Eid Mubarak! (Part 1)

So without a doubt my favorite week thus far was the week of 3id al-Adha. 3id is the Arabic word for holiday, and 3id Al-Adha is the second largest Muslim holiday of the year. It is to celebrate the story of when Abraham took his son Ishmail (or in the Bible it's his son Isaac) to the top of the mountain, for sacrifice as a testament of his faith in God. Abraham succeeded in this test of faith, and God saved his son Ishmael. Muslims celebrate this day as the Day of Sacrifice. For this holiday, literally absolutely everything is shut down and closed up. We got an entire week off of school, so my friends and I decided to take a trip to Palestine and Israel for 8 whole days. I will likely/possibly split this trip up into two posts because it was VERY conflicting experience in my mind.
Also, warning, politics ahead. I do my best to keep politics and controversy separate from this blog, which can be a challenge considering I am a Poli-Sci student studying the Middle East. But this post is definitely politically charged, and presenting an opinion (Mine) but I think it's incredibly important to share the experience I have had.
That being said:
We set off early Friday morning to catch a bus to the border. For those who don't necessarily know how this border between Jordan and the West Bank works.... It's kind of just a mess. We bussed to the Jordanian side of the border, went through security, got our passports checked and all. We then had to be transported through a section of no-man's-land, technically the West Bank, but not quite into it, to go through Israeli security. Israeli security is no joke. Well, actually it is. What I mean by that, the Israeli border guards are some of the absolute rudest, prejudiced, and arbitrarily discriminatory people I have ever encountered. My friends and I already knew this coming in, however, so we just put on our patience hats and hunkered down for whatever we needed to do. As we get chaotically fed through line after line of passport check, bag check, etc., we are lucky to not be stopped for any further questioning or extensive searches. Myself and my three friends don't have passport stamps from places like Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, etc. which often are reasons Israeli border soldiers hold people up. Or they hold people up for having Arab sounding last names, or just because they feel like it, it seems.
For example, just as I was beginning to write this post, a friend from my program was attempting to go through the border for the long weekend (Her, and a group of 3 others left last night around 6 pm to get through the border crossing). My friend is 1/4 Palestinian, and her father was born in Lebanon. The second she got up to the counter, she was questioned (she has pretty clear Arab features). The Israeli guard asked her where she was from, where her parents were from, etc. She was honest, and they instantly put her aside, told her to sit, they would have to investigate. She, and the others, sat for FIVE HOURS. Being completely ignored by the security. They tried to ask what was going on, and were rudely told to wait until they could question her. At midnight, they came up to her, said they wouldn't have time to finish their investigation, and told them they had to leave. My friend, solely for having Palestinian ancestry, was not allowed through the border, and pushed out. This is a daily occurrence.
Luckily, my friends and I didn't encounter such problems on our trip, and were let through, the whole process taking about 6-8 hours.

The beginning of our trip was spent lounging around on a beach, which was lovely and a fantastic time. After that, however, was the best part of the trip.
We then headed to Jerusalem to truly delve into some cultural experiences. I would much rather spend my typing time discussing that, because my few days spent here were pretty life-changing, or at least they certainly changed my perspective.
Jerusalem is a city that is truly completely divided. There are Arab neighborhoods and Jewish neighborhoods. The Arab streets were much more similar to Amman in the types of shops and restaurants, and the Jewish neighborhoods (most of the city) was much more similar to Europe, particularly an Eastern European city.
For our first day in Jerusalem, we took a tour of Bethlehem. We signed up with a professional tour company, and it was supposed to be an 8 hour long tour of the city, the Separation Wall, and the Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem remains a Palestinian territory, so we had to get ourselves to the Separation Wall first, then attempt to get through security and on the other side of the wall.
After all the time I have spent studying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I have to say it was incredibly surreal to actually be on the ground in the area. We read about the Separation Wall, but no one can tell you just how formidable, intimidating, and tragic it is. We hear about the Israeli soldiers and their big guns, but until you have a group of them refusing to help you get through the wall into Palestine, you don't quite understand the condescending and prejudiced approach they take to their jobs.

Difficult to see this well, but I took this standing at the top of a hill from inside of Bethlehem. The buildings you can see just on the other side of this wall are illegal Israeli settlements.

I guess, to try and encapsulate my experience, I'll begin at the wall. First, getting through the wall is intimidating. The Separation Wall has been built by Israel to essentially wall-in the Palestinians, and is guarded 24/7 by loads of Israeli soldiers with massive guns, and they are none-too-helpful. We got lost at first, and asked a group of medics where we needed to go to get into Bethlehem. One told us we could try to fly, and another chimed in that we should grab some spoons and start digging. All the while their macho buddies laughing at us behind them. Then, as you actually enter Palestinian territory, no matter what town or city or area, Israel has posted a sign forbidding Israeli citizens to enter "For Risk of Your Own Life" declaring all areas of Palestine to be simply barbaric, and dangerous.... which is absolutely not true. It shows just how strongly this conflict has perverted Israeli views of Arabs, and vice versa.
Once through the wall, a Palestinian tour guide met us. He said he wished he could have helped us through, but as a Palestinian he is forbidden to leave through that wall and enter Jerusalem. Yet another way that Israelis keep absolute separation between themselves and the Palestinians. Starting at the wall, we took a tour of the street art. Banksy (one of the most famous street artists of all time, who I am positively in love with) even has a couple of pieces in and around the wall. As we walked down and around the wall surrounding the city, I was absolutely overcome by its power.

