Jerusalem, Hospitals, and Family

Thursday the program took us to Jerusalem. Since I went on Taglit-Birthright Israel last year, I'd already been on the Oranim tour of the Old City. I have to confess that I do not adore the Old City. The Cardo (the stretch of mall in the Jewish Quarter) is a fascinating piece of history, but the entire area has been so commericialized that I feel little connection with it at all. As a piece of the Second Temple, the Western Wall is amazing. But I don't cry when I see it, or feel particularly moved. It would be nice if I did, but I don't feel a connection with Judaism or the Jewish people when I'm there. I just feel accosted by vendors.

We also went to the City of David, which was super cool. The City of David is an anthropological site just outside of the Western Wall in East Jerusalem, currently be excavated. I'm always interested in any trip that includes a walk through water, in this case through the tunnel used to bring water into King David's castle. I also like listening to Yariv, our main guide, talk about the differences between the anthropological discoveries and popular mythology. For instance, there is a building just outside the gates of the Old City that houses the "Tomb of King David" on the first floor, the site of the Last Supper on the second floor, and a mosque on the third. The tomb of King David must be three thousand years old and the site of the last supper two thousand years old, but the building itself is from the Crusaders and is less than 1000 years old. But don't say that to religious Christians or Jews, they won't believe you. In fact, King David is probably buried somewhere in or around the City of David.

The next day I went to a hospital in Sheba to visit children from Gaza and the West Bank with cancer. This was not part of the program, but Fady, the guide/counselor at Kadima El-Amam invited me to join him. It was a rough experience. We brought the children and their mothers some snacks, toiletries, toys and clothing. Barring special circumstances, only one parent may come with the child, and neither the parent nor the child are permitted to leave the hospital grounds while in Israel. Since treatment takes many months, this turns the hospital into a sort of life-giving prison. One mother, whose toddler is undergoing treatment for cancer, had given birth a month ago, so her husband was visiting her.

Prior to Operation Cast Lead there were 60-70 Palestinian children being treated at this hospital. Now there are 20. It is extremely difficult to get permission to come to Israel for medical care. The family must get permission from the Palestinian government, who then passes the information onto the Israelis to get their approval. Hamas has shut down the Fatah office that handled this prior to Operation Cast Lead. Anyone's paperwork who was being processed has to start over. And since Hamas is a thug organization, not a government, they aren't actually that interested in helping people get medical care. Plus, the Israelis won't work with Hamas, only with Fatah. So there is something of an impasse.

Interestingly, some of the families we met spoke excellent English--English is the second language in the Palestinian territories, not Hebrew.

The Friday evening I finally met my distant Israeli cousins. They are Orthodox, which was a new type of Shabbat for me, and very very welcoming. The family has four sons, one of which is in the army. The other three are all married with children. The wives are all my age or younger. It's a different lifestyle, but very friendly and warm.