Alastair Mitchell

East Jerusalem.

Today at the conservatory I achieved pretty much nothing due to the general mayhem there, except to call a few students to arrange lessons in the Jerusalem branch for Saturday. Because I didn’t hear many of the new candidates yesterday at the auditions, several are coming on Saturday to play, so I’ll hear them as well. The Jerusalem branch is quite chaotic at the moment – partly because as well as housing the offices for the branch it also houses the central administration of all three branches. This results in a lot of people being around, and if communication breaks down then nobody knows what is going on.
The Bethlehem branch seems to be a bit more organised at the moment, and I’m heading over there tomorrow to hear all of the continuing students from last year, as well as a small number of applicants for new entry. It’s going to be a long day, but it will be good to see them all in one go and get a feel for the type of work I’ll be doing there.
Today I was told that I might in fact be teaching in Bethlehem for three days, and in Jerusalem for only two, or maybe two each in both branches and a day per week doing some outreach projects in various parts of the West Bank, focusing on Jericho and Nablus. The outreach work sounds like a great way to get to know the area better, and would be very interesting work too – the man behind the outreach work is a real live-wire. But, I’m coming to the conclusion that I should take everything with a pinch a salt, as it all changes from day to day, and therefore, I’ll believe it when it happens.
After the conservatory, I walked over to West Jerusalem to go to a cafe that has free wi-fi to make some phone calls and do some other various internet bits and bobs. I’m not keeping up with the news at all at the moment, but hopefully that’ll change when I get the internet at my own place as I’ll be able to listen to the radio. It doesn’t feel bad being out of touch, but I don’t want it to continue.

5th September 2007.

East Jerusalem.

I rose early today to walk up to the conservatory to meet up with Jihad, the driver taking me to Ramallah. I’ve got the walk down to 20-25 minutes now, not because I’m going faster but because I’m finding better routes. Around East Jerusalem maps don’t really seem to exist and street names are not that common so you have to rely on your sense of direction, and initially that doesn’t always take you the best way, but with a few tries you end up finding a good route.
Our tour of the three branches of the conservatory was good, the highlight being lunch in a nice restaurant in Bethlehem. On a hilltop just outside Bethlehem we could clearly see an Israeli settlement. Apparently, until about eight years ago the hill was covered in trees, but then Israel built the settlement and now Israeli houses overlook all the Palestinian homes in the valley. The affect of building towns on the tops of hills is quite noticeably dominating – it reminded my of the children’s saying I’m the King of the Castle when you’re higher up than everyone else. The most important point however, is that Bethlehem is within the West Bank and therefore the Israeli towns that have been built there since the 1967 war are illegal according to the Fourth Geneva Convention. It’s the same as if Britain had built ‘British’ towns all round Ireland during our presence there.

Once we got back to Jerusalem, I sat in on the last few of the auditions of new candidates for entry to the conservatory. It was interesting, and promising, hearing the level of entrants, but I took a back seat in the decision-making as I hadn’t heard everyone.
I’m hoping to finally sort out my Palestinian mobile phone tomorrow, but it depends how quickly Vodafone unlock my simcard for me, then I’ll be able to divert incoming calls from my Skype account to it. It will be nice to be able to receive phone calls again! Mobile or not, I’ll have time tomorrow to do some calling home so will be nice to hear everyone’s news from Blighty.
I’ve just spotted that I’ve made seven entries now, which means that it is a week since I arrived – I think it feels longer than that, but I’m not sure.

4th September 2007.

East Jerusalem.

When I got up this morning, laziness had the better of me so instead of going to Ramallah, I chose to walk over to West Jerusalem to go to the swimming pool there. It ended up being a pretty physical day because as well as swimming I walked for miles. It struck me today just how American many aspects of Israel are – burger joints and trendy coffee shops line streets of SUVs and all the signage that’s in English is in American English. While walking past the ‘Art Center’ I thought I could have been anywhere but the Middle East.
After my swim I walked back up into the Old City – I seem to end up there most days I’m around the centre of town - and popped into the cafe I’ve been frequenting for a coffee. Gaby, the owner gave me a traditional Jerusalem dessert called a ‘ghraybeh’ on the house, which was nice – like some kind of baklava, but not too sweet.
I visited the Western Wall today for the first time, and took some pictures that I’m hoping will look good, once I’ve put them on my computer – and facebook, obviously! There was some sort of ceremony going on directly in front of the Wall, on the Western Wall Plaza, involving several hundred young army personnel. I regret not asking someone what was going on, but my guess it was some sort of graduation, or completion of military service event.

