The Road to Jericho

Well, sorry it has been so long since my last post, but the internet isn't that great here, so I've been saving my posts up. Expect a few to come through today! I'll try to get up to date.

Road to Jericho

Well, Amman in Jordan actually, but we had to pass by Jericho on the way. We're on our way to Kenya at the moment, flying from Amman. Apparently it's a lot less hassle crossing the boarder into Jordan than flying out of Tel Aviv where security is extremely tight and passing through can take hours. So instead we got a 1.5 hour cab ride to the Jordanian boarder and another hour or so to the Amman airport.

The road to Jordan heads out though the West Bank and across the dessert towards the top of the Dead Sea and Jericho near the Jordanian boarder. As you head east, the land rapidly becomes more hilly and desolate.

There is the odd Bedouin camp along the way, but very little else. The Bedouin are traditionally nomadic, but are more likely to live in semi-permanent tin shacks these days. We did however, see a couple of tents on the Jordanian side of the boarder. I'm not sure how they manage in the extreme heat of the desert, however, I did notice satellite dishes outside of a number of shacks, so they still manage to get TV I guess.

We only saw the Dead Sea off in the distance, but I'd be keen to come back and check it out if I get the chance.

Great People - Bad Situation

Apologies for the delay in this post, but we've been in Gaza for the last few days and have been a bit busy. Gaza - this place should be a resort town. It has long Mediterranean beaches, great weather, friendly locals (those not carrying the AK-47s anyway) and, needless to say, at the moment it's not overrun by tourists!

So, the trip to Gaza started with catching a taxi that can travel both in the West Bank and Israel proper - luckily we know a guy (a lot of stuff around here involves knowing a guy). The trip to the Gaza border crossing, Erez, takes about 1.5 hours. The crossing point looks like a large regional airport - from the Israel side. From the Gaza side, it looks like a 12m high cement wall with a small metal door in it!

After going though passport control it is a short walk through a couple of small security turnstiles - large enough for one person - without luggage, so a bit of a struggle when you're packing a laptop and a bag of clothes - to a metal door at which you just wait until someone, somewhere decides to open it - and then you're in Gaza. Now to just navigate the 500m no-mans-land to get to get to the Gaza side. This side of the crossing is a little more - lets say modest - ie a bit of a shed and a few demountables. I assume they are not allowed to build anything more substantial this close to the wall.

Once through here, it's a quick 30min drive into Gaza City and to the hotel, which is located on the beach and a 5min walk to the office. While in Gaza I put my skills to good use and worked on some budget spreadsheets for the the projects that we are running there.

We went out with Gazan friends most nights for dinner. And one night we headed to a local YMCA to watch our friend's daughters rehearse a play. The play was originally due to be performed the week the war broke out, so it's been delayed a little bit. Oh well, at least they're all safe and able to continue rehearsing - especially since the building next door to the girl's school got bombed - while school was in.

The war damage is not so obvious in the area where the office is. However, you can generally tell which are government buildings by the fact that they are now just piles of rubble. Rebuilding is yet to start because construction materials are not yet being allowed into Gaza.

There are plenty of issues to deal with in Gaza. However, the locals are remarkably resilient and maintain a level of optimism despite the current situation. In addition to being in the "Largest Jail (sic) on Earth", as the mugs we got from the Chairman Arafat Souvenir Shop proclaim, the locals have to deal with the local politics which have become more complicated, and conservative, since Hamas took over earlier this year. New laws are increasingly restricting freedoms (mainly for women) in the Strip. The even tried to ban women from using Hubbly Bubblys or Sheeshas (the middle eastern bong-like smoking apparatus). However, fear of a revolt (and I think some money changing hands) lifted the ban within a day. It just goes to show how fluid the local politics can be. Locals tell us that new laws seem to be coming into force almost daily.

The trouble, which I'm sure you heard about on the news, in Rafah is another example of the fluidity of local politics - let alone 'international' or Israeli politics. Don't worry, we were no where near the trouble. Actually, we were on the way back through the checkpoint (a 5 hour ordeal - but that's another story in itself.) when it was all going on.

