Alastair Mitchell

Bethlehem.

As you will see, I’m writing this from Bethlehem.  After many weeks of uncertainty, I was able to decide where it is best to live a few days ago, and managed to sort out a new place nice and quickly.  I’m enjoying the much-improved surroundings of my new apartment and also having wireless broadband again.  It really is one of the best things since long before sliced bread.
Unfortunately, however, I left my UK plug converter in Jerusalem, so am about to run out of battery, and will therefore sign off until tomorrow.

East Jerusalem.

I spent all day at the conservatory today, because I went in early to practise. I also took the chance to fax some piano parts back home to the pianist for my recital. Modern technology is an incredible thing. Coming to live in a foreign country a generation ago was a brave thing, as keeping in touch with people was so hard, but nowadays it feels like I’m pretty much as connected as ever. In the last couple of weeks, without any real effort I’ve managed to arrange an entire concert, get a pianist, design the publicity and email it to get printed, email photos, write articles for a couple of local publications and give a mobile-phone radio interview all at virtually no cost. Twenty years ago, that would have been a big challenge, but today with my trusty Mac and the odd wireless cafe, it’s all easily accessible to even an amateur such as myself.
As the call to prayer rings out across East Jerusalem this evening, I thought I’d mention that so far it’s not been too much of an annoyance. During the day it seems to fade into the background noise, along with kids outside playing on the street and car horns. But at night it becomes more prominent, sharing the silence only with the odd bang from the Ramadan firecrackers or fighting cats. I’m not sure if it’s because everything else is quieter, whether it’s because I’m doing less or whether it might be simply because it’s coming out of the dark, but there is no doubt it commands a bit more attention after sunset. Nevertheless, it’s not a problem - the only one that gets to me is the 4:30am call. On occasion, that one has brought forth utterances that could, in some quarters I suspect, be classed as blasphemous.

East Jerusalem.

The conservatory has offered to reduce the cost of living in Jerusalem, so that financially it now makes more sense to continue living here, but there are no places ready to view.  There are a couple of apartments in the Old City that will be ready in a couple of months, so I am going to move to Bethlehem and wait until then to see what I think.   After two months, I might be bored of Bethlehem, but at present I’m quite taken by it and am looking forward to the move.
My trip back to the UK is now fast approaching; the time has flown by in the last few weeks.  It’s going to be very exciting to come home, possibly even more so than it was coming here in the first instance, but I’m not sure why that is.  After that week at home, I’ll probably not come back until next summer, so it’ll be interesting to see how I feel about getting back on the plane to return here.  At the moment, I think I’ll be raring to go.

2nd October 2007.

East Jerusalem.

My journey to Bethlehem was a lot quicker today, with a fairly uninterrupted route out of Jerusalem. I got a few pictures taken at the Wall, just inside the West Bank side at the Bethlehem checkpoint, and hopefully they will still be in time for the local newspaper in Oban to print it along with the publicity for the recital. It’s important I raise as much money as I can, so it’s important that the publicity is good.

As I walked around Bethlehem after lunch, I got a phone call from the conservatory in Jerusalem, and when I said that I’m moving to Bethlehem they immediately said they’d be willing to subsidise the high property prices in Jerusalem if I’ll consider staying there. They want to promote the cultural life of East Jerusalem, and it’s important that they do, but they’ll have to offer me a pretty good deal, as at the moment I’m really looking forward to moving.
It’s another unfortunate side-effect of the Wall, that East Jerusalem is getting more and more cut off from the rest of Palestine. For example, the best hospitals in Palestine are in East Jerusalem, with some offering specialist treatment not available in other hospitals, so any patients that need to access those hospitals who have West Bank ID, and not Jerusalem ID need to apply in advance for a special permit. There were some reports recently that on Yom Kippur, when the checkpoints close, there were unacceptable delays in getting patients in need of emergency care through into East Jerusalem from the West Bank. So, the ESNCM want there Jerusalem based teachers to live in Jerusalem, but whether I do or not will depend on how attractive they make that prospect.
The journey back was a little longer than on the way there as the bus was stopped at the checkpoint for 16 minutes while everyone was taken off, had their passports checked and the bus was searched. The delay was also increased by the car in front being held for a while - the occupants, two twenty-something Palestinian men were prime targets for suspicion, and their nonchalant attitude further slowed proceedings.

East Jerusalem.

After a very slow journey to Bethlehem this morning, following a few errands at the Jerusalem branch, I enjoyed some lunch at the shawarma place opposite the conservatory.  My teaching today was fine, although interrupted a little by a train of cars that passed by a few times with young men hanging from what seemed like every possible opening, waving Palestinian and Fatah flags, shouting, blowing the horn and firing the odd gunshot in celebration.  I assume that it was connected to Israel’s release of 57 Palestinian prisoners, who began arriving back into the West Bank throughout today.  It’s a good gesture by Israel, but they’ve still got quite a way to go, with around 10,000 Palestinians still in their custody, many held without charge.
My music history class went well, but when I asked the students at the end which piece that I had played was their favourite, out of Machaut, Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Sibelius and Thomas Ades, they nearly all said either the Bach or the Mozart – I thought the Sibelius, or even perhaps the Ades would have been more popular.
I went to see a flat on my way home, and took a look around a very nice large, modern three-bedroom top-floor apartment near the Bethlehem checkpoint.  It would be sharing with another teacher from the Bethlehem branch and the location is good too.  I’m going to take a look around Bethlehem tomorrow, so barring the eventuality that I find it too quiet I’ll probably move over there in the next few days.

30th September 2007.

East Jerusalem.

After a month in and around Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah, today two other teachers and I took a day trip north to Gan HaShlosha, near Beit She’an in Northern Israel. Gan HaShlosha is a series of spring water pools, that naturally maintain an all year round temperature of 28 degrees Celsius, connected by landscaped waterfalls and walkways. It would have been an incredible spot before it was commercialised, but even still it is a good place to spend an hour or two swimming around then drying off under the warm sun.

I think that I’m going to try to spend more time inside the West Bank from now on. Whenever I’m in Israel, although the country itself is fine, I feel uncomfortable because of the politics - it feels like I’m constantly biting my tongue. Also, it’s good to support the Palestinian economy as much as possible, so with that in mind, I’m going to go on a fact-finding mission to Bethlehem on Tuesday, to see where the good areas are to live and get an idea of cost.