Lew Shaw’s Blog from Haifa

From there I make my way back to East Jerusalem and walk down what the Israelis now call HaTsankanim St. (the tank corp) and the Arabs call Sultan Suleiman St. towards the Damascus Gate leading into the Old City. Maybe it won’t be as crowded as two days ago and I can look for some old haunts. As I approach the gate, a tour bus full of bedouin women is unloading a group of women covered head to foot in black, including veils across their faces. They walk single file towards the gate, most likely on their way to Haram Ash-Sharif (the Temple Mount), one of the most holy sites for Muslims.

As I’d hope, it’s too early for the crowds or the heat. So I set out to revisit some of the holy sites of the three Western religions and maybe find my favorite homus place from 35 years ago. I walk quietly down towards the Western Wall again, enter the security point, and am there. I walk down to the wall and into the archway to the new prayer area. I pull up a plastic chair and sit in prayer for a while, mostly among haredim and other orthodox Jews. From there I decide to go up on top of the Temple Mount again. I used to find it a peaceful place, but it was the site of the beginning of the first Intifada when Ariel Sharon (then Minister of Defense) led a group of followers onto the Muslim holy site, instigating an overflow of pent-up anger that led to a major Palestinian uprising and ensuing Israeli response.

On the Temple Mount are two beautiful mosques, Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, where Abraham is said to have been prepared to sacrifice his son (although Jews and Muslims disagree over which son). There are very few people in the area and it has that eiry feeling of a cool place in the middle of a very hot area, peaceful, holy, serene. After looking at the outside of the mosques (non-Muslim entry is prohibited) for a while, I find a shady spot and just sit and relax.

I leave through the gate that is supposedly restricted to Muslims only. I guess exit is OK, but not entrance. After wandering through the covered market areas of the old city for a while and, without anyone hassling me or trying to sell me anything, make my way to the Christian section to see the Church of the Holy Sepluchre. Thirty five years ago it was in the process of major restoration with masons hammering away all day on huge limestone blocks. Now the restoration is about complete. The church is full of Christian pilgrims of all sort – Europeans, Greek and Armenian Orthodox, nuns and monks, tourists, and me. I probably should know the history of the place, and it’s all in the guidebooks, but suffice to to say that it is a very holy place to Christians, dating back to the time of Jesus. Once again the feeling of holiness and immense serenity. Another opportunity to sit and take it in.

From there I wander through the Christian section looking for that memory of humos lunches after working all day at the bank on Jaffa Road. All of a sudden, a little hole-in-the-wall place that looks vaguely familiar, with the exception of the big Coca Cola cooler in the window where the humos-maker used to stand. I walk in and ask the proprietor how old the place is. He says his father opened it fifty years ago. I tell him that I remember his father and how he stood in that window with a huge plastic bowl under his arm, mashing the chick peas. He beams and insists I sit. I am brought a huge plate of the stuff, a side dish of felafel balls, and the usual assortment of onions, pickled cucumbers, olives, and radish. Yes, it’s as good as I remember, thankfully!

After returning to my hotel room to rest for a while, I decide that a nice contrast will be to wander into Meah Shearim to look for a new tallis. This is the ultra-orthodox section of Jerusalem, almost entirely populated by the Hasidim. The street is certainly abuzz with the black hatted, black coated, heavy bearded men rushing off to wherever, always rushing. And also no shortage of modestly dressed women inevitably pushing strollers. There are lots of shops selling Judaica, so shouldn’t be a problem finding a tallis. In the first three shops, the men insist I need a size 80, which, when I drape it over my shoulders, descends all the way to the floor. Obviously this is their style, but I guess I’m looking for a “shorty” style. Finally one guy allows me to choose a shorter one, we negotiate a price (less than Israel Bookstore) and I’m off. Although my only real meal of the day was the humos at lunch several hours ago, I am not the least bit hungry, so back to the room to relax and sleep.

