Truth in the Middle East

[_sameer_]

Have you all seen Invisible Children?
If not, I think you should - invisiblechildren.org. But that's not what this post is about.

I think that when you want to take a side on something, you have an obligation to make the decision of what side to take only after finding out about the issue. Blindly stating "I'm for this" or "I'm against this" is

Comments

[dechiree]

Whatever you decide to do, and whoever decides to go with you (sorry my Hebrew isn't good enough anymore for a venture like this and I'm working on moving back to France or I'd way volunteer), I recommend that you spend equal amounts of time in both Israeli and Palestinian areas.

It seems like you've got a really good grasp on which Palestinian lands you'd like to see, but have you thought where you'd like to go in Israel and how long it will take? Some moving areas that I went to were Rosh Hanikra (Lebanese-Israeli coastal border), the Golan Heights, Israeli West Bank settlements (though I have very little information on how accessible these areas may still be, or even if they still exist), the Druze (spelling?) community village in Haifa, and of course Jerusalem. At the time I was there, Hebron/the gravesites of the 3 forefathers was/were still off limits, but that would be a very good place to go not for the gravesites, but for the tension of it being an Arab city with the Jewish forefathers' resting place. My ex-boyfriend's brother, who's in Yeshiva in Jerusalem, said they drive you out there in buses with bulletproof glass nowadays.

Are you interested in visiting cultural sites for both peoples or just filming areas of hostile activity? Let me know if you want any recommendations for those if you decide to go.

[_sameer_]

I plan on spending about a third of my time in Israel, a third in Palestine, and the last third in the neighboring states (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt). Maybe less outside and more in Israel and Palestine.

All the places you mentioned except the Druze community village and the gravesites of the three forefathers were on my list. I have never heard of the "gravesites of the three forefathers before" - what is it all about?

And I'm more interested in the hostility and the political, humanitarian side of it. Religious and cultural things both take a backseat to that in my mind. Having said that, they're both very indirectly involved and I would love to go get some falafel and smoke a hookah out there. Seriously, the culture of both is fascinating to me, and I will definitely, if I ever get to Jerusalem, not only check out the religious sites of Muslims and Jews, but of Christians as well.

You don't have to be a member of any of these religions to respect them and want to learn about them. Case in point: Me!

[dechiree]

OK I will start with the sites. So in Haifa I remember we stopped and we taken into the home of a Druze family. Apparently Druze is like a mix of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian beliefs, and they live together amongst Jews and Muslims in Israel without any problems. They might be an interesting "control group" sort of study.

For the graves. In the Torah/Bible/Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are all buried in a cave in Hebron, along with Sarah I believe. Abraham purchased this land to be the gravesite for his family once Sarah died. It's still there in Hebron, you can go and see it, but the city is in *I believe* Arab territory, and is a very dangerous trek for Jews/Israelis/Christians. You may be able to get to it though, there are buses, and that area is HIGH tension so might be exactly what you're looking for.

Some beautiful but tranquil places to go are Safat (amazing candle makers), the Golan (for hiking) Eilat (for the resort, but hey you won't be on vacation :-)) Masada/Dead Sea. Nothing else particularly comes to mind, but Israel is one of the smallest countries and has every single landscape known to mankind in it, so go EVERYWHERE. Tel Aviv is where you'll find the hottest nightlife and modern culture, Jerusalem is home to so many orthodox people of all the religions that not too much exciting/risque shit goes down. One experience that's cool is a Kibbutz, see if you can get on one for a day or two, it's a really cool way to live out successful modern socialism for 24 hours. Other than that let me know if I can be of any more asistance!

[_sameer_]

Hey, thanks. This is really all interesting. I like the idea of a "control group" even though I'm not really doing an experiment.

I didn't know the Golan was safe to hike in and stuff!