A three-week adventure in the Middle East is finally over. A roundtrip through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Occupied Palestinian territories and Israel is behind me and it has been "one hell of a" trip.
I’m already missing the people, the region, but it was somehow nice that it was time to leave Israel last night. I had ended up in a tense discussion about Israel the last hour before my taxi picked me up. It all started with me talking with the hotel host in Tel Aviv and mentioning the word “Palestine”. “Do you call Israel for Palestine?” Instantly sweating, I replied, “Well, yes, I did for the West Bank”. So far so good, but the next question was a bit more tricky to answer. “Are you somehow anti-Israel?” Now how do you answer to a question like that, sitting in the heart of Israel?
I'm not a big fan of the way Israel was created, but the circumstances were quite alike for another state I hold dear, namely Pakistan. They were both under British rule, and similar to some hardcore Indians (or Pakistanis) disagreeing, or even disliking, the fact that a part of Mother India split into two countries, it is difficult for Arabs (Muslims) to accept that the state of Israel was drawn on the map on historical Muslim land before the 2. World war. Besides, The Israel we know today is not the one the UN suggested in 1948, and the occupation of Palestinian territories makes it easy to be somehow “anti-Israel”.
I was of course doomed to lose that discussion, and was a happy man when the taxi arrived and I could leave for the airport.
So, what will I remember from my adventure to perhaps the most frequently mentioned area in the Media?
A lot.
A long time will pass before I’ll forget all the soldiers. Two nights in a row now I’ve dreamt about soldiers and war(s), so the trip has done something with me. Although there were soldiers and tense situation across the region, it is primarily in Israel/ Palestine where the situation is so tense that it my come to open clashes, so, not surprisingly, it is the Israeli soldiers who have found their way into my dreams.
Just today, there was a report about intense fighting in Gaza due to new rocket attacks from Gaza to Ashkelon. These rocket attacks are exactly the argument that makes Israel not wanting to risk to give up the West Bank without any further due. What guarantee do they have not to be targets of new missiles from the West Bank - as they are from the Gaza strip?
Maybe none, but the status quo (read: an increasing number of settlements and thus additional troops) is not making Israel any safer.
Perhaps Israel can not, or will not, give up its military presence in the West Bank, but my clear impression is that it is not the presence of soldiers which constructs the worst hardship for the Palestinians. No, it is all the illegal settlements that keep popping up – on their land. I’m not saying the Palestinians enjoy the military checkpoints and the soldiers, but the apartheid wall, the settler roads, and the expansion and construction of new settlements are the biggest blow – both physically and psychologically.
They have no right to be on occupied territory.
From time to time, and I even heard the argument during my trip, Israel claims that the extremists’ fight against Israel is an ideological struggle, and I’m not totally denying the fact, but as long as the state of Israel look upon the entire area as a god-given land to the Jews, and bless new settlements, these extreme elements will not be less, only increase.
Rather than destroying the infrastructure, homes and eliminate the possibilities for the Palestinians, I think Israel had served her cause better if she had built up the West Bank. It was for instance sad to observe how Saddam Hussein was the hero for Palestinians (after Arafat), solely because he used the Palestinian struggle rhetorically (and with 42 Scud rockets during first Gulf war) and large amounts of money to rebuild the West Bank.
I will remember all the smoking men. I do not think there is one man in the Middle East, particularly in the Arab countries, who do not smoke. The richest of the rich, coming out of their fancy cars, or the poorest of the poor, sitting in an intersection, both had that in common that in their fingers, they held a cigarette.
And I will remember the women. Not (only) because they were so incredibly beautiful, but because they were so proud, so confident. They walked around, with or without their hijab (without being worried by their choice), and showed no signs of being oppressed - in any way.
Especially in the Palestinian territories and in the Palestinian refugee camps across the region, made a strong impression. They were never afraid to speak out; everyone took some form of (higher) education and they all had ambitions. They carried the passed grief but looked ahead.
It's not the girls - the young women - who are the problem in the future Palestine; it is the men: The youngsters, the old, the unemployed and the frustrated. They hang around in the streets of the refugee camps, of the cities across the West Bank without finding anything useful to do than harass people, or find hope and solution in weapons and the power of weapon. They are a problem for the society they live in and for Israel. The solution is not to build more walls around them but rather to give them hope or something as simple as a job...
Finally, I will remember all the passport controls. The harsh looks in the Police/ Military Officer, the everlasting queues behind red lines and people with stiff eyes and bowed heads, constantly proving their identity, waiting for the stamp or the redeeming wave to continue: Yallah!
The World Citizen in me got a sharp stab during this trip. The passport, which in Europe has more or less lost its function, and the color of it, is the little book that determines what rights you have and what treatment you get in the whole region. It was a challenge to cross five borders, and meant that the passport was never packed and always available. Of course, it all topped in the Palestinian territories with all its Israeli (and sometimes Palestinian) checkpoints throughout the West Bank.
