A trip to Jerusalem

Last week brought me on a very quick visit to Jerusalem. A friend of mine was there and wanted to come to Ramallah, but was nervous about the trip, so I went down for a night in order to accompany her.

The old city is a shadowy maze of stone buildings, arches, and of course tourist shops. We began in the Arab quarter where the bus dropped me off, and as we wandered, my friend tried to figure out where we were. In the narrow cobbled street, we were surrounded by spices, souvenirs, head scarves and children darting about. “I just have to find someone who speaks Hebrew and ask for directions.” She saw someone in an Israeli military uniform and asked him how to get to the Jewish quarter. “Umm, I can talk to any of these people,” I pointed out. She laughed, saying, “That occurred to me as soon as I started to as I started to ask that soldier.”

We stayed with some of her family friends—her Israeli “grandparents.” They were both from the US, but have lived in Israel for about 30 years. Ariel, who first visited Israel while in Rabbinical school, said that she had immediately fallen in love with it and simply decided not to go back. She started a Torah-study group for neighborhood women, which has grown into a school. They were incredibly welcoming and gave me a big hug as soon as I walked in the door.

Over dinner, I mentioned that I was living in Ramallah, and was surprised to see their faces immediately freeze and tighten. “What do you define as the borders of Palestine?” David demanded. I said I defined them as the current ones because that's where they are. I didn't mention that I distinguish between what they are and what they should be. My answer to the other question would be that I don't consider myself sufficiently wise or educated to make a decision, and that it wouldn't matter anyway, because it's not like I'm drawing the map.

However, David was satisfied with my answer. “Good, because a lot of Palestinians define them as all of Israel.” “No, I don't think so,” I replied. “At least that's not what I've heard from the people I've met there. They are asking for the '67 borders.”

This didn't actually seem to mean anything different from all of Israel. They informed me that the '67 borders are unreasonable because they are indefensible, and are almost at the sea. I tried to argue that they are the Green Line—the current West Bank plus the settlements and aren't really any closer to the sea than the separation wall. (I forgot that the '67 borders also include the militarized zones, which claim most of the Jordan Valley.) They disagreed with this, but seemed to think the green line was unreasonable too.

I think what surprised me was the aggressiveness of their reactions, as well as the fact that my friend said that they were very knowledgeable politically, and was surprised when we looked it up and they were wrong (the '67 border are in fact, the Green Line). To their credit, though, as soon as they were done grilling and lecturing me, they resumed being perfectly pleasant.