On Saturday, I received an e-mail from the tour leader, Fred Schlomka, that my tour had been cancelled due to low registration. I e-mailed back that I had planned my trip to Jerusalem around his tour and if there was any alternative, please let me know. So on Sunday, while wandering the streets of the old city, I received a call from Fred with an option. He was doing a private tour of Greater Jerusalem and Bethlehem for a couple of Americans who said I could tag along (for a rather exorbitant fee). As an Israeli citizen, I am prohibited from entering the Palestinian controlled sections of the West Bank, including Bethlehem. I told that to Fred. He informed me that we would be traveling on roads that are used by settlers and “usually” we wouldn’t be stopped at any checkpoints. He said the worst that could happen to me (due to vagueness of the law) was that I might be detained for a few hours. This reminded me of my trip to Cuba about ten years ago! I really wanted to do the tour and my 60’s politics was pushing me to join in. Fred thought the risk was minimal and he was also an Israeli (with UK and American citizenship), so I decided to join in.

At 7 AM on Monday morning I caught a local bus to the hotel where Bill and his wife, Tara, were staying. They are a very nice couple from Washington State. Bill is CFO of the company that makes the Leatherman. He is a military history buff and very interested in the issues addressed by this tour. He is not Jewish, although she is. I met Fred there and filled him in on my anxiety and gave him a little history, including my military tenure in the Israeli Defense Forces. Fred gave a great briefing in a corner of the lobby of the hotel including maps showing the various partition options dating back to 1947 (UN proposal), Oslo, and various negotiations leading up to today. Clearly each round of negotiation had left the Palestinian section greatly diminished. In its current iteration, the Palestinian controlled areas are non-contiguous and it would be impossible to govern these “islands” as any sort of autonomous country by any standard. Further, since the various Intifadas and the increase in restrictions for Palestinians from traveling from one “island” to another, let alone entering annexed Arab East Jerusalem or Israel proper, make life incredibly difficult on a day-to-day basis.

We left the hotel around 9 AM and drove around Jerusalem onto the “settler road” towards the town of Beit Sahor outside of Bethlehem to meet up with one of our guides, Samir, an Arab Greek Orthodox political activist resident of Beit Sahor. The settler road is open to Israelis and Palestinians (at least for the moment) and is bordered on either side by imposing metal fences with rows of barbed wire on top. These fences aparently have sensors on them that immediate alert the military if anyone touches it, and response takes a matter of a minute or two. Isn’t technology great!

At Samir’s house, we meet him and he joins us in the van as our guide. He takes us to the top of a hill in his town and shows us where a beautifully forested hill adjacent had been appropriated and within a matter of a couple of years converted into a suburb of Jerusalem, complete with high-rise apartment buildings and related infrastructure, of course surrounded by rows of fences and more barbed wire. He also shows us many newly constructed local homes slated for demolition. The Israeli reason is that no building permit was given. Of course no building permits are ever given, so locals just go ahead and build. Eventually the military shows up unannounced at 4 AM giving the family 20 minutes to removed belongings before a bulldozer razes the house. Resistance is futile. One group, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (http://www.icahd.org/eng/) is trying to help on this issue, including raising funds to continually rebuild demolished homes, often several times.

From Beit Sahor we travel to Bethlehem, the next town. I remember Bethlehem very well. When I lived in Israel, the West Bank was occupied territory and Israelis could freely travel there. We used to drive to Bethlehem from Jerusalem frequently for lunch or shopping, or show visitors the Christian tourist sites, a 20 minute, totally safe and routine drive. At the outskirts of the city I get my first glimpse of the separation wall which Israel has erected in several parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. I don’t know how I can describe it, but have included several photos. Imposing is an understatement. Stories of how the wall has separated villages, families, neighborhoods, etc., abound. Samir also shows us how the wall has wound its way around the tomb of Rachel in the middle of Bethlehem, such that it is now outside of the Palestinian side of Bethlehem and only accessible on the other side, the Jewish side, of the wall.

