Review Of My Five Weeks In Palestine

I like lists, so I thought I'd try to sum up my experiences over the 5 weeks spend in Palestine for you all. And, partly, this is for me as well and I continue to process...

What I learned about living in Palestinian culture:

(1) Silence is non-existent, and that's OK :) Everyone lives so close, so there's noise from the neighborhood, noise from the cars, noise from the call to prayer, noise from inside the house --- the TV, the phone, the conversations that feel like arguments because they are talking so loudly and moving their arms a lot, but they're really *not* arguing at all it's just how they talk. It's never silent.

(2) Work may not be done in the way I would do it, but that doesn't mean it won't get done ... at least, at my specific job at The Environmental Education Center. I'm highly impressed, actually, at how they get done everything with a staff of 4 people ... and they take on so so much. But it all works out!

(3) Family relationships are everything. I can't even tell you how many times a week my family sees everyone else in their family or at least calls them. Everyone has an open-door policy. If someone comes over, you stop what you are doing and talk to them. Even if they're here to see your son or another member of the family. Everyone is family.

(4) Ask anything; listen always. Everyone's more open to talk than you might think; and they all have stories. *Good* stories. Meaningful stories about them, their lives, their families ... not stuff they read in a book or saw in a movie. If it's a man, he probably has a prison story ... and it's probably hard to talk about.

(5) Always give your guest more food than the most food you could ever eat. I watch them eat and they eat normal portion sizes and yet expect you to eat 3 times as much.

(6) The women rule. My host mom never stopped doing something. Cooking takes all day. She's always cleaning or doing laundry or *something* and she amazes me.

(7) Every kid wants to try out their English. Speak to them in Arabic, and they'll respond in English.
Example--
me: Marhaba
kid: Hi! How are you? Where you from? What your name? (((the Arabic language does not have "am, is, are")))

(8) Cultural loves: Arab soap operas and Arab music.
I will take some of the music home with me for sure ... the soap operas I'm okay leaving behind :)

(9) Pickles on everything are a must.

(10) Always drink hot tea. With fresh mint if you have it. Especially on swealtering hot days and you are dripping with sweat.

(11) Arab men stare by rule. Just get used to it. And keep walking...

(12) The taxi drivers are crazy drivers, but always up for a good conversation. And they will most likely rip you off .... but at least you know it's going to their family here and not to waste.

(13) Most Palestinians want to know why the heck and American would ever live in Bethlehem. They also want to know why Americans don't know where Palestine is or that it exists... but that's another story.

(14) People don't really walk a ton here. It's hilly and hot, though, so I don't blame them.

(15) As with any community of people, it's never safe to assume that they all feel the same about "big issues". Religion, the occupation, how to make a living now, what they want for their children ... it all varies a lot.

(16) Want a free drink or tea? Just walk through the suuq (market), and some store-owner will offer one to you. There's one owner I frequently pass by who just says: "Where you want to go? What you want to drink?"

(17) Don't expect anything to happen on time or quickly. "Mish mushkelah" -- no worries :)

(18) Most Palestinians have some family in the US -- and usually in Michigan or New Jersey. I usually say "Indiana, by Michigan" just so it's clear where I actually live.

(19) Palestinians are proud of their food and use the word "fresh" OFTEN. "I make everything fresh." "Do you like the lamb? It's fresh." AND, they'll usually use the word in comparison with American food --- either their experience of it, or their perception of it. I told one of my co-workers that I wanted to learn how to cook Palestinian dishes at home and she said, "Yes, you can learn .... but you don't have the fresh ingredients in America."

(20) The Christian women in Bethlehem dress up frequently and wear heals often, even walking uphill on uneven streets. Wow.

(21) Life is just hard here for Palestinians. And I feel like it's hard especially in Bethlehem that is literally constricted by the Wall. Places like Ramallah and Nazareth felt like they had a bit more free air than Bethlehem (though, I'm sure economically it's not much greater in these places). On my last day in Bethlehem I stopped by and said goodbye to a shopowner that's a younger guy that I frequently see and Jonathan has hung out with. I told him that I might come back and he goes, "Don't. Don't ever come back here. Life's hard here. And it's the same thing. I open my shop at 6:30 and close at 10 at night every day, and every day it's the same thing. It's a hard life."

