Today I went swimming at the new (outdoor) pool in town. It's a nice, new, clean pool and the water is warm. I also went early in the morning to avoid the worst intensities of the sun, and in fact had to wait for the staff to finish cleaning the pool. The advantage of this was that I had the pool to myself once they were done.
Having not done much (/any) exercise over the last 6 months, it was both good to get going again, and also short lived (due to a lack of stamina). However, I look forward to many return visits and increasing my widths and lengths.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Baton down the hatches!
If you've been reading the Western media sources, you might think all hell was breaking loose here. (See Gaza).
Having traveled back through Al Beira while 30 jeeps were apparently making an incursion, I can assure everyone that at the moment, things are still quite here. If the situation changes, you'll be the last to know, because they will probably knock the power out ;)
But seriously, don't believe everything you read in the papers/on the internet.
On the other hand, when so many Palestinian civilians have been killed in recent weeks, is the current situation really a surprise? The comparatively little attention devoted to such murders is the only reason why it might be.
Having traveled back through Al Beira while 30 jeeps were apparently making an incursion, I can assure everyone that at the moment, things are still quite here. If the situation changes, you'll be the last to know, because they will probably knock the power out ;)
But seriously, don't believe everything you read in the papers/on the internet.
On the other hand, when so many Palestinian civilians have been killed in recent weeks, is the current situation really a surprise? The comparatively little attention devoted to such murders is the only reason why it might be.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Hidden in the headlines
Since my post about the commentator was popular, I'll just add that since the Arab teams got knocked out, he's calmed down a bit, although he obviously likes Brazil too.
In other Palestinian news, hidden amongst all the nonsense about the Israeli soldier hostage,
These are the same villages in the South Hebron district that I've mentioned before. As the judge said:
No sh*t Sherlock!
Only here. Really. Only here.
In other Palestinian news, hidden amongst all the nonsense about the Israeli soldier hostage,
The High Court of Justice ruled Monday that the government and Israel Defense Forces must act to ensure the safety of Palestinian farmers working their fields and to prevent settlers from harming their land, property or persons.
The High Court ruled on a petition submitted by the residents of five Palestinians villages protesting an IDF decision to keep them from reaching their fields in an effort to protect them from settler attacks.
These are the same villages in the South Hebron district that I've mentioned before. As the judge said:
A policy that prevents Palestinian residents from reaching lands belonging to them, in the name of their own defense, is like a policy forbidding someone from entering his home in order to protect him from a thief.
No sh*t Sherlock!
Only here. Really. Only here.
Friday, June 23, 2006
B. reveals his true colours, or, while the World Cup is happening...
I was watching the Italy-Czech Rep. game at my translator, B.'s house yesterday, and at some point his brother arrived home from work in Ramallah and mentioned there had been demonstrations by public sector workers all over Palestine yesterday.
What followed were some shocking stories about a man threatening a pharmacist at knife point just so he could get medicine for his sick son, and a woman in Jenin who offered to sell her son, so she could feed his brothers and sisters.
"F#$% Hamas, man. Really F#$% Hamas," says B. suddenly.
"It's been four months now, and what have they done. Nothing! All they say is 'we will live as one and die as one', but they've done nothing. Four months is too much you know."
B.'s mum is a government worker, and hence hasn't been paid since January. B. later says that is why he and his brother have been working, (and have consequently given up studying).
While there might be plenty to be said about who's responsible for the current crisis, (and there are certainly many different opinions about that here), what struck me at that moment was that I, someone who has had to do a fair bit of scraping by myself at certain points in my recent history, had now become one of the primary sources of income for a family of four.
B. sudden enthusiasm for arranging interviews has and will certainly benefit my project, but it also strengthens the feeling inside that doing research in Palestine is a form of rape. While I stand to gain a great deal because of the time I've spent here, I can't see how the people I live amongst will receive any benefit at from my work, except in the most obtuse and obscure sense. Would I be better off working for a NGO, or would that be another way of ensuring that Band Aid solutions endure while emergency surgery is desperately needed?
I don't really know how to feel sometimes. On the one hand, being here, spending money and employing some people is a way of 'helping' Palestinians. On the other hand, they wouldn't need help if the governments of the various countries I've lived in (and plenty others beside) hadn't suddenly cut of what was essentially the only source of income on a national scale.
Sometimes when you stay here you feel really lost and hopeless like this. I think this is why the football is so popular. You can just turn it on and forget about everything else, which unfortunately is the easiest 'solution'. Sometimes it even seems like the only solution.
What followed were some shocking stories about a man threatening a pharmacist at knife point just so he could get medicine for his sick son, and a woman in Jenin who offered to sell her son, so she could feed his brothers and sisters.
"F#$% Hamas, man. Really F#$% Hamas," says B. suddenly.