Just outside of Bethlehem are two refugee camps. The largest, Dheisheh, is home to 11,000 residents who left their homes (by choice or eviction) in 1948. 6,000 of these residents are children and the camp is less than one square kilometre. During the first Intifada residents were locked in, and the now unused gate is left as a memorial to the residents killed during the conflict. We are brought to a little community center where we meet a young resident whose name I can’t remember. We are offered coffee, then told none is available since this is the first day of Ramadan. Then we are told in detail how difficult life is in the camp. Although I agree that life is hard here, I don’t hear anything I haven’t heard or read about before. These people lived in tents for several years until the UN built each family a 3 metre by 3 metre square room (up to 10 people per room). Now residents are starting build apartments. Poverty abounds, unemployment is over 70%, residents have minimal legal status (no passports) and life is even harder since the Intifadas. Before that, many people worked in Israel proper. Even after the conflicts, residents were able to get into Israel illegally. The separation wall has all but eliminated that option.

Samir then took us to a restaurant for lunch (owned by his in-laws). Again humos and felafel, then back to Greater Jerusalem. This is the point where I could potentially get caught. Fred tells me that if I get asked at a checkpoint, just to give my Israeli passport (the one which has the entrance stamp in it) and hope for the best. At the checkpoint, the border policeman asks who we are. Fred says I am a friend from Haifa and our guests are Americans. He requests the American passports and ignores me. We are allowed to pass through and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Now we’re back in Greater Jerusalem. Fred is going to show us parts of Arab East Jerusalem, how the separation wall has split neighborhoods (in what looks like a strategic way of making life so untenable that residents will leave), and also some of the new Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem built on expropriated Arab areas. He takes us to the checkpoint where Palestinians can go from Jerusalem (annexed as part of Israel) to Ramallah. What used to be a twenty minute drive now takes a couple of hours due to checkpoint delays. There are now over 400 checkpoints in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. There are also a network of Jewish-only, Palestinian-only (not as nice), and mixed roads. Also the rules seem to be constantly changing. We are also taken to an area where a mixed road is being converted to a Jewish-only road with the construction of a Palestinian-only road right next to in, but on the other side of the separation wall. All seems to be designed to make life even more unbearable for Arabs (all in the name of security). The Israelis cite the fact that suicide bombings have all but stopped since the building of the various separation walls. Of course, Israeli press makes no mention of a Hamas moratorium on attacks about a year ago. I guess it depends on your political leanings, how this is viewed. We are also taking to Ma’ale Adomim, one of the first of the suburbs of Jerusalem built in occupied lands. It is a beautiful, modern suburb, complete with shopping centers, swimming pool and other amenities.

It was a great day. Although I learned a lot, I was already aware of much of this. The main import was in seeing it with my own eyes, something that was difficult on many levels. Regretfully the vast majority of Israelis have a much different view of the situation and political discussions with them is impossible, so I am careful. Even when I mentioned my plans to my old friend Avi (both he and his brother were seriously injured in 1973), he got quite upset and I dropped it. I’m meeting him tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. I also need to mention that there are at least two sides to the conflict and I was given a very biased description from the Palestinian side. It needs to be put into perspective. But it is clear that Israel is continually violating human rights. The average Palestinian, just trying to get by and provide for family, is suffering a great deal.

Throughout the day, I asked each of our three guides what they thought a workable solution was. Each gave the same view. At one point, they all favored a two-state option. In its current iteration, given the shrinking and cutting up of the Palestinian sections, this is now no longer an option. In addition all acknowledged the curruption and ineptitude of the Palestinian Authority in its ability to govern. The only solution, which I heard from a Jew, a Christian Arab, and a Muslim Arab, is one state. They all contend that Israel, as a Jewish state, is not really a democracy (equal rights for all residents). Israel needs to be converted to a true democracy which will extend its borders to the Jordan River. There needs to be a period of “forgiveness and forgetting”. The model is similar to South Africa, but also different. It is closer to the 200 year history of the United States and its conflict with civil rights and democracy. 200 years ago the founding father gave rights to white, land holding men. It has taken 200 years to include all factions of our population (including women and minorities) and we are still struggling with inequities in our system. So Israel needs to begin its own process of equality. It seems to me that it fits the Judaic teachings as I understand them.

