terrorize the people, who were not able to do anything. the video showed the settlers coming with long metal poles and guns, destroying property and breaking windows to grab the people inside. again, the IDF did nothing to stop this from happening. imagine living like that, in constant terror, living in fear that these people, will one day no doubt commit murder because of their hatred. heshem also told me that the jewish women would come and kick his wife around, telling him that they will come back another time with men so they can rape her. someone must be at home at all times so that the settlers do not come and destroy their home. his children cannot go to sleep at night unless the light is on and their parents are there to console them.

it was getting late so i had to leave. i thanked heshem for his story and for showing me great hospitality. i made my way back to the old city to wait for egged. while waiting for the bus, i ran into a soldier who recognized me from before. he seemed very happy to see me and greeted me. i also saw a great celebration near the synagogue. i believe it was a wedding ceremony. it's funny to see such happiness when those people are the ones creating fear in those who live not 50 metres away.

the west bank experience (part 3)

today is the last day for "official" field work for documentary workshop class. so i hightailed it to hebron again, with the notion in mind that it will be my last time. boy, does it make me feel nostalgic. i decided to take egged this time for one reason or another. waiting for the bus was a different experience than the first because there were actually a lot of people milling around, mostly IDF. #160 was completely full. i was aware that there would be a difference in taking an israeli bus and an arab bus but i didn't realize that it would be so drastic. the first blatant difference are the vehicles. the egged bus resemble charter buses, air-conditioned, albeit without bathrooms in the back. the arab buses are old vans, with windows that open sometimes. next are the people. of course, only israelis ride the egged, which isn't to say that israelis do not ride arab buses but they don't make it a habit. the atmosphere was completely different. on the arab buses, the people are an amalgamation of the population. they bustle. they bump. they gossip. they are alive. on the egged, orthodox jews and IDF proliferate. the air is calm and silent. and the lady next to me kept scooting over as if i was diseased. the ride was pleasant, however, because i knocked out, waking up in kiryat arba.

upon my arrival in the old city, i walked around, taking pictures of the people (it's illegal for me but whatever) and the graffiti that occupy the landscape. it was much more livelier than the last i've been. little jewish kids riding bikes and running around. there wasn't much to see since most were out of sight inside so i made my way toward the city. i never had a problem with my passport but they were much more adamant to see it this time, asking questions such as "are you christian?" (no i am not but i said yes.) and finalizing with "you from america?" (yes. [what a freaking dumb question.]) the market area was bustling this time! i was excited to see. i walked toward the women's coop shop and got some shopping done for people back home. while picking out wares, one of the women engaged me in a conversation. i found myself explaining my purpose in hebron and showed her my photos, telling her that i need to start focusing on people, instead of the landscape. she got really excited and said that there was a person i needed to meet and talk to. so she calls him up and tells me that he will meet in 10 minutes and his daughter will pick me up at the checkpoint. wait, there is another checkpoint? (i found out there are 6? 7? checkpoints in hebron. ridiculous!) so the guy i met previously in my group excursion leads me around, showing me places i haven't seen yet. when he delivered me to the daughter, he shamelessly started asking for money, ending with phrases like "as you like" and "please". this guy is really annoying. i don't mean to be callous. what he does is really rude and i don't like being harassed.

i'm sorry but this will have to be continued later. i'm pretty exhausted. ta.

hebron visit

the west bank experience (part 2)

okay, this hebron experience is different than others. lisa, sarah, stefanie, jeremie, yael, gloria, petra and i traipsed to hebron. i have to say that hebron is THE most dangerous west bank city. i know i keep mentioning it a lot but there really is a palpable sense of unease that permeates the air. i felt even more unsafe this time as yael and gloria are israeli and israeli citizens are in no circumstances allowed in hebron as it is area a, which means it is under palestinian authority and control. the fact that they blatantly ignored this was really disrespectful as there are many contestation about the area regarding jews and arabs. it wasn't fair that they jeopardized everyone else's safety by their presence. we were very lucky that no one really caught on or questioned us.

