'Happy' Land Day?!?

If only this really was a historic commemoration! Alas, no.

Back in Palestine

The thing about traveling to Palestine, which as a foreigner you have to do via either Tel Aviv or the Allenby Bridge (on Jordanian border), is the amount of unpredictablity involved. For instance, I didn't think I would speak to an immigration officer who was so tired she thought the place I was traveling to sounded like an Israeli company. However, this speeded my arrival so I appreciated her mistake. I thought this time might be the most difficult after the spate of kidnappings a couple of weeks ago. Instead, it was perhaps the easiest. It just goes to show, states are more penetrable than there sometimes made out to be, because they are the sum of their parts. And when their parts are tired they're not quite so fearsome as they can seem at other times.

It's really nice and warm at the moment, and there's also a gentle breeze blowing in from the coast so it doesn't get too hot. Arriving very early in the morning, I also got to witness the amazing morning fog patches, which cover small areas of land like ghosts. It's a surreal experience to enter one, since your visibility is immediately reduced to less than 10 meters. Then you suddenly pop out the other side and everything is clear again.

Decision Time

Well, after soliciting the opinions of people who are in the West Bank, it seems everything is back to normal there (bearing in mind that the *normal* itself changes frequently). Apparently all the militant groups came out against the kidnapping, something which escaped the (Western) news. So I look forward to returning soon.

Well, I say 'look forward', but I actually dislike the journey part quite intensely. A long and arduous journey is made harder by the unpredictability of the immigration officials and the anticipation of this process beforehand. I'm assuming recent events will only make things harder.

I do however enjoy being in Palestine once I'm there.

With Kadima's win in the election yesterday and the anticipation of borders being drawn, I have begun to wonder exactly what traveling to Palestine will be like in future? Will Israel issue exit/entry visas every time someone enters and leaves the West Bank? (Since this prospect threatens to increase the difficulty of and slow down travel even more, I would guess the answer would be yes). No more quick day trips to Jerusalem.

Opinion Poll

Although I'm sure nearly everyone who reads this blog knows (roughly) where I am at the moment, I'm currently not in Palestine for those few who don't. This has absolutely nothing to do with recent events there, although after last week's IDF incursion in Areeha (and the strong whiff of British government collusion) some people may think that's probably for the best.
With the subsequent Al Asqa Martyr Brigade proclamations that were made in Gaza and the kidnapping of a random group of foreigners in Gaza again, I now face more serious questions about my safety as a foreigner in the West Bank than I have done before previous visits.
While I ponder these questions, and seek the advice of people actually living there, I thought I would also ask my readership for their advice or comments.
Remember when leaving comments only to leave your first name, and don't sign into blogger even if you're a member.

(And lest we forget what the real problem is, see the Saturday March 18th entry here at Raising Yousuf).

Hiatus

Now this is a hiatus!!!

Safaari ala al'uds (Journey to Jerusalem)

I took a trip into al'uds the other day, the first time I've done so since I've been in the West Bank. When traveling to al'uds from the West Bank, the journey is often more noteworthy than the city at the end of it.

In order to get there, you have to go through Kalandia checkpoint, which has been completely (re-)built (?) since the summer. It now resembles an immigration point at an airport (not by accident of course), and even has a little electronic sign saying 'Welcome to Asharot' (The Israeli settlement near by). The checkpoint is now a series of turnstyle gates controlled by shadowy IDF soldiers half hidden behind bullet-proof glass. It's almost like walking through a ghost village, except suddenly a speaker will crackle into life when a soldier wants to see someone's ID. There's even an x-ray machine through which you have to put your bags.

After Kalandia, I got on the bus to al'uds, which was full of school children at that time, and off we went, only to be stopped by a queue of traffic at a flying checkpoint a mile or two further on. It was one of those classic flying checkpoint moments, where they position themselves at the corner of a junction, and then when eventually you are allowed to pass through the junction, they stop you again at another corner. Tiredness or the length of time I've been here, meant that I just sat there and didn't think anything of it at the time.

'It's so much better on holiday'

'So much better on holiday,
That's why we only work when
We need the money'
(Franz Ferdinand)

As someone told me last weekend 'It's nice to take a visit', and you know what, she was right. It is!

Was it because of Santa's Little Helper?

'About one in five thought the right to own a pet was one of the freedoms.'

So only 1 in 4 Americans know the 1st Amendment adequately. Ok. But 1 in 5 thought (guessed?) that the right to own pets was one of the five freedoms. What???