Liberation?

As tends to happen in my life (as if I had no agency in this role :) I have jumped from one reality to another. From Sinai in Egypt into Ramallah, Palestine. Ironically I have left freedom in Egypt and entered a land where Palestinians are not free. By extension I believe that this further continues the enslavement of also Jewish Israelis, and maybe by extension Jews everywhere. On the larger picture we cannot be free unless all are free. More locally, the Jewish State here is a slave to limiting freedom in the name of security, to a militarized society where violence is the norm, to this ugly manifestation of clinging to a freedom that does not really exist.

We crossed to and from Sinai through the Taba border crossing into Egypt, where we showed our passports maybe 10 times each way. Keter, Shalom, Rivi, Yosef, Yama, Ahron, and I swam in the red sea, relaxed on hammocks, chilled with Bedoins and Sudanese, ate good food, and got a lot of sun. The corral reefs were a dip away and so I was able to go snorkeling everyday in a magical underwater space world. The deserts there is all shades of tan, and brown. Underwater though the fish and the corral are vibrant rainbows with awe-inspiring patterns. Five kids are a lot of work, and I give Keter a lot of credit for managing to relax through all her work. I loved playing with different kids at different times, though found my self needing my space sometimes too. After five days of sun, shells, and salt we crossed back and drove to their home. (pictures to come)

I immediately set off for Ramallah so that I could be at the PMRS office in the morning. It was an easy crossing this time. I met a woman on the bus who is from Calcutta, India, and is doing research in Jerusalem, through Harvard. for her PhD about the different monetary units that Palestinians have used during Ottoman rule, the British Mandate, and up to today. I really enjoyed meeting her and actually crossed back to Jerusalem with her this morning. In Ramallah, I am staying with my friend Souli, who is a gracious, open, silly, and helpful host. He is involved with getting Israeli and Palestinian children on soccer teams together to play against others.
Thursday morning I went to the PMRS office and together with the head of emergency medicine, we went to the Ministry of Finance to give a CPR training. Really I just observed and tried to understand all of the Arabic spoken around me. It has been a while since I have not spoken the language of those around me. I find myself impatient with my extremely limited Arabic knowledge. It turns out that with some Palestinians we share more Hebrew in common than any other language. Great numbers of Palestinian men have spent time in Israeli jails, where many studied and learned Hebrew. I don't like to speak Hebrew with them though. It makes me uncomfortable, both reminding me of my identity as Jew, and thus in this place as part oppressor, and it identifies me as Jewish, which sometimes I would like to keep private. I am learning Arabic shwayy-shwayya since I know that I have only been there a few days, and it takes time.
On Thursday evening I went out with Souli to a cafe that internationals frequent for a friend's brithday where we ran into several more of his friends. We ended up going back to his friend's flat for a long evening of discussion and relaxation. His friend, Isaa Freij is a Christian Palestinian artist and film-maker with whom I really enjoyed speaking with and hearing his stories.
As I continue to travel, I continue to enjoy the wealth of wisdom, stories, kindness, and hospitality of those I meet. On Friday I went with Abu Ali in the ambulance to Bil'in as medics for the weekly demonstrations that happen there. There was a lot of milling about in the beginning, with internationals and Israelis joining the locals (all men and boys). It was raining off and on, and so Abu Ali was hopeful that there would not be any serious injuries this week. He told me that last week, he had to take several people to the hospital. This was my first ride along in an ambulance! Crazy. So eventually people started to gather and walk towards the wall, including Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. We followed in the ambulance. People chanted, some went up to the gate and shook it, some stones were thrown. For a while I could only see one IDF soldier who was not standing behind the barricades fifty feet or so from the wall/gate. It seemed that at some point the soldiers found the demonstrators too rowdy and fired several canisters of gas at the demonstrators, at which point people scattered. Abu Ali showed me that the best way he knew how to help folks deal with the gas is by giving them cotton soaked in alcohol to put under their noses and eyes. We gave out a few of these cotton puffs. He asked me not to open the door or window for anyone as long as we were in the gas-filled air, so that we would not be affected. I followed his lead, and later asked him about the safety first philosophy of emergency medicine, which he told me was something that was a viable option in his work in Palestine and important to him. This is something I'm still trying to figure out. I think that many medics in the US would not think that bringing an ambulance within an area where tear gas was being fired, and other violence/danger was potential, would be putting safety first. It's all relative though. Since we stayed in the car, I was able to take several pictures, and was not affected by the gas. After a second round of tear gas, people dispersed, no serious injuries needed attending to, and we drove back to Ramallah.
Though I have never been to a Palestinian demonstration before, the whole process seemed familiar in the way that I've read about this, seen video, and then there it was in front of my very eyes. This high-stakes game is enacted weekly, and the players seemed familiar with the roles they are to take. I'm not make light of this. Their toys are real and deadly. It just strikes me that this pattern continues. I spoke with my younger cousin today about the demonstration, and he said that he understood why the soldiers fired on the protesters, that the soldiers could not stand by while stones were being thrown at them, that using rubber bullets was okay because it only hurts for a day. At the end of our conversation, we just agreed that it's complicated. I find this a common point of agreement with others as well.
On Saturday I went with Hasan (another trainer), Maher (PMRS employee), and Amra (interpreting for me) to Bet Sira for a training for some young men and boys there. The training was on fractures and transporting patients. Hasan and I switched off and Amra interpreted for me. She was incredibly helpful and amicable. Even so it was really difficult for me to be in an educator role and not be able to communicate with others effectively. Again the language barrier was frustrating. After the training, Maher and Hasan drove us around a little bit showing us the village and it's boundaries and the very close by settlement. The wall/fence divided Maher's family's land, and cut them off from it, and some olive trees were uprooted and planted literally at the edge of the road. The settlement nearby sued the village so now they are unable to broadcast the call to prayer customary in Muslim places. We visited Maher's house where his family had prepared a delicious lunch of Maklouba, and I kept on making eyes at the little kids running around the house.
Throughout the day Amra and I spoke. Now 23, she grew up until age 16 in Chicago. Her father is Palestinian and grew up here and her mother is half Palestinian and half American and grew up in the states. Amra still has vivid recollections of first arriving. The wall had not been constructed yet. In their first 3 months they had a visa that allowed her family freedom of movement in Israel and Palestine. Then when they received their Palestinian ID's that changed. She said that though they have US passports still, her younger siblings are afraid to go through the checkpoints and don't want to go. When they moved here her father told her that she would have to take shorter showers. I asked her where she wants to live in the future, and she said that the longer she stays, the more she wants to remain there.
So far I have seen so many intersting things, spoken with some wonderful folks, and have not gotten in any trouble. I know that there is a heavy focus in this entry about Israeli Occupation of Palestinians. This reality seems to constantly be on the minds of Palestinians. It involves their movement, safety, history, family, pride, freedom, futures, and past. It is an inescapable reality, literally, mentally and emotionally and at least when I am around a frequently spoken of topic of conversation. Ramallah is a place with much smoking and caffeine drinking. Stress-coping mechanisms.
Spending the last 3 days in Ramallah, has made it difficult for me to get into a mood for Pesach. I am with my cousins and we are going to a large outside seder at a friend of theirs. Everywhere I go around Jewish Israelis I am wished a Chag Sameach, Happy Holidays. This in itself is strange, where I am in a land where my holiday is celebrated by the majority and everyone else is very aware of it. Pesach is about liberation and freedom, and right now I am so angry that, atleast the way the US and Israeli governments would explain it to me, my freedom comes at the cost of another's.

