Nadia and I arrived in Israel two days ago and I celebrated my birthday and international women's day with my family in Givat Ada, Israel. From where I am it seemed like a non-event. The day seemed to have been reduced to special supplements in the daily newspapers dedicated to special diets and celebrity women who manage to combine career and motherhood. The word feminist appeared in one article in reference to the feminist revolution, which according to the author failed :-(
This evening, however, I found an article on the back page of the Israeli daily Haaretz (which has an English edition as well), an article about the US based feminist group Code Pink, which has a delegation in Gaza that includes Alice Walker. I am going to check and see if the English version has the story and include a link here.
The weather has been great. It was actually too hot when we landed...Glad we left our heavy coats in Plattsburgh. We've been hanging out with my mom and my sister and her kids. It's been fun to see everyone dressed up as this is Purim, the Jewish Halloween.
Nadia continues to be fascinated by alley cats, an interest that started a few years ago and has become a central theme in our travels. I think that part of her photo essay, will be once again dedicated to cats in the Middle East.
I am going to upload a few pictures as I et ready for our travels to Haifa and Nazareth to see friends and give a talk to a group of Palestinian women activists and intellectual who hold Israeli citizenship.

I will try and provide updates on Facebook as well.

I came down with a bad cold as we left Haifa. I am trying a combination of naturale remedies and over-the-counter medications to get rid of the congestion before we have to get on the plane tomorrow evening.
I have no doubt that my exhaustion made me more volunerable to this cold, not to mention the cold weather and a few sick folks we hang out with... I just hope that Nadia won't get my cold before we get to Olympia.

It's nice to have this down time with my family. Nadia has been playing lots of board games with her cousin Noa and with my mom.

There is so much I was planning to write before I leave here -- I have piles of notes I took in Haifa when I didn't have regular access to the web -- but my body hurts, so I willpost some photos and the more in-depth analysis will have to wait until I feel better.

We held a small memorial service on a veery cold day in the cemetry in Nazareth-Elit, overlooking the Palestinian village Ikssal, whose lands have no doubt been confiscated to build the cemetry.
As my nephew said "Kadish" (the prayer that boys/men say in Judaism), the Muslim call for prayer sounded in the background...
Nadia was very sweet. She wanted me to take a picture of the grave, so she could bring her kids to see where her grandfather is burried.
I did write quite a bit about my relationship to Nazareth Elit in the blog I kept last year. If you are interested, check out the article titled "compassionate resistance in Israel and Palestine" on my webpage.

I always enjoyed traveling the road from Nazareth to Haifa. As a child this journey was to my beloved grandmother who lived there. Later, when I moved to haifa (I lived there for 8 years) the journey symbolized my personal and political transformation.
I am excited about spending a few days here and sharing Haifa with Nadia. I will write more tomorrow as I don't have my laptop with me and I am using a computer in the lobby and someone is waiting to use it. Pardon the typos.

The apartment I grew up in Nazareth Elit

Nadia and I left the Jerusalem Hotel yesterday. It was so nice to spend time with Raed. We were always so busy in the past and this time we did get to talk and not only about politics. I wish the weather was better and I could see the project Raed is working on at Bitzeit University. It is something to do with preserving the history of the village of Birzeit.

I am posting some photos Nadia and I took of the hotel. THIS IS THE PLACE TO STAY IF YOU ARE TRAVELING TO PALESTINE!!! You can email Raed at: raed@jrhotel.com









We are in Givat Ada now and tomorrow we head to Nazareth Elit for a memorial service for my dad who passed away 3 years ago. In Judaism, you go up to the cemetary every year on the anniversary. From there, we will continue to Haifa for a few days, both for site-seeing and to re-connect with friends.

Raed has been insisting on taking Nadia to Jericho, so she could ride the new cable cars. Because he is building a house there he had to go anyway and suggested that Nadia and I come along. By the time we got there it was getting dark and it seemed as though the cable cars where not in operation, most likely because it was Christmas Day. But we did get a special tour of the house, which looks more like a palace. We drank tea and ate organges, which Nadia picked from the tree in the garden.

The house is being built on the land where Raed's grandmma's house once stood. I learned from Raed that before the Israeli occupation, when the West Bank was under Jordanian rule, Palestinians who could afford it had winter homes in Jericho, which is located in the Jordan Valley.



The trip was intense for me as I reaclled my military service in that area. In fact, the refugee camp we passed at the entrance of the city is the first refugee camp I saw and became aware of. It is that camp that set me off on my personal and political journey to unpack the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to understand how I am implicated in it. It is hard to believe that I am writing about events that took place 27 years ago, during my military service. I rememebr visiting Josh in military prison and hitch-hiking, against military regulations. I remember the stark contrast between the desert and the lush green of Jericho, the Oasis. I remember my friend Anat who run away from her shift at the Alenbi Bridge (the crossing point between Palestine and Jordan) because she couldn't stomach the de-humanization (both of Palestinians and of herself) that characterized the body searches she had to conduct. I remember the young men I served with and the stories they shared about their patrols along the Jordanian-Israeli border. It was during that period that I began to question everything, especially Zionism and militarization. It was also during that time that I became aware of how prevasive sexism is in Israeli culture and especially in the military.

I didn't share this story with Raed. I am not comfortable talking about my military service with Palestinians. I am uneasy mentioning it when Nadia is around. I hate the fact that to enter his house Raed had to go through a checkpoint... I noticed that Nadia, like me, gets tense everytime we stop at a checkpoint. Unlike Palestinians, we didn't have any problems so far. Nadia keeps asking why they build the checkpoints. I am glad that their existence doesn't make sense to her!

