Sunny In Palestine

Happy Monday! I Hope you all had a great weekend.

My trip to Palestine and Israel was one of the most complex adventures, I’ve been on and even more difficult to discuss. This is difficult and “conflicting” to grasp and I realized the more I learned, the harder it was to understand. It is difficult to explain, but you feel the history in every corner. The reality really hits you everywhere you look. You get a sense of war, conflict, and suffering but also of peace, love, and hope , all at once.

Contrary to what people usually think, the first thing you should know, is that almost everything we’ve heard, so far in the media about the conflict is misleading, biased, and depending on the country, manipulated. In this case, I am talking about politics, government, bureaucracy, and not the population itself. I’m not saying this out of judgment or preconceived notions, but from traveling around Palestine, visiting Israel, and meeting and interacting with locals. Moreover, my current point of view comes from everything I’ve seen and experienced during the most intense travel I’ve ever done thus far.

Secondly, we should stop talking about the situation, as a conflict, in the way we commonly understand that word. It is easy to be confused by the term “conflict” ­ most of the time, it is understood as war or having to do with war. This puts Israelis and Palestinians at the same level. But we just can’t do this. This is not about an army fighting another army, nor civilians confronting other civilians.

Imagine living under occupation, under a constant threat to your life, and those you love. Everybody you care about, tension coexisting with an occupation in the broad meaning of the word. Israelis, have occupied every single aspect of Palestinians’ lives, sometimes in a subtle way and sometimes in the most obvious way. They are prisoners in their own land. There are military checkpoints everywhere. Palestinians, it doesn’t matter if they are women, men, elders or children are humiliated everyday by rather young IDF soldiers pointing guns at them.

Muslims generally break their fast by eating dates. I was offered lots of dates by this gentle soul, even though I was not fasting. 

My Trip to Palestine started, when I met this amazing brave soul, Safa. I was trying to buy a bottle of water at the Muslim quarter supermarket. She noticed, I was having difficulties communicating with the seller. I told her, I wanted to interact with the locals in Palestine. I was invited to Dome Of The Rock to breakfast with her family and friends. She advised that I will only be allowed by the Israeli soldiers to cross the checkpoint with proper attire. We made a quick stop for traditional Muslim clothing, before going through checkpoints for Dome Of The Rock. 

 Dome of The Rock is the oldest Islamic building still in existence. It is Jerusalem’s answer to Paris’s Eiffel Tower, Rome’s St. Peter’s Square, London’s Big Ben. Muslims are only allowed access, to the Temple Mount from the ramp to the right of the Western Wall and are not allowed in the Dome Of The Rock, or the Al Aksa Mosque with the exception of every Fridays in Ramadan. Many Palestinians come here every Friday during the month of Ramadan. I was lucky to be in Jerusalem on a Friday during Ramadan.

Many Islamic organizations from all over the world, donate food and beverages that are distributed, during Ramadan to the Palestinians in need to
break fast .

Breaking fast with Safa, her sister and friends. They were so welcoming, so kind. I was so comfortable and felt at home. They shared their food, drinks and most importantly, their reality. Not once did fear come to mind. These are amazing, kind hearted men and women, the western media constantly portrays as terrorists. I got really emotional while sitting there; because the love and hospitality I received, was beyond what words could express. 

Inside Dome Of The Rock. 

The next day, I wanted to go back to the Dome of the Rock for better pictures but I was denied entry by the Israeli soldiers. Their justification was that I was not Muslim, because I couldn’t read the Quran. The last thing I wanted to do was argue with soldiers with weapons. Defeated, I reluctantly agreed and left the checkpoint. While walking back, I was approached by a gentleman that ask me only one question before he proceeded with his offer. “Do you want to go to Palestine?” I said yes but kept walking because I was already denied entry by the Israelis soldiers. He then added, “I will take you to Palestine. You will get to see Bethlehem, where Jesus was born and many other places in Palestine.” My initial reaction was to continue walking, it seems impossible. I suppose he saw the disappointment in my eyes. He insisted, a few minutes later I was in his car.

At the border of  Palestine, there’s a welcome sign that I didn’t expect to see. 

We got to Bethlehem and I couldn’t believe it. I thanked him continuously and his responses “you are welcome.”

The Bethlehem Peace Center was the first thing I noticed. Such a wonderful place, found in between the Church of Nativity and the Mosque of Omar. This symbolizes peace between those two great religions in Bethlehem. It was humbling to see how Christians and Muslims live peacefully together in Bethlehem. Of course, I had to do my signature peace sign pose!

First stop was the Mosque of Omar.  The oldest and only mosque in the old city of Bethlehem, located in Manger Square, near the Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is a major Christian holy site, as it marks the traditional place of Christ’s birth. It is also one of the oldest surviving Christian churches.

 The birthplace of Jesus. 

Witnessed a wedding at the Church of Nativity 

Did some shopping in Bethlehem

 With Samer, the gentle soul that offered such amazing experience in Bethlehem. 

 I was too excited to have experienced Palestine. I was going down the hill jumping like a kid. 

When you walk through all of this awful reality, anger and frustration grow in you. It is exhausting to think how easy it would be to live peacefully and respectfully and how bad and inhumane this situation is, a situation that has been like this for decades.

But Palestinians keep smiling and living and fighting for freedom and dignity.

I think anyone who has travelled to Palestine and Israel can vouch for these assertions, from the smiles and spontaneous tea welcomings, to checkpoints and cold military stares.

Do not use my photos without permission.