That is not Kosher.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Swine flu? Not in the Jewish state.

"We will call it Mexico flu. We won't call it swine flu," Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, a black-garbed Orthodox Jew, told a news conference Monday, assuring the Israeli public that authorities were prepared to handle any cases.

Under Jewish dietary laws, pigs are considered unclean and pork is forbidden food -- although the non-kosher meat is available in some stores in Israel.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Charles Dick)

Link to full story...

On Being Detained

I was "detained' a few times, to varying degrees, while crossing back from the West Bank to Israel.

This was the first time:

I took a friend of mine to go and meet the Bedouin teachers that I taught every Tuesday.

She is American, but has Israeli citizenship.

Israelis are not allowed in parts of the West Bank, but Americans are.

So we figured it would be fine as long as she showed them her American passport.

She forgot her American passport.

So then we figured it would be fine if she showed them her American driver's license.

It wasn't fine.

Let me back up.

To get to the Bedouin school, I would catch Arab Bus #36 from the university (near where I lived) into al-Alzaryya, an Arab village inside the West Bank. It is a very short bus ride, maybe 10 minutes, but you have to pass through a checkpoint on your way back, and depending on how thorough the checks are that day, it can take a long time.

The way they do the checks is somewhat inconsistent.

Sometimes, the "easy" times, only the 'Green-pass' Palestinians would have to get off of the bus to be checked, and everyone else (including me as an American passport holder) would just stay on the bus, flash our biggest smile, and show our credentials to the 19 year old armed soldier who would get on the bus to glance at our IDs.

But not every time was easy. Sometimes, we would all have to get off of the bus. Sometimes they would go through our purses and bags. And sometimes, they wouldn't allow people to pass.

When my friend and I were coming back, it was one of the not easy times.

We all got off of the bus, the Israeli soldiers checked us all. When they saw that my friend didn't have a passport, they pulled us both aside, along with two older Arab men. My friend frantically was showing them her driver's license, but they weren't taking it.

Then the bus left us.

My friend speaks Hebrew, but didn't want them to think she was Israeli in case they would fine her for being in the West Bank, but after some heated exchanges in English, she broke into Hebrew to try to explain what had happened.

They became even more suspicious after they realized that she could speak Hebrew, and immediately began yelling at us in Arabic, saying that she was Palestinian (and I guess that I was trying to sneak her in). This, of course, wasn't true. She showed them her Israeli ID, but they thought it was fake, and continued heatedly questioning us. The process dragged on when they realized that she spoke Arabic, as well. All sorts of scenarios were swimming through my head... what if they don't let us through? Who do I call? Do I know the number of the American embassy? What if they let me through but not her? What can I say to convince them to let us through?

The interesting thing was, they questioned us so much that I actually started to feel guilty, as if I had done something wrong. As if I had something to hide. But I didn't do anything wrong, and I didn't have anything to hide.

The process went on for quite a while, with neither of us really knowing what to do. I kept trying to pull my most convincingly-American charm out, trying to explain she was my friend from the UNITED STATES, but they were having none of it.

It all ended quite anti-climatically when they either got tired of us or figured they didn't know what else to do, and they handed us back our ID documents. The fate wasn't the same for the two Arab men with us. They were taken back into another building for further questioning.

They didn't have to tell us twice, and we turned on our heels and took off up the road.

We walked briskly for a ways until a cab came along. The Arab driver looked at us sympathetically as we clammered into the car, saying 'Got held up at the border, huh?'

We paid him to take us back to the university.

Qalandia Checkpoint

This is the Qalandia checkpoint.
It is designed to keep terrorists out of Israel.
Every single Palestinian or International passing from Ramallah into Jerusalem, man woman or child, has to go through this turnstile, show their identification, run their belongings through an x-ray machine, and walk through a metal detector (a more chaotic version of what we go through at American airports).
That means that if a Palestinian works in Jerusalem, but lives in Ramallah (a common occurrence), they have to go through this every single day.
It is perhaps one of the most frustrating things I have ever witnessed.

I have heard more than one person refer to it as a cattle shoot.

We waited for probably 20 minutes where no one was let through for no apparent reason. This was the most frustrating part. At airports, for example, you know why you are waiting in line and you know approximately how long it will take to get through security. Not here. There were long periods of time where no one was being passed through, and no announcements made explaining what was happening. The line stretched out behind and in front of us, with people confused as to which lane to get into.

