As Fred, my driver/guide, a Jew living just outside of Tel Aviv, who was born in Scotland, lived for several years in the US, drove me away from my luxurious accomodations on the beach on the way to Jerusalem, I began to get a glimpse of just how incomplete my unfolding story of life in Israel is turning out.
The life of a Palestinian is made very difficult by the layers of bureaucracy and restrictions on everything from housing, jobs, travel, schools, even praying in the manner of your own religious preference imposed by the Israeli government and enforced by the Israeli Defence Force and the Border Police.
To get to Jerusalem, a distance of about forty miles, we passed several check points that Palestinians could not pass, went by newly created settlements, cities created by the State of Israel but restricted to Jews and protected by huge concrete walls to keep the Palestinians out, other cities occupied by Palestinians surrounded by walls to keep the Palestinians in and a net work of roads that only certain people can use.
As we drove, Fred explained in great detail, the rules by which the Palestinians are obligated to live in this world. The Jews have an entirely different set of rules that, frankly, permit a not to shabby life style.
P:erhaps a more detailed outline of what I learned about the treatment of Palestinians is in order later. Only for now, just know that to get to the old city of Jerusalem is as challenging as the city is old. The city is complicated by having to accomodate to the very special traditions of three very different religions; Jewish, Muslim and Christian all of whom regard Jerusalem as the center of their universe, the home of their "mother church".
The golden dome is the grand mosque, the holy spot for Muslims, the western wall or wailing wall, a sacred spot for Jewish prayer and behind, the Mount of Olives. Old Jerusalem is a fascinating stone record of history from 700 BCE to ...well...today....they are still building in the old city of Jerusalem.
After touring much of the modern city of Jerusalem in the afternoon, I was taken to the home of a Palestinian family where I will be spending the next several nights. They are wonderful people, they have opened their home to me and made me feel comfortable.
This blog will require some expansion to discuss what all I have learned from this day, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.
