Looking Back

It's still completely amazes me that I have been in Palestine for eight weeks. I can still vividly remember filing out of the bus from Jerusalem in Ramallah and taking my first steps in this extraordinary country. Since that moment I have had so many incredible experiences. For example, I've:

• marched with Palestinians in demonstrations against the separation wall, internal closures and illegal Israeli settlements.
• made craft stick art work with kids in a refugee camp.
• played a game of street soccer with Palestinian kids from Tel Rumeida in Hebron as IDF army jeeps and Israeli settlers patrolled the neighborhood.
• passionately argued with both international and Palestinian students about culture, violent resistance, economics, politics, and which falafel restaurant in Birzeit has the best food for the least amount of shekels.
• seen the closed Palestinian shops on Shohada St.
  
• shared tea and Ramadan sweets with my neighbors.
• skipped Arabic class to go help out with the olive harvest in Nablus.
• enjoyed delicious Taybeh beer and dubka dancing at the Al-Taybeh Oktoberfest.
• wandered around the alleyways, ramparts, and shops of Jerusalem's Old City.
• bought a kaffiyeh.
• crouched through the "Door of Humility" at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
• eaten fresh papaya straight off the tree while lounging at an outdoor cafe in Jericho.
• argued with Israeli soldiers about the legality of taking pictures at a military checkpoint.
• met Palestine's premier hip-hop group, DAM.
• watched Bab Al-Hara at the Nadi.
  
• been taught the correct ways to pronounce "Hamas" and "Fatah" by a 14 year old Palestinian boy.
• broken the Ramadan fast with 1000 other Palestinian college students crammed into a tiny cafeteria.
• attended a Fatah Student Group rally.
  
• been caught without my passport at a flying checkpoint at 1 a.m.
• heard incredible stories about Palestinians building community centers, starting computer classes for children and women, and starting science initiatives.
• listened to saddening stories about Palestinians who have not seen their families in years due to the separation wall and various travel restrictions.
• smoked argeeleh at Tal Al-Qamar in Ramallah.
  
• met children who have been abducted and imprisoned by the Israeli government.
• met an Israeli in a coffeeshop in Tel Aviv who referred to the settlers in Hebron as, "the closest thing there is to Jewish Nazis."
• eaten a gourmet cheeseburger at Al-Sultan Restaurant.
• experienced Rukab's Ice Cream first hand. (Baladna's across the street is far better!)
• learned a bit of colloquial Jerusalemite Arabic.
• seen the separation wall and the monstrosity that is Qalandia checkpoint.

I haven't regretted for a moment the decision to come and study in Palestine. However, I do regret not doing enough with my first two months here. There is truly an overwhelming about of Palestinian and international organizations doing tremendous work in the West Bank. I just wish I had time to be a bigger part of so many of them. In the coming days/weeks/month I intend to elaborate more on a few of these experiences - perhaps some of the ones that have had the most influence on my views of the conflict and the Palestinian people living through it.