we were aimlessly wandering around the city. to be honest, there is not much to see or do in hebron besides cheap shopping and visiting the abraham mosque in the old city. this guy named ibrahaim friended us and decided to be our tour guide for the day. he showed us several watchtowers and the destroyed houses caused by the jews living in the settlement. it is really astonishing that kiryat arba is so close to the arab hebron. they're practically neighbors. the arabs (i think) had to build a ceiling fence in the shuk area because the settlers are proned to throwing random debris to harm the passerbys. i saw many water tanks riddled with gunshots as to deplete the water supply. when ibrahaim led us to a rooftop to show the settlement, i saw jewish boys walking back. they saw me looking and started to scream obscenities at me. it's really horrible, this living situation.

finally we reached the abraham mosque after many stops into shops for random trinkets and scarves and pots. here i was also put off by the rude behavior of the people i was with. first of all, we're in a holy place, a gravesite of the ancesters of the three monotheistic religions of the world. we were not allowed to take pictures inside, yet they kept whipping out cameras to discreetly take pictures. that is just so disrespectful to the people and the religion. i may be going overboard but it is something i have come to notice and it bothers me so much. just because you are an artist doesn't give you the right to ignore and belittle the social practices and laws of others. there are boundaries and it's just common courtesy to respect that, i believe. sorry, i sound so orthodox about art practices. meh.

ibrahaim had ulterior motives it seemed. he led us deliberately to shopping places and lingered for long periods of time. when we arrived at the old city, we acquired an annoying pest, who was peddling cheap goods. when we didn't want to buy his wares, he accused us of not supporting palestine and its people. right. then he proceeded to follow us around, shouting 'welcome' every few minutes and trying yet again to press his bracelets and keychains on us. at the end, he wanted baksheesh (tip) from us for being our tour guide... what?! at this point, i have had enough. i was so ready to leave.

i'm at a point in my israel stay where my cup is so full that everything else is overkill. i am enjoying and not enjoying my time. i don't know if disillusioned is the word but i just don't care. i am desensitized to all the ulterior motives of the people, the rudeness, the way of life, the violent overtones, etc. it is how they live and they cope. how come i can't do that?

the pope's visit amongst other things

in hopes for peace and reconciliation, the pope visited israel and palestine last week. i have to say that his aspirations backfired in his face. in his wake, the traffic increased much to the chagrin of commuters in jerusalem. everyone was so irritable, the bus drivers more so. there was an influx of italian tourists. what, you don't see the pope enough in italy? everyone was more than ready to feed the pope to the dogs, which they did. the newspapers in israel printed the pope's involvement in hitler youth and the general air of anti-semitism of the roman catholics. furthermore, the entire student village was on military lockdown with snipers galore because he was landing in the helipad that is located right next to the dorms. lucky us. it seems that even though the people were looking forward to the pope's visit, it was gone soon after his arrival.

last monday was my first photo crit of the semester. it was also the first one in which my photos sparked a 30 minute debate of the differences between documentary photography and well... political undertones of the photography. because i chose to do my project on the different travel modes to hebron, i guess i could have expected nothing less. however, as stated below, i'm getting tired of the underlying political aspects. sometimes, things are just what it is. it is nothing more. i also do not want to do a critique on the relations between israel and palestine. here is where i am truly an outsider. i have never lived here nor do i have any connections with the place besides my fascination of the language and culture. i will never have the deep-rooted feelings that the israelis have accumulated over time. in a way, i feel like it is not in my place to do this project but it is one that i can do because i am a foreigner. i feel i cannot do the places and people justice in my photography because even with all my research, i will still be a 'tourist', an outsider. my photos of israel will always gravitate toward the things that have political charge to them, such as a watchtower, the wall border, military personnel, etc. i don't mean to only take pictures of that, not that i do. it is just that this is what comes from the project and it is hard to separate the politicalness of the photos, but my intentions are clear. it is merely a project documenting MY journey to hebron using egged and the arab buses. documentation and nothing more. but i cannot stop an arab israeli and a jewish israeli seeing something completely different that i mean to show.

