West Bank Story

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I stepped on the soil of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Even more than this, yesterday, for the first time in my life, I stepped on the soil of a Palestinian village- a village located in the West Bank which is ruled by the Palestinian authority. The experience was one that I still have not fully grasped. What I saw and heard is almost hard to put in words, thus in this entry you will find several pictures, which I think can tell of my experience better than I can in my own words. I will nevertheless try to present an outline of the highlights of my day in the disputed territories, which are (unbelievably) located 15 minutes from central Tel-Aviv, from where the bus left.

The single Palestinian house

We began our visit in the settlement [Hitnachlut] of Elkanah, located as I mentioned, 15 minutes west of central Tel-Aviv. There we received an explanation about the history of this settlement in particular and settlements in general, and had the first of many discussions regarding the separation fence and wall. The thing that struck me most in Elkanah was the image of a single Palestinian house fenced in between the houses in Elkanah on one side, and a part of the wall on the other.

From Elkanah we continued towards one of the biggest and most developed settlements in the West Bank, which even houses a college aspiring to be a university, and a big industrial center; Ariel. On the way to Ariel our guide pointed out a few other settlements and Palestinian villages, among them: She'arey Tikvah (Gates of Hope), Oranit (Small Pine) and Azun Atmah. I will leave it to you to guess which were Jewish settlements and which were Palestinian villages. If I did not know that Ariel was a settlement, and if it did not have a gate at its entrance to give that fact away, I would have never guessed that it was one. Ariel was as developed as any Israeli town/small city I'd ever encountered. We were also told that the university aspiring college was thriving (however, despite being right next to many Palestinian villages, it did not have one Palestinian student attending it). The images I saw and the things we were told made me a bit frustrated. I couldn't help but ask myself once again why the Israeli government and Israeli tax payers, whether they support it or not, continue investing in territories that are under such great dispute.

Our tour ended with a visit to a Palestinian village called Ein-Abus, located by the village Chawara and the settlement (which is in fact a stronghold [Ma'achaz] and not a recognized settlement) Itzhar. There we met with the head of the village council; a Palestinian member of "Combatants for Peace", the group which the trip was organized by; and other local Palestinian residents. They spoke to us about the realities of living in Ein-Abus and the hardships they face due to conflicts with settlers from Itzhar. They were all very nice and hospitable. They fed us lunch and in general were very friendly. I spoke to two local residents, both of whom attended the meeting. We spoke about our common goal of creating and sustaining peace and the problems created by extremists on both side. They outwardly acknowledged the detriment of having Hammas rule and the need for leaders on both sides who truly want peace.

The meeting in Ein-Abus and the trip in general left me with a bitter-sweet feeling. Bitter- for obvious reasons. Sweet- because of my finding of people on both sides who want to change the status quo.

I have only provided highlights of what I saw and experienced yesterday; for one, because if I were to write it all I could turn it into a book, and a blog entry is not the place to do this. Secondly, because I myself have not yet processed it all. I have a feeling, though, that throughout the summer, I will return to mention events from this day in future entries, for it has impacted me so greatly. Any specific questions will be more than welcomed, and I will do my best to answer them.

I ended my day on a very different note- going to see a concert of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with my Dad. A much needed relaxing activity after a day such as this.

Checkpoint outside of Ein-Abus