Jenin

My father had insisted on buying a car with Jordanian plates so we could drive it to Palestine. Our American car and his company car would not be allowed to pass. And so two days before our trip, we went to the 'free' zone in the zarqa area of Jordan. There, we bargained with Iraqi, Jordanian, and European car importers and dealers. In the end, we settled for a beautiful Mercedes c 180. It took until the day of the trip to finalize the ownership documents and pay the huge tax on the German import. We reached the Sheik Hussein bridge crossing at 10 am. It took around 20 minutes to get through the Jordanian side. The Israeli-controlled border was another story. We parked at the security point, where we were questioned and our belongings examined. Then, a young flirtatious Israeli interrogator took me to the side and spent 20 minutes questioning me. After that was done, we took out our luggage and walked a couple hundred meters to drop them off at the luggage search. An Israeli border man took the car to a garage for examination. Our passports were checked, and again we were told to wait. The same Police officer lady who had made me wait 5 hours the summer before came to the booth and requested I follow her. I was taken to a room, and questioned for an hour. My father, during this period lost his patience and argued with a soldier and requested to see their 'manager'. That caused us to be delayed another two hours. By the time we were allowed to pass the border, we had been stalled four hours. I watched Chinese, Caucasians, and jews pass enter my motherland within 20 minutes of their arrival. Car after car, bus after bus they passed, while we were stalled, it appeared, specifically due to their 'security' interest in myself. I think the rude soldier with whom my father argued with had something to do with the delay as well. And so, after that was done… we drove to our ancestral village just north of jenin in Galilee. The dinner made up some what for the frustration during the trip. Roasted lamb, fresh vegetables from our farmland (what remained of it after Israeli confiscation of 70% of it), and sweet tea. The next day, a second cousin of mine drove me to Haifa. We had a nice time there. The day after that, we crossed into the occupied west bank to visit our relatives in Palestine. Little Mohammad was now a tall young man. He was my uncle sharif's spoiled son. We went to the refugee camp next to their house to visit my uncle's grave. The confiscation wall had reached the front of their house. Graffiti painted all over it. 'Ghetto', 'We will not forget beit hanoun', 'international solidarity movement' 'free Palestine' were constantly written in Arabic, English and Hebrew along with drawings and posters. The day before, a teenager was shot and killed just outside the wall. He was collecting aluminum scrap to sell. He was shot in his leg and left to bleed. Palestinian residents discovered his body the morning of the day we entered the occupied territories. We left that afternoon to east Jerusalem, delayed until sunset by Israeli military checkpoints along the way. When we finally reached al-aqsa in the old city, I was overwhelmed with memories and spirituality. The golden dome of the rock, the al-aqsa mosque the holy sanctuary. In the al-aqsa mosque we noticed the new wooden stand inside. It is based on the ancient salahudeen stand that was burned in 1969 during the attack on the al-aqsa mosque. Shopping in the souk of the old city, eating delicious falafel sandwitches, and finally visiting my mother's relatives in east Jerusalem ended our day in occupied Palestine. We traveled back to Israel, to our ancestral village just north of jenin. The next day I went to Tiberias, and gazed at the beauty of this lake and the serenity of the occupied Golan heights in the near horizon. It was a wonderful trip to my motherland.

I noticed how bad the living conditions of Palestinians in the occupied territories had gotten compared to the relative wealth of Israelis in Israel. My feelings of joy at having been back home coincided with sadness at the continuing humiliation, starvation and subjugation of my Palestinian bretheren. It is always a trip of reflection, and this was definitely one that affected all my senses and emotions.

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"A child becomes a man when he knows what came before him" -- Anonymous
"Conquerors, my son, consider as true history only what they themselves have fabricated"
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/The%...ut%201948.html

Red_Dave

Facinateing stuff

Gardener

I must admit that the thought of tooling around in a shiny new mecedes while eating lavish meals sounds pretty opprerssive.

Can somebody please come and oppress me in a similar fashion, please?

cherokee

I hope he threw out some crumbs for the starving people.

Jenin

The meals were not lavish, they were delicious however. Home made from scratch. Whatever my family and I have earned, was a product of hard work and dedication to education for the sake of our beloved homeland. Israel gave us nothing. We earned what we have by the blessing of God. My father grew up in a refugee camp, studying under street lamp posts and dressing in patched second and third hand clothes. He educated himslef, and thanks to an age of hard work and perserverence and saving, we are now able to enter almost any part of our holy land due to our aquisition of the US citizenship. If I was left with only my occupation ID in palestine, I would not be able to leave the town or camp I was in, as is the case with my relatives in occupied palestine.

Thank God, we were able to give a more than just a few crumbs. The starving people deserve much more than even what we gave them, and God willing the occupation, sanctions and seige of the people will end.

Tashah

Considering that Palestinians have returned to murder-bombings, the people of Israel were very generous indeed to grant you passage.

Precisely! Can you point me to any incident where anyone other than Arabs or Palestinians have engaged in murder-bombings in Israel? And you express dumbfounded amazement that you were questioned and searched?

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Jenin

They were not very generous, considering Israel's history of mass murder. The european zionists had to let us in because we are american citizens.

Absolutely. Palestine has been murder bombed since bombs were invented...first by the british, then by the zionist european terrorists who took their occupier position.

I never said I was dumbfounded. It did amuze me that everyone but the decendant and native to the land was allowed normal entry.

Tashah

No you didn't. I surmized that.

Brings to mind that old adage Jenin... The apple never falls far from the tree.

Jenin

Being amused is not exactly being dumbfounded.
Racial profiling is is essential to Israelis, and understandable. To myself, a Palestinian -- Many multiples of murderers and criminals enter my homeland, not profiled. They are the youth of the Israeli military industrial complex, and they are certified to kill and murder by uniforms and a flag. Russians, Americans, europeans, Ethiopeans enter my homeland and join the occupation and murder. They are allowed easy entry, provided with the best social care and support and many times protected from their crimes under the general Israeli occupation murder pretext of 'self defence'. On most occasions, on the ground, a lie.
I was not dumfounded, I think I understand a little how the system works. Amuzement might be an apple off the same tree (if I understood your analogy), but its not the same apple. or something.

Tashah

Jenin,
I'm coming to the conclusion that it is nigh impossible for you to post anything without a concomitant dosage of self-serving vitriol. You know what your posts are beginning to remind me of? The unbearably dense ideological communique's released by the Communist Politburo of the Soviet Union.

Relax. Every regular contributor to the ME forum knows what your position is. On a different forum where I am a member, there is also a Palestinian. She dispenses with the propaganda bulldookey and instead deals with substance. She is frank and honest and freely admits Palestine's many self-generated problems. I freely admit to Israel's many mistakes. A mutual respect has been nurtured and developed.

You certainly have the right to post your sentiment here... but what exactly are you gaining? You have converted no one here. Everyone remains in their pre-Jenin position. You can of course ignore this post and carry forward in your usual and customary modus operandi. Or, you can alter your approach and jettison the useless verbiage. Think about it.