Israel and Palestine

My two week crusade is almost over, but it's better late than never that I start recapitulating from the beginning. One place at a time, we begin in Israel/Palestine.

After a painless first encounter with the famous Israeli airport security, and a non-trivial wait in the Tel Aviv arrivals lounge, Josh and I were off to Ramallah. My 18 hours or whatever in transit effectively ended the first day's events, and we headed straight back to his summer research base of operations in the administrative capital of the West Bank.

I committed my first cultural faux pas almost immediately. It's a little confusing to a jet lagged foreigner that the language changes at the airport and again at the Palestinian border. But most frustrating, is the immediate shift in attitudes towards women (more on this later). I don't know who of Josh and I usually shoulders the burden of flagging down bartenders, but at this particular Palestinian rooftop bar, they were having none of Josh, so I shouted "shalom" to surprise and consternation of the server. Whatever. This is not to be the first time slow service and an avoidance of eye contact frustrates me on this trip.

More rested, we embark to visit major sites of the world's three main religions. In short order:


Judaism - The Western Wall.

Islam - The Dome of the Rock.


Christianity - The Church of the Nativity.

I'm still full of religion from the Vatican last year, so after tipping my hat to the three neighboring faiths, we headed off to Josh's high school friend Jared's apartment in Bethlehem. Where you ask?

More specifically:

That's right. I've drunk on a porch overlooking Ruth and Boaz's fields from the Old Testament. That alone was pretty moving in the proper way, I think. In classic style, we spent the next day touring the home of Taybeh (Arabic for delicious), both the only microbrewery in the Middle East and the only Palestinian-produced beer. I like supporting my causes by buying locally.