September 25, 2000
Day two of the conference, sponsored by Schools on Line. There's much too much to tell of these three days, but it is a capsule of life with the Palestinians and the Israelis. Some observations:
The three hour trip between Zababdeh and Tel Aviv took seven because the Palestinian with whom I was traveling heard about the conference one day before - not enough time to get permission to enter Israel from the Israeli authorities.
There is much well-intentioned partnership developing between Israeli schools and Palestinian schools, though the technological gap between them needs to be bridged (something Schools on Line is trying to do).
However, some conversations between Israelis and Palestinians revealed that prejudices still linger.
I was neither fish nor fowl, being an American living in the West Bank. The good news is that we are planning to do an internet program with tenth graders from Zababdeh and tenth graders from Petach-Tikva (near Tel Aviv). Called "Family Tales," the plan is to have the children research family stories and share them with each other via email, perhaps creating web pages. This has given an energy boost, most certainly. Of course, for this web page, we've got the bells and whistles - or rather, the drums that entertained us that night.
Meanwhile, camera-less Elizabeth went on a short tour of Haifa, with our friendly German neighbors (teachers at the new Arab American University 2 miles away). Actually, he is originally from Gaza, and consequently a knowledgeable tour guide for the region. Haifa was beautiful. It was such a treat to see the Mediterranean! We wandered the old city, seeing many churches and mosques. Sadly, Palestinians here are not allowed to build on or repair their homes, and so many of these very old buildings are falling apart. Many of them, including much of the Christian population of the city, have left because of this, and most of the churches we saw are abandoned, according to our friend. When folks leave, their old homes are bulldozed and the land used for new buildings, often offices and businesses. We saw several old buildings in the process of being demolished, and some people living in semi-demolished buildings. It was a sobering sight. But on a happier note, we viewed the Baha'i temple in Haifa. It is really spectacular, and we will surely return and post some photos of it for you.
And we went to the Russian sector, where the prices are low and the language is exclusively Russian. No Hebrew or Arabic or English spoken there. Elizabeth bought some honey at what was apparently a very good price.