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Entries this day: Palestine_vs_Tokyo Today

Palestine vs Tokyo

5:54pm JST Friday 25 November 2005

I started this at 10:30am JST Saturday 19 November 2005, and have been picking at it like a scab off and on... As I tell people stories of my experience, I can spew forth profusely, but I notice it's filled with emotion and not particularly unbiased.

I don't know that there's a point nor problem with that, but it's an observation.

I'm thinking now about starting with the following and making a small bite-sized outline.

I have lived in Tokyo for basically two years.  I love the trains;
they are always on time

I love the level of customer service I receive in convenience
stores.  The clerk runs to the register when I walk up with my
purchase.

If I could describe the underlying framework of Japanese society in a
word, I would choose "ordered."  Everything has a place.  Every step
has a sequence.

Japanese seem to wait for the green crosswalk light, regardless of
traffic.

I recently spent some time in Jerusalem, the largest city in the West
Bank, an Israeli-occupied territory of Palestine.

I want to emphasize that the situation in the West Bank cannot be
explained in any sort of lecture or report.  One just has to go and
see for one's self.

In the Old City of Jerusalem, markets, restaurants and churches fill
different sections called "quarters."  The Jewish quarter has clean
sidewalks and streets, smartly dressed happy children with trees and
playground equipment.  Restaurants where a falafel pita costs 10 NIS.

The Palestinian quarter brims with crowds, sometimes to the point of
not being able to move.  Vending carts for socks, candy, toys,
fruits, nuts, vegetables, pitas, falafels, pomegrantate juice

Souvenir shops feature prices that seem to change by the minute,
according to how much the customer wants to leave.  I personally was
offered an embroidered bag that went from 15 NIS to 10 NIS to 5 NIS
without me actually saying anything.

THE WALL
THE WALL
THE WALL
THE WALL

In a classic example of Divide and Conquer, the Separation Barrier
separates families from land, friends from each other, and generally
halts the flow of people and the economy.

Between Jerusalem and Ramallah, a city about 18 kilometers (11 miles)
to the north, is a checkpoint called Qalandia.

This checkpoint blocks the highway between Ramallah and Jerusalem,
which would make the trip take about 15 minutes by car.  However, the
checkpoint makes it a 45 minute trip from Jerusalem to Ramallah.

Basically, there is a barrier on the highway, through which vehicles
may not pass.  As a result, to go from Jerusalem to Ramallah, everyone
must get out of the vehicle (taxi or bus, unless someone has a friend
to drive their personal car away) walk 100 meters past guards and
through a one way gate, then secure another vehicle to go the
remaining 5 minutes to Ramallah.

To get from Ramallah to Jerusalem, everyone must get out of the
vehicle, walk 50 meters, go through a one way gate, through a metal
detector, show passport or ID to the soldiers, and then the remaining
50 meters to secure another vehicle on the other side.

EAST vs WEST
EAST vs WEST
EAST vs WEST
EAST vs WEST

In East Jerusalem neighborhoods, the streets are filled with rubbish.
The city service of garbage removal simply does not exist.  The residents

Things that shouldn't be normal:
   grenade destruction
   cow carcasses
   rubbish non-collection
   checkpoints
   gunfights in refugee camp at night
BETHLEHEM CHECKPOINT
CPOINT near mt of Olives
   soundbombs to break up crowds
   
Things that are different and okay that way:
   men holding hands in streets
   women holding hands in streets
   men and women never touching in streets
   falafels everywhere
   no queues; just mobs
   paying for taxis by handing money up and getting change back
   poor customer service
   sweet drinks

Hey Rob - find the list you already brainstormed.  Write to Jason to
ask about picture usage in a fundraiser.  Ask him the name of the
valley of the mount of olives.

