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The closest to the kingdom that you can come| | I've hesitated to post about israel- It's been written for a few months now so I might as well post it now that 5 months later I'm in Israel AGAIN, and haven't posted this last one. So here it is-the January analysis. New impressions coming next.
The subject line btw (in addition to being a Mars Volta reference) is the thought I kept thinking as I looked across into the Promised land from Mount nebo and Bethany in Jordan. You can see jerusalem, but I honestly expected I might be denied entry due to my history of unsavory countries (many of Israel's enemies) combined with the Gaza situation. Fortunately, I got closer than Jordan to the kingdom...and I do Believe Jerusalem is as close as you can get...
There are so many nuances here it's hard to capture them. You must go there- simply the most intriguing corner of the world- or perheps the "eye of the world" (Holy Sepulchre) of Naval of he World (the Foundation Stone- in theDome of the Rock, formerly the Hebrew Temple). So let's get to it.
Israel is a very odd state. I was constantly struck by its uniqueness-even more obvious on this trip than my last one because I spent so much time on this trip enmeshed in the Arab world. Of course its obvious that its the only predominantly Jewish area (in the region), it was created under very unique circumstances, and so on. But knowing that and re-experiencing it after the last 3 weeks of middle eastern travel, immediately upon crossing the border its a different place. Womenwork. And of course don't wear headscarves. The Star of David is a source of pride, not derision. Also, the prices and level of development are close to Western, while the state, even amongst its Jewish population, is incredibly diverse, religiously (level of outward piousness) as well as racially- more so than elsewhere in the Mideast (though Syria and Lebanon are religiously very diverse). It is known that there are levels of racism in Israeli society, (a perhaps weak example: that Ethiopian Jews are always the most menial positions) but its levels of modernization is essentially western in how society treats its citizens.
Before I start pontificating, let me review some of Jerusalem's main sights. First, the Western Wall. This is all that remains of theTemple when it was destroyed in AD 70. I have prayed here several times, as has President Obama and every Jew that comes through Israel. The notable thing is that men and women are divided with women are given only 1/3 of the wall to pray at. It feels odd, though apparently only in the last 20 years were they given ANY of the wall. The place is of course very conservative, which makes it very atmospheric- mostly due to the Haredim, Ashkanazzi Jews dressed in traditional eastern european clothes- mostly big black hats and suits, and with various levels of long hair from their temples-long sidelocks, or in Hebrew Peyot. some interpretations of Jewish law say this should not be cut- and there are a plethora of styles originating form Jews in the Diaspora in many different places. Also notable especially (thoughalso throughout the state) is the tons of security, armored soldiers everywhere, more than on capitol hill in DC. Perhaps rightly so, after numerous violent events here. When Israel won East Jerusalem, they cleared the Moroccan quarter of the old city of Jerusalem so now the area below the western wall is an open plaza.
The mount of olives is also a famous landmark- covered with tombs of the (primarily) Jewish faithful departed. At is base is the Garden of Gethsemene, where Jesus prayed the night before his crucifixion; there are still olive trees there that were possibly alive at that time (olive trees olive for thousands of years. The mount of olives is the route Jesus took on Donkey through the (now permanently closed) Golden Gate into Jerusalem on "Palm Sunday". It's also, nowadays, the best view of the old city and a great place for the sunset. This was sunset from the mount of olives this time; not quite as awesome as 5 years ago (taken from mount scopus which is part of the mount of olives massif).