Yesterday we walked (with Michael, Michelle, and David) along the Old City's walls. It was our last morning to spend together as they were leaving in the afternoon. The weather was nice and the view from the walls was great. It was the most exercise I had since the beginning of the trip 2 weeks ago. The walk was very pleasant despite a minor incident of stone throwing. It was a tiny rock that hit the wall next to Nadia and startled her a bit. I immediately let the boys know (in Arabic) that we were not settlers. They apologized right away and welcomed us warmly to their neighborhood. Witnessing the behavior of settlers in the Old City, it is hard to blame these kids for their anger and frustration.

We arrived in Bethlehem as the march of kids band was heading to Manger Square. It was nice to hear loud drum beats and join the celebratory mood. People in Palestine don't have many reasons to celebrate these days. Quite a few little kids were dressed up in Santa costumes, the streets were decorated and people seemed cheerful. The Bethlehem Peace Center had people distributing an excellent brochure carrying the title: Let us pray for peace in the Holy Land. Light a candle in Bethlehem, where Jesus, the Prince of Peace was born. Inside the brochure, the authors did a very good job situating Christmas in Bethlehem in the context of the Israeli occupation.



Here are some excerpts, please share them with friends and family, if you feel that it is appropriate:

"The Nativity Church in Bethlehem, perhaps the most important of Christian Holy places throughout the world, is located in the West Bank and part of the Palestinian lan occupied by Israel since 1967. The cradle of biblical history, Bethlehem, is located five and a half miles from Jerusalem. Throughout history the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem have been mutually interconnected, economically dependent and culturally inseparable, until recently. When both communities found their movement effectively severed by Israel's military checkpoints. Then, soon after, Bethlehem became completely surrounded and strangled by the Wall! This means that the people of occupied Bethlehem and East Jerusalem are forced to carry different Israeli-issued ID cards which restrict freedom of movement and religion in both cities. Approximately 240,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites, for example, are often prevented from visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for prayer, family baptisms, weddings, etc. Although the communities of the two towns are intimately connected through family, education and religion, they are divided by a wall which triggers forced displacement and poverty and makes people leave the country."




I am trying to see if the text is anywhere in the web because almost everything is stuff that people should know.

I will also look for some pictures of the Apartheid Wall as I didn't get a chance to snap new ones yesterday.

The main event in Bethlehem yesterday was waiting for the Partiarch to arrive from Jerusalem and enter the Nativity Church. The scene was crowded and noisy but it was nice to be part of this, although the irony of a feminist waiting for the Partiarch didn't escape me. There were other contradictions I witnessed, some are captured in the photos.





Blond girl attracts attention...

We had originally planned to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Bethlehem but we decided to change our plans because Nadia met a new friend, I was too tired to pack and move to another hotel and people here told us that Christmas Day is very quiet in Bethlehem.

Nadia's new friend Michael is a few days younger than her (she insists I write that she is exactly 23 days older). Michael and his mom live in Prtland, OR but they live in Israel at the moment as Michelle teaches 2nd grade at the American International School in Kfar Shmaryahu. Michelle's boyfriend, David, who is visiting from the States and is also an Elementary School teacher was traveling with them. We met them at the Jerusalem Hotel the night before last and the kids became the best of friends, while I enjoyed being in he company of two very delightful people, committed to social justice and progressive education and very eager to learn anything they can about Palestine during their first visit to East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Nadia and Michael developed a very strong and special bond. They walked in Bethlehem hand in hand all of yesterday and have become inseparable. It is quite moving to witness how easy kids open up their world to connect with others. I have also marveled over the parts of Nadia that I get a glimpse into when she is in the company of another kid. I am reminded than that she is only 6!




The trip to and our day in Bethlehem was quite intense. We took a taxi from the Jerusalem Hotel and I was worried that they won't let me in because I was forced to use my Israeli passport to get into Israel and they don't allow Israeli citizen to go into the West ank and Gaza... I decided to use my American passport and had no problem. But the soldiers at the checkpoint decided to change the rules for Palestinians yesterday (something they do very often here) and not allow Palestinians who don't reside in Bethlehem to get through the checkpoint. Our driver, Walid has a Jerusalem ID card and has been shuttling tourists to and from Bethlehem for years. This is why the hotel suggested we use him. Otherwise, the only option is to take a taxi to the checkpoint, stand in line, go through the checkpoint and then get another taxi on the Bethlehem side. That's what Palestinians have to do every day and that's what the soldiers suggested we'll do. Walid's prodding with them didn't get us far. Lucky for us, an officer walked by to see what the commotion was and I decided to take over the negotiation. I used the kids to argue that it doesn't make sense to make us get off the taxi and go through the process of crossing the checkpoint. I was so aware of my privilege and of the fact that Palestinian families with kids younger than ours, will not get far even if they tried to negotiate. He did overrule the decision and let us through wishing us Merry Christmas and we used the opportunity to explain to the kids what checpoints do to kids their age in Palestine.


Nadia just woke up, so I am going to post this and write another entry with more pictures later.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate the holiday.

It is so nice to be back in East Jerusalem. We are staying at the Jerusalem Hotel, a beautiful authentic place, which I have stayed at since 1990. Raed Saadeh, the owner has done an amazing job renovating an old Palestinian house. We stayed here with Nadia in the summer of 2001 when she was 6 months old and the staff here was so happy to see us again. They have been treating us like guests of honor. In addition to some of the photos below, you should check the webpage at: www.jrhotel.com

Also pasted below are some pictures from the market in the old city. Nadia and I spent a few hours there yesterday morning. It was a rainy and cold day here (the first real winter day) but we had a great time. The market was busy due to the fact that it was Saturday but also the day before Christmas. People are more desperate than I remember for business. There are hardly any tourists around and the shopkeepers we spoke with expressed a mixture of hopelessness and despair.