First, it is somewhere around 50 feet high, concrete slab, and a daily reminder of the situation of the Palestinians. The people here have to live with this wall, and its watch towers of Israeli soldiers constantly looking down on them. Then, just over this wall, you can see settlements. You can see massive developments of apartments, and fully built towns of Israelis that illegally developed on this land, right on the edge of the Separation Wall from Bethlehem. Then the inside of the wall, the street art and graffiti, is the most powerful. The ENTIRE wall is covered with murals, text, anything and everything. There are messages of peace and hope, of international solidarity, of desperation, of anger. I could hardly hold myself together by the time we had walked the hour or so down the wall. I was overwhelmed at the amount of global solidarity for the plight of the Palestinian people. There was graffiti saying "Belgium Stands With Palestine" or "France won't forget about you" or things from South Africa, Uganda, Lebanon, Ireland, and the list goes on. In an even more powerful example that grief and suffering is universal, I saw a memorial to Treyvon Martin spray-painted on the wall. The fact that 3,500 miles away from Florida, Treyvon is being honored, proves that the human heart empathizes with suffering, no matter where we are geographically located. I took well over a hundred pictures, but have included a good amount of my favorites here.

This shows the diversity of the art on the wall... Not all are elaborate murals, or large pieces. Some are just small tags of desperation, anger, or a simply and obvious message

One of Banksy's stencil pieces on the wall in Bethlehem

This Arabic text just says 'Palestine'

This cartoon character is named Handullah. He was created by a Palestinian, and he is meant to represent the oppression and imprisonment of all Palestinians. The creator has painted this character absolutely everywhere, and he has become a national symbol of revolution. The creator also said that Handullah's face will not be revealed until the people of Palestine know freedom. The artist then passed away in 2005.

One of the most elaborate pieces I have seen

The entrance as we walk towards the gate of the refugee camp

After walking along the wall and discussing history, our tour guide took us into one of the Palestinian refugee camps located in Bethlehem. This camp is called Aida Camp, and was established originally by UNRWA. The UN initially built this camp as an actual 'camp', building shanty houses, temporary medical centers. But in the last few decades it has built itself into a full town. It is cramped, the space is limited because they have no where else they can build to, thanks to the wall. But they have established full medical centers, a school system, and other public goods. They also suffer from a severe water shortage. If I complain about my 5 minute showers here in Jordan, they would be thankful for it. Israel siphons off their water, diverting it to new settlements... only giving them about 50% of what they actually need. That means that even by saving as much as possible, families go without water every single week.
It's essentially a whole new Palestinian town, just inhabited by people who dream of one day being able to return to their homes. Walking through this camp, if you ask children where they are from, even though they were all born there in Bethlehem, in that camp, they will tell you the name of their village. They will tell you the name of their grandfather's farm, or where their mother's family lived. No one, not a single Palestinian refugee, thinks of their current situation as their home. As they were shoved from their homes, had their farms destroyed, many burnt to the ground, they still consider themselves as belonging to that home.

Before coming to Jordan I considered myself pretty politically moderate on the Israel-Palestine conflict. I felt that they both had grievances, and I didn't necessarily know of a solution. After spending time in Tel Aviv, then Jerusalem, then Bethlehem and Jericho... I will never be the same. I am devastated by what has become of Palestinian territories. I have seen for myself the propaganda dispersed by the Israeli government to further hate of the Palestinians. I have experienced the genuine ignorance of many Israeli citizens. As I would converse with Israelis in Jerusalem, they'd ask what I was doing there. Many assumed I was there for birthright (where the Israeli government will pay any Jewish teenager, anywhere in the world, to take a trip to the 'homeland'), to which they looked confused when I couldn't help but laugh and say 'Hell no'. As my friends and I explained that we were studying Arabic in Jordan, here for holiday, the response was, absolutely every time, confusion. Every Israeli person we talked with and told this (at least 10 individuals in a couple of days) asked us "Why?" "Is it safe there" "What are they like?" 'They' referring, obviously, to Arab people in general. I was absolutely and completely stunned by getting this reaction time after time. We would then all reply with extreme kindness. "Of course it's safe, Amman is great, the city is great, etc." To which, again, they looked confused. The most stunning part, in my opinion, is the fact that the West Bank is integrated into Israel, thanks to the settlements, yet the average Israeli does not know the first thing about a Palestinian. The separation is SO severe, so concrete (literally, a 50 foot concrete wall) that these two populations have virtually no interaction on the day-to-day.   
My friends and I got home from our day trip in Bethlehem, and were all just.... emotionally drained. We simply couldn't quite comprehend all that we had seen and experienced through the day. Between our problems getting through the wall, seeing the protest graffiti, hearing story after story from our tour guide, then visiting the refugee camp, it was incredibly overwhelming.
My experiences in Israel and Palestine, both with the border patrol, encountering Israeli soldiers, conversations with locals in Jerusalem, and our experience in Bethlehem, my perspective has been forever and permanently changed. I am appalled by the state of things, and the fact that not a single American news source gives it any attention whatsoever.
To anyone further interested in the issue, first I suggest reading credible news sources such as Al-Jazeera (NOT Al-Jazeera America). But secondly, there is an absolutely incredible, and heart-wrenching documentary called 5 Broken Cameras that I believe every single American should watch. It is a Palestinian man simply documenting his life and his encounters. I have included the link to the FULL film on Youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K-mGWy9iUg

The perspective this man is able to capture on camera (or 5, he continuously replaces his cameras after Israeli soldiers destroy them) is incredible. In fact, the man from this documentary was shot just last week during an Israeli raid, for the SECOND time. I would highly suggest watching it.

So, I know this certainly isn't the happiest post, but it is something I am truly incredibly passionate about.
I am trying to end this post without it being a novel... So I will try to get caught up to speed with other events very soon!
If anyone has any questions/comments/problems with or about this post, I'm happy to discuss further.