We saw the guards laughing and pointing at monitors behind the glass windows. The women and men (mostly women this night) in line were patient at first but got increasingly agitated.
Finally after about 15 or 20 minutes, the green light flashed above the turnstile, signaling that people could pass through. Each time, the turnstile will only turn about 3 or 4 times, and then there seemed to be an indefinite amount of time until it would turn again. Each time it turned green, the people would lunge forward, trying to get as many through as possible on each rotation. Sometime people would get stuck inside the turnstile if it wouldn't rotate all of the way.

I kept watching to guards, and they kept looking at monitors and laughing at something, and occasionally would bark orders in Hebrew over the loud speaker, I assume saying 'step back!' or something to that effect.

The night I took this picture, and crossed from Ramallah to Jerusalem, a little boy got stuck in the turnstile. Not stuck in the open part, but stuck between the bars and the cage. The pushing crowd had seperated him from his mother (who was holding another child in her arms) while going through the turnstile and his little body was yanked and pulled in different directions as the metal bars rotated. Women lunged forward to help him, and he was pulled out. Fortunately, it just looked like he would have a couple of bruises and nothing worse.
The guards didn't react.

I am not speaking politically, this is just what I saw.

Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains

Last night I watched the documentary Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains. I loved it, and highly recommend it.

It follows Jimmy Carter through his life in 2006, right after his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid was published. It is about the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel's policies there. The book raised a huge amount of controversy, and Carter faced enormous amounts of criticism for the provocative use of the word 'apartheid' in the title. The documentary shows him defending his choice, and trying to raise discussion about what is actually happening over there.

Watching the documentary bought back a slough of emotions regarding my experience in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The film was produced (is that the right word?) by Participant Media.
A friend of mine, who will be interning there this summer, turned me on to to the organization, and I am amazed at the way in which they conduct their business. Every film I have seen that they are involved with has made me THINK. Even more important is the way in which they make their films. Check out their mission statement. THAT is what I'm talking about!!!

Off to the Dead Sea!

In just a few hours, I will be floating in the Dead Sea......

Have a wonderful weekend!

the demolitions begin.

I'm in the office today working on a grant to the EU.

However, we just got a call saying that a home in Silwan was just demolished, and several more are scheduled for today and tomorrow. The government is finally acting on its plans to demolish 88 homes in the neighborhood of Silwan. This comes just a week after the government issued a statement saying that there were no 'immediate plans' to demolish homes in this area.

These homes are part of the group of homes I have been profiling as part of my internship. Though the families I know personally have not yet been affected, I fear for the near future.

My heart aches for the families who are losing homes on this cold and rainy day.

Some background on the Silwan demolitions:
Christian Science Monitor
Washington Times

Waltz With Bashir

Rent this movie.
It is an Israeli film - a documentary, about a Israeli man's memories of fighting in the Israeli/Lebanese war and the 1982 massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Though it was Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia that carried out the massacres, the controlling Israeli forces essentially allowed it to happen, and the man in the film cannot remember his role or if he was there. The film takes you through his search for answers about the past, what happened, and how he was involved.

The producers chose to use animation, which is the only reason I was able to even to begin to stomach this film. It allows them to cover extremely difficult material in a very powerful way. It also allows them to portray the dreams and flashbacks of the people being interviewed in a way that regular film would not allow.

It was nominated for an Academy award for best foreign film this year.

Whether or not you are interested in the Arab/Israeli conflict, it is worth it to see, because it brings up enormous questions about war, violence, massacre, responsibility and memory.

I should warn - it is hard to watch, and very, very heavy. However, it is worth it.

Shakshuka

Today I finally tried Shakshuka, one of the most traditional of Israeli dishes. It has seemed that
whenever the topic of food has come up, my Israeli friends have asked me if I have tried Shakshuka, and when I said no, there were lots of exclamations and upsetted-ness. So today, I finally went for it. (Disclaimer - I ate it in a baguette, and my friend said that doesn't count, so I will have to eat the more traditional version later).

It is a very simple meal - a sauce made of tomatoes, tomato sauce, peppers, onions etc. all topped with eggs that are poached in the sauce. It reminds me a bit of huevos rancheros.

It is super good and filling, and is a nice protein kick because of the eggs. It is usually served with warmed pita or bread.

Here is a recipe from Recipezaar if you want to try it at home!

