Monday, May 24, 2010

Location: Jerusalem, Ramallah

The Western Wall & Rabbis for Human Rights

We began our day with a short bus ride to the Old City, picking up where we left off yesterday. Today, however, we had the blessed opportunity to stand at the Western Wall (also commonly referred to as the Wailing Wall). Part of the original Temple Mount, many Jews come here to offer prayers to God. It is an extremely important site for religious Jews. It was very moving for many of us as we both observed and participated in the tradition of writing prayers or thoughts and stuffing them into a crack in the large stone wall.

From here, we traveled to the office location of Rabbis for Human Rights. The Rabbis for Human Rights describes itself as "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights". While many rabbis have justified the treatment of Palestinians and the establishment of Israel through the Hebrew scriptures, these rabbis seek to use the same source to fight for human rights and to defend the many cases in which those human rights are violated by the government or IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) or on more personal levels. It was very encouraging to hear from their representative and the work that they have been doing on the ground, as well as their goals for the future.

Sam Bahour

After Rabbis for Human Rights, we had the opportunity to sit down for lunch with Sam Bahour. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Bahour is a Palestinian-American with an MBA who chose to voluntarily relocate to the West Bank to make a difference in his motherland. Bahour explained to us the challenges of doing such a thing--if a family was not present during Israel's census after the 1967, they did not receive an Israeli Army-issued identification card. So to remain in the West Bank with his new family, Bahour had to leave and re-enter every 3 months with the possibility of being denied. Finally he received a Palestinian ID card and must live with the same restrictions as any Palestinian.  Bahour shared with us the challenges of stimulating the economy of an occupied state--Israel controls the ports and the flow of customs revenue. We learned firsthand how the occupation impacts normal economic activity and keeps the future of Palestine in limbo--not in ruin but not able to flourish--what Sam Bahour called the end goal of Israeli policy.

Ramallah

Ramallah has to be the most-graffitied place on Earth. Much to our surprise, we had rolled into the West Bank without incident; we weren't even stopped at the checkpoint to have our passports inspected. We went to visit Yasser Arafat's tomb and saw Palestinian police in training.