Jerusalem

Trivia question: You're standing just outside the green line, inside the blue line, & looking at the red line...where are you?

a) METRO Center subway station in DC

b) Your child's latest hand-drawing of Candy-Land

c) East Jerusalem

If you answered C, you are correct! More on these colored lines below...

Recently I did 2 separate tours of Jerusalem. One was a spiral of historical sights that wound it's way around and then into the Old City. The other was a survey of locations around East Jerusalem where settlements, walls, and Arab & Jewish neighborhoods all struggle for not-too-much space on some very hallowed ground. This second tour was organized by Ir Amim, a non-profit organization dedicated to the idea that a peaceful solution in Jerusalem will lead to a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. [I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested--& it is free] Here are a few pics:

The Temple Mount & Dome of the Rock

Walking the outer wall of the old city

As you can see, the Old City is brimming with history, archaeology, and countless sacred sights for Jews, Muslims, and Christians. But more surprisingly, it is also brimming with normal, everyday life I did not expect to see.

Above, the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall)
Below, alley-markets in the Muslim quarter are still buzzing late into the afternoon

Below is our armed guard, Ori. He served 3 years in the IDF, & like many 20-somethings with military experience, pays his way through college while working security job on the side. He got to practice his English while he helped me out with my Hebrew (Note: I try not to offer grammatical advice to people with loaded automatic weapons).

There is only one word to accurately describe the overall political situation in Jerusalem: 'complicated'. In fact, that may be a bit too generous. For example, below is a map of Jerusalem. The Blue line is the Municipal boundary of the city. Everyone who lives in the line is a resident of Jerusalem and legally entitled to services and rights that goes along with that. The green line is the border between Israel and Palestine (the Occupied Territories). Yellow blotches are Palestinian neighborhoods, and light blue are Israeli settlements. Confused yet? Wait, there's more. So what's that big Red Line? 

 The Red Line in the above picture is the Fence. This is a 'Security Fence' (yes, it's called a fence). After seeing it in person I think this thing makes the Berlin Wall look like child's play. It weaves through neighborhoods, along ridge-lines, and will ultimately surround the Palestinian Territories altogether, separating Israel from their occupied neighboring land. I had definite mixed feelings when we saw this up-close & personal. On the one hand, it is effective at reducing terrorist violence. This a demonstrable fact. But after seeing neighborhoods divided, slums created, and a myriad of other issues arise