The hard life

As promised, a list of a few things we've experienced while traveling in Palestine. Don't expect any sort of flow - I'm just writing them as they come to mind.


- When going to the Dead Sea with our Palestinian friends, we were denied entrance at a non-tourist location because Palestinians were not allowed through the Israeli gate. Keep in mind, we were in the West Bank which is Palestinian territory. The WB is divided into 3 areas - Oslo A, B, and C - the latter is controlled solely by Israelis. Obviously, it was quite reminscent of a scene from pre-civil rights era Black history.

- We saw a group of foreigners tagging the "Wall of Separation" in Bethlehem. The wall was built as a "security measure" by the Israelis and has basically proven to be a huge obstacle for Palestinians traveling throughout the West Bank. The foreigners spray painted a "USAID" logo, with an inscription below that read: "Partners with Israel in Ethnic Cleansing/Apartheid in Palestine." They have a point.

- The Wall towers 8-9 meters high, running within the Green Line boundary of the West Bank. Palestinians living inside the WB hold green Palestinian ID cards. To travel to Jerusalem (which is on the border, and itself split by the wall), green card holders must have a permit. Several medical students at our university were denied the permit this year, and cannot travel to Jerusalem hospitals for their rotations. They express feelings of lonliness and anger.

- Before the wall, it took 10 minutes to walk from Al-Quds University to our friend Rudaina's home in Jerusalem. Now, she travels 1 hour each way by bus, around the Wall and through a checkpoint.

- Nearly every person we've talked to can recount a story of violence in their recent past. The other night, us foreign girls were waiting with 2 Palestinian men for our gate to be unlocked to our dorm. It was late at night, and a man approached us and told us to hide ourselves behind a brick wall, away from street view. Israeli soldiers were patrolling, he said. One of our Palestinian friends then told us, somewhat jokingly, that he had "bad experiences with the soldiers." Not too long ago, he was walking alone at night from the university when 6 blue soldiers stopped him, threw him up against a wall, and beat him. Then, they left.

- Watch the documentary "To Shoot an Elephant," about the attack on Gaza. Have your tissues ready. One quote from the movie that I wrote down - "Anyway, we did not think that the color of a president's skin would change US foreign policy." True.

And this is just a sampling folks. Let me know how you feel - I know it makes me feel like crap.