Although more relaxed than in years past (I'm told), crossing the border to Occupied Territories on a public bus full of Palestinians is still an experience. Coming from a country where one might catch sight of an automatic weapon a handful of times in a lifetime, the ever-present military presence in Israel is a shock. Delays for inspection by twenty-somethings in IDF uniforms at road crossings were the norm when I visited and while I waited. Whereas the crossing to Bethlehem was rather uncomplicated, the checkpoint on the road to Ramallah was heavily scrutinized with every passenger's documents checked. While waiting, I decided to write to a friend back home. 

Harmony,

I set out to write you a post card (and you'll still get one), but realized that even if I wrote small, there wasn't going to be enough room.

Israel! What a place. Tel Avivis are friendly people! On my first morning a guy in the bakery gave me a mini Hebrew lesson. "Try this!"' "Say this", "This means..."

 I remembered only "yes" and "thank you"...

Jerusalem is a wow. Driving in from Tel Aviv is dramatic. The city is built on multiple hillsides and you can see Mt Hertzl in this distance. The old city is a warren of stone and the number of religiously significant sites is dizzying. Within Christianity, all the denominations competed to build churches and chapels over the holiest locations. The French Catholics at the pool of Bethesda, the Russian Orthodox, the Catholics and the Greeks along the slope of the Mount of Olives, the Armenians, Catholics, and Greek Orthodox share the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where the big man died) and their respective ownership goes right down to who owns how many and which chandeliers. 

I wandered into an Armenian Orthodox Church on Sunday and I felt like I was in the 1400s. The incense, the decoration, and especially the long-robed choir singing the mass in Armenian. 

I went to Bethlehem on Saturday as Jerusalem largely shuts down for Sabbath. I was a little nervous, truth be told, because of the media portrayal of the Palestinian Territories as violent and chaotic. It's only 30 minutes from Jerusalem but feels very different. Arabic everywhere and most of the religious buildings are churches. Bethlehem used to be majority Christian-Arab, now only about 40%. I had to laugh at the young men wandering around Manger Square uttering "Selfie stick, Santa Claus. Selfie stick, Santa Claus", [makes eye contact with me] "You not want selfie stick? Like Santa Claus?" (Santa hats, that is). 

Waited behind a big group of Italian senior citizens to go down into the cave under the Church of the Nativity to get on my knees and touch the spot where the wee baby Jesus was born. The Israeli Security Barrier runs right through one of the outer residential neighbourhoods of Bethlehem. I walked along it looking at the political graffiti including a few pieces by Banksy. I heard a noise from above, looked up, and an Israeli solider has opened his window in the guard tower. I braced myself to be yelled at for getting too close, but instead:

"Hello! Where are you from?"

"Canada"

"Really?"

"Yes, from Toronto"

"Great! Welcome!" (Waves, closes window)

Not what I was expecting! 

I kept going along the wall and there's a strange part where the wall wraps around a group of 3 houses. A woman introduced herself as the resident of one of the houses, surrounded in three sides by walls. She told me the military started digging a trench after the second Intafada without explaining to anyone what was going on, the they erected the barrier in one day! The reason for the strange route is because the Tomb of Rachel is nearby, and so Israel diverted the wall to swallow it up as it's a site of great significance very to Judaism. The woman told me she tries to speak to every foreigner she sees at the wall to tell them how it went up and in one day they were cut off from Jerusalem and family in the rest of Israel. 

The Dome of the Rock up on the Temple Mount was breathtaking. Lots of security to go through before you get up there. There are big signs explaining that the Chief Rabbinate forbids entry to the Temple Mount for Jews. 

And while up there, I received an informative pamphlet on Islam! But, fair play, I was on his turf, visiting the third holiest place in Islam. He was nice. Just asked what language I spoke, if I was enjoying my visit, handed me the pamphlet and said "this is about Islam and about this place". No hard sell. 

Next up was Ramallah. Unlike Bethlehem, there were no other foreigners on the bus as far as I could tell. The driver asked me if I was sure I was on the right bus and when I said something like "Yes. To Ramallah, right?" I got a big smile. 

I visited Yasser Arafat's tomb. It's watched over by an honour guard. Palestinian visitors kissed it and took their photo beside it. Wandered through the market, gazed at some political street art, had an exceptional shwarma, and sadly saw copies of Mien Kampf for sale from three different street vendors. 

Crossing from Israel, the bus didn't even have to stop. Coming back, all the Palestinians had to get off the bus to have their IDs checked (and some of them searched), while foreigners (in this case, me and a lone European) stay comfortably seated on the bus, their passports casually glanced at by two, weapon-toting Israeli soldiers who looked about 19 years old. Interesting to note also that these Palestinians are Israeli citizens or residents. West Bank Palestinians aren't allowed to cross at all. 

Happy new year to you all!
See you soon,
J