According to international treaties West Jerusalem is Israeli and East Jerusalem is Palestinian. In reality, there is no border for Israeli citizens between West and East Jerusalem. For Palestinians it is altogether different. Most of them have not citizenship whatsoever; they may have a Palestinian passport but if they want to use it to travel to Israel or abroad, they need a special permission from the Israeli authorities, and these may grant it or not, arbitrarily. They also have to ask for a special permission to travel to East Jerusalem, the part of Jerusalem that the international community in their treaties granted to a future state of Palestine. When the Israeli authorities give this permission, it needs to be renewed periodically if the Palestinian person in question wants to travel to Jerusalem again after the permission expires.
Palestine tourist III
First Thursday
I visited the Tower of David today. It has a good reputation because I has a museum of history of the city inside, since its creation until ‘now’.
Inside the museum there are various interesting things. The history of the city is divided into various rooms, each one covering a period of that history, with placards, drawings, videos… going through the various rooms following a route designed to look like a game of clues among the stones and ramparts.
Jerusalem II
First Tuesday
Says A. that the whole of the Old City falls inside what the mass media calls “East Jerusalem”, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which, according to some international treaties, would correspond to Israel, while East Jerusalem would correspond to Palestine. “East Jerusalem” would be the part that the Palestinians would have as their capital if the Israeli State respected the treaties it has signed. It would be a situation of a divided Jerusalem between Israel and Palestine once Palestine is recognised as a Country, or State. So it looks like most tourists are staying in ‘East Jerusalem’, the ‘bad part’ of the city.
Jerusalem tourist
First Monday
The outside noise and light wake me up at around seven in the morning. When I go out to buy some breakfast, there is only one shop open. The street does not look the same without its shops. On the square next to the wall gate there are more cars than I remember that were yesterday. There is a little man with a trolley, selling bread.
Palestine. Arrival
It was around 5 in the morning when l arrived at Tel Aviv airport. I had a small scary moment thinking that they had lost my suitcase, because it so happens that, although they announce that the suitcases of the flight from London should be found on tape 7, it only applies if that flight is of the Israeli company, but they won’t say this.
Palestine plans
The plans to go to Holy Land are taking shape. I do not have a ticket yet, but at least I have decided roughly when I will depart and when to come back. I will be there while I wait for my dream job, which in theory I have already got, but various circumstances have come in the way of my future employers, apparently. In the meantime, I will have to live on the debts I am gracefully acquiring at the moment. It might be a good idea to open an account to ask for donations in various places. Might do.
I am very happy that I can go to Palestine. I do not know why Christians tend to go on a pilgrimage to Rome rather than Jerusalem, Bethlehem or Nazareth. In any case, I choose to get out of Europe, on this occasion.
Palestine Information
A. tells me that he is travelling to Palestine in a few weeks. He was there a few months ago, and on that occasion I asked him to tell me with a bit more notice the next time he decided to go. And here he is, telling me with enough notice that he is going again for a few months.
So I think I should take this chance to go not entirely on my own.
000
I get up and have breakfast composed of the food I broI get up and have breakfast composed of the food I brought with me. I hear the sound of an engine and go to see what it is. Two men, one on foot and another one on a tractor, are spreading seeds on the fields around the village.
