Truth in the Middle East

[_sameer_]

Have you all seen Invisible Children?
If not, I think you should - invisiblechildren.org. But that's not what this post is about.

I think that when you want to take a side on something, you have an obligation to make the decision of what side to take only after finding out about the issue. Blindly stating "I'm for this" or "I'm against this" is

Comments

[vintagefaerie]

i would KILL (well, almost literally) to on a trip like this... however, logistics complicate things.

of course, the first concern is money.....

also, time. i plan on learning arabic, but i'm not sure that a year is enough time to prepare for a trip of that magnitude.

however, if i knew i could work out the funds, i'd commit the next year to serious and intense study before going.

this is something i would truly and seriously be interested in doing at some point though. i've been doing my best to educate myself on some of this issues as of late, and in doing so i've been thinking about you a lot.

we should hang out when/if you're ever in town. and we should continue to discuss this idea. i really REALLY like it.

[_sameer_]

1. I'm in town! Woo.
2. I don't consider specific people, really. There are people I'd like to go on this trip with, but in reality it's the specific passion of a person to go that would make them a "better" person to go with.
3. I'm glad that this did that for you. I'm so sick of watching my (ideological) brethren get killed on TV when they give any coverage at all, and then having people write letters to the editors saying that the news media isn't showing Israel's side when that's ALL WE GET, 24/7. Israel's side is presented as "the news" - when was the last time you heard a major news agency say that Hamas was primarily a social organization?

[vintagefaerie]

oops

that was me, not wade.

[vintagefaerie]

p.s. again.

that thing about abortion? and you not being able to fully understand it because you are not a woman?

i cant even begin to tell you how much i respect you for that .

[dechiree]

Whatever you decide to do, and whoever decides to go with you (sorry my Hebrew isn't good enough anymore for a venture like this and I'm working on moving back to France or I'd way volunteer), I recommend that you spend equal amounts of time in both Israeli and Palestinian areas

[_sameer_]

I plan on spending about a third of my time in Israel, a third in Palestine, and the last third in the neighboring states (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt). Maybe less outside and more in Israel and Palestine.

All the places you mentioned except the Druze community village and the gravesites of the three forefathers were on my list. I have never heard of the "gravesites of the three forefathers before" - what is it all about?

And I'm more interested in the hostility and the political, humanitarian side of it. Religious and cultural things both take a backseat to that in my mind. Having said that, they're both very indirectly involved and I would love to go get some falafel and smoke a hookah out there. Seriously, the culture of both is fascinating to me, and I will definitely, if I ever get to Jerusalem, not only check out the religious sites of Muslims and Jews, but of Christians as well.

You don't have to be a member of any of these religions to respect them and want to learn about them. Case in point: Me!

[dechiree]

OK I will start with the sites. So in Haifa I remember we stopped and we taken into the home of a Druze family. Apparently Druze is like a mix of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian beliefs, and they live together amongst Jews and Muslims in Israel without any problems. They might be an interesting "control group" sort of study

[_sameer_]

Hey, thanks. This is really all interesting. I like the idea of a "control group" even though I'm not really doing an experiment.

I didn't know the Golan was safe to hike in and stuff!