Great places: Faisal hostel

Cool valley: Mt of Olives

picking olives

Brainstormed ideas:

Population / geography / distances

Why I went

ISM training

Wall construction
stone slinging
hit by a stone
Joe's scar

Wall
walls and towers
graffitti
checkpoints
Qalandia
flying checkpoints
time lost
racial profiling
white privledge

water shortage in Nablus
refugee camps
   no tents
heard gunshots in Balata
memorial posters in Nablus old city
closure from Nablus to Jerusalem after Israelis were killed

fake grenade

Bil'in 3 times
Bil'in is like a dance
Olive harvest 2 days

neither side is budging

Old city Jerusalem
Old city Nablus
West jerusalem market
east vs west jerusalem

Ramadan
Jews running
sound bombing crowd near Damascus
bloody nose jew
confusion

people Rochelle, Serena, Joe, et. al.
markets
taxis

food
food/money handling and bags
Pal Vision
Sweets
fashion
landscape

don't touch opposite gender
respect for women

happy people despite the wack
patient people
customer service
offers to stay in people's homes
helpful pedestrians

How about this?

Introduction

Why I went

Definitions

What I did

What I saw

What seemed shocking

What can be done

Finish

More fully:

Introduction There is a conflict in Israel/Palestine.  I knew nothing
   about it, and even wrote "Pakistan" when I mentioned it one time.
   I will say that realistically I still know very little, but I will
   describe what I saw.

Why I went: 
   I met two students, an Israeli and Palestinian who told me/us a lot
   about the conflict in their area.  They suggested that I come/go to
   the area to see for myself.  So I did.

Definitions
   Israel
   Palestine
   West Bank
   Gaza
   Separation Barrier
   Settlers
   Refugees
   Soldiers
   Checkpoints
   Flying Checkpoints
   Martyrs/Terrorists/Settlers/Terrorists
   
What I did

What I saw

What seemed shocking

What can be done

Finish

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Today

5:18pm JST Friday 25 November 2005

Today I woke up at 11:59am ("so you're officially not lazy," assures Jen), and chatted a bit with Tom and Anthony and Shoko before riding back to Jesse's. Matt had wondered about getting some of the repeaters together, but had been unable to reach anyone but me. He, being a good Kiwi, said he'd prefer to have us meet as a group instead of meeting us individually.

I considered coming out just to flirt with Natalie but ultimately decided against that. I will see her before the 52 heads out.

I got a funny/mean comment regarding making Francois branded merchandise:

From: Hiro Otaku <h_otaku@yahoo.co.jp>
Subject: Francois Branded Merchandise Brilliant!

Quickly: Hahahahahaha!!

That is fucking the best thing I have ever heard. Maybe you could
co-brand francois the rabbit with some sort of other character, like
some kind of sidekick.  Wait! I got it how about a 35 year Eikaiwa
teacher who acts like he is a funny and witty like a 13 year old girl?
Yes that would be brilliant.  You could have other accessories like a
bicycle (pink frillies extra) and little candies.  Maybe I am on a
role here.  Whaddya think?

Hiro

The email address is fake, but the IP address was 202.58.192.38

7:25pm JST Friday 25 November 2005

Pooh. I've been snotty nosed a lot today, and I've felt the tiny edge of a headache as if I could be getting sick. I've eaten decently today, but didn't do quite as well yesterday... Just bought a liter of orange juice to chug.

I just finished the dishes here. Around 4pm I got a visitor named Toru who wanted to read bible scriptures to me. I let him in and we sat on the floor in the dining room and explained why we did or did not choose to believe the bible.

1:04am

I took a big fat nap until 11pm and fucked around online reading news, including a neat way to make animal rights activists upset: "wasps are disposable," according to this article.

2:58am

Time for bed; gotta be up in 4 hours-ish. I determined that it's about 80km from Keiko's house to the CDF meeting place; I won't attempt to ride that distance in one morning. We are supposed to meet between 1:30 and 2:30.

3:38am

Crap. I have just noted an apparent absence of the sandals I bought in Viet Nam. I pulled out everything from the suitcase in which I believe I packed them, but they didn't appear. My first guess is that they didn't end up repacked after all my shit was searched at the Ben Gurion airport. Maybe I packed them in a different place. Maybe I forgot them. Maybe I left them in Kellie's or at PB. I haven't checked all my bags yet.

I had hoped to have them when PB returns to Viet Nam, so I could show them off to the shop where I bought them and say how much I love them.

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