east and west bank

I'm at the point where I'm pulling blog entry titles from the url itself. I feel as though I'm at the midpoint of this year, this very interesting and mindblowing experience.

Here I am the weekend before last:

From valentine's day in the center of the world

And here I am this past weekend:

From one day in jordan, one day in israel

I spend one weekend here on this side of the river, in Jerusalem of all cities, and the next weekend in Jordan, in Amman. I traverse the border as if it's becoming routine. I live above nation-states and their borders. I live the life that so many people from this region either cannot live or would not consider living. But it gets even more confusing.

Since my first visit to Israel, I have always felt a profound connection to the land and the fate of this nation. The founding principles of Israel are beautiful: provide a security for Jews that may be persecuted in many countries around the world, create a democratic state with equality for all of its citizens, and so on. With extreme misfortune, this is not what is happening. In fact, every time Israel screws up, sharp waves of anti-Semitism jostle Jewish communities globally; on top of that, Israeli society is far from fair to many minorities living here.

When I arrived in Jordan, I knew that I would never be a part of the Jordanian society. As much as I loved it, I knew that I could not openly be Jewish within the society nor could I ever feel that I was a part of the national identity of the kingdom. However, the longer the time I spent there, the more people began to expect me to be Jordanian or Arab, the more people truly wished I was more like them (often cases as a Muslim). The line began to blur as I felt more and more welcome that I started to even feel a bit Jordanian--which is not quite sanity.

What I am getting at is that I expected to feel more a part of Israel and wished I could associate with the society in order to feel like I could play a role, but it's difficult. However, in the case of Jordan, I knew that I could not play a role in society or associate with the people in the same way but I am feeling that the barrier is breaking down. It's a very strange feeling to be in love with a country that exceeds my somewhat less liberal expectations and as a result feel as though I've cheated on someone--Israel--and may no longer love them in the same way.

That being said, I am still adjusting to this place. I have a meeting tomorrow with Shatil to discuss volunteer options in Haifa, and on Sunday I begin volunteering at the town in the Triangle. More to come soon about classes, which started yesterday. Super analytical stuff going on, and it's exciting to feel stimulated.

--Avraham

in the forest

Well hello everybody, and welcome back.

I live in the forest, and you could just drown in the greenness of it all. This city is so incredibly beautiful, I can't put it in any other words.

News: I am the newspaper.

I found an apartment, and I will be living there as of the 18th. Wednesday. I'm very excited, as it will be a real place with a real kitchen and nobody to tell me who's allowed in and out except of course myself and my flatmates, who are awesome. It's right near the Carmel Center--top of the mountain commercial area--so it's easy to get anywhere from there. Buses straight to the bus/train station, straight to the university, mish mushkila.

Additionally, I found volunteer work! I made a series of emails, phone calls, and various messages via telegraph in multiple languages, most useful of course Norwegian, until I found myself being thrown numbers and messages from people who want me. One opportunity I spoke about in depth with a very nice woman who will be taking me with her weekly to the Triangle, an Arab area in the center of the country, about an hour away, which is unfortunately a center of poverty, corruption, and crime but also high high-school graduation rates, somehow. I will have the pleasure of working with several groups in helping them with raising funds by writing grant proposals--in English. Most of the communication I will be doing with them will be in Arabic--YES! It sounds so exciting, especially hearing about some of the groups I'll get to work with--women interpreting the qur'an themselves in order to understand their rights in Islam, youth leadership groups, advocacy for early childhood education and making that provided by the state as the state once had an initiative in which it would potentially spread that to the whole nation. It's a mess here, of course, but I'm going to help do some stuff to clean it up, insha'allah.

The elections happened. Big victory for the right, although Tzipi Livni's Kadima, a centrist movement, seems to have the most seats--barely--of any party. Either way, it does not look like the occupation will be getting any better, for one. When reading an article like that, I wonder what it means. Who are these 20 people arrested? What did they do or are they suspected of? 3 lines about it happening shows me nothing, and it only makes me more suspicious of what actually happens in the West Bank. Another issue I'm concerned about is the prospect of civil rights for Arab Israelis. With Lieberman already running the show--hmm.. I know who I will pick to recommend for prime minister.. I just won't say it yet! because if I do then I don't get as much attention.. hmm....--well anyway, who knows what will become of Arab towns' education, infrastructure, social and economic well-being.. It's a tough time to be on the left in Israel these days.