[Image taken from New York Times.]

Everything old is new again..

Or so it seems this is the idea in Israeli politics this year.

Finally, there is a 'winner' to the elections that took place on February 10th.

It was announced in the last couple of days that Benjamin Netanyahu has been asked by the President to form a coalition government and is therefore Prime Minister-designate (somewhat same idea as president-elect in the USA) of Israel.

Netanyahu was also PM from 1996-1999.

AIC and Border confusion in Bethlehem

The reason I went to Bethlehem last week (other than to see the Church of the Nativity) was to attend a "Cafe" put on by the Alternative Information Center (AIC). Two of the people in my program have their internships with the AIC, so they invited us all along for the event. Last week's topic was:

2009 Israeli Elections: Results, Meanings and Consequences

Michael (Mikado) Warschawski, Alternative Information Center

What are the results of the last week's national elections in Israel and what do they say about Israeli society in 2009?
What type of government is likely to be formed from the current coalition negotiations and what are its probable socio-economic policies?
And of course, what will this new government mean for possible peace negotiations with the Palestinians, an end to the Israeli occupation and regional stability?

The speaker, Mikado, is one of the co-founders of the AIC, which is a far left-wing (and often controversial) media organization. Mikado, an Israeli whose father was a rabbi, is a life-long radical activist for Palestinian rights and has gone to all sorts of extremes to pursue what he believes in, including being a political prisoner for 20 months in the 1980s. He is an extremely good speaker and his thoughts were fascinating. The results of the election were extraordinarily upsetting to him; he described it as the 'death of the left.' His feelings on the matter were summed up at the end when he told us that for the first time in his entire life, he realized that Israel is not a place where he wants his grandchildren to live, and that he had talked to his son that day about moving overseas. As for himself, however, he said he would never leave.

After the talk, we were all exhausted and very cold. We caught a cab back to the border with no problems and were directed to the terminal for security checks. When we walked into the terminal, however, we were met with ... nothing. Just a huge, vacuous space with locked down doors on all side, blaring flourescent lights - and... nothing. Not one other person was there, no guard, no people crossing, nothing (apparently the border closes to Palestinians at some point, though it is supposed to be open 24 hours - tourists are supposed to be able to cross at any time). To make matters worse, all of the doors were locked, so there was no way for us to get through. After about 5 minutes of confusion, I started yelling at the top of my lungs ... "SHALOOOOOOOM! HELLLLLO!" and a couple of minutes later, a voice came over the intercom and directed us to one of the gates. We were then able to show our passports and pass through...
However, on the other side of the terminal, it was no more alive. There were NO cabs, no taxis, no cars, no buses... nothing. Just an empty road leading back to Jerusalem. So we walked, in the dark, back up the road for a couple of kilometers until we finally got to an intersection where two cabs were able to pick us up.... and took us back to our apartments.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem - Church of the Nativity

Last Tuesday, five of my friends from my program and I crossed the border into Bethlehem.

(Another 'duh' moment I had right before I came to Israel was that even though Bethlehem is less than half an hour away from Jerusalem, it is not in Israel, it is in the West Bank - it is an 'A' area meaning that it is under Palestinian control and Israeli citizens are not allowed in (unless they have another passport or special pass)

Needless to say, it takes a little bit of effort to get there. We caught an 'Arab' bus, which took us to the border, and then we had to cross by foot through the terminal and checkpoint. Going in was no problem. We then caught a cab to the Church of the Nativity. On the way, our cab driver told us how economically hard it had been in Bethlehem since the creation of the Wall - now Israelis cannot enter, and even tourists only enter to see the church and then leave, rather than staying for the night or spending money there. He said this had been especially true since the Gaza War, which caused tourism in the West Bank to all but disappear. He was very happy to drive us to the church and offered to wait for us and drive us wherever else we wanted to go.

To get to the place where the manger and Star of Bethlehem is, you have to descend stairs. We were right behind a huge tourist group, so it took quite a long time to get down there. The area is all covered in red and gold velvet cloth and is lit with candles - it has a very 'royal' feel to it. Groups at the bottom were singing hymns in Russian, which made the atmosphere all the more religious feeling.
This is the area that marks the manger. Many people reach candles in and light their flames from the candles inside. There were several people meditating nearby, but everyone else was taking tons of pictures, so I took one as well, even though I felt weird about it.

