Jerusalem

The past month has been a hectic month of getting settled in here in Ramallah, and I'm just starting to feel like I'm getting into a rhythm. Of course, I say that, and something inevitably will change--I meet new people, circumstances shift in the political landscape--and there I am, adjusting to change.

I suppose it's a good practice to keep you young!

During the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to go to Jerusalem three times, which is three times more than many of my students, even though they've lived most of their lives just 15 km away.

Since the Six Day War in 1967 and subsequent Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem (the Old City), access to Jerusalem has been extremely restricted. Palestinians who were not forced out of East Jerusalem were given Jerusalem ID cards, and all people living in the West Bank carry West Bank ID cards. People with West Bank ID cards can't visit their relatives, friends or holy places in East Jerusalem without a difficult-to-obtain permit.

On the first Friday of Ramadan, I had the pleasure of being just outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque (just the outside, as non-Muslims can't tour the mosque or the Dome of the Rock on Fridays, the holiest day of the week). On that holy day, in the holiest month of Islam, hundreds of Palestinians were denied entry into the area around the mosque because it also happened to coincide with Rosh Hashanah, and hundreds of Jews were planning to arrive at the Western Wall at sundown. It's outrageous that peaceful worshippers were denied the opportunity to pray at the third holiest site in Islam. It would be like denying access to the Vatican or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Easter.

One of my colleagues wryly made the point: "It's easier to see my sister in Jordan or to go to New York City than it is to see my sister in Jerusalem."

Point taken.

It is that sort of point that makes it bittersweet that I - with my foreign passport stamped USA - have unfettered access to Jerusalem and points beyond in Israel.

And now, photos of Jerusalem and my very overdue photos from Bethlehem.