Tag Archives: middle east

Palestine

As-salamu alaykum from Al-Khalil (Hebron)! A few days ago I took a bus from Tel Aviv, Israel to Ramallah, Palestine. And today I arrived to Al-Khalil from Ramallah.

As-salāmu ʿalaykum
Arabic: Peace be upon you

Shortly after I arrived to Ramallah (after escaping the taxi cabs' persistent attempts to get me to go somewhere, anywhere with them), I sat down in the sun to eat before meeting a friend. As a white man with dreadlocks and a tiny pink bicycle, I'm always something of a spectacle, but I was immediately amazed at how friendly & hospitable people were to me--more so than in Israel.


Mikey, smiling, holds a small puppy wrapped in a blanket.
Al-Khalil Puppy

As I was eating my lunch, a man young came up to me. He only knew a handful of english words. I offered him some food, but he refused. Instead, he just sat next to me, smiling. Ramallah is in the mountains, and it can get quite cold on an overcast day in Winter. The man took off his gloves and tried to give them to me. My hands were visibly cold, but I had to profusely refuse as I already had a pair of gloves buried in my backpack. He continued to sit by me for 20 minutes, offering me wifi or whatever he could. Eventually he said "money, money, money" over-and-over. My first thought was that he was begging for money, but--after another friendly Palestinian said hello to me, he informed me that the man was asking if I needed money. What kindness of strangers!

We passed Palestinian homes...the soldiers had welded shut the front doors and settler's graffiti tagged them with stars of David--ironically & ashamedly reminiscent of swastikas.

Today I took a long, windy road from Ramallah to Al-Khalil. I was very motion sick, and the cab was full of the driver's tobacco smoke. We wandered through the old city passing heavily-armed military and riot police. Many people told me that, if I wanted to understand life under the Occupation, Al-Khalil was the place to see it.

Mikey squats on a dirt road, smiling. Next to him is a young girl, not smiling. Behind them is a small caravan. In the distance, a huge shred of a factory farm can be seen.
Umm al-Khair

We saw a procession of settlers on a tour through the old city--an area that's designated as H1, controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and where settlers & Israeli military shouldn't be--but that's life under Occupation..

The markets in the old city have the now-commonplace wire mesh protection above--placed there to protect the shops from the trash thrown by the Israeli settlers living above. Still, the settlers throw bleach & urine down on the Palestinians below.

A street is lined with entrances to homes & shops. The doors to the homes are copper-green and rusted. The doors have been welded shut, and tagged with spray-painted stars of David--ironically & ashamedly reminiscent of swastikas.
Shuhada Street, Al-Khalil (Hebron)

As we walked around, we passed Palestinian homes juxtaposed to Israeli ones. Many of the Palestinian homes were vandalized. On the infamous Shuhada street, the soldiers had welded shut the front doors of their shops & homes. And settler's graffiti tagged them with stars of David--ironically & ashamedly reminiscent of swastikas.


Arrival to the Middle East

Shalom from Tel Aviv! It's hard to believe that--just last month--I was driving across the US. I sold my car in Wisconson, hopped a greyhound back to NYC, flew to Israel (layover in Germany), took a 10-day tour from the Golan Heights (along the Syrian boarder) to the Dead Sea (along the Jordan boarder), and now I find myself in a backpackers hostel just a short walk from Jaffa in Florientine, Tel Aviv.


When I'm not washing sheets...I'm contributing to open source projects and wandering the streets of Jaffa or schmoozing with Germans, Aussies, and Dutch 20-something-ers at the cheapest hostel in Tel Aviv.

While my previous international travels as a hobo were well-funded by my salary as an software engineer, my new vagrant lifestyle lacks any source of income. As such, I'm subsidizing my travel by worktrading my time for free lodging. In exchange for 27.5 hours of "volunteering" each week, I'm staying at this hostel for free.

D & Mikey stand in front of a hedge on a hill overlooking a garden with a golden-topped dome. Behind that is a city and then a sea stretching to the horizon.
Shrine of the Báb, Haifa

When I'm not washing sheets or feeding ~100 backpackers vegan dishes (from 2 shitty hot plates!) with a 70 shekel/night (<$20 USD) budget, I'm still contributing to open source projects and wandering the streets of Jaffa or schmoozing with Germans, Aussies, and Dutch 20-something-ers at the cheapest hostel in Tel Aviv.

D & Mikey stand against a railing in the old city of Jerusalem. Behind them, the Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock can be seen atop the Temple Mount.
Al-Aqsa

Though Tel Aviv does have the highest concentration of vegans per capita than any city in the world, it's a very hedonistic city, and I'm looking forward to cycling the open road. But it's been nice to get travel tips from fellow travelers in this hostel. Indeed, the logistics of traveling between at-war countries (ie: Israel & Lebanon) is a non-trivial act. Their knowledge & tips have proven invaluable in my planning.

After my 1-month commitment to volunteering at this hostel has finished, I'll have 2 months left on my Israel/Palestine visa. After that, my plan is to cross into Jordan and then fly from Amman to Berut, Lebanon.

After that, I head West to Africa or East to India. I'm still undecided..