Orientation

The last few days have been so full of family, friends, strangers, different languages, modes of transportation and conversations. I arrived at my cousins' house in Moshav Aviezer on Tuesday morning, and since I only wrote down Baruch's home number, I managed to take a train, taxi, and then asked folks where the Shapiro's lived once I arrived on the Moshav. My family came home to their cousin already here. Surprise!

After a lovely day and night's rest, I went to Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. I spent the afternoon with Jacob, an old college friend, and Jenny and a little time with a new friend, Shelley, where I slept in her absent housemate's bed. We went out for bad Tai food and caught up. Jerusalem was overwhelming. I arrived by sherut, to find people of all walks of life bustling about trying to catch their next bus. My Hebrew is rusty, though day by day I am understanding more and more.

Today started along time ago. I ate tabouli for breakfast at Shelley's, who is gluten-free. Then I went back to Jacob's and we set out on foot to the old city. In Jerusalem there exist many paradoxical realities. The city has as much litter as Philadelphia, more stray cats, and more horn honking. The worn stone construction that turns into the old city feels old, worn, alive, tired, strong, and full, almost at a tipping point. We walked through the south gate entrance I believe and made our way through the Jewish quarter to the Western Wall, with a view of the temple mount. There are tourists everywhere, along with soldiers, and Israelis, all praying, taking pictures, singing, dancing, looking suspiciously at others, and asking for tzedakah. I took a moment to pray and it was hard to block everything and everyone out of my mind. I put in some prayers into small holes in the wall.

Jacob and I met up with his friend Avital and we all made our way through the Damascus gate and into the Arab quarter. It strikes me now how separated/segregated the city is and how different they are. I'm not sure all the ways in which they are different, just that the vibes in each area are different, and the people so as well. We ate hummus and made our way to a bus to go to Ramallah. We made it most of the way to Ramallah, and I saw for the first time the apartheid/seperation wall. It's a solid structure 8 meteres high, with barbed wire and feels temporarily permanent. We have a long way to go before it will be torn down, and I pray to see that happen while I am alive.