"It's been four months now, and what have they done. Nothing! All they say is 'we will live as one and die as one', but they've done nothing. Four months is too much you know."
B.'s mum is a government worker, and hence hasn't been paid since January. B. later says that is why he and his brother have been working, (and have consequently given up studying).
While there might be plenty to be said about who's responsible for the current crisis, (and there are certainly many different opinions about that here), what struck me at that moment was that I, someone who has had to do a fair bit of scraping by myself at certain points in my recent history, had now become one of the primary sources of income for a family of four.
B. sudden enthusiasm for arranging interviews has and will certainly benefit my project, but it also strengthens the feeling inside that doing research in Palestine is a form of rape. While I stand to gain a great deal because of the time I've spent here, I can't see how the people I live amongst will receive any benefit at from my work, except in the most obtuse and obscure sense. Would I be better off working for a NGO, or would that be another way of ensuring that Band Aid solutions endure while emergency surgery is desperately needed?
I don't really know how to feel sometimes. On the one hand, being here, spending money and employing some people is a way of 'helping' Palestinians. On the other hand, they wouldn't need help if the governments of the various countries I've lived in (and plenty others beside) hadn't suddenly cut of what was essentially the only source of income on a national scale.
Sometimes when you stay here you feel really lost and hopeless like this. I think this is why the football is so popular. You can just turn it on and forget about everything else, which unfortunately is the easiest 'solution'. Sometimes it even seems like the only solution.
Watching the World Cup in Palestine
Palestinians, like many other people all over the world, love the football world cup. Most people, including many women I've spoken to, have a team they're supporting. Frequently, as last night bore witness, this team is Brazil. This is partly because they're picking the favourites, and partly because La Liga is the most high profile domestic league here.
Coca Cola (big bottling plant in Ramallah) and Jawwal (the Palestinian mobile phone company) have taken advantage of this popularity, and set up a number of big screens in Ramallah and the villages around. It costs 5 shekels to watch all the games screened that day here, and you also get a free drink. Crowds have varied in size, but Brazil definitely drew the largest last night. Tunisia is also quite popular, representing the only Arab team with a chance of qualifying.
Interestingly, the television rights for the region were bought by a company called ART (Arab Radio and Television network), who are charging $400 a year for subscription to their package of channels. This is a lot more than many people here (and no doubt elsewhere) can afford. However, thankfully all the Palestinian channels (there are four in Ramallah for instance) pirate the footage from ART and broadcast it for free. The big screen events actually have an ART subscription, because Coca Cola and Jawwal have paid for it.
Watching the games on ART is quite amusing actually, because the commentator basically just shouts like a fan for the whole game. Particularly when Tunisia are playing, he essentially just cheers for them.
"Run [insert player's name], run!"
"THANK GOD! THANK GOD!" [After another Spanish near miss].
He also has a habit of coming up with the most random (and frequently racist) sentences, especially in the second half when he's running out of things to say.
"Argentina. Eva Peron. Flamingo" (?!?!)
"Japan, like a computer virus that seeks to destroy the Brazilian system."
He even started to talk about Sven Goren Erikkson's affair and the tabloid expose that followed during the England-Sweden game. Tunisia-Ukraine (later today) may be the last game where he's able to express his outright partisan support, but I suspect that like most people here, his allegiances will easily shift come the next round. There should be a good crowd though, with Tunisia needing the win to progress.
Yella Tunis!
Coca Cola (big bottling plant in Ramallah) and Jawwal (the Palestinian mobile phone company) have taken advantage of this popularity, and set up a number of big screens in Ramallah and the villages around. It costs 5 shekels to watch all the games screened that day here, and you also get a free drink. Crowds have varied in size, but Brazil definitely drew the largest last night. Tunisia is also quite popular, representing the only Arab team with a chance of qualifying.
Interestingly, the television rights for the region were bought by a company called ART (Arab Radio and Television network), who are charging $400 a year for subscription to their package of channels. This is a lot more than many people here (and no doubt elsewhere) can afford. However, thankfully all the Palestinian channels (there are four in Ramallah for instance) pirate the footage from ART and broadcast it for free. The big screen events actually have an ART subscription, because Coca Cola and Jawwal have paid for it.
Watching the games on ART is quite amusing actually, because the commentator basically just shouts like a fan for the whole game. Particularly when Tunisia are playing, he essentially just cheers for them.
"Run [insert player's name], run!"
"THANK GOD! THANK GOD!" [After another Spanish near miss].
He also has a habit of coming up with the most random (and frequently racist) sentences, especially in the second half when he's running out of things to say.
"Argentina. Eva Peron. Flamingo" (?!?!)
"Japan, like a computer virus that seeks to destroy the Brazilian system."
