August 22, 2003

This morning, we packed for a night in Jerusalem and our week's vacation in Europe. Doing our best to pack light, we managed to fit everything into two daypacks and two canvas bags, which we toted with us as we caught a taxi from from Star Mountain to Surda, walked the distance to the next set of taxis to Ramallah, then to catch another taxi to Qalandia, where we walked through the international-border-style checkpoint, caught another taxi to al-Ram checkpoint, walked across, caught another taxi, and arrived finally at Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. This trip used to be one easy and cheap shared taxi ride. Now it takes an hour and a half and costs four times times as much. That is, if you have the correct permissions to make the trip in the first place.

The cage-like turnstile of the Israeli Ministry of the Interior in Jerusalem.

Once in Jerusalem, we got a place in our favorite-no-longer fleabag hostel (where we had to fight too hard this time to get sheets and toilet paper to warrant a return visit, in spite of how cheap and conveniently located it is). Shed of our stuff, we headed out to a late lunch at our (and many others') favorite hummus joint, Lena Restaurant, near the eighth Station of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City. Fresh hot bread and flavorful hummus with pickles and onions on the side washed down with cold drinks cleared road-weariness from us for a while. We did a bit of shopping and wandering, including near the Israeli Ministry of Interior for Arab Jerusalemites, resembling a prison even more when closed than when swallowed up in masses of waiting people.

Bill and Kathy Christison are former CIA analysts who have become passionate advocates for Palestinian human rights.

In the evening, we we went to the elegant Ambassador Hotel, where we'd been invited to dinner by Bill and Kathy Christison, writers and former CIA political analysts. They were in the country participating in the the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) work camp which constructed a Peace Center on the site of the repeatedly-demolished Shawamreh Family home outside Jerusalem. We were honored that people with such a long and storied involvement in the Middle east had heard of us and wanted to meet us. We spent a very enjoyable and engaging evening together before turning in relatively early to be ready to go to the airport tomorrow.