Kashrut Certificate at a
Local restaurant
My day begins with two lectures by Dr. Jabareen for students from American University, Washington DC, at the Colony Hotel in Haifa, about the Legal, Political, Social, and Economic Status of Arab-Palestinian citizens within the State of Israel. Being American students not very familiar with the topic, they (and their accompanying professors) asked all kinds of questions, some of which seemed to have pretty obvious answers. Nevertheless, both lectures were very interesting, and despite having read about a lot of what Dr. Jabareen talked about already, I did learn a lot. Two things that Dr. Jabareen mentioned especially caught my attention. The first was his pointing out that Giving rights to one group (i.e. the Arab-Palestinians) does not necessarily exclude another (i.e. the Jews)- or at least it shouldn't (Lecture, Dr. Jabareen- June 14, 2010). The second was that Palestinians in Israel are not struggling for an independent state, but for equal rights within the state of Israel (Lecture, Dr. Jabareen- June 14, 2010). In a sense, I feel as though these two points can sum up a lot of doubts for people who are skeptical about the place Arab-Palestinians hold in Israeli society, or the place that they should hold in Israeli society.

From Ben-Gurion street, where the hotel is located, I headed on a 24 Egged bus towards Haifa University, where I was going to meet my friend Ari Winograd, also a student at Clark, who is finishing a semester of study abroad in Israel. The bus ride took just around a full hour- the streets in Haifa are very congested and the bus makes many stops. On the way I saw a car with a sticker on it that said "חגרת? תפילת הדרך, אמרת?" ("Did you Buckle? Prayer for the road, you said?"), and once again was reminded of the uniqueness of Israel as a Jewish state. After having lunch at one of the University eating venues, Ari and I headed to his residence on campus. There I met his roommates, all native Israelis, and we began a long discussion (just around five hours, in fact) about political issues in Israel- from benefits to the Orthodox citizens of the country, to issues regarding the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict". It was very interesting to hear what Israeli university students, one of them studying Law, have to say about the political obstacles of their own country. We spent much of the time discussing Israeli perceptions of the different issues versus perception from abroad (mainly from the US). My overall perception was that young Israelis have adopted much more moderate views on controversial issues than their predecessors. A very interesting perception of the question of a solution to the "conflict" was made by one of the students I was talking with. So interesting, in fact, that I even asked his permission to record his statement (which he consented to). Perhaps I will use it later on in my research.

As I was heading back on the 202 Egged bus from one of the main bus stations in Haifa, Merkazit Chof Ha'Karmel, to my hometown of Zichron-Ya'akov, I was addressed by a young woman on the bus (maybe 20 years old), who noticed I was reading a book in English. She had noticed me because she works for a company called "Wall Street", which manages programs for teaching Israelis English at all levels. We briefly discussed the name of the company, whereby I mentioned that perhaps that name is not as appealing today as it may have been a couple of years ago. She also told me that, quote "these programs don't cost in the hundreds [of Shekels], they cost thousands". My interaction with her made me think of two things; for one, it made me think of how English in general and the United States in particular are still very valued in Israeli society, despite how they may not be as much any more in many other parts of the world. Second, it reminded me of a unique trait which the Israeli people have, of being very open and interested in the surroundings, for good and for bad.

I got home, sat down and read summaries of court cases regarding equal rights of the Arab-Palestinians in Israel, sent to me by Dr. Jabareen.

That was my day.

As I promised, I will continue to post, in edition to my entries, some pictures that I think capture the essence of the State of Israel in its different aspects. Enjoy.

Upside-down street sign