We have been driving all morning over land that looks like California desert, by turns moonscape - how can anything grow on red rock? - and lush with cactus fruit and date palm and, in lieu of Joshua trees, olive trees, which we will see later in cultivated rows, lush and green, but along the roads they are gnarled and dusty, with leaves that appear weightless and soft. I don't know if they are soft. We do not stop to pet the olive trees. We do stop to look at the guardhouse at Nablus, we get out of the van and listen again to how Palestinians are cut off from their land by edict and by force, and because we have gotten out of the van and maybe because one in our party wears a headscarf, Israeli soldiers block our vehicle with theirs and ask, what are you doing here? Where are you going?
Love this piece. Your writing is consistently rich and nuanced and I can tell how this trip is seeping into your soul. Whenever I go to Israel, I feel love for the people I meet but also exasperated that there is no end in sight to the conflict. It seems like the most complex issue in the world to me. I would never say this on Twitter but as a jew I blame the ultra orthodox jews for fanning the flames in the occupied territories as much as I blame Hamas. The one thing they both share is neither groups are gainfully employed. If they worked for a living they'd have something else to focus on. Hope I don’t get hated on for this.
Not to start a never-ending argument ... but there's a reason that "the land available to Palestinians shrinks" relative to 1948 and 1967 ... in both cases Israel was attacked. Not sure that's clear in the article.
Love this piece. Your writing is consistently rich and nuanced and I can tell how this trip is seeping into your soul. Whenever I go to Israel, I feel love for the people I meet but also exasperated that there is no end in sight to the conflict. It seems like the most complex issue in the world to me. I would never say this on Twitter but as a jew I blame the ultra orthodox jews for fanning the flames in the occupied territories as much as I blame Hamas. The one thing they both share is neither groups are gainfully employed. If they worked for a living they'd have something else to focus on. Hope I don’t get hated on for this.
Not to start a never-ending argument ... but there's a reason that "the land available to Palestinians shrinks" relative to 1948 and 1967 ... in both cases Israel was attacked. Not sure that's clear in the article.