At the Qalandia checkpoint (This is from a few days earlier, there were no burning tires today), half the road was blocked off and the bus driver would not go any further. It seems there were some clashes between some Palestinian youth and the Israeli army. We were not in any danger and we simply got out of the bus, crossed the road and took a service into Ramallah. As we drove by we saw little pockets of young men, some alone, one with a gas mask on. They looked eager for action, and very familiar with this scenario. Out in the distance were the IDF in all their riot gear and big weapons.

There we arrived into the bustling and disorienting center, we weaved through the crowded market, that reminded me of the markets in Peru, and met up with my friend Suleiman, whom I know from Peacemakers weekend at Tawonga. He also had two friends with him and we all sat and had tea/coffee. Suleiman is a busy and generous man who I will meet up with again next week, and possibly stay at his home while volunteering with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Ramallah for most of April. Both in Israel and Palestine, I am struck with the warmth hospitality of my hosts. So then Suli dropped us off at the PMRS office, and I sat down with Mohammed and he told me that what they were needing right now was for people to give more trainings to local Palestinians on emergency medicine, like CPR, first aid, wound management and such. He told me that I would have an interpreter and transportation. Also he said it would be possible for me to accompany the ambulance on rides to the clinics in other cities and villages. Overall this feels very possible too me, though I've never trained others in first aid/cpr though I've been to many of these trainings myself.

By this point in our day I felt inundated with images, experiences, cultures and languages. We walked out to a road outside Ramallah, and tried to walk through a Palestine to Palestine checkpoint, at which point the soldiers told us that it was not allowed for us to walk through and we should just walk around, and so that is what we did, right through the field, 50 yards away. They did not seem to care about checking our identification. We hitched a ride outside the settlement Bet El and then took a settlement bus back into the city. What a crazy day. Maybe its normal for here though, I don't know. Palestinians without permission are not allowed into Israel and Israeli's are not allowed in Areas A and B within Palestine and so my American passport gives great privilege and some ignorance as well.

I've read and talked with so many folks about the situation here, and it has finally come for me to experience it, to see the crowds, the soldiers with their guns, the religious dress, the holy sites; hear the sirens, the screeching birds, the call to prayer; smell the sweet blooming jasmine, the rosemary, stale urine on the street, the hummus restaurants. Today I felt the rain as I returned back to my cousin's for the evening. With Baruch gone, Keter has her hands full and I am enjoying each five of my cousins individually. Tomorrow I decided to accompany them for a mini vacation in the Sinai in Egypt (This is not the exact place we're going). Where we will swim, relax, play and more.

I'm leaving today...

and I made this camera case! I can take quick shots without removing the camera completely from the case. Thanks for the idea Will!

Also I just realized that I may have forgotten to mention that I got into both NCNM and Bastyr!!!! I will be attending NCNM in the fall in Portland, Oregon, yay!

Plan Changes

My grandmother, Fay passed away yesterday. I was able to spend 2 hours with her yesterday morning. She was working so hard to breath and the keep her heart beating. I feel very grateful that I was able to be there. I thought that I was going to go on this birthright trip no matter what and then when it came down to it last night, I wanted to stay and be here with my family. I decided to delay my trip for one week, and travel on my own to Israel/Palestine. That's all for now.

Luck ain't everything

I am really lucky. I live a life right now where i am able to travel and see the people that I love and new places and situations and still have a home base...I am blessed. I want to recognize this as I continue to write about hardships that I also encounter. For the last week I have been HOME in Philly, with family and friends. I have been able to have delicious dinners with folks, puzzle time, moments of shear silliness, Purim fun, Shabbat meals, the Lesbian Dorkestra, and more.

I have also been present with my family as my mother's mother, Faye Korman Clark, passes away. As I write this, her heart is still beating, though she is not completely in this world, nor in the hereafter. We wait and try and support each other, make plans, try and ensure she is as comfortable as possible; we wait, amazed by her tenacity to live, to make her heart beat and cling to life. Fay loves life, like no one I've known. She always has a smile on her face for greeting and for conversation, she survived over 15 years of stomach and ovarian cancer. She survived two husbands, including my grandfather Bill Korman. She found conscious and clear moments towards the end of her life to appreciate the outwardly beautiful parts of her family, including finding the ironic clarity to tell me last week, all of a sudden, that my hair looks good .. I mourn her as her heart continues to obstinately beat, because she is not living life as she would choose. Tomorrow I will go to see her and once again say my goodbyes. I leave for Israel/Palestine monday and will miss the family mourning period. This is a hard choice, yet I do believe that were grandmommee able to perceive the situation, she would want me to live life as fully as I deem fit and to embrace to situation I find myself in instead of fighting it. In the end though it is about making decisions for myself and taking everything into consideration that is good for me and that match my values...