Israel, Day 5: Tel Aviv-Jaffa

This has been a great a great day so far. We were allowed to sleep in until 10am today. It was glorious. I feel so rested that after I post this I think I'm going to go out on an adventure in Tel Aviv! :D

The highlight of the day was our discussion at the group meeting this evening. We were talking about the things that we've noticed and have been thinking about since our last group discussion (three days ago) and we got onto the topic of the Palestinian perspective and how we all agree that it has been lost on our trip. We have a WONDERFUL tour guide named Amir. He's an Israeli native who grew up in Jerusalem on a kibbutz. His family helped fight in the war of independence in 1948 and he has been a part of the Labor party ever since he could vote. Although we all love Amir, his perspective is blatantly biased towards the Israeli side of every issue. Although it's great to hear the Israeli's side to every event, we would rather have that side also told with the opposing (or not so opposing) view point from the Palestinians.

There is a nice quality to learning about a topic and you hear about it from more than one (or even two) sides. I feel like we're incredibly heavy on the Israeli side and it makes it extremely difficult to sift through all the information without opposing view points. The other day, we talked with a Palestinian Christian named Ibrihim. He explained to us that many Palestinians don't believe what most of the Arab countries believe, he thinks that there should be a peaceful end to the conflict, and he believes that Israel should be the one and only state that exists on the land.

To many of you, this may seem shocking, "How could a Palestinian want Israel to be the only state that prevails out of the two state conflict that exists today?!" Well it's actually a relatively easy but unrealized answer. Ibrihim is Christian, a very small minority in the Israel and the rest of the Middle East these days. The Christians are all pushing for either an Arab nationalist state or the State of Israel to prevail out of the conflict. Christians know they will be heavily persecuted if Palestine prevails and an Islamic republic is installed, because under an Islamic republic, Islam is the one and only allowable religion. Therefore, if a secular Arab state or a Jewish state is created or kept in power, the Christians will be left largely alone and they will most likely not be affected.

Beautiful view of a mosque which sits roughly 20 feet from the Mediterranean Sea.

The rest of the day today besides discussing the Palestinian side of the conflict was spent touring Tel Aviv and the old city of Jaffa (they are now considered to be the same city). The first site (and only) site we stopped at in Tel Aviv was the site where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a religious Jewish zealot. Rabin was the first Prime Minister of Israel to open talks directly with Yasser Arafat. He was willing to make concessions and deal directly with Arafat to create a solid and lasting peace with the Palestinian people. Shortly after his announcement of planned peace talks at the Tel Aviv government square, Rabin was shot in the back three times by a radical religious Jew who was mad at Rabin for even suggesting negotiating territory away with the Palestinians.

Memorial for Yitzhak Rabin.

After we left the site of Rabin's assassination, we headed to the old city of Jaffa, and toured the currently-being-revitalized port and old city district in Jaffa. There is a beautiful contrast of old and new in Jaffa. Many old buildings that have fallen deep into disrepair are brought back from the brink of devastation and given new life by wealthy real estate moguls who want to revitalize the 'tired city of Jaffa'. We stopped at two places in the old city that really stood out for me. We stopped at the shop of a Yemenite Jew who immigrated from Yemen right before WWII. This man, Ben Zion David makes Yemeni jewelry, mainly out of silver, using generations old tools and techniques that have been handed down through his family since the 1700s. After observing some silversmith-ing at work, we moved on to a very special theater. Its name is Please Touch, its a theater company in which all the actors are blind, deaf, or both. This theater was one of the first things in the dilapidated old port district of Jaffa that is now being beautifully renovated. This theater company has captured region wide appraisal for it's incredible contribution to the community, and the world of artwork--where no disabilities can prevent you from creating your own kind of are.

David Ben Zion, the Yemenite silversmith who showed us his craft by creating a piece of jewelry in 10 minutes. It was incredible!

The theater company's review by the Guardian: "It's a test of theater itself, the way good work can communicate across the boundaries of darkness and silence."

That's all I have for this day. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Haifa, the 'working city' in Israel! Stay tuned!