Getting to Jerusalem was a snap. I hopped on the number 3 bus from my corner and it wound down the hills of Haifa to the new bus station next to the new train station. I bought a round-trip ticket on the direct bus to Jerusalem which leaves every half hour or so. I had been warned not to get there too early, as the buses would be crammed with soldiers returning from weekend leave. By 10 AM there were still a lot of soldiers, but I did my best to push my way into what served as a queue onto the bus. The bus left and headed down the main road to Tel Aviv. It then veered off onto the new highway that cuts through parts of the disputed West Bank area (all of which is classified as Zones A, B, or C). This four lane highway is a “Jews only” highway (more in the next segment) and cuts through to rejoin the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway further on. Within an hour and a half I felt us ascending the winding hills towards Jerusalem. I really could sense something, and without warning started to feel quite emotional and tearful, perhaps from my history there or perhaps from my people’s.

The entrance to Jerusalem and the central bus station were totally unrecognizable. When we finally got through the traffic jam to the bus station, we descended into chaos, retrieved our bags from under the bus, and pushed our way through the security checkpoint to enter the station. This took quite a while. The central station has a little mini-shopping mall in it. I got out of there as quickly as possible and walked across Jaffa Road to find the bus stop to get downtown. The bus took about 30 minutes to arrive and then wound through various detours to get to Kikar Tzion where my hotel was located. Jaffa Road is a total mess, as it is being torn up for the installation of a light rail system through the center of the city.

My hotel, the Jerusalem Hostel, was certainly “modest”. The guide book did it justice – great location if you aren’t going to be spending a lot of time in your room! The single room was quite small, a bit dingy, but a very clean bathroom and good ventilation. There was also a very comfortable chair for reading and working, a comfortable bed, and a small TV. And it is easy walking distance to the old city, market, and other places, including the new pedestrian shopping mall that was once Ben Yehuda Street.

After settling in, I let my feet decide to take me down to the old city. It was hot and I was a bit tired, but thought it would be a good orientation. On the way I passed the Bank Leumi building where I worked for many years. As Avi had told me, the bank had sold the building and was planning to move to more modern digs outside the city center next month. The ground floor where I had worked is now closed, but I was able to look at it through the locked glass doors. The place had not changed a bit!

I entered the Jaffa Gate into the old city and proceeded down the main commercial area in the Muslim Quarter, turning left into the Christian Quarter. Then I headed for the Damascus Gate. I was immediately overcome by the mass of people, so cut down a small street headed to the Wall. Surprisingly everything looked quite familiar to me. All the shops looked the same, as did all the goods for sale. There didn’t seem to be many foreign tourists around, mostly locals and occasionally Israelis behaving like tourists. Of course, when I told people in Haifa that I was going to Jerusalem, they all warned me to stay out of the old city as it was “dangerous”. Was this fear of Arabs justified or not? I certainly wanted to find out. The Israeli military – army, police, and border police – are all over the place, decked out in heavy vests, rifles and batons at the ready. I keep myself focused and aware of my surroundings and did not sense any feelings of danger, tension, or animosity. But it certainly was not as friendly as I remember it long ago.

The entrance to the area of the Western Wall has certainly changed. First, very intense security to get it – X-ray machines, lots of uniforms, etc. The area leading to the Wall has been totally renovated and modernized. Of course the Wall hasn’t changed, nor the scene as one approaches it. To the immediate left of the wall, the tunnel that was first opened up while I was there has now been transformed into a very nice cavern/sanctuary full of men praying. I went it and just sat there for quite some time.

By then I was tired, so headed back to my hotel. I realized that I hadn’t eaten yet today (in the heat it’s easy to forget). I passed an Ethiopian restuarant at the beginning of Jaffa Road and went it. Since it was only 5 PM, I was the only one there. I ordered a vegetarian dish and enjoyed scooping up the lentils and yellow peas in the sour, spongy ingira bread, a welcome change from my regular diet of humos and felafel (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).