ISRAEL & PALESTINE __ Land of Contradictions Bethlehem / Hebron

Christmas tree and celebrations in Bethlehem

Syriac Christians playing Scottish pipe in the courtyard of an Armenian church

Opening her home to us, beautiful human being Mohtara

Palestinian creativity and the knockoff Starbucks

Camel meat is sold along with beef and lamb at the Palestinian butchers

A board showing Israel's growth in Palestinian lands through decades

Abraham's Mosque / Synagogue

Israeli soldiers blocking the streets for Jewish settlers to walk around comfortably

Old Hebron city center in ruins 

Security walls and check point for going back to Jerusalem

Birthday boy with his Belgian beer

We woke up to a bustling city contradicting the calmness of the evening. Wandering through the chaotic market area we picked up things for our breakfast. We tried to find a quiet spot for ourselves to enjoy our breakfast and finally settled on the stairs of a house after picking up some warm bread fresh out of the oven from a bakery, some olives and cheese from a store, tomatoes from a street stall and black tea with fresh mint from a teashop. Right as we were laying out our stash on the steps a woman’s head stuck out from the door and inspected us. After exchanging a couple of “hello”s we figure out not through her Arabic words but through her hand gestures that she’s inviting us in to her house.  We politely decline and assure her that we’re comfortable there on the steps, but she’s not taking no for an answer, so we finally give in and happily accept her offer. She takes us to the guest room and leaves us to have our breakfast comfortably. After a while she comes and sits with us and we talk about her life and family with the help of Arabic words also used in Turkish and some English. We leave the house feeling a great gratitude for this beautiful human being. Exploring the market for different food products we come across some cooked lungs at a liver and lung sandwich stand, which is also available in Turkey but was something I hadn’t tried yet. We must have stared at his display for a little too long since finally the boy running it offered us some to suppress our curiosity. Much lighter tasting than liver, with its mushroom like texture the taste of the liver was aromatic and nice. The church of nativity, which is built on top of the cave believed to be the birth site of Jesus, was closed in the morning for security reasons due to a visit by Mahmud Abbas.  After visiting the church once it opened, we walked over to the bus station to catch a bus to another one of the Palestinian cities, Hebron. The entrance of the bus station, which was a few feet away from our hotel, looked awfully familiar. We were at the very same spot where getting out of the bus all tired the previous evening had accepted the price offered by the first cab driver approaching us without negotiating and got dropped off at the hotel after driving around for ten minutes. Being tour guides didn’t save us from falling for the usual tourist traps (Al’a Asakereh, I know where you live man, you better watch your back). Built on top of the supposed burial site of prophet Abraham and his family, in the center of old city Hebron, the building with half of it functioning as a mosque and the other half a synagogue is considered a holy site by all three religions. The old city center looked like a war zone with barbwires, watch towers, check points, security walls and empty houses in ruins deserted by residents tired of the conflicts caused by the 500 Jewish settlers protected by 2000 soldiers. Wandering through the empty streets we were suddenly stopped by the Israeli soldiers and were told to wait. Through a corridor formed by soldiers lining up on both sides of the streets, the Jewish settlers passed by as if taking a walk in the park. We later find out that this regularly occurs on every Shabbat. Degrading and disgusting aspect of making people stop and wait on their way to home or work in their own city causes us to face the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a cold and brutal manner. The situation we became a part of only for a few minutes seemed surreal, our minds had difficulty grasping and our hearts accepting it. With mixed feelings and thoughts we get on the bus back to Jerusalem. Going into Palestine there weren’t any check points but going back to Jerusalem we had to go through a highly secured check point. Going through a security check very much similar to the ones at the airports we didn’t have any difficulty, but probably out of fear of coming across a problem and not wanting to take a chance, Arabs were taking off everything from belts to shoes. It happened to be Benoit’s birthday that day but we were all sentimentally very tired for a big celebration upon arrival in Jerusalem, so we had a toast with Belgian beer and returned to our hotel.