So where does that leave me? This weekend, Jerusalem. I'll be spending it with some friends and even missing class on Sunday to stay through Alana's birthday! Next week, a meeting at the Shatil office--activist branch of the New Israel Fund--in Haifa next week in order to discuss volunteer work here in Haifa, and exactly one week from today I will be well on my way to Jordan!

I have a lot coming up, and hopefully I'll even do something photograph worthy so you guys don't have to just read all of this text I keep spitting out.

--Avraham

contradictions

Every day, now, I am faced with gross contradictions. One second, I am talking with a group of Jewish Israelis who are talking about all of the left wing or at least centrist parties that they will vote for. Wonderful conversations I'm watching in front of me, people who I never imagined to have political positions are suddenly extremely engaged in critical discussions about the different parties. Meanwhile, I speak with someone else who is voting right for all of the reasons that I can neither agree with or understand fully, according to the majority of people who are voting right. I don't live here. I come here to visit, for a few months this time, and I have not felt the way that they have felt as they hear about wars all over their country. Hell, some of them are veterans at the age of 21 or 22, and I can't even imagine. It's easy for me to just arrive and say that parties only concerned with security today are not good enough for the state. My friend even said that no, he is not racist, and he has plenty of Arab and Druze friends, but that does not influence his vote. He loves them, and they love him, but he cares too much about the country's current security to risk letting someone in power who will simply give away land to terrorists.

Well, that was yesterday. Today, I met some very sweet Arab girls. From where? From Israel, they told me. Muslims, Israelis. I have met several Arabs who identify as Israelis. Several who identify as Palestinians. However, they all know that their current nationality is Israeli, regardless of how much they identify as such. We had a nice time, and I got to practice Arabic. I still feel like a total nerd trying to spark conversations with people who don't necessarily know me. I did bump into one of my "friends" today who approached me to say hello, very nice guy named Ahmad (first one of those I've met.. NOT). Anyway, the point of my story is that in the same day I speak with some very sweet Israeli Arab girls who are voting maybe for Meretz or maybe for Chadash--left wing parties who believe in equal rights for all Israelis, because she refuses to vote for a party with "blood on their hands" after this latest war--I read this article, which makes me sick.

Yisrael Beitenu is a party that has been very vocal about their stance on Israeli Arabs and loyalty to the State of Israel. Avigdor Lieberman, leader of this party, speaks out against Arabs that are disloyal to the State of Israel and has spoken about introducing legislature that will denationalize them. And younger generations are agreeing with this. No, not everybody, but it scares me that this kind of party can be growing in the polls the more that they speak. I am afraid of what Israel could become with people like Lieberman in control.

How did this place get to be so insane? There may have been a point earlier on where things could have been settled, before all of the pain that has polarized both sides of this endless conflict. People should have seized that then, but now it's so much more difficult.

I tried to get to this demonstration held by Peace Now in Haifa, which was listed as every Saturday night at the same place, but the website is outdated, said the woman whose number I called. She said most of their activities are in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem because that is where their offices are. Tomorrow I'm calling Physicians for Human Rights and the New Israel Fund. I need to find somewhere to volunteer because I'm feeling pretty useless without something like that.

--Avraham

בחירות

That means elections, people. They're coming. Here are a few ads that you might find interesting, and even if you don't understand the words, it's worth watching how crazy this gets.

Likud, "right of center" party led by Binyamin Netenyahu, a Philly native. If I were voting, I so would not vote for them, although they are projected to win... We just have to hope that they form a centrist government as opposed to a right-wing coalition.





Kadima, a centrist party. They seem to be in the middle, especially after the war. We now see that they will both negotiate peace and discuss concessions as well as launch full-scale invasions of Gaza. A part of me wishes they would stay in power but also move more to the left--try harder in making peace, recognizing the rights of the Arab citizens of Israel, and lifting the occupation...

So here Kadima strikes back...