Anyway, back in Ramallah now, and heading for Kenya tomorrow.

Here are some pics from Gaza.

A day trip into history and politics - Part 2

After spending a couple of hours in Bethlehem, we caught another 'service' (minibus/taxi) down to Hebron about 40 min further south - plus another 40 min since the driver got lost. We decided to get out after we passed the same spot for the third time! It wasn't entirely the driver's fault as he usually did the Bethlehem-Ramallah drive and there had been a series of street closures since he was last in Hebron.

Now, here's a city with some history, and flash point potential. The city houses the tomb of Adam & Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives, which makes it sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. That has to be a recipe for trouble if ever I saw one. And, well, you guessed it, the place has seen a bit.

The most 'recent' trouble started in 1929 when Arab nationals revolted killing and evicting Jews from the city. After the city was seized by Israel in 1967, ultra-orthodox Jews began moving back in, so that the old city is now quartered into Jewish and Muslim sections with checkpoints and walls all over the place. In fact, we headed up a Jewish street wanting to get back into the old city (Muslim Quarter) about 50m to our right but had to backtrack about 1km because all the streets were blocked off (see pics). In 1994, a Jewish extremist killed a number of Palestinians while they were praying at the mosque (that holds the tombs) in revenge for the 1929 killings - what's 65 years to hold a grudge eh? Some ultra-orthodox Jews actually celebrate the massacre. Anyway, as you can imagine, there's an underlying tension the pulses through the city.

The Old market (souq) is a good example of the tensions. You'll notice in the pictures there's wire netting above the market. This is to stop the rubbish that the settlers, who live in the buildings above, throw down into the market. The market is virtually empty as a result. One stall owner tells of how the settlers above his store routinely throw rubbish, water, bleach, and worse (think toilet) on his stall. I wouldn't call this a working cohabitation!

Through the end of the souq is the Ibrihimi Mosque/Synagogue. There is tight security here and we have to go though metal detectors and check any firearms - luckily we weren't carrying any. The site has a mosque on one side and a synagogue on the other - separate entrances for Muslims and Jews of course.

After looking through the mosque we followed a local palestinian to the top of his house so that he could show us the division between Jews and Palestinians in the area. The most striking thing was that the area is like a ghost town. Like the souq, there is abundant evidence of a once thriving market area, where now there are only closed shops. Palestinians still live in this part of town, but vehicular access is banned as it's between two Jewish settlements. Commerce has moved out of the old city into surrounding suburbs.

We ended the day on a lighter note by visiting a ceramics factory (Hebron is famous for ceramics and glass). I found a nice salad bowl - not sure how I'm going to get that home, but I'll worry about that later.

Here are some Pics (Bethlehem and Hebron).

A day trip into history and politics - Part 1

I headed out on a day trip to Bethlehem and Hebron with some newly met friends yesterday. We were lucky enough to be accompanied by Doug who has worked here for a year and thus, had plenty of local knowledge. Our first stop was Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank south of Jerusalem. After Bethlehem, we headed further south to Hebron (Al-Khalil).

Of course, being Bethlehem, we visited the Church of the Nativity. This is the oldest continuously operating church in the world, having been built by Constantine in the 4th Century (there's still some of the original mosaic floor visible). Now, I'm not particularly religious, but it was a little surreal to be stepping into the Bible - so to speak. The place was pumping with pilgrims coming to check out - well pray at I guess - the birthplace of Christ, which is actually in a small (very hot) grotto under the church.

The site (and it's history) is a great example of how the various religions can get along. When area was first conquered by the Muslims, they signed a treaty giving citizens freedom of religion and respected the holy sites - a tradition that largely continues to today, with lots of mosques and churches in close proximity. Some of the biggest issues in town seem to be squabbles between various christian sects over who controls what part of the Church of the Nativity.

After visiting the church, we wandered through the narrow market streets of the old city. The place had an ancient feeling about it, despite the CD players on sale at a "very good price my friend".

Here are some Pics (Bethlehem and Hebron)