Of course the most famous Christian landmark in the city is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is a single church housing the tomb and the spot of crucifixion of Christ. It's maintained by 5 (or even 6 apparently)different branches of Christianity- The Armenians, Syrians, Catholics, Russians, Greeks, and Coptics. Since protestants didnt come along till the 16th century, they did not get a piece of this old bizarre church, and consequently claim the tomb is at another spot, well outside the old city. The location of Jesus' crucifixion (and burial) is not necessarily known. While he was somewhat of a celebrity during his crucifixion, and his followers no doubt knew of the spot, Christianity was made illegal during the roman empire for 250 years, so no great churches could be constructed. The spot of the Holy Sepulchre owes to Helena, Constantine's mother who traveled to Jerusalem when Christianity was legalized in the early 4th c. and searched out information about the locations of the historic events. It seems that various pagan temples were often built on top of Christian holy spots, so Helena located two such pagan altars which she then determined to be- calvary and the tomb. Whether she used local Christian traditions/knowledge, archaeological evidence, or just guesswork, its not obvious. But the locations line up with biblical descriptions so certainly this traditionally held location for the Holy Sepulchre is plausible. So this great church was built and many holy land pilgrimages ensued. The destruction of he original Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the 11th century by the Caliph led in part to the Crusades. Even the "new" building is almost 1000 years old with lower chapels even older, presumably to the original. And still it is a major pilgrimage spot and despite the dark and dirty nature of the ancient church, provides an intriguing look at Christianity and its multitude of factors and (For the record, the Catholics have the least interesting and most insignificant corner of the Church, though we did attend Italian mass in one of the two catholic chapels. The Russians have calvary and the Greeks have the tomb. The catholics, however do get the lion's share of the Church of the nativity...)
Not 10 miles from Jerusalem, but on the other side of the Palestinian Wall, is Bethlehem, the purported birthplace of Jesus. While Jesus' life before his public ministry is very obscure, this detail is very much less than certain (the story perhaps fits a little too well as him being David's son 42 generations larter- born in the city of David...) but nevertheless, Bethlehem houses the venerable Church of the Nativity, one of the very oldest churches in the world. This trip was a cakewalk compared to the 2003 visit (when we jumped the pre-wall barb wire fence into Palestine at night and then bribed a Palestinian authority official for Christmas Midnight mass tickets. We got the previous year's which were good enough with a strategically placed thumb).
On to the issues. There are a plethora of opinions on the conflict-most of them very polarized: that Israel wants peace but don't have a partner. That Israel forcibly took lands on a weak mandate that for hundreds of years were occupied by palestinians. That "peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." That the Palestinians target civilians while Israel warns civilians of impending attacks, meaning that Israel is fighting the Humanitarian way. That Israel is an Apartheid state that operates itself in a racist manner. That Israel could absorb millions of Russian and African Jews and still maintain its prosperity while the Palestinians in exile still live in camps throughout the Arab world. That Israel is a Zionist entity seeking to establish itself, as promised in the Bible, from the Nile to the Euphrates. That there is no such thing as a 'Palestinian." That the wall creates ghettos like Nazi Germany. That Israel has completely/ has not honestly complied with UN 242. The whole issue is extremely complex and almost every nuance of it can be seen from a plethora of points of view. For the record, all of the viewpoints above I disagree with.
I have studied the Is/ Pal situation as much as a 3rd party could for 7 years now. But this trip, my second to the area, brought me at least one major insight: the 2 sides are fundamentally and culturally different to the point that any resounding argument on one side will be almost irrelevant on the other. It's not a debate where points are scored by an unbiased judge. It's a football game where both sides think the referee is favoring the other player. And, given the asymmetries of he situation, they are both right. Actually its a game of football where one side is playing Canadian football and the other is playing rugby, and there is no referee except the news reporters and fans.
The major point being missed is that there is an incredible collision of worlds. The Arab world is, for the most part, corrupt and dysfunctional, and most all of the best minds leave for the west. Israel was created from largely European Jews who flowed into the country, having already adopted the developed way of life. They created a Western state founded on a tribal idea, smack in the middle of one of the slowest developing places around. It's as if the USA suddenly bordered Guatemala and Bolivia. Or if the UK suddenly was wedged between Russia and Mongolia. Neighbors mean a lot; when you don't share a lot in common, its hard to come to agreement.
The basic point here: Israelis live in relative comfort. Palestinians, in general, live in relative squalor. Both sides live in constant threat of violence, so the psyches there are of course substantially off. But the difference is that, while the fear is on both sides, the humiliation is largely one-sided, with checkpoints and modern ghettos.