One of the things I’ve heard Palestinians complaining about regarding the checkpoints is that ‘kids’ are controlling thousands of people. The apparent age of some of the checkpoint staff is surprising low. Many look still in their teens, and it is worrying. Amongst all those young minds, their must be some perhaps just a little too ready to escalate things – and that’s all it takes for a tense situation to become a violent one. But on the Plaza this afternoon, the atmosphere was relaxed, and I caught the eye of a couple of young people taking part in the event and found them willing to smile, one even did so for a photo so I don’t think they were taking the military aspect of the whole thing too seriously.
My eyes lit up when in a shop on my way home I spotted some pasta for sale. So far, I’ve been eating Falafel, Shawarma (Kebabs) and other similar foods, so the chance to go to the vegetable shop and buy some things to make pasta was a great change. The quality of meat here is low, but the fruits and vegetables are very good so I think I’ll end up eating and cooking a lot of vegetarian cuisine, which is probably going to be good for me.
Tomorrow the conservatory is putting on a little tour of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem for all the new international teachers, so that should be good. Fortunately they’re doing Jerusalem last, so I’m going to jump out at the conservatory on the way back into Jerusalem to hear the auditions of new applicants for the coming year.

East Jerusalem.

Initial reactions to the West bank, having been there this afternoon are that the driving is a notch up from East Jerusalem on the chaotic scale, and East Jerusalem is already pretty high on that scale, and that there is a lot of waiting around at checkpoints for those people unlucky enough to have to queue. I’m still not sure of the proceedings as today I travelled from the Israeli side to the West Bank and back in a car with six others and nobody was checked, we drove through both checkpoints – yet there were long cues at one, that we avoided by coming back via a different route. Maybe the Israelis just stop people at random, or maybe certain licence plates get through more easily than others.
Heart-stopping moment number one of my time here so far – in Ramallah, maybe our driver was late going through a light, I’m not sure, but we appeared to stop in the middle of the junction as a convoy of 4×4s occupied by machine gun wielding hard-men came at us suddenly and fast from a road to the right, with the driver of the first shouting in our direction. Amidst this group of 4×4s was a blacked out Mercedes saloon - I would love to know who was inside. I considered taking a photo, as I had my camera in my hands at the time but these are not the people to take chances with so I sat tight. It’s a cliché, but they were gone before I knew it, and that just makes you realise how quickly you can find yourself in the middle of something unpleasant – though that goes for anywhere, I suppose.
I might take a trip back to Ramallah tomorrow by myself as I didn’t get to see much today because we were whisked in and out pretty quickly. I can take a bus from Jerusalem, and that’ll be interesting in itself, to see how public transport deals with the checkpoints. I was reminded today of a film called Transit Van that I saw at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London a couple of years ago. It was shot entirely in the back of one of the many transit vans that are used to taxi people between checkpoints, which the locals then need to walk through before being met with another transit van on the other side. It’s a good film, and shows a little of how people manage to get on with life here, despite the many obstacles in their way.

East Jerusalem.

Well, today was a genuine day off in the sense that I didn’t go to the college or meet up with any of the staff. After a relaxed start to the morning at my house, I did a little practice then went back down into the Old City to find an internet cafe, where I made a few calls back home. On my way back I picked up a decent pair of sunglasses – long overdue – then had some dinner in a place just opposite the Damascus Gate.
Tomorrow brings the first day of work, in the sense that there is a meeting in Ramallah for all the teachers. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone – I’ve felt a bit isolated the last few days – but I am excited about finally getting into the West Bank and seeing Ramallah. So far, it feels like I haven’t left Israel, but tomorrow I’ll be in Palestine proper.

East Jerusalem.

I had arranged to meet with Jihad again this morning because he was going to take me shopping in the Old City. However, he was at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv last night until mid-night waiting to collect another of our new teachers from a flight that was delayed six hours, so he quite rightly stood me up in favour of a lay-in.
While I was waiting for him, I met with Heather for the first time since my interview for this job. We chatted a little about various practicalities then I booked my flights to come back after my week off in the UK in October.
I walked down into the Old City around mid-day and had some lunch, which I was pleased I managed to order (mostly) in Arabic and be (mostly) understood, then wandered about the market, where I picked up some bedclothes and a towel. For those of you who know Oxford Street at peak time, I encourage you to imagine a similar volume of people crammed into narrow winding covered streets surrounded by a plethora of almost entirely undesirable goods offered at “very good” prices.
I found myself back at Gabriel’s cafe, where I was yesterday evening, so stopped off for something to drink and a chat.
After dropping off my newly bought items at home, I went round the corner for a hair cut and, as I always find, it’s a great way to chat with some locals. I insisted on a simple number 3 all over (my trusty style, if it can be called a style at all) but Bashir insisted on adding a little of the Palestinian style to it so I now have very carefully shaped side-burns and hairline. Maybe this is the start of a new look…
…or perhaps not. Anyway, I walked up to the viewing platform on the Mount of Olives afterwards and watched the sun go down on day 3 of my Palestinian adventure then headed back home.