And Tzipi showing off her really famous friends (Obama), and looking as good as she can:


Labor, a left with party with a sweet webpage (that's right, Ehud Barak just walks onto the screen), dominated the scene in the first 30 years after Israel's independence, but since they're not quite as strong a contender as they once were, they seem to be trying to play to a bigger audience, like a bit more right than they used to. They do, however, have an Arab member of Knesset. Anyway.. Here we go...

This is silly:


This one, if you don't follow, is about a lifeguard who can't swim, she won't be "Ready in the moment of truth." However, according to the gentleman who approaches her, Ehud Barak will be.


Let's go back to the right.. jjust briefly. Cause it scares me a little. Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu (Israel, Our Home) party are very hard on Israeli Arabs and claim that they need to prove their allegiance to Israel. This ad, which points out some money scandal with some Arab member of Knesset, ends with the slogan "Rak Lieberman (Only Lieberman)," but this time they add on the "Mevin Aravit (Understands Arabic)" at the end. Only Lieberman understands Arabic? Well, I am pretty sure he is fluent in Russian, but I never knew he understood Arabic!



HaTenuah HaYerukah-Meimad (The Green Movement-Meimad--which comes from the acronym Medinah Yehudit, Medinah Demokratit or Jewish State, Democratic State) is a party I have been supporting to an extent. It's a convergence of Meimad, a left-wing religious party, and a rising green movement. They promote environmentalism, education, and good campaign items that deal with the future of Israel as opposed to temporary security today. One thing they promote is giving equal funds to Jewish and Arab schools as opposed to spending more on Jewish public schools. Not okay to me. This video is where their number 1 guy talks about how focusing on security is important but when it is the only concern, that's not okay. "A state that kills 1400 people every year [...] is not a Jewish state!"



I could keep doing this all night, there are 34 parties participating. But I'm not going to. Everyone enjoy the experience. They used to set a block of time on the major channels during prime time to broadcast all of the ads at once, a certain amount of time for each party based on what percentage of representation they had at the time, but they moved it to late at night now so that it doesn't interrupt regular broadcasting. Also, the parties started to make too much of a fool of themselves so that the campaigning got really nasty. That's what I've heard about the change, so that's what I'm reporting. The elections are on Tuesday. It should get very interesting here, and I will be sure to keep you all posted.

--Avraham

making a life here

Watch CBS Videos Online

Just watched that, ala Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine. Not a very optimistic outlook, I'm sad to say, but 60 Minutes is not the end-all-be-all. Just a simple presentation that I feel shows a relatively realistic glimpse of what happens in the West Bank.

Besides that, I am continuing my apartment search, although without as much force at the moment. I have tons of new vocabulary to study and lots of work to do for class. I am going to have to find a way to supplement my studies with more exposure to Hebrew conversation because the class is very advanced in literary Hebrew and does not give enough of an outlet for speaking. My comprehension and my reading is improving, but I feel that it is most important for me to converse as much as possible outside of class. That goes for Arabic as well; I am constantly trying to get a few words in with Arabs who pass me by just to show them that I can if they're interested, and I always ask Arabs for directions or logistics.

In fact, last night on my way back from a lovely weekend in Tel Aviv with the Spivack sisters, I took the wrong bus and ended up far from the University. I eventually got a taxi as the buses were not running very regularly and it began to rain very hard. The driver was an Arab who kindly accepted the pathetic amount of money I had with me to take me to the center, from which I could take a bus to the University. However, as the ride continued, we spoke about everything in Arabic, from the upcoming elections and the importance of Arabs to vote in them to how he doesn't think Jordan is beautiful at all--well doesn't he realize how spoiled he is living in the greenest city in the Middle East?? By the end of the ride, he had agreed to take me all the way to the University because he was so happy to have a lovely conversation in Arabic with me, an American Jew. Haverim.

An extra special thank you to Allie and Lauren for taking care of me this weekend, delicious dinner included. It is so nice to have people here who are like family to me.

I plan to travel to Jordan in 18 days. And I can hardly wait.

--Avraham

float upstream

I took a sick day today. I'm not terribly sick, but I have been since Saturday and it is simply time for this to stop affecting me. I woke up this morning feeling a bit the same as yesterday, which isn't the worst, but I should be feeling better. So, I did something that I never would have done in Jordan, and that was call a friend to tell the professor that I would not be in class. So here I am, taking care of myself.

