We're in Jerusalem for one more day and night, then we're heading to Bethlehem in the West Bank, then to Bilin, maybe Ramallah/Nablus and on to Jenin.
Personally I feel much safer here in East Jerusalem than in East London. The people just seem way more relaxed and friendly, there's less aggro, and it just seems impossible to imagine any of these guys jacking you for your phone, much less "what you looking at". The soldiers are the exception of course, they look really out of place stood around with guns in a busy market... every so often you hear what sounds like gunfire coming from the hills behind Damascus Gate, but no one reacts. So we reckon it's probably just military training, or maybe fireworks?!.
Last night as we were walking back to our hotel after a falafel dinner (the food here is vegan heaven) we heard someone calling F's name. Turned out to be someone she knows from London, out here with ISM. If you dn't know F, she's the kind of person who does know an activist in every city in the world. It was a bit weird though. In my view, along with sectarianism, that's probably the main problem with the revolutionary left in London- at any one time 50% of us will be in Palestine. Makes it very difficult to get much done.
On a serious note, could people please please comment and keep us updated on what's going on in Eastenders. Especially let me know if Amira comes back, or Lucas gets caught. Basically just everything, keep me posted. Ta.
Loads of love
-L
xxx
Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock were really beautiful. Pretty overwhelming. Access to the compound is made really difficult by the Israelis however- had to go to the corner of the Wailing Wall and then through metal detectors and past various IDF soldiers to get in.
Headed up in to the hills around Jerusalem. Massive expanses of cemetries, few pretty churches and some Minarets. L was set on visiting the Garden of Gethsemane- couldn't find it so spent hours walking all over the Mount of Olives- tiring in the heat but definitely worth it.
Throughout the hill walk and at random moments in East Jerusalem you come across empty plots of land/expanses of rubble. House demolitions are clearly quite frequent.
Hilltops of Jerusalem are surrounded by settlements, each with massive Israeli flags perched on the highest rooftop. Land-grabbing here looks every bit as desperate and unnatural as I imagined. Have yet to see a Palestinian flag- am guessing will have to wait till West Bank for that. East Jerusalem is almost totally controlled by the Israeli state. Palestinians here are really happy if you refer to your trip as "visiting Palestine"- most tourists come for a taste of the Old City and then retreat to the predominatley Jewish Israeli areas.
Bethlehem in the West Bank tomorrow- looking forward to being on Palestinian-controlled land.
Rosie- you can comment on the blog now, we changed the settings. Keep it clean though- family/employers etc are reading this! Keep updating the parents. Oh and I knew Cav would do it!
Lots of love xxxxxxxx
Pete here. Anonymous is the only way I can post.
ReplyDeleteRight Eastenders, Lucas had a moment of clarity after Mercy asked about false prophets in bible class and Denise told him he was going to hell. They talked for a while, and he let her out of the cellar, turns out, it was the house next door, so she just walked in through the door at the end of yesterdays episode. The woman they buried was a prostitute he apparently killed.
Not much happening in other story lines, Darren's girlfriend screamed cos she thought he was Jewish and someone broke Dot's window. That's about it.
Cheers Pete
ReplyDelete-L
xxx