Falafel Summer Encounter

I seriously never expected to have a falafel sandwich so many different ways. Before we left for Palestine, many of our friends decried our vegetarianism, lamenting the delicious shwarma and kubbeh we would be missing out on. I wish I could satisfy the omnivorous audience and say eating falafel sandwiches and hummus on a daily basis is boring or unsatisfying, but I can't, as each day in Palestine is a new day to find a new vegetarian place that makes the regular dishes a little differently than the others.

There is one place we frequent - we call it "Delicious Falafel" - where the falafel is served simple, with only tomatoes, cucumber, and a chili sauce. Then there is the very saucy "Tahineh Falafel," sold for four shekels in a shop close to our house. There are the two falafel vendors around the corner from each other in Jerusalem, right outside the wall of the old city. Our first night here we stayed in a Jerusalem hostel and ate a falafel sandwich stuffed with french fries, hummus, and cabbage salad the next morning for breakfast. Later in the week we toured the Old City and discovered "Tangy Falafel," which was made fresh, on the spot, jammed into a fresh, toasty pita, and filled with several sour and delicious salads. And finally, today's discovery after walking the empty souk in search of lunch, I found "The Best Falafel." Sold in a little restaurant near Manger Square, this sandwich came stuffed with a lemony cabbage salad, a yogurt sauce, pickles, tomato and cucumber salad, and a very spicy chili sauce. Of course, the title, "The Best Falafel" is a fluid one and may be later assigned to a new and even more delicious falafel sandwich. But, for the time being, the little shop in the souk reigns.

Wait, so after a week in Palestine, all I have to write about is falafel sandwiches? We have done quite a bit this week - toured Bethlehem, walked along the Wall for hours, visited the Old City in Jerusalem and took an ICAHD tour of East Jerusalem, began our volunteer assignments and Arabic classes, attended lectures on non-violent resistance, and visited a local village. But I bring up falafel, because I kinda feel like we just sort of fell into life here in Bethlehem. We are doing different things, and perhaps have fuller schedules then we would at home, but life is not so different. We wake up, eat a fantastic breakfast with our host family, go to work, go to class, rest a bit, eat a delicious dinner with our host family, and then play games or watch TV or read and go to sleep. Aside from a few excursions thrown in, it is not that different from my schedule at home.

I guess what I am getting at, is life is just life here. The Palestinians are living under ultra-stressful, extraordinary conditions, but they are living. Everybody wants to go to work and eat dinner and try new types of falafel and have a nice fun time with their friends and relatives, and we are just a part of this rhythm. Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely no escaping the presence of the Occupation - it is everywhere, it is like it is in the air. It is just under the surface of everything, a part of every transaction, visible from every vantage. But in a way, I feel like the Occupation just doesn't win minute by minute. It doesn't fill everyone we meet with anger or bitterness. There is so much hope and perseverance, so much determination to keep on with life, to move forward, and to resist - in varying degrees of resistance...It is so much more positive, peaceful, and calm here in Palestine than the media would have us believe. And so, after a week in Palestine, I realize that I had no idea just how pervasive the occupation was, but even less awareness of the possible and actual regularity of life under it. It makes me feel more hopeful than I ever did while studying the conflict. Perseverance and hope are pretty darn impressive forms of resistance.

Submitted by: AP