31st August, 2007.

East Jerusalem.

My lack of faith in Arab time keeping was misplaced - Jihad arrived this morning as promised and took me to the college. I met many of the administrative staff before Jihad took me to a place to have a Shawarma (Kebab) lunch then a couple of stops for sight-seeing – The Mount of Olives, which I today learned is actually where I live, and the outskirts of the Old City.
After picking up the director of the conservatory to take him back from his house to the college, we were stopped at a checkpoint on the road heading out of Jerusalem towards Ramallah. The fact that we wanted to turn around at the next opportunity, which was about 10 metres further down the road to go back into Jerusalem made the whole affair seem absurd to the point of comedy. The atmosphere however, was not one of comedy. The Israeli soldier asked for our passports, then after asking me the seemingly pointless question “You’ve been to Cape Town?” after seeing a Cape Town stamp in my passport, took the passports of the two Palestinians in the car, checked them for a few minutes then sent us on our way. “It’s just harassment” one of them complained, and it did look that way. At no point were tensions raised - the event was played out with a feeling of reluctant compliance and bored monotony from both sides, with perhaps a little frustration from the Palestinians hosting a new guest in their country.
Back at the college, I had a chat with one of the directors of the Jerusalem branch to try to discover where I’m going to be doing my teaching. It now turns out that I’ll be doing three days in Jerusalem and two others yet to be decided – either Bethlehem or Ramallah.
I’m not convinced by Jerusalem, as a place to live. Perhaps I need to give it more of a chance, but it seems a little odd. The mix of cultures here is so acute, as opposed to the more vague sense of multiculturalism that I’m used to, that it’s like two different cities occupying exactly the same piece of land – rather than one city being shared by different people. Sometimes it’s not so hard to imagine what a parallel universe would be like, as here it’s not too far from reality – the difference here is that both sides can see each other. Another factor in where I’ll live is where my two non-Jerusalem days are – if they are both in Ramallah then that’s a definite possibility but if one is in Ramallah and one in Bethlehem, then Jerusalem is geographically the obvious choice.
I walked back home from the college, and managed it without too much difficulty – although the sight of me walking the deserted streets of East Jerusalem at 3pm brought Mad Dogs and Englishmen to mind. The other piece of music I couldn’t shift today was Parry’s Jerusalem. As I walked around the outside of the ancient city walls this evening it seemed an ironic soundtrack.
I found a cafe within the Old City, no more the five minutes walk from Al-Aqsa mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall in which the friendly owner (who turned out to be somewhat of a Londoner) let me join his wireless network. So as I sat there surrounded by the ancient walls, and some of the most revered and ancient religious sites in the world, I didn’t feel the atmosphere, I didn’t contemplate anything and nor did I soul search. Instead, I chose to Skype - and that juxtaposition provided me with my excitement, whilst those around me found theirs.

East Jerusalem.

Well, the writing of the above words seems less strange and excitingly exotic than you may imagine. Having had a very smooth trip to Tel Aviv from London Heathrow and a much easier time at passport control than expected, the conservatory’s driver, Jihad, met me at the airport and brought me to the flat that will be my base until I find somewhere of my own to rent. I’m still undecided on where I want to live, and won’t be able to decide until I’ve seen Ramallah, but the idea of not having to travel everyday and being freer to explore both Israel as well as Palestine make me think that Jerusalem mightn’t be so bad after all.
The call to prayer has just begun outside my door, and with the windows and doors open to refresh the flat after many hot days all closed up, it’s pretty loud. It’s quite an evocative sound, but one that may begin to wear a little at the end of a long day.
I am being picked up tomorrow between 9 and 10 to go to the college to find out what I’m doing and when I should be doing it, though knowing Arab time that could mean anything.
My dinner of bread, hummous, red cabbage salad and turkey is finished now, as has the call to prayer, and therefore as the sun sets on my first day in Jerusalem it seems a fitting time to end this entry.