Category: israel

while staying in jerusalem as part of the middle east studies program (mesp) travel component, we drove out into the west bank east of jerusalem to look at some of the israeli settlements that are causing big problems for the peace negotiations between the israelis and the palestinians. the west bank and the gaza strip would form a palestinian state in a two state solution. but since the creation of israel, jews have been creating and enlarging settlements in the west bank, ostensibly so that when a two state solution is reached they will already be there and therefore have ownership of the land. now much of the settlement movement in the west bank is made up of religious fundamentalists, although interestingly initial zionism and the first settlements were very secular. because jerusalem is half “palestinian” and half “israeli,” the israeli government financially subsidizes jewish settlement in the “palestinian” half so that when an agreement is reached all of jerusalem will just have to go to israel. this is termed “creating facts on the ground.”

we heard from an amazing speaker, probably my favorite of the semester so far, named gershom gorenberg. he’s a haphazard guy who looks like he hasn’t shaven or showered in about ten years. he knows more about the settlement movement than probably anyone in the world (has written numerous of books) and he takes a very objective stance on the issue, despite being a very religious jew himself. we also heard from a hardcore advocate for the settlements which was also very informative in understanding their worldview. we went to the menachem begin museum (a former prime minister of israel who almost single-handedly kickstarted the modern israeli right back in the 1970s).

one day we went to bethlehem, and besides going to the church of the nativity which was very cool, we hung out for some hours with palestinian students from bethlehem university which was a great experience. our student hosts took us to “the wall” that separates palestine from israel proper. we saw some graffiti from a guy called banksy, who goes to charged places in the world and does controversial graffiti (but it really shouldn’t be controversial). the anonymous person that is banksy does this in secret. you know you have a public relations problem if you notice their work on your infrastructure some morning.

a line i’ll never forget – one of the palestinian students in bethlehem told us “we just don’t know what to do. if the most powerful people in the world can’t solve this problem, then what can we do about it?” they were really cool kids. there are significant injustices against the palestinians. there are also powerful political disincentives for israelis to give the palestinians their full rights right now – if things changed overnight things very well might totally fall apart. our director keeps telling us – and it has been a little annoying until now but it is starting to sink in – that we all are herd animals and we all would likely react similarly to how various tribes of people (israelis, palestinians) do if placed in the same circumstance. what is needed for peace is a little pragmatism, and no one would disagree, they’d just argue that pragmatism is less important than their homeland. i’m really enjoying learning about this conflict; there is something strangely interesting about a problem that seems impossible to solve – we don’t seem to have too many of those in the west.

hello from jerusalem! we stayed in an extremely old fortress called the austrian hospice in the arab quarter of the old city, mere blocks from the western wall and the dome of the rock! the day we arrived here we explored the markets and alleyways of the old city. the via dolorosa, the path Christ took on His way to be crucified, runs right past where we are staying! we heard some perspectives from some christian zionists – a little disappointing, not just them but the whole movement in my opinion, but that’s more of an essay topic than one for an update. i supose my perspective on the current theological importance of this place is being developed, and i’m starting to think that “israel” isn’t really as important to being a christian as it has been implied to have been as i was growing up.

in jerusalem we went to yad vashem, the holocaust museum. definitely a sobering experience. the architecture of the museum is very evocative – it is shaped like a triangle that gets smaller and smaller as you go through it, then opens up to the “land” at the end. it has a zionist agenda, which is very understandable (but not so to many in our group – good discussions). we then heard from a really chill cultural expert about the different streams of judaism in israel. there are many, many. most israelis consider themselves secular. about 50% are ashkenazi (jews from western europe) and 50% have come from mostly arab countries (sephardim). these two groups have had significant divisions, even outright racism against one another.

the ultra-orthodox (wearing black suits, hats, and side curls) make up about 20% of israel’s population, but they punch above their weight in the political arena. this despite the fact that many boycott politics wholesale. there are seemingly infinite divisions between groups in the “ultra” classification. a couple interesting groups – one believes the messiah was a rabbi in brooklyn a couple years ago – they advertise him on busses, hand out tracks, etc. some ultraorthodox are even anti-zionist – one group went so far as to attend and give keynote speeches at ahmedinejad’s holocaust denial conference in iran. in the evening on shabbat (the beginning of the sabbath) we went to the western wall. that was a fascinating experience –thousands of ultra-orthodox jews praying, even in a tunnel-like addition to the western wall plaza that extends out westward underneath the city – following the wall of the temple. they bob back and forth, many of the evangelizing groups dance around and sing… it seemed to be quite a happy time.

ultra-orthodox men walk through our neighborhood in the arab quarter, but they keep their heads down; sort of sad. some of them hold onto their side curls lest the muslim kids pull on them. just down the road there is plaque for an ultra-orthodox who was stabbed to death because he was out too late. so the interfaith cooperation isn’t doing well at all on this level. that said – if a jew ever identified themselves as such in a place like syria or parts of egypt it would be infinitely worse than it is here. so after recently being in these places, i am actually a somewhat impressed with the fact that folks seem to be managing to coexist nonviolently here for the most part.