(22) Even though life is hard, there is still a lingering sense of vibrance and vitality to the Palestinians. And you can see both the stress and the smiles in their faces.

(23) Another random-but-brilliant thing: my host family would always be wearing house-clothes when at home and not their nice clothes that they'd wear out to the store or church or to see people. This makes so much sense to me in a place where it's so hot in the summer that your clothes get drenched in sweat. Why not change into something else when you get home?

What I learned about myself:

(1) Well, I learned quickly that I had to adjust my time-schedule and adopt of new attitude of being relaxed. It really worked, actually. I felt like a lot of the anxiety I experience at home for things not happening on time or in my way .... all that disappeared and I was able to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Enjoy being clueless as to what's going on and enjoy not having to be uptight about time/schedules.

(2) I was reminded with language-learning that reading and writing is much easier for me than speaking and listening.

(3) I learned that with my family, even if I had no clue what they were saying, it still meant a lot for me to sit there and just *be* with them, occasionally being able to enter the conversation ... rather than doing my own thing or whatever. This was a stretch for me the introvert, but I found it to be rewarding.

(4) Food-wise I will try anything. And somehow I was able to eat the food I dislike the most (we're talking *thinking* about it just makes me want to vomit) to not displease or offend my host mom: Jello. Ugh!! ... I did it and I'm proud of myself, but I would like to erase that experience from memory as soon as possible....

(5) I am such a map person and it's hard to just figure out where the heck I am here where the streets have no name! So I had to adapt and become a 'landmark' person. "Turn left when you see the church on your right and the mosque to the left..." that sort of thing.

(6) I really don't 'get used to' seeing lots of guns. Especially when passing the checkpoints, I know I have nothing to worry about ... but it's like I *feel* like I've done something wrong. I get sick to my stomach passing the army. My walk from work every day back to Bethlehem involved passing an IDF post, and it really just made me so nervous. But, to be honest I felt a lot safer in Bethlehem than in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is just a clashing of SO many different people that it's like your head is swimming as you're walking around, just trying to find the solid ground.

(7) I can take a shower in like 2 minutes with very little water. It's really not that hard!

Things I will miss:

(1) My Arabic class. And then being able to pick up words and phrases in conversations. Still can't understand very much or carry a conversation. But still...

(2) The food. Hands down, amazing. I really did not get sick of falafel. I love hummus. Zatar -- the kind my host mom makes. Eggs every day for breakfast but made in 5 different ways. Chicken and more rice than you can handle. Getting served three kinds of meat in a row, each portion being more than I would eat 'normally'. The lemonade with mint!!! Tea multiple times a day. The homemade bread. Schwarma. Ice cream bars. My host mom saying, "Sarah, kuli kamman!" (eat more).

(3) The lady I buy fruit from. She's this beautifully plump old lady with a permanent smile ... and she just sells uh-mazing fruit!

(4) Walking A LOT. Okay a part of me really doesn't like some of those walks. But another part of me will miss it ...

(5) Learning about the conflict while here --- actually *seeing* the Wall, going through checkpoints, hearing the voices of unheard Palestinians. All of it. Internalizing the difficulties as much as possible, and literally getting my feet dirty.

(6) Hearing those curious phrases: "Yalla" or "Yalla bye" or "Y'ani..." or "As you like" or really anything they say in English that I know they are translating straight from Arabic so it's not quite coming out as they mean it but it's still wonderfully perfect. Example: when they say "Which time you want to go?" what they *really* mean is "What time do you need to leave?" So great :) And I like with they use "Y'ani" (a filler word, meaning "it's like") when speaking in English. "I tried to go to the market today, y'ani, but it was, y'ani, too hot to go."

(7) The sounds. Again, in some ways I really don't like the noise .... but it's the small things, like the 5 times a day call to prayer from the local mosque, especially the one that wakes me up in the morning :) Or the man selling bread from his cart walking down the street yelling "Cake! Cake!" Or the honking of horns in car 'caravans' on the weekends after a wedding ceremony. Actually, cars don't really *stop* honking their horns here --- the taxi drivers almost drive up onto the sidewalk ON you to get you in their car!!

