where to begin and how to keep this short and sweet? i've just returned from a whirlwind ten day tour of israel/palestine with the simulation crew: natasha, shane, adriana, simone, manu and sometimes ahmad. we spent many hours contemplating the failure (or was it a success?) of camp david (two, that is). tamara won't be happy to hear that even the armenians are taking some heat for it, according to our sweet driver abu issa. we met with many important and self-important people and weren't really sure why they so willingly gave their time to us. who are we, we wondered? the new frontier of track four negotiators? are they really reading our plan? do we have anything worthy to say? how to explain my fight with anushay over the right of return and my schizophrenic identity as an unconvincing real israeli-american girl and a dashingly convincing, if not a bit crazy, fake palestinian man?
we went over many speed bumps a little too quickly for comfort. we ventured into freshly expanding settlements and an illegally constructed outpost. we saw several portions of the wall/barrier/fence and several machine guns, the likes of which i had to fakely request in the safe confines of the classroom just months ago. the call to prayer awoke us in the old city in jerusalem and in ramallah. some of us got lost in jaffa and group therapy became necessary in herzeliya. we watched a propaganda movie in the golan complete with water, wind, and smell effects that rendered shane veritably giddy. we ate well and slept very little. we made friends and hopefully pissed off just the right people. we met camels and cats, human rights organizations and civil society people, soldiers and waiters and soldier-waiters full of wisdom. we came close to the solutions, i'm sure of it.
for more details, write to me. for pictures, and there are some really good ones, see the link to my flickr site below.
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