I have made a few observations that are pretty funny. First of all, the culture here is so different from that in Jordan. Even in the cats! The cats in Jordan are reserved, move away from you, don't make eye contact. Here, you can just feel the hormones overflowing. The cats are chasing each other, mating at every chance they get, staring you down and walking towards you slowly if you're eating... how Israeli of them!

My class is going well, and I'm realizing that I am much further ahead in Hebrew than I imagined I would be upon my arrival. Which is great! The only challenging aspect is that my level is less focused on conversation and practicing over and over how to speak Hebrew than it is on critical reading and comprehension. Thus, I must look to other outlets in order to rehearse my ever-so-growing vocabulary. In Hebrew they say "treasury of words" in order to say vocabulary. I think that's pretty neat.

There are so many Arab students here, and I just want to go up to all of them and make a fool of myself by just throwing myself at them and saying something along the lines of HI I SPEAK SOME ARABIC WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE ARAB FRIENDS PLEASEEEEE???? But then again, I think there are better, smoother ways to do it. I miss Jordan and how the students at the University of Jordan are incredibly approachable. Maybe they are here, as well, but everyone is in exams right now so it's a bit of a strange time to meet people. Either way, I see lots of potential friends everywhere I go. It's just a matter of time before I go in for it.

--Avraham

shtei safot, lughtein, BILBOOOL!!!!!!

So, as I've already began to inform you all, I have begun the second part of my year of discovery: the West Side of the Jordan River. I sit in my dorm room at the University of Haifa after my second day of ulpan, a word for an intensive Hebrew language program. If it's enough indication, there's a word for everything as you can tell by this last definition. However, it's in no way as confusing or crazy as Arabic because after you get to a certain depth with the language, all of the words are just like English but given Hebrew accents, like ambitziyot (ambitions).

I've met a bunch of new people, very nice, some of them I've even bonded with in a nice and deep way. I can tell that a lot of people feel the awe of first coming here after a while or at all, and I am happy for them. However, I do not have my eyes wide open and I am not shocked so much so that I feel like this is more than just a continuation of my life--which is good. Of course I still marvel at the greenness of the city and the beauty of the sea, but I am also proud to say that I feel capable of living a real life here as opposed to just feeling a part of my program and having it laid out for me. I'm gon' take my prize!

So I started an apartment search, which alone is a really interesting process. The first person I call... she's in my class! A very cool girl, and whether or not her apartment (which would be perfect) works out for me, I at least made a nice friend. We chatted for hours, looked at photos, talked about everything, our lives, our experiences, hung with her other roommate who lives there who's a guy from Russia who also seems pretty cool, and we ended up making dinner together and enjoying each other's company well into the night. So I'm really excited about that and hope for the best in terms of the apartment working out. But in case, I am looking at a few others. Here's where it gets a bit less convenient and a bit sillier...

I was chatting away to Rasha online, HOW I MISS JORDAN!**, and I made a call to a number from one of the ads I found. Hebrew was not working out so well... I kept translating in my head from Arabic and realized I was speaking like someone who's either an infant or clearly not competent in the language at all, and I don't think I'm either of those. So we spoke a bit in English, unfortunately (fail #1), then I couldn't completely understand her name (fail #2), but it's okay because we have an appointment set up for tonight at 7 (success!). After that, I made another phone call to yet another girl who happened to be working. The Hebrew flowed like it was my step-mother tongue, yofi! She gave me the number to her other roommate because she was at work, and I'm waiting for her to call back because she didn't pick up.

My cold is going away, I'm sitting around and taking an easy afternoon, and I'm going to figure out this stuff now because a) I should figure it out as soon as I can so that I can get the money back for housing for after the ulpan, and b) it's exciting to have these fun little adventures that could actually become my daily reality.

And I bought my favorite snack food the other day... PRUNES!

--Avraham

**So the program in Jordan is starting to take speed for the Lanugage Program students, and everyone's figuring their stuff out there. It's weird to know it goes on without me and that some of my friends are still in familiar places with people that know and love us. I miss them, and I hope to visit after the ulpan, but for now I can just hope to rely on updates and stay in touch. Guys, I know you're reading this, when you know I'm coming there better be some mansaf waiting for me!