(8) Trips with the group and learning a lot and getting to seeing a lot of cool places. Though, I do feel like in the month I was here I got to see and do A LOT. I feel satisfied in that way, nashkur allah (thanks be to God).

(9) Just the sheer ability to *absorb* culture by walking down the street, especially the market in Bethlehem.

Things that I may never have an answer to and am maybe not meant to:

(1) How can the major elements of the occupation --- the Wall, the settlements, house demolitions and land annexation in East Jerusalem --- be explained by "security"??? My Israeli taxi driver in Tel Aviv confidently mentioned that putting 'them' [the Palestinians] in a "prison" with the Wall was a good thing and made life better for him, all in the name of security. I don't get it.

(2) What is the answer? Two states seems impossible since the Palestinians wouldn't be left with much at all. One state seems *so* complicated.... aye, me.

(3) Christian Zionism really confuses me. I don't get it and kind of feel defeated about it a lot of times.

(4) Lots and lots more....

What I learned about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (and this is just a little bit; I could probably write a novel, but I won't):

(1) "Conflict" is not a fitting word. "Conflict" implies that it is two equal sides fighting it out. This just isn't true for a number of reasons. There are other phrases some people use that seem to me to be more fitting, but usually those just get spray-painted on the Wall, not on people's hearts. But I wonder how much the language we use shapes our reactions to things that go on here, and even what we expect to happen in a political solution.

(2) This is more than just about the security of Israel. It is a calculated policy to create "facts" on the ground. Irreversible things like settlements and the Wall to give Israel more land when/if a peace deal is brokered, and also try to ensure that Jerusalem will be the capital of the Israeli state. And this isn't some secret, hidden thing. People who live in settlements call them settlements. The Wall has almost become a tourist attraction here.

(3) Israel itself is complex. There exists was some term a "Jewish identity crisis" that has been going on since the Industrial Revolution. So just as it isn't fair to lump all Arabs into the "terrorist" category, it's not fair to lump all Jews or Israelis into categories as well. It's very very very very very complicated. But even though the population dynamic is complicated --- the issues of injustice and oppression at hand for the most part are pretty clear and don't need to be thrown in the "complicated" drawer just so we don't have to face them dead-on.

(4) This is not just "something that's been going on since David and Goliath" or "since Ishmael". It's just not that simple, and that framework does not work for the modern state of Israel.

(5) Connection to land is vital. And the health of that land and access to it is vital for life. There are villages just west of Beit Jala (next to Bethlehem) that are just on BEAUTIFUL landscape. They provide all of the fruits and vegetables to the Beit Jala, Bethlehem, Beit Sahour area. Sadly, the path of the Wall is planned to cut between these villages and the Bethlehem area, which will make it impossible to transport these foods to the people. Another example that is used a lot when discussing settlements, is how there are no waste-water treatment facilities in the settlements, so sewage water runs off and down into Palestinians farmland. There have been other cases of illegal dumping of hazardous waste into these lands and streams as well. It's hard to imagine that there would be any "Environmental" cause in Palestine, seeing as how there are 'bigger and more important' things to deal with. But my boss at the Environmental Education Center believes in the preservation of the land for the good of the people for the future of Palestine. He believes in informing people on not throwing their trash into the streets, on preserving water in the home, on not using up a bunch of plastic bags when shopping, teaching children to be leaders. And I think it's wonderful!

(6) It's very clear from even just walking down the street here that something terrible has happened, something has gone wrong, this world is not as it should be. Sin exists and affects us all. And seriously, Jesus alone is the remedy. And I'll be honest, I haven't quite figured out what my role in this looks like ... but I know it has to be something if I am to be a part of living the Kingdom.

So, now what? What to do....

(1) Continue learning.

(2) Continue listening.

(3) Communicate.

(4) And pray.

And probably more I haven't thought of yet!!!

By: SG PSE2008
June 26, 2008