Alastair Mitchell

21st September 2007.

East Jerusalem.

My journey to Bethlehem this morning was a little more difficult than usual. Yom Kippur starts tonight, so the Israeli Army is very much out and about. As I walked up the hill towards the Old City this morning amongst a group of about fifty Muslim Palestinians who had just come off a bus that wasn’t allowed any closer to the city, the sight of me with violin and laptop bag amongst the keffiyeh adorned and enrobed faithful was too much for one Israeli soldier. I assume boredom may well have had something to do with, but I was stopped for a couple of minutes while my bag was searched, luckily not too closely as I had said I didn’t speak Arabic and wasn’t looking forward to them finding my teaching notes, and my violin inspected. As I have found with most of the Israeli Army personnel, they were very curt with me to begin with, but soon warmed up, and wished me a pleasant stay in Israel as I left. When asked whether I was enjoying Israel, I only mentioned half the truth and said, “I love it!” It was neither the time nor the place for the ‘but’.
As I emerged from the Bethlehem checkpoint on the West Bank side I was met with the sight of an empty road, fifty metres down which was an Israeli Army roadblock and on the other side of that there were several hundred, if not a thousand Palestinians. Friday prayers are a time when many West Bankers go to Jerusalem to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque, but due to Yom Kippur no Palestinians were being allowed to cross the checkpoint. Both of my taxi drivers both from and back to the checkpoint complained about this obstruction to their ability to exercise their religion by the religious festival of the ‘other side’. Needless to say, it wasn’t the time for holiday snaps, so my photo at the wall will have to wait.
I went to the Old City to spend some time online today as everything in West Jerusalem is closed, and met with a guy I’ve seen a few times who is in Jerusalem researching a PHD at the Hebrew University. Two of his friends later joined us, and we went up onto the roof of his hotel. The sight of the Old City at night was quite something.
One of his friends, I’d like to meet again as she’s here from South Africa working for a Christian Zionist organisation in Israel. Many people are now making comparisons between the South African Apartheid regime and the Israeli government so I’d love to ask her a few questions about that. She’s bound to have some interesting perspectives on it, being from inside the former and supporting the latter. Tact will be the order of the day for that one, I suspect.

20th September 2007.

East Jerusalem.

My meeting with Heather went well, as my ideas were received enthusiastically. I’m now going to make first contact with the institutions I have in mind before handing over to Heather to work on the project. So, if you are in a position to instigate an appropriate scheme where you work then speak now, or forever hold your peace!
Afterwards I taught a couple of students before downloading to my computer the reports of Medical Aid for Palestinians from the last three years, which I’m flicking through in preparation for putting together some publicity for a fund-raising recital I’m hoping to do while I am back in Oban in October. A few choice facts and figures are never a bad idea when trying to represent the reality of life here.
I am also struggling to arrange some Arabic lessons here in Palestine – you would think it wouldn’t be a hard thing to do, but it was much easier in London. Although through practice I’m getting better at the little I already know, I’m not really learning much new so I need to fix up some lessons as soon as I can.
I’m going back to Bethlehem tomorrow and will try to take the opportunity to get a photograph of me at the wall, for a ‘context photo’ that can be used for my concert in Oban. I’ll need to be sensitive about it though, as many Palestinians resent the attention the wall attracts.
It is hard to imagine what this land was like before the wall was built and it’s also difficult to believe that it was built only in 2002 – it seems so permanent. At eight metres high it nearly always totally cuts off the other side from view. It’s a very contentious thing, and I’ll go into it in more depth another time, but the divisions it exacerbates can be made clear by noting that to the Israelis it is known as the ‘Security Fence’, yet to the Palestinians it is known as the ‘Separation Wall’, or even the ‘Apartheid Wall’. One thing is for sure though; as you will see from the photo, it is definitely more than a fence! However, it should also be said that neither is it a wall for it’s entire length.

Like it’s Berlin predecessor, it has become a place for artistic comment, with contributions from various well-known artists and celebrities alongside those of everyday, frustrated Palestinians.  The above painting I believe is by British artist Banksy.