Here I sit, in a hotel room in Nazareth, soaking up the heat from a (potentially hazardous) space heater and wishing the wireless signal was strong enough that I didn't have to go to the lobby to post this. It is my first night in Israel, and if today is any indication, it's going to be quite the experience.
When I told people I'd be going to Israel, I got a lot of disbelief and comments about my safety, but the potential risk didn't really sink in until I arrived at Newark airport for my direct to Tel Aviv flight. The flight was leaving out of gate 138, which was surrounded by an extra layer of security. Everyone had to get their passports rechecked, their bags searched, their bodies examined with a metal detector wand, and then their seats and passports checked yet again before being allowed on the plane. Once in the secure boarding area, there was no escape to the rest of the airport. Israel takes its security quite seriously – especially on the eve of a visit from the U.S. President.
The plane ride was an experience all in itself. I found myself wondering at the Jewish culture that I know nothing about – while this trip is supposed to be about the Bedouin population, I hope to learn something about the Jews as well. But right now, I'm still at the stage where I marvel at the group of men praying around the lavatories at designated times, and wonder if there's some sort of social taboo against talking to – or even making eye contact with – non-Jewish women such as myself. And while I'm very accustomed to being in a plane full of people speaking another language, I've never before had that experience when everyone looked so much like me!
Arriving in Tel Aviv, we got stranded in Immigration for about 2.5 hours because my friend Hannah has a Lebanon stamp in her passport. I guess they had to “check out her story,” because eventually they not only let us go, but agreed not to stamp her passport, because with an Israeli stamp she wouldn't be able to get back into Lebanon if she wanted to.
After our brief detention, Hannah and I hopped on a train to Haifa, a city in the north of Israel. Our trip leader had initially planned on picking us up at the airport, but with the President's visit, traffic was set to be a nightmare and the train seemed a better option. Contrary to all expectations (including our own), we got off the train at the correct stop and waited for Amara, sitting on the steps and staring at our first real view of Israel, a cool dome lit up on the side of the hill in front of us. (It's apparently a Ba'ria temple, which is a small sect that originated in Iran – Haifa is an Arab town, and one of the few places we'll see openly Muslim places of worship.)
Taking pity on our famished selves, Amara took us to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner, and sitting under the stars, feeding a stray cat, we got the run-down on what the next two weeks are going to be like. We've got some pretty interesting meetings lined up with governmental officials, as well as tours of some of the unrecognized villages and the planned townships on which our research is focused. We may also be headed to Jordan after all (there was some question), for a day of interviews and hopefully a side trip to Petra. I'll keep you all updated!
For now, I'm ready for bed ... tomorrow should be a pretty slow day, but there will still be a LOT to take in!
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