He even started to talk about Sven Goren Erikkson's affair and the tabloid expose that followed during the England-Sweden game. Tunisia-Ukraine (later today) may be the last game where he's able to express his outright partisan support, but I suspect that like most people here, his allegiances will easily shift come the next round. There should be a good crowd though, with Tunisia needing the win to progress.
Yella Tunis!
Saturday, June 17, 2006
The battle of Huda Ghalia - who really killed girl's family on Gaza beach?
IDF investigation say IDF didn't do it. Chris McGreal's investigation suggests otherwise.
Surprise, surprise.
Surprise, surprise.
Friday, June 16, 2006
I'm back!
Did you miss me? (Did you even notice I was gone?)
Well folks, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Taking a holiday can actually be more tiring than usual day to day life, once you factor in the traveling and then the frantic rush to see as many people as possible.
Getting to Jerusalem has become even harder - we actually drove through a car park to get from one crappy stone dirt track to another.
The journey in the opposite direction has become a little easier, if only because the bus now goes directly to Ramallah, driving around the Kalandia checkpoint (don't ask because I can't figure it out either).
Although I was much calmer for both legs of this trip than on previous occasions, I actually encountered more hassle than at any other time before. I got an hours worth of working over at the airport security, and even got to go into the shop changing-room style booth to be frisked with the metal detector. In the corner there was a bin full of used latex/surgical gloves, and I don't think they were put there just to exert physiological pressure. They also forgot to give me back my digital camera, which I only realized when it was too late, but thankfully I was able to pick it up from the airport on my return leg.
My return to Palestine was preceded by watching the film 'United 93' the night before. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM THE DAY BEFORE YOU FLY ANYWAY! The pilot on my (real) flight even said 'there's a lot of traffic at the moment. From here I count 15 planes in front of us before we get underway'. I sat there wondering whether he had actually seen the film or whether this was in fact the mother of all coincidences and what that portended. We did however arrive safely. My I-pod also decided to break just before the return journey. I'm happy to say that it has now made a miraculous recovery.
Hamdu Lillah!
While away, I was surprised/shocked to learn how many people didn't know about the current siege of Palestine. It's simply unbelievable to read things like "There can be no business as usual with a government that has not yet accepted the fundamental principle of peace," - Ms Ferrero-Waldner, EU somebody talking about Palestine, when a) I've just had to relive pictures of the girl in Gaza that lost her entire family to an Israeli shell (what was that about accepting peace?), and b) I live among teachers, nurses and civil servants who are the people being effected by this boycott. Hamas still has money. These people don't.
I can only assume that all these EU people, and every other politician and diplomat simply has no idea what's going on here. In fairness, I guess that doesn't really distinguish them from the rest of their populations. Despite all my anger and disgust though, it's good to be back in Palestine.
Well folks, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Taking a holiday can actually be more tiring than usual day to day life, once you factor in the traveling and then the frantic rush to see as many people as possible.
Getting to Jerusalem has become even harder - we actually drove through a car park to get from one crappy stone dirt track to another.
The journey in the opposite direction has become a little easier, if only because the bus now goes directly to Ramallah, driving around the Kalandia checkpoint (don't ask because I can't figure it out either).
Although I was much calmer for both legs of this trip than on previous occasions, I actually encountered more hassle than at any other time before. I got an hours worth of working over at the airport security, and even got to go into the shop changing-room style booth to be frisked with the metal detector. In the corner there was a bin full of used latex/surgical gloves, and I don't think they were put there just to exert physiological pressure. They also forgot to give me back my digital camera, which I only realized when it was too late, but thankfully I was able to pick it up from the airport on my return leg.
My return to Palestine was preceded by watching the film 'United 93' the night before. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM THE DAY BEFORE YOU FLY ANYWAY! The pilot on my (real) flight even said 'there's a lot of traffic at the moment. From here I count 15 planes in front of us before we get underway'. I sat there wondering whether he had actually seen the film or whether this was in fact the mother of all coincidences and what that portended. We did however arrive safely. My I-pod also decided to break just before the return journey. I'm happy to say that it has now made a miraculous recovery.
Hamdu Lillah!
While away, I was surprised/shocked to learn how many people didn't know about the current siege of Palestine. It's simply unbelievable to read things like "There can be no business as usual with a government that has not yet accepted the fundamental principle of peace," - Ms Ferrero-Waldner, EU somebody talking about Palestine, when a) I've just had to relive pictures of the girl in Gaza that lost her entire family to an Israeli shell (what was that about accepting peace?), and b) I live among teachers, nurses and civil servants who are the people being effected by this boycott. Hamas still has money. These people don't.
I can only assume that all these EU people, and every other politician and diplomat simply has no idea what's going on here. In fairness, I guess that doesn't really distinguish them from the rest of their populations. Despite all my anger and disgust though, it's good to be back in Palestine.
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