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Checkpoints:  Okay folks. Here's what's up. I havent updated this because I have been very busy working with this group: www.palhope.org (try www.palhope.net too they seem to have two provisional sites up at the moment) and I am also trying to get prometheusradio.org to send low power FM transmitters to a place called Jayyous, in Palestine. The best town ever, for pictures check palsolidarity.org. I'll try to write something in here, anyway. I've been in the states, giving workshops and trying to get volunteers to go to Palestine. Anyone want to chat with me, try revaaltamira@hotmail.com for MSN chat, and I will give you updates verbally and answer any questions about my two week trip in September. I have a cold today. :( never mind about the stupid thing. I am not going to privatize it because, well, when I went into this I said it was gonna be 100% transparency and that's the way I am going to do it, dammit. So, I don't know what it is I want to say about Palestine. It is an ordinary place full of ordinary people that watch music videos and pirate software for class and talk on their cell phones. They're pretty much just like us, although they do some stuff that is foreign to me as an American, of course. The occupation is really, really bad. Imagine being stuck in Queens for your whole life, having lived in Long Island and never, ever being able to see Long Island for decades and decades. Except the standard of living is quite a lot lower than that of Queens. People can't get to school. Curfews shut cities down for days, weeks, or months. Stray bullets, random terror from soldiers or settlers, and the checkpoints just fuck everything up hardcore. Nevertheless, the Palestinians are among the most civilized of oppressed peoples. Despite corruption in national and local administrations, Palestinians recieve among the highest marks for developing nations administering basic services. They also have a broader global view than many Americans would expect from Arabs, especially Palestinians who are broadly caricatured as terrorists. (And no, blogging audience, I do not mean you, but the majority of people who depend on major news feeds are exposed to that view). As an American and a Jew I was asked many questions and asked lots in return. But I was always treated with respect and friendliness. Bethlehem is almost completely peaceful, although there are periodic incursions, the best known being the month long curfew caused by the standoff at the Nativity church. Nablus is more active and there are frequent incursions by Israeli soldiers as well as aerial action, street battles, tanks, checkpoints, curfews, etc. But in my time in this bustling city there was no action of any type except for two orange flares in the air. There were shootings in the Balata camp,which is just by Nablus, and an English student I met was shot in the gut. But I was in a small village far away at the time. There are two kinds of tourism I think are pretty cool and not silly. One is the kind Mr. Sagarmatha or whatever he is calling himself these days does. He goes and hikes up mountains and does all kinds of other things where he is seeing a place and really exploring himself, as well. The other kind is this Palestine trip, and a previous stay in Puerto Rico - to visit an interesting place where I can learn about a little bit of the world, and change my own perspectives a bit. The rest of the world is often cited as more informed than we are. That is not necessarily true - in places in Palestine, education was so spotty that a guy wasn't clear on where the Himalayas, or the United States, are. This was in the Balata refugee camp, and there was a map of Palestine on the wall, very detailed. Of course, I might find the same to be true in any American classroom, so, considering they have deep access to the Internet and global communications networks, Palestinians are merely differently ignorant than us. Palestine is hot, and the plants there are desert plants and the culture is a desert culture. Their houses are often beautifully decorated, and even the poor have an Arab visual aesthetic that is opulent. For example, taxicabs are frequently adorned with gilted hangars on the rearview mirror and peacock feathers. Oh, I have to get to work. More later. have been back in town in US for a week. the problem is, i dont want to do lots of updating on here if it's a public journal. my friends, would you jump through the required hoops if i privatized this journal and could give you vignettes, summary and updates? In Beit Sahour. I am completely exhausted. got in last night after spending the whole flight with a lot of kids going to young judea school, mostly modest but modish orthodox girls with doting be-yarmulka'd and wigg'd parents giving them hugs and pushing their year;s worth of luggage through the gates, then the kids spent the whole flight singing. GAH. so then i get off the flight, wait a billion trillion years for my luggage etc. and what the hell ever, and find Zuher, the driver of cab. we go through checkpoint with no trouble at all etc. etc. and then we get here and it's like 8PM. Oh yeah, zuher got a flat and after much yabbering and attempts to fix it he calld the head of the place i am