on the road to hebron via egged

in an earlier post, i mentioned the semester project for my documentary workshop class. the class takes place on hebron road but i intend on using hebron road as it was meant to be used. today was the first day of the project, so to speak. i called יקוב, my teacher, telling him that i will be doing a dry run of the journey. since i know hebrew more than arabic, i decided to travel using egged, which for the purpose of my project i will call jewish bus. the cost of the ride is 8.80 shekels, which is barely over 2$, going from jerusalem to hebron. total time of travel was about 1 hr and 15 mins.

on the bus, i befriended a jewish woman, who made עליה to israel 5 months ago from canada. she lives in a jewish settlement 10 mins away from hebron. she told me that the bus initially traveled on hebron road before the building of the rail commenced and when it was 'safer.' after the bus was attacked on many accounts, a tunnel highway was built that bypassed the initial entry into the west bank. after 10 mins on the bus, the travelers on the left side were treated to an amazing view of the wall cutting through the landscape. i am still astounded by how close jerusalem is to the west bank area, being nearly encompassed by the giant concrete structure on almost all sides. the ride was mostly uneventful but i appreciated seeing the landscape of israel for the most part. there is a certain beauty in the hilly, deserted terrain, dotted with housing complexes or the occasional rundown buildings occupied mostly by arabs. there were also several farms along the way and i think with a little stretch of my imagination, this is probably what the area looked like 2000 years ago.... that actually might be too far a stretch.

hebron. what to say about hebron. a little history: hebron is the largest city in the west bank. it is the biblical region of judea and it is the second holiest city of judaism, after jerusalem. the most famous site of hebron is the cave of patriarchs. even though the site is holy to judaism, both christianity and islam hold the site sacred due to the connection with abraham. he bought a piece of land to bury his wife, sarah, and afterwards abraham, issac, leah, jacob, rebecca are all buried there. in recent history, as any piece of arabic land, there has been many tense conflicts between arabs and israelis. hebron is heavily patrolled by israeli military guards. rabbi moshe levinger and his wife began colonising the centre of town after israel incorporated the west bank in 1967. even though this move was illegal, it gained endorsement, even after the settlement of kiryat arba was established to draw the settlers out. each armed settler in the old city is protected by as many as four armed soldiers, who are stationed on rooftops and street corners, emboldening the ~600 jews there to parade in the streets chanting anti-arab calls and wielding guns. on february of 1994, baruch goldstein, a physician, entered the ibrahimi mosque and open fired on the praying palestinians. palestinians believe the israeli jews are stealing their rightful land and protest against the military occupation. the israeli jews believe they have every right to occupy hebron because it was jewish under abraham. however, it appears as if the palestinians always get the wrong end of the bargain. their homes are constantly decimated or taken over. they face constant harassment from the settlers.

the egged bus dropped me off in the old city. so my initial viewing of hebron was very unsettling. i was surrounded by crumbling structures, closed shops, graves, pro-zionist graffiti and gun-toting civilians and soldiers. i thought that this was hebron itself. i was mistaken after some research. even though the area looks unpopulated, there are people, both arab and jew, walking around the streets. there are many palestinian and israeli flags flying from windows and houses. however, there are more of the latter. everyone seems to be very welcoming and friendly. i visited the muslim part of the cave of patriarchs. a man there gave me a brief tour, beginning with donning of a head covering. the mosque is one of the more unassuming ones i've visited but the humbleness is appealing. there is a shrine of a stone with an imprint of a foot. my guide told me that this is abraham's footprint. interesting. i also visited the tomb of abraham, isaac and rebecca. in all, my stay was brief as service was going to start soon.

i am glad that i picked this as my project. i will get to explore a place where most people are unwilling to go to because of the heavy military occupation and threat of danger. this is one of the few times i am thankful i'm from abroad.