Alastair Mitchell

Bethlehem.

As I was studying for my Arabic lesson this morning I noticed several small explosions outside, near the road leading into Bethlehem from the checkpoint. Every now and then around this area you hear an explosion of some sort or gunfire, but this continued for a while so I became curious as to what it was.
Just before anything had happened, I walked past this area and there were many Palestinian Authority personnel waiting by the main road, which is a rather unusual sight. All I can work out is that there was some fighting between the Israeli army and some Palestinians somewhere nearby. One possible reason for this is that last night there was a riot in an Israeli jail in the Negev desert where many Palestinians are held. Apparently, the Israeli guards began some sort of room inspections in the middle of the night, and this sparked off the violence. Several people were hurt, and one died later in hospital. The Israeli army said that his death was caused by injuries sustained by a ‘non-lethal weapon’. Work that out!
So, as a result of this riot there have been some demonstrations around Gaza and the West Bank today, and perhaps today’s violence in Bethlehem was connected to that. By mid-afternoon it was beginning to calm down, and now that night has fallen things seem back to normal.
I stopped off on my way back from the conservatory to have dinner in a restaurant recommended by someone local. For about £7.50 I enjoyed a lovely meal of grilled lamb and lamb kebabs with a nice selection of salads and hummus, accompanied by a bottle of Taybeh – the beer brewed down the road in Ramallah.
Tomorrow takes me back to Jerusalem so I’ll deliver all the instruments that I brought back from the UK, as well as go in early for an Arabic lesson for which I’ve done no practice. Wish me luck!

Bethlehem.

After a rather hectic week back in Britain, I’m ready for a sleep.  This feeling is also added to by the fact that after arriving home this morning at eight having travelled all night, I slept for an hour before preparing all morning a lecture on plainsong and organum then taught all day.  It feels like a nice rest being back, but I’m not actually getting one.
But as I reflect on my week at home, two things strike me.  One is how nice it is to be back here, and the other is how well my week at home went.  My recital was a big success.  In addition to the concert going well from a personal point of view, we managed to raise over £1000, with which we purchased 19 sets of violin strings, six violin bows, 1 set of cello strings, loads of rosin, some pitch-pipes, a new flute, a new clarinet, and various other small accessories.  I’m amazed that the public donated all that, as it feels like it has just appeared out of thin air.
As a consequence of my time off, I now have some lessons to make up, so will be teaching six days per week for the next two or three weeks.  It feels like I’ve not had any time off at all recently as leading up to my trip home I was preparing for it in my spare time, and now I’m teaching all the time.  Still, I always like being busy so I think I’m enjoying it.

Tel Aviv

If you think getting to the gate is difficult at Heathrow, you should try Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.  On arrival, before check-in you are asked why you’ve been in Israel, what have you been doing, where did you stay, who do you know in Israel, did you meet anyone (after six weeks here, I can’t believe she accepted ‘No’ as an answer to that one), were you with Arabs or Jews, etc.  After the initial questioning session is over, your bags are all x-rayed, which allows you to proceed to the next stage.  The next stage is where you go to a table at which you are asked to open all you bags, so that a member of the security personnel can rummage to their heart’s content, then check all your belongings for traces of explosives.  And, in case you think perhaps I’m a target group here, all passengers here are processed in this way.  
Once it has been established that you’re not going to blow-up anything, you are allowed to check in.  Once checked in you then go to the security checks, this seems to be just in case you didn’t notice the first set of security checks, where the entire process is repeated almost exactly.  Speaking of repetition, as you wait in line to be checked, you are asked every two or three minutes where you are flying.  I began to wish I had brought my ‘I’m flying to London’ badge.  You are then sent to passport control, where you get your exit stamp, and feel relieved that you’ve been allowed out.  
It’s a funny system - when you arrive they make it hard to get in, yet they also make you feel privileged to leave.  It makes passing through Ben Gurion airport and coming out the other side feel like an achievement of some sort – whichever side that is.

Bethlehem.

My day of fasting passed surprisingly quickly.  Only in the late morning was I unusually hungry, though the absence of water throughout the day meant that by around 4pm I started getting a headache from dehydration.  The iftar was good too, but after a day of eating nothing you get full very quickly, so it’s not the enormous feast that celebratory meals, such as Christmas dinner, are in the UK.
Tomorrow brings me back to London, and to the start of a week that would have been pretty ordinary a few months ago.  It seems a shame that my trip home has coincided with the holiday here, as it would be interesting to see Palestine during the Eid, but if it was any other way then I wouldn’t be able to come back, so all things considered it has worked out extremely well.