The safety situation: completely fine. If we wouldn't have been reading and watching the news (which Liora was hours each day) we wouldn't know anything was going on. The Arab market in East Jerusalem apparently closed for 2 days immediately following the Gaza bombings but was up and running after that, by the time we got there a day or two later. I ventured into Bethlehem- as normal and easy as buying a falafel here! Of course a lot of shop owners have been moving out since the second intifada all but strangled tourism, but really, Bethlehem is normal.
Palestine is really six or eight cities, tightly controlled. The rest of the West bank is used by Israel to grow crops, eggs, milk, etc. Occasionally you'll see a roaming Palestinian goatherd or camel-master, but mostly Israeli cars, shops, and land use throughout the Jordan Valley. Palestinian cars are generally restricted to cities; this leaves Israel with essentially full control of all of the West bank, both for land and road use. If Palestine were to be independent it would be at a huge infrastructural and logistical cost to Israel.
The Wall dividing the west Bank from Israel proper? Indeed it is a divisive political target. Only 6 feet high when Liora and I came in 2003, now it is fully assembled. I will say that while it is a horrible thing to build a wall, it does add a feeling of security in Israel proper, especially now that the "Third intifada" has begun while we were over there. The Palestinian-side graffiti included an artfully done Hebrew lion destroying a peace dove and a dove with a bullet-proof vest flying in the crosshairs of a rifle. Most, if not all, wall graffiti is in English. This is, in my estimation, done by Western sympathizers. Most locally done graffiti takes the style of the tricolor paint (red-green black), is written in Arabic, and is less artistic, perhaps more militant (bleeding swords, etc) and less poetic and artistic.
Regardless, actual danger is low, and actual difficulties crossing into or out of the territories are minimal, and even have genuine pleasantries (if you're an American/ European/ non Palestinian).
I've also been trying to understand the conflict through the scriptures. The land of Canaan (the promised land) was actually taken by force- Jericho destroyed and every one if its inhabitants killed; Jerusalem likewise was taken over by the Israelites by force. This history, a very bloody and violent Tanakh/ old testament, might have something to do with the justification for violent in present-day Palestine. Reading the Pentateuch, I actually think that, were Hebrew, I would be settling the west bank ("Judea and Samaria) as well... Hebron with the tomb of the Patriarchs and other quintessentially Jewish lands are in the current west bank. So this of course conflicts with modern day respect of other cultures, but in the tribal approach, you take what you can, and most certainly fight for what is yours; the Jews have a claim to the West Bank- they took it fair and square according to the laws of the day in the time of Joshua...
For the record: The border crossing into Israel from Jordan, into Galilee took 3 hours, more than an hour of it due to the inefficient and absurd jordanian system, 5 minutes to pass through the Israel formalities, 30 minutes of additional questioning because of my Syrian Lebanese and Afghan visas (3 of the bad 7- not too shabby!), and more than an hour waiting- presumably as they checked my file. I waited far longer than anyone else. However, notably different than 5 years ago, all border guards and also Westbank and checkpoint staff were very friendly, wishing a happy new year, a good day, etc, seemingly genuine. The only one I met with an attitude was at the dome of the rock, were I also met a security guard with attitude last time. I guess this is the single most sensitive place in the entire region (the Temple Mount) so things are very tight.
Ironically, we had originally decided to go through Galilee for security considerations. The more widely used Allenby bridge goesstraight across the 30ish miles between Amman and Jerusalem in a direct line, but passes through the heart of the west bank. As it was, we drove north on the Jordan side, crossed, and then picked up the Israeli bus which then just drove back down the other side of the Jordan and took the same road that we'd have taken after the Allenby bridge. So our trip spent even longer in the West bank (the Jordan valley there, especially the clouds, are gorgeous) driving back south.
Pictures exist. But not today. I will post about my most recent Palestinian and Jerusalem adventures (from today and yesterday) probably this weekend!
| | | Posted 6/18/2009 5:59 AM - 15 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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