Israel / Palestine Trip – Day Three

Stardate: January 21st, 2020

Today was a little bit frustrating. It Is difficult to be in Israel and in Jerusalem and to spend our time in the hotel listening to speakers. Logistically I understand the need to have done things this way, however, there’s still a certain amount of frustration that comes with not being able to see and experience things as we would like to or as I would have liked to. I absolutely loved hearing from Rami’s grandfather. It was spectacular. As I listened, I imagined my own grandmother as she narrated family history to me many times and I could hear that same love and affection in Rami’s grandfather’s voice as he relayed history and as he struggled to remember places and people and to remember exactly how things were. 

 

Our first speaker of the day, Mikhael Manekin the director of Israel Tomorrow Communications and Israel Director of the Alliance for Israel’s Future was incredibly interesting. To hear the explanation of the way the government works in Israel was very interesting. I admit that the parliamentary system doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me, it seems like a very inefficient system. Although, as he stated he believes that our system is very inefficient. It seems that coalition building is a very frustrating way of putting together a government and the fact that you can end without a government at all is just a bit mind boggling to me and my American ways. 

 

Hava Schwartz was absolutely fascinating. The idea of how archeology is being used for political gain and how the walls of Jerusalem and the territory of Jerusalem has expanded and why is information that I think that most Americans are completely unaware of. As a matter of fact, I would say that most of the information that we learned today was beyond the scope of the average American and even the above average American. I understand from a nationalistic point of view that the United States is an ally of Israel and of the Zionist populace but the plight of the Palestinians is a far deeper harm and I appreciated the words of Bashir Bashir today. He explained that both the Holocaust and the Catastrophe are horrific tragedies and that there’s no comparison of the two but that one holds so much more of the understanding of the world as opposed to the Holocaust. 

 I wish we had taken the time at the Sisters of Sion convent to explore the grounds and to have some interaction with the nuns who were there. I would have liked some explanation of the place where we were and the significance of those people in that place and why we had made the trek there for lunch. I understand that it was near Anakaren and it brought us closer to Rami’s grandfather’s village and that was a large part of why we were there but it would have been nice to understand the place where we were a little more in depth. I did enjoy greatly walking through the village and seeing perhaps what it would be like to live in a small village on the outskirts of Jerusalem . 

 BYU was absolutely beautiful. The view from the top of the hill was amazing. And I’m glad that we were able to experience the view and also the use of the beautiful facility. As was expressed to me by some other classmates, being in the BYU  building brought with it some difficulties, but understanding that it is a facility that offered us much hospitality as a meeting place. Although their beliefs, especially as they relate to the LGBTQIA community do not align with my beliefs and thoughts and understanding of sacred text, it was a beautiful facility and I am very glad that we got to experience it. 

Perhaps a bit of jet lag and lack of sleep last evening along with the warm room that we were meeting in created a bit of a difficulty for me to listen to Bashir Bashir. Although he was incredibly interesting and very well versed in the place Palestinians have in society and how it affects them from a political as well as a life standpoint. He spoke very fast, sometimes it was very difficult for me to keep up with his very quick speech. I wanted to listen so intently and I struggled in that endeavor. However, it is from the perspective of most Americans including mine in a lot of ways, that the PLO was indeed a terrorist organization and that they were very difficult . Hearing his side of the story, that the PLO was actually going to be the means by which Palestinians would gain some form of equality was very interesting to me. It was a perspective that I had not considered. I’m not sure that I would have considered it at all on my own. Of course the highlight of our speakers was Anat Hoffman, a wow human being. What a phenomenal  mission and work that she is involved in. From the legal standpoint with the reform movement and also with the women at the Wailing Wall and with the LGBTQIA community and in so many aspects of life in Israel. From pushing the envelope obviously with regard to equality and what that means in this society. From racial issues to women’s issues to the LGBTQIA community. She was absolutely exhilarating. 

Lastly, I went to a vendor in the old city. I had shawarma and it was delicious. I’m really kind of excited that this was a good food day because that has been a struggle for me every day that we’ve been here.

I am super excited to go tomorrow to the Dead Sea and to go up Masada to explore.