Now three weeks after, real life waits. Thank you for a great time, people of Middle East, I will be back!
I’m already missing the people, the region, but it was somehow nice that it was time to leave Israel last night. I had ended up in a tense discussion about Israel the last hour before my taxi picked me up. It all started with me talking with the hotel host in Tel Aviv and mentioning the word “Palestine”. “Do you call Israel for Palestine?” Instantly sweating, I replied, “Well, yes, I did for the West Bank”. So far so good, but the next question was a bit more tricky to answer. “Are you somehow anti-Israel?” Now how do you answer to a question like that, sitting in the heart of Israel?
I'm not a big fan of the way Israel was created, but the circumstances were quite alike for another state I hold dear, namely Pakistan. They were both under British rule, and similar to some hardcore Indians (or Pakistanis) disagreeing, or even disliking, the fact that a part of Mother India split into two countries, it is difficult for Arabs (Muslims) to accept that the state of Israel was drawn on the map on historical Muslim land before the 2. World war. Besides, The Israel we know today is not the one the UN suggested in 1948, and the occupation of Palestinian territories makes it easy to be somehow “anti-Israel”.
I was of course doomed to lose that discussion, and was a happy man when the taxi arrived and I could leave for the airport.
So, what will I remember from my adventure to perhaps the most frequently mentioned area in the Media?
A lot.
A long time will pass before I’ll forget all the soldiers. Two nights in a row now I’ve dreamt about soldiers and war(s), so the trip has done something with me. Although there were soldiers and tense situation across the region, it is primarily in Israel/ Palestine where the situation is so tense that it my come to open clashes, so, not surprisingly, it is the Israeli soldiers who have found their way into my dreams.
Just today, there was a report about intense fighting in Gaza due to new rocket attacks from Gaza to Ashkelon. These rocket attacks are exactly the argument that makes Israel not wanting to risk to give up the West Bank without any further due. What guarantee do they have not to be targets of new missiles from the West Bank - as they are from the Gaza strip?
Maybe none, but the status quo (read: an increasing number of settlements and thus additional troops) is not making Israel any safer.
Perhaps Israel can not, or will not, give up its military presence in the West Bank, but my clear impression is that it is not the presence of soldiers which constructs the worst hardship for the Palestinians. No, it is all the illegal settlements that keep popping up – on their land. I’m not saying the Palestinians enjoy the military checkpoints and the soldiers, but the apartheid wall, the settler roads, and the expansion and construction of new settlements are the biggest blow – both physically and psychologically.
They have no right to be on occupied territory.
From time to time, and I even heard the argument during my trip, Israel claims that the extremists’ fight against Israel is an ideological struggle, and I’m not totally denying the fact, but as long as the state of Israel look upon the entire area as a god-given land to the Jews, and bless new settlements, these extreme elements will not be less, only increase.
Rather than destroying the infrastructure, homes and eliminate the possibilities for the Palestinians, I think Israel had served her cause better if she had built up the West Bank. It was for instance sad to observe how Saddam Hussein was the hero for Palestinians (after Arafat), solely because he used the Palestinian struggle rhetorically (and with 42 Scud rockets during first Gulf war) and large amounts of money to rebuild the West Bank.
I will remember all the smoking men. I do not think there is one man in the Middle East, particularly in the Arab countries, who do not smoke. The richest of the rich, coming out of their fancy cars, or the poorest of the poor, sitting in an intersection, both had that in common that in their fingers, they held a cigarette.
And I will remember the women. Not (only) because they were so incredibly beautiful, but because they were so proud, so confident. They walked around, with or without their hijab (without being worried by their choice), and showed no signs of being oppressed - in any way.
Especially in the Palestinian territories and in the Palestinian refugee camps across the region, made a strong impression. They were never afraid to speak out; everyone took some form of (higher) education and they all had ambitions. They carried the passed grief but looked ahead.
It's not the girls - the young women - who are the problem in the future Palestine; it is the men: The youngsters, the old, the unemployed and the frustrated. They hang around in the streets of the refugee camps, of the cities across the West Bank without finding anything useful to do than harass people, or find hope and solution in weapons and the power of weapon. They are a problem for the society they live in and for Israel. The solution is not to build more walls around them but rather to give them hope or something as simple as a job...
Finally, I will remember all the passport controls. The harsh looks in the Police/ Military Officer, the everlasting queues behind red lines and people with stiff eyes and bowed heads, constantly proving their identity, waiting for the stamp or the redeeming wave to continue: Yallah!
The World Citizen in me got a sharp stab during this trip. The passport, which in Europe has more or less lost its function, and the color of it, is the little book that determines what rights you have and what treatment you get in the whole region. It was a challenge to cross five borders, and meant that the passport was never packed and always available. Of course, it all topped in the Palestinian territories with all its Israeli (and sometimes Palestinian) checkpoints throughout the West Bank.
Now three weeks after, real life waits. Thank you for a great time, people of Middle East, I will be back!
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