The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, April 4, 1997 Page: 11 of 20
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I spent moat of my time during the trip on the mostly
Arab side of Jerusalem and in Kamallah. However, one of the
experiences that immediately springs to mind when I recall
the tour occurred when 1 was exploring West Jerusalem, the
less Arab side of the city, with a friend.
I found the city to be European in appearance: clean,
ordered and well-labeled with street signs, bus stops and
advertisements. Young women and men sped along the
sidewalks and through the streets in tight-fitting, fashion-
able clothes with their hair well-coiffed, faces adorned with
makeup and sunglasses, their wrists supporting shopping
bags. This scene, though in a foreign country, was familiar
to me — I had just come from the States.
I sought a taxi to go to Kamallah to visit a Intend, but each
Israeli taxi driver I spoke to refused to enter the Occupied
Territories. An Israeli taxi took me as far as the Old City.
From there, 1 took a Palestinian bus to Kamallah.
I asked the Palestinian man seated next tome on the bus
to tell me which stop was Kamallah. He dutifully told me
when we had arrived in Kamallah, so 1 thanked him and
gently dapped him on the knee before rising to leave the
bus.
When I stepped down in Kamallah, I was surprised to find
that I was relieved to be in Palestine again. I looked back at
West Jerusalem as a more Western place — a place of
anxiety and tension, a fast-paced city.
1 felt transformed and thought of the man on the bus 1
would not have touched his knee inthanks if 1 were in Israel,
the States or Europe, yet my touching his knee in Palestine
was natural arid appropriate. No one taught me this behav-
ior growing up, nor had I learned it in a book about Middle
Eastern culture and then consciously practiced it 1 had
unconsciously learned this behavior during mv week in
Palestine.
I then wondered whether different customs were related
to a nation's financial wealth and its "modernity " Were the
Palestinians warmer people, or just poorer?
If Palestine overcame the Israeli government's policy of
leaving it relatively underdeveloped and l>ecame a prospei
ous nation, could a man still touch another a man on the
knee and not draw stares?
Palestinian college students from Rir Zeit University into the streets to stage a non
President of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. Sari Nusseibeih, argued that u one state solution
of equality between Amos and Jews - was the only solution that uouid work m the long teim
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a state founded on the orinciplc
urse leaves the classroom
families in the West Bank, who
ueh as kamallah and Jerusalem
:h as Anala and Sim fat. hosted
Most of the students formed
hips with the host families,
host, -- and 1 know this sounds
's true — was like my brother
eek. We're still in touch," Sid
>llege senior, Josh Earnest , said
its also conducted research and
oughout the Occupied Territo
ee camps, hospitals, primary
Veral research institutions, such
Idlestinian Council for Research,
cooperative think tank in the
• •
to officials, thinkers and people
ell stories, give background and
sentiments on Palestinian life,
lion and tlu; peace process shed
ary personal and powerful light
ion of the Palestinian people."
senior Adam Reiser said,
purpose <rf the trip was not
aving fun or finding the solution
rocess. It was to experience life
ininans do. Students were ex-
nd to the everyday realities of
om^ting slopped at checkpoints
the squalid streets of Gaza City
children as guides.
e of the most powerful images I
is that of the Jahalin bedouins
>een forcibly removed from their
raeli authorities two weeks ear
e living in empty freight cars in a
> wit hout any grass for t heir sfjeei >
SRC junior Eleanor Wilkinson
< saw and learned a lot of things
mally find °n CNN," SRC senior
val said
curred, "As a people, I the Pales
v both their situation and the
'political situation, in some ways,
most of us Their anger and
I the causes for ihem echo with
Scott Ruthfield, Jenn Healey and Ahmed Sheikh
speak with a resident of the Jahalin Camp
strains of humanity and concerns we all share."
Hie Palestine Study Tour was not about
finding mil if one side was right or wrong, li
was about observing, asking questions and
soaking in a feet for the region.
The stories on this page are not broad gen-
eralizations or condensed interpretations of
the Palestinian struggle for statehood. Instead,
they are narrative snapshots of the experi-
ences that affected the students most — the
memorable and moving scenes that unfolded
before them.
Michelle O'Hara
Sid Richardson College senior
I've traveled greater distances than on this trip, and yet,
the local and foreign images that 1 witnessed seemed to take
me farther from home than I've ever been before.
looking out of our van window as we first: drove from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem at twilight, I noticed thaUhe laftd seemed
darker than the sky. As bizarre and cliched as !T sounds, the
inky black hills pushed up against a deep navy skv When
the sun rose the next day, the illuminated world proved
equally strange and beautiful, as eream-colored homes
nestled against each other on rocky, sparse hillsides,
The whole oft his community fs not equally picluresque,
however. The poetic splendor of the land juxtaposes starkly
with the violent lurmoi^of daily life. There, automatic weap-
ons and heated political discussions serve as daily fare. As
a child growing up with the Intifada, my host sister fearfullv
locked her bedroom door each night. Even through all of
this, the Palestinian people who we met reflected the raw
beauty of the land. They were a beautiful people filled with
pride and hope which, although occasionally stifled bv
frustration, dominated (heir lives.
Palestinian Issues Class,
All photos courtesy of Rakesh Agrawal.
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Josh Earnest (right) engaged a Palestinian in an impromptu game of one on one basketball while the group was visiting a ftaza
community center
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Hardi, Joel & Siy, Angelique. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, April 4, 1997, newspaper, April 4, 1997; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246565/m1/11/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.