This star marks the place where it is traditionally believed that Jesus was born. It is covered by a sort of altar, and to touch it, you have to get down on your hands and knees. Many people crawl and kiss the star, or reach their hand in the center part, which is hollow.

The church is large and cavernous, and the stone makes it have an almost cold feeling inside. Of course, it is also extremely intricately decorated, with ornate crosses and all sorts of lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Here is the entrance and outside of the church of the Nativity.

Nazareth

After spending the morning in the Galilee area, we took a cab to Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up. Before going, I somehow pictured that Nazareth would be a dusty, Africa-styel bustling town. Not so much. It is large, with modern buildings, lots of cars with pumping music, all sorts of stores and terrible traffic. None of this, of course, is depicted in my picture walking down one of the side streets:
While we were walking around, we saw this sign in front of a restaurant. Nothing inspires me to order a rack of lamb like seeing a cute little wooly lamb on a sign. eek.

In Nazareth, I found my new favorite church building in the world. The Church of the Annunciation, where the Catholics believe that Gabriel told Mary the reason she was pregnant (keep in mind that the Orthodox, Coptics, and many other denominations believe that this took place in different parts of the city and they all have their own cathedral or church commemorating it.) Here is a view of the church from above (everyone says it looks like a light house).

Here is a closer view of the outside:

And the inside. It has much more modern architecture than most of the churches I have seen in Israel.

However, the thing that makes this church my new favorite in the entire world is that it is a multi-cultural church. The creaters of the church petitioned countries all over the world to send in mosaic representations of Mary and Jesus. These mosaics are all over the inside of the church and all around the compound of the outside. This one is from Japan:

IndonesiaBrazil
And of course, South Africa
Another view of the inside.

Looking up.

There is also amazing stained glass everywhere. In my next life (or maybe just after I finish grad school), I am going to be a mosaic-maker and stained glass maker. Mark my words.

Here is the place (on the bottom floor) where it is believed that the angel Gabriel talked to Mary.

Here is the outside of the church.

After walking around the compoud for quite a while, we wandered around the city for a bit and ran into the synagogue that stands in the place where it is believed that Jesus taught:

Before heading back to Tiberias, we hiked up the side of a mountain to view another church. (I forget which one). We were enjoying the view of the city and the outside of the church, when suddenly, we saw that the gates were closing (they are electronic). We went sprinting to them, and squeezed through JUST before they locked. It was all very Indiana Jones. However, three boys were not as lucky and they were locked in for a while until the guard came and let them out.

The Galilee: my mini-pilgrimage

Two weekends ago two of my girlfriends and I took off for the 'Sea of Galilee' - or Lake Kinneret, as it is known to Israelis. There we got to walk in the footsteps of Jesus along the routes that are believed to be the beginning of his ministry. We bussed to Tiberias on Thursday night, found a hostel, and the next morning, got up and caught a cab (we hired a cab by the hour, he charged about 100 NIS an hour) to take us to the sites.

Our first stop was the Church of the Multiplication in Taghba. This rock (under the alter) is where it is believed that Jesus multiplied the bread and fish.

The inside of the church of the multiplication.

Each of the churches we go to are full of candles that have been lit by worshipers. I thought this 'sea' of tea light candles was captivating.

Our second stop was Capharnaum, the home of Peter, where Jesus stayed during a good part of the beginning of his ministry.

Of course, to honor Peter, there was a statue with the engraving of the verse that refers to the rock upon which Jesus would build his church:

These are the ruins of Capernum, like every ancient site in Israel, era after era has built upon the same spot, and ruins reflect this: Many of the ruins are from the Roman era.

These tiles are from the floor of the room in Peter's home in which it is believed that Jesus stayed.

In Capernum, we took a while to enjoy the view of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus (and Peter) walked on water.

The day that we went up the coast of the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, was closed, so we had to go back the next morning. This is the view from the mount: just unbelievably gorgeous. It was an incredibly peaceful and beautiful place, it is not hard to imagine it being chosen as the place where Jesus would have taught.

The church commemorating the Sermon on the Mount.

These are my faithful companions, K.C. and Katie. These girls are amazing and have added endlessly to my experience here. It has been such fun to travel with them. Katie's head is half cut off in this picture, which is ok because unfortunately she got incredibly ill an hour or so before this photo and actually had to end up staying in Tiberias an extra night. I am happy to report, however, that she survived. :)

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