March 03, 2005
Schwartz - Hail and Farewell, Holy Land (Part II)
This entry will be updated occassionally over the next few months as I upload more photographs onto my servers...
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Other photographs and reminisces
New York City Chinatown, Chinese New Year's, February 2005.
Another Neve Shalom sunset, this time with sight of the old British jail (the blocks on the horizon) viewed from the access road. See: Impressions of Latrun in November for more such photographs. I have never seen such exquisite geography before in my life. Israel-Palestine is certainly "big sky country." Or as someone once put it to me, "this is a good land for gods..."
Yonaton, his girlfriend Tamar, and his little brother observing their pet goldfish.
Way too much Yonaton!!
That's Omar Schwartz, a really cool second generation villager. His father is a famous Israeli thespian by the name of Shy Schwartz.
A very dignified photograph of Zechariah.
Wisam and Aton, his employer for six years. Aton has risked jail for the guy.
Yours truly, listening for the music of Nature...
Me and Nimair, the princess pooty kat.
The laundry tree at the volunteers' bloc.
The Neve Shalom working crew: Wisam, Zechariah, Ibrahim and Voltaire, all Palestinians, and Aton, an Israeli and like Voltaire one of the founders of the village, is seated in the middle of the shot.
Zechariah, the Man Who Built Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam. He has been employed by the village for nearly twenty years. He has had a hand in the construction of every permanent structure in the village.
Sucar (Hebrew and Arabic for "Sugar"), one of my kanine buddies at the village. His owner, Rida, has moved her family to the island of Zanzibar off the Tanzanian coast for a year (her husband is a traditional Arabic guitar player, and he'll be teaching at a music school there.) Sucar is now somewhere near the Galilee.
Jazz, Rita's lazy and incredibly huge puppy (not to mention dumb as a rock), another of my kanine buddies. She and Sucar followed me everywhere. It made for very pleasant company during my long hours working alone in the hotel and gardens.
Shatiakh the Carpet Dog ("shatiakh" is Hebrew for "carpet/rug.") A homeless dog who lived at the hotel, Yael gave him his name (I originally was going to dub him "Kelev," "dog," then I considered "flea bucket.") Shatiakh was the first inhabitant of the village to welcome me when I finally arrived. An adorable and loyal little pup, he adopted me, following me everywhere I went. He also became quite a leader among the other village dogs. It was through his acquaintace that Sucar and Jazz first "got to know me." At one point during my time at the village, I had a pack of five dogs following me around, all because of Shatiakh! He was also a skilled moocher, self-taught in the art of getting hotel guests to feed him and sometimes even house him in their bedrooms! In fact, everyone loved him, except the hotel management, which called him a "walking infestation" (he was actually quite clean.) Ultimately one of the villagers gave him to a family in Lud. These photographs catch him in classic Shatiakh pose: "guarding" his territory, and sprawled out awaiting a tummy rub.
Yours truly, with the tel of Latrun behind me.
Index
Part I: My last visit to Beit Sīra; Campfires; Trip to Philadelphia
Part II: Other Photographs and Reminisces
Part III: Travels (Photographs and links)
Part IV: Favorite Locales
Part V: For my brother Scott (Christmas photographs)
There must be peace between symbols An article I wrote inspired by my time in Israel-Palestine, published in The Journal News newspaper.
