Schwartz - Return from Ramallah

15.8.04

I spent the weekend at Beit Seerya (which boasts the second largest mosque dome in Israel/Palestine, after the as-Sakhra, the Dome of the Rock) and Ramallah, a youthful city bursting with life. It was an enlightening whirlwind journey, confirming many things I've already thought, confirming things I've heard but didn't believe, and also showing me some other things.

I don't have any time to write a good entry on my trip right now. One of my bosses here in the village is drowning me in work. I'll say this much: on the morning of Saturday, the lorry I was riding passed through a "checkpoint." Two young Israelis leapt out from the bush (no barriers, no signs -- some "checkpoint"). Their heads were wrapped in a ludricous bee-catcher's outfit. They trained their guns on the driver. I'll never forget how the passengers in the lorry stiffened with fright, and I'll never forget the absolute terror in the eyes of the soldiers, who spoke to us in monosyllables.

Last year I got into an argument with a Palestinian when I was at SOAS. He kept going on about the "reality of the Occupation," the injustice toward the Palestinians. Recently before I left the US I got into an argument with a Jew. He kept going on about the "reality of the Situation," the injustice toward the Israelis. I'll tell you what the "reality" is: it's a nightmare of two nations terrified of each other.

--------------------
17.8.04
Update
1. I will be expanding this entry shortly.
2. My laptop is now capable of connecting to the Internet on its own, which streamlines things a bit.
3. I have gotten permission from the publicity office to go ahead with an article about the village for AlterNet.org.
4. Correction and reflection added to 11.8.04 entry, "Israel/Palestine: What America Was, Good and Bad. (By the way, that entry has received very positive feedback. Thanks everybody! As soon as I'm able, I'll make a "second edition" out of the copy of the entry currently posted on Thinking-East.net.)
5. Ben and I will, inshallah, begin an advertising blitz for Thinking-East.net within the next week.

--------------------
20.8.04
Huge amounts of labor being spent on two apartments here in the village. I'm trying to repair/paint the walls but the damned things keep crumbling and the paint keeps peeling and one of my bosses is not exactly kindhearted and wants my blood. Fun times! I'll try to get a photograph or two of the disaster onto the blog for a laugh's sake. Eventually I'll get to writing an entry about Ramallah and hopefully soon Ben and I can get going on our advertising blitz. Ya'allah!!

Check out this article of a BBC crew being held at gunpoint by the IDF this past weekend while I was in Ramallah.

Right before I left, militants associated with Moqtada as-Sadr in Najaf, Iraq, kidnapped a British reporter from the Daily Telegraph.

Shall Modernity kill itself by annhilating the flow of information?