Exploring the West Bank

Last night I was right in the middle of writing an epic post to describe the two previous days of my travel when I must have fallen asleep. I woke up this morning hugging the laptop and no longer feeling my legs that had been hanging out of the bed all night. I know I'm tall and all but there must be Israelis that are taller than me, why are these beds so short? It made me really happy when Anat, my contact while I'm here, called me to let me know I could stay in this hostel another night instead of moving because I'm so sick of packing my bag. I know it's only been 9 days but before that I did exactly the same for 10 day while I traveled around Iceland with my sister. As much as I'm sad about this trip coming to an end I also kind of look forward to getting back home and settling into the Icelandic summer as the months preceding the trip were so hectic. I look forward to coffee with my friends that I've hardly seen since Christmas, BBQs and lazy summer nights with the boyfriend and the princess and whatever else it is that we do in Reykjavík during summer.

I spent yesterday exploring the West Bank which is a Palestinian territory mostly ruled by the Israelis. I'm not really going to get into the history or the politics of the place but I urge you to look it up and read about it. Because I only had one day to do it I decided to do a tour which ended up being a good thing as I spent the day with fellow travelers which frankly I haven't seen much of on this trip. Traveling with locals is great but exchanging ideas with outsiders like yourself can really enhance your experience and give you an even wider perspective on things.

There were mainly three things that struck me about the West Bank: how easy it was to visit it, how different it seemed from Israel and the litter everywhere. We had to go through some check points to get there but we were never stopped and not once did I have to show my passport. I also didn't see a single soldier, Israeli or Palestinian, until we got to Arafat's tomb in Ramallah that was guarded by a couple of soldiers. Actually that's not completely true as there were two Israeli soldiers at the Jordan river next to the Jordan border. Everything was quiet around the separation wall and the only hassle I experienced was some people trying to sell us things. Not what I had imagined. The atmosphere of the places we visited was quite different, except maybe in Jericho, and more chaotic somehow. While in Jerusalem for instance people avoid eye contact and don't smile back at you in the streets, in Betlehem the street vendors are desperate for your attention and make a point of you noticing them. I also saw a lot more donkeys in the West Bank than in Isarel. Finally the litter. I don't know if it's a cultural thing or whether they just have such poor infrastructure that they can't deal with all the trash but there was litter everywhere. Everywhere! I think I remember reading something about this being a problem in many Arab cities so maybe it is a cultural thing but whatever it is, it's not at all pleasant. My favorite moment of the day was the utter chaos of trying to get out of Ramallah back to Jerusalem, where ignored traffic rules, horns being honked and street vendors walking between cars selling ice cream and water made me smile.

There are so many things I don't understand about this conflict: the way the land is divided, why the settlements are allowed to grow, how Arabs and Jews can live in harmony in once place and at the next place less than 100km away everything is messed up to name a few. At the same time I also understand the motives a bit better now, on both sides, although I don't always agree with the methods used. Most of all I think I've understood that unless you are born here and you live and breath this area, I don't think you'll ever fully comprehend this situation. Both sides really honestly and genuinely believe in their arguments and it's hard as an outsider not to respect that, whatever your own opinions are. Ultimately I think it's everyone's hope to find a solution and I hope for their sake that they do. I'm happy that I had the opportunity to explore the other side with a guide who in my opinion gave a pretty balanced view of the whole thing and I wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

I will have to tell you about Masada later, whether it will be here or on my own blog, because I don't want to spend my last day here in Jerusalem in front of the computer. I can't believe this adventure is almost over.