Being a Tourist in Jerusalem?

Today I am writing this from the Camden Dar asaadaqa (friendship house in Abu Dis funded by CADFA and run by Abed.  This is where I teach the girls and women.  I have finished for the day and at5.30 now it is completely dark so I should go home soon as I am here all alone.  However there is internet connection and as I am now not feeling well it will save on going ou to the internet cafe later.  We are trying to get internet connection at the Guest House but so far no luck.  It will probably be connected just as I leave!  As I mentioned health, apart from getting tired or exhausted I have been in very good health  – no problems at all e.g. with stomach upsets etc or anything until now when I have a sore throat and am beginnning to feel shivery.  I have noticed that I always feel healthier when going out to the countryside, so yesterdays Oxfam field trip was good.  Another reason I am still here is because I had planned to meet someone to take me to the girls orphanage nearby  – actually the next place along from Abu Dis called Bethany or Azaraeia – did I already mention that this is where Jesus ‘s frineds lived and where Lazarus lived? 

This morning I had a meeting with the Palestine Oxfam Advocacy and PR manager Mike Bailey in his office in a suburb of Jerusalem.  I was very pleased I managed to get there without asking Abed for instructions!  I’m finally learning my way around a bit and how to distinguish where a white or yellow taxi goes and what is a bus or a taxi – its not as obvious as it sounds!

I got one bus to Damascus Gate which is in the old City Walls of Jerusalem.  My 10 a.m meeting had to be put back to 12 as Mike was dealing with the crisis in Gaza as a result of the Israelis blocking all entry including humanitarian aid such as fuel and water.  Dealing with the crisis meant contacting media and governments to pressurise for aid to be allowed in.  I though that was a reasonable cause to delay my meeting!

 

Actually I was happy to have the extra two hours as it gave me time to look around the Old City for the first time apart from my whistle stop tour on the first day after my British Council trip.

First I had a lovely pomegranate and orange juice – freshly squeezed.  Then a lovely cheese and syrup caske.  My mobile had run out of charge again – this has been my main expense here.  I don’t mean charge – credit – technology problems again!  I walked through the Arab quarter which is lots of narrow alleys and colourful market stalls.  I went to the Church of the (something signinficant!) again which is the main Christian tour focus and has the stone where Jesus body , they say, was laid and where he was crucified and buried.  It is hard to imagine how ll these things could have happened in this church and I wonder how all the pilgrims feelas they kneel down at the stone and press different things against it I guess to take home for others.  To me I could see no spitiuality or connection to what I learnt of Christianity here in a specific building whilst not looking at the situation around.  I know that for many people it has been there dream to visit these places and I would be interested to know how they feel when they come and are here amidst the jostling crowds all trying to get the best spot etc.  Oh before this while I was eating my cake a Palestinian tour gide took me to the top of the Austrian Hospice (actually a very grand hotel inside).  From the roof there is a wonderful view of the old city and I realised that I should have read my guide book as I realised for the first time that the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque are different buildings!  Pardon my ignorance!  Anyway I continued and managed to find my way through the maze of alleys to the entrance for the Western or Wailing Wall – it is not far at all.  I had to go through a check point and then suddenly stepped out onto a wide open space spread out below me with the wall on the far side of a big square full of milling crowds, soldiers, tourists, worshippers, and BarMitzva parties.  Somehow I felt that I had entered a different world altogether and perhaps I had.  The soldiers, still carrying their large machine guns were laughing and having their photos taken with Japanese tourists and by each other in front of the wall.  It is difficult to accomodate all these sights.  I find it hard to see the guns in this casual way after the stories I have heard of the Palestinians killed by them, and having seen them pointed at children and at the head of the Oxfam worker as his pass was checked on our trip yesterday.  The proximity of the most holy places with the weapons of death and suffering seems at odds to me.

I was easily able to be close enough to see the women at the wall  – the women and men have different sections.  Other women were standing on chairs to see over the dividing barrier into the mens section where the Bar Mitzvah’s were taking place.  The women then passed baskets of sweets over the barrier while the men and children danced to celebrate the ceremony. 

 

I tried to find a way to the Mosque but what I was told was the emtrance was blocked so I was not able to see it.  Maybe I will have a chance before I leave as I think I will need to go to Jerusalem again to post all my video and camera film and notes from meetings as I can not take it through the airport in case it causes difficulty to anyone here and they may be confiscated and I could be refused entry in the future if I ever wanted to return.

I have a lot more to write about such as my Oxfam trip but better be getting home as its dark and getting late.  My Orphanage visit doesn’t seem to have materialised – just as well as I’m not feeling well. 

Oh, I noticed that when I saw a coach of tourists in Bethlehem yesterday, I looked at them as if they were strange people from another planet – most of the time I see no other foreigners here  – I’m forgetting who I am obviously!  On the Palestinian (or Arab as they call it here) bus into Jerusalem today when we were held in a queue a tour bus happened to be next to us and as they took their distant photos of the Dome of the Rock which had just come into sight I wondered what they thought of the Arabs on my bus and vice versa.  I wonder if they even realise that for most Palestinians including the girls, boys and women I work with here in Abu Dis, it is not permitted for them to enter the centre of their city and go to the Mosque there or even visit relatives, whilst we foreigners are allowed to go wherever we like.

Domestic matters!

So far I have had two washing machine floods, one fire on my gas stove which is very ferocious.  I disturbed Abed as I could not put it out and thought the gas bottle next to it would explode.  He calmly told me to through water on it the plastic washing bowl I’d bought came in useful for the purpose and worked.  I had two days without any water which is not too unusual and I was able to wash with wet wipes and clean my teeth with bottled water.  I cleaned the flat (yes I know unusual activity for me), and even put some chemical in the toilet – the lable was in Arabic but I thought I’d risk it and was a bit concerned when a huge eruption of noxious brown bubbles rose up the toilet bowl and toxic fumes came out .  But I shut the lid , opened the window and it gradually subsided!

Bye for now!

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