First afternoon Jerusalem

After we settled into our new garden studio apartment we were ready to go exploring. It was images of the religious popular that first absorbed our attention. We are in a section of Jerusalem where there are many religious, living side by side with the Muslims and with secular Jews and Christians. We wandered wherever our feet and our interest took us.
Two blocks from our home we saw a hand drawn poster of this section of the city with an invitation to view an art exhibit. We followed the red arrows into a private residence where we were greeted by the artist, a young man about 27 years old. He invited us in, offered us tea, which we accepted, and then we visited talking about our visit, his art, and his views of the Palestenians. After a short while his friend and roommate joined the conversation. This was the first time that Stu or I had actually spent time discussing Israeli Palestenian politics with a pro-Palestenian Jewish Israeli. They were not raving lunatics, they admitted they were in the minority, but they were passionate about their beliefs. Basically, they spoke to the individual Palestenian, their feeling of being a lesser citizen of Israel and not having the same rights. Some of this is true. We spoke to the need for peace first, that tossing rockets into Sderot was not an acceptable way to get your voice heard. They spoke of the anger of not having access to jobs, of their democratically elected Hamas government which we (Israel and US) are now trying to discredit and throw out even though they were democratically elected. They spoke of the Israeli Naval blockade of goods and medical supplies and we spoke of Hamas stealing the UN and US aid sent to the Palestinians.
The artist had a wonderful installation piece of art. He had taken a eucalyptus tree, an import to Israel brought in to dry up the swamps but under which nothing grows, and cleaned out a rotten hole on its side that developed after a branch dropped during a storm. Into this cleaned out hole he poured concrete and created a tortured face, which he said symbolized the face of Palestenians. Of particular interest was a small lemon tree which he had grated onto the side of the eucalyptus. The symbolism for him was that Israel is like the eucalyptus, growing quickly but killing off all vegetation and growth beneath it. The lemon tree symbolized the people of Palestine that want to grow and flourish and live peacefully. It is a powerful symbol, this lemon tree grated to the eucalyptus. We proposed, what if the eucalyptus tree is really the Arab nations, growing quickly in number through their high birth rate, and slowly killing everything around in with their terrorism and bombs. Israel, in our proposal, is the peace loving, life giving neighbor trying to survive under very harsh conditions. That was the end of our conversation as it was evident, while we listened, we did not change one another's minds. Both the young men think that the vast majority of people in the US support the Palestenains, we said no, that was not the case. We do have some very liberal areas, and the university middle eastern studies departments certainly support the Palestinians, but not the average American. That surprised them. All in all, we did hear other opinions, and we were open to their ideas.
By the way, they are renting a former Palestenian home, three stories high with tenants above them, and unused space above them. The house once housed Palestinians who fled in 1948 believing that the new Jewish state would massacre them. They had tried, unsuccessfully, to find the original owner. What we know about much of this area, is that the original homes were owned by Arabs, with Palestenian tenants. When Israel declared its independence and before the Jewish National Fund, with a great deal of money from our parents and grandparents, purchased these homes from their Arab owners, at very inflated prices. The tenants were not considered by their Arab landlords. The Arab leadership left with their money, the poor fled in fear with no leaders to tell them to stay, that they could continue to live in these homes, the landlord only changed. There are so many misconceptions that continue to foster bad feelings. How to know and to communicate the truth.
This 90 minute period was but another chance encounters we have had. To do this, one needs time and the willingness to explore the off-beaten path.
The rest of our afternoon was spent wandering in the central city, making our way to Ben Yehuda street, shopping at a take-away restaurant where we purchased delicious soup, breads filled with feta, mushrooms and onions, and a marvelously moist apple cake. then it was home, dinner, and an early evening. And this was only the first day!