staying, alternative tourism group, and this guy, a very cute shaggy arty hippy named ayman, drives me to house of ramzi, from which i type this. so had a nice dinner of fava beans and olive oil and tomato salad and pita, they are very pleased i like palestinian food. It's just like lebanese food which is the best food ever. Had interesting conversation with ramzi, his mom, his cousin Hassan, bunch of other relatives. Attended by petulant three year old girl as well. Passed out and woke up 630am and then at 830 went to Catholic school which let 60 kids stay out in sun all day yesterday because their 'rents hadn't paid school fees. well i would be one pissed off beeyotch if that happened to me i tell ya what, i'd be suing etc. parents here, includign hassan, were also very hopping mad. the kids get all distracted by the crap on the news and this makes it hard for them to learn. this also holds true for grown up, chic college kids at bethlehem university. got great photos of: apartheid wall beside har homa settlement that conveniently cuts off people from several hundred very old olive trees, house destroyed by rocket and then caught fire and firefighters shot, bullet holes all over church of Nativity which is a very stunning and ancient church, a palimpsest of crap from Pope Constantine to Justinian to Crusaders to Turks to modern tourist stuff. Boy is it pretty. there are a bunch of spiffy early christian crypts in the basement and the room where Heiro-whats-his-name translated the Bible into Latin for the first time. Bethlehem got well wrecked by IDF during spring 2002 standoff. including the church. tanks at bethlehem univ. campus, 40 consecutive days of semi-curfew, bullet holes all over the church. the town is still rebuilding from this. How the hell nasty is that? Going to Hebron tomorrow and some refugee camps and maybe Nablus later in the week. Moo. Will be in Beit Sahour monday evening, God willing. Will update as I go. I am doing very well here, except being bloody fricking pissed off at Hamas and the IDF for acting like goddamned Jack Asses. I have lots of shit taken care of for the trip except lots of places i wont be able to travel to now. That's okay because I can talk to plenty of people who are being affected by the checkpoints and getting their schooling interrupted right now! What a crap time to get school interrupted. Imagine you are a new teacher, you've developed your curriculum and surprise! here's some sweaty 17 year old boys to smash your microscopes, graffito your wall with racial slurs, trash your office and just generally screw everything up. I may be mad at the slight inconveneince but think of what the Palestinians have to go through. I am gonna have to likely navigate my own fanny through the checkpoints to Bethelem. Well it is the birthplace of Jesus and I am an American so I'd damn well better be able to get there. At which point I will get fine assistance from the Alternative Tourism Group (thanks Box in a Bank) and get well sorted doing what I do best - Interviewing People! My boyfriend is evidently bringing home a stray half-wolf half-husky dog with one blue eye and one brown eye. What should I name said dog? Many hugs and kisses, Nuts Journo Person Newsday.com link here. I think about the stuff I have done in the past and the stuff I am going to do. Arguments with a friend have expanded the story into a dual story, or maybe even four or five different stories. I'd like to compare whatever I see in Palestine etc. to a place in Michigan called Benton Harbor. It's much easier to find Palestinians on the 'net than it is to find African Americans from this very poor town on the net. The town has an unemployment rate similar to that of a refugee camp and is adjacent to a rich, small nearly-all-white town. What does that mean? I've talked to bunches of Palestinian, Jordanian, Lebanese and Tunisian kids on various messenger services, just to talk to them. They act like other kids on IRC - testing out simple scripts and bots that declare their undying love for every person that enters a chat channel. In all of the profile searches on IRC homepages, Google groups, and MSN/YAHOO/ICQ/AIM membr searches I have conducted, I have not yet been able to find a current Benton Harbor resident in a live-chat environment. Fascinating, as Spock would say. so so so guess what? LiveJournal pays off! I've met an excellent person in-country and he is just fabulous, sexy and brilliant. :)) I also got a donation of a digicam and am raising money for trip with a spiffy house party in my friend's spiffy house. Furthermore, today I shall send emails off to various ministers and UN-persons in the education field in Palestine. It is amazing how staggeringly easy it is to meet Palestinians on the web, IRC, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, and even AIM Instant Messenger. The place is well-noded compared to what my assumptions were. However the whole point of this is to learn instead of to assume. Woo yay!!!! I am busy with logistical details and must be circumspect about them in a public forum. Hell, less than ten people read this fucker anyway. How are all you people? If you read this, please post and say hello. I don't know anyting that's going on. |
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