The Pope and the WB

I was awoken this morning to the lovely sounds of police men and IDF soldiers shouting directions over a mega phone and a helicopter roaring above. The Pope has officially come to town. There is currently a ceremony (tekes in hebrew) at Yad Vashem, the new Holocaust memorial museum with Shimon Peres, the current president of Israel. He was greeted by three "children of Israel" a girl with an australian accent, a boy who spoke in Hebrew and a girl from Nazareth who welcomed the Pope in Arabic. It's interesting to witness this kind of ceremony because it is evident that it is very much a presentation, a staging of sorts. It is conducted in a manner much like a performance, but I suppose that's the way when any influential political or religious figure visits. Pope Benedict visiting Israel is very important because of his stand against anti-semitism, although he allowed an excommunicate Bishop who does not believe in the Holocaust to re-enter the church. I know he is controversial on many topics but it is still interesting to see interactions like this between the Catholic church and Israel.

In other news, on Saturday, Rachel, Talia and I went on a day trip to the West Bank. I hadn't gone in with any expectations and I came out with a bit of a new perspective of the situation in Israel. We took one of the Arab buses to Ramallah, as they are the only mode of public transportation you can find on Saturday until Shabbat is over. I had never seen the "Green Line" before, the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank, from Palestine, and as we rode up to it I realized how massive it was. Once on the other side, one could see that the graffiti stretched for miles. Most of it right near the checkpoint was absolutely exquisite. I remember one large section was painted with "David Copperfield Was Here." I'm not sure what it was referring to, but it took up a large section of the wall, sticking out amongst the smaller signs painted around it. There were portraits of various leaders as well as phrases in Arabic. WOW.
Ramallah is a huge city, one of the most affluent in the West Bank. Some of the houses were grand one family houses that looked like they had come out of some of the more affluent areas of Israel. Downtown was bustling with people, but for some reason, the bus station was shut down, so we took a shuttle the hour ride to the checkpoint in Nablus; from there we took a cab to the Old City. Once in Nablus, we wandered around for a bit in the Old City trying to find Jacob's well and the church that was associated with it. We had no idea what the church was called, and although Rachel's Arabic was pretty good, she didn't know the name for well. We asked directions from two women who pointed us in one direction, telling us to go straight for a long time and then when the road curved to the right the church would be on the left. 15 minutes of walking later, we figured we weren't getting anywhere and should find our way back downtown to another church. The next church we found ourselves at was an old Anglican Church, still in use. The owner of the church let us in and, although Rachel tried to get across what we were looking for, he didn't understand Jacob fromt he bible, the well, or a church that we were looking for. He did, however, find us someone who spoke English who told us where we could find a map. We were on the search for the tourist center. Now, when you think of a tourist center, I would imagine the first thing that comes to mind is not a small kiosk in the middle of a busy intersection in the city center. Well, that's what we got. We were about to walk past it when I noticed the peeling red letters on the top of the kiosk. We didn't end up getting a map, but we did end up finding the "only tour guide in Nablus" complete with an ID card that stated just this. He wanted 200 nis for the tour for the three of us, about three hours, but we got him down to 40 nis each, which was well worth it. The tour that we were about to embark upon would definitely open up my eyes to the situation in the West Bank, in Palestine, and how those citizens see their situation. He spoke as if he were reading from a script. He would repeat himself when we asked him questions, not quite answering them, but giving us information nonetheless. He studied at the University in Jordan for four years and was asked to be an English teacher back in Nablus, after which he retired and became a tour guide.
Our first stop was a soap factory, one of the 12 in Nablus, but it was not working anymore. There are only two working soap factories because of the lack of interest in the soap and the fact that it cannot be exported to neighboring Arab countries (which we were told many times, a result of the "occupation" of the West Bank by Israel). As you walked across the room with the soap on the floor, you slid on the slippery surface. He showed us how the soap was cut into blocks and then showed us the room where the soap was stored; there were stacks of soap everywhere, stacks that could not be sold. He took us through a lot of the Old City, pointing out Churches and Mosques that had changed hands, surving one purpose during Roman times, then another during the Byzantine Era, Turkish rule, etc. It was all fascinating information, but the most interesting part of the trip, for me at least, was hearing him talk about the occupation and what it had done to Nablus. One of the first things he told us was that Israeli media will try to protray Nablus as a very dangerous city full of terrorists, warning tourists not to come (which he attributed to Israel wanting to destroy their economy), when, as he reinforced many times, the people in Nablus are very friendly and welcoming, and we were safe especially with him as our tourguide. It's true that we didn't run into any problems with anyone and everyone Rachel asked directions for was very helpful.
He took us to a few noteable places: a Turkish bath, a center for herbs and coffee, where we had strong, bitter Bedouin tea, and a few places that are representative of the struggle that has been going on for many decades. One of these places was a house that was completely blown up in 2002, killing every family member inside. He told us the Israeli army had given no warning beforehand as to their intentions and the sign that commemorated the act was called a "massacre committed by the Israeli army" with a heading that said "never forgive, never forget." I don't know the details of the situation, but I do know that there was most likely a good reason for blowing up the house, not to say that it was either wrong nor right. It's just very interesting how both sides portray the same thing.
We also got to see the site we had come for: Jacob's well, which was right outside of a refugee camp on the edge of the city. The church the stands over the well was seriously damaged during an earthquake in 2005, so the church that we saw was newly renovated and gorgeous. The Well itself was pretty cool to see; we even got to drink some water from it, which is supposed to bring good health.
All in all it was a great trip, definitely eye opening. The West Bank, from what I observed, works and operates as an autonomous country, despite the fact that it is occupied. A two state solution, from how I see it, is the only real answer to the issue at hand, but it all depends on what each side is willing to give up, and at this point, I know Israel does not want to give up East Jerusalem (where I currently am studying) to Palestine for their capital.
I'm looking forward to going back to the West Bank at least once more before I go, preferably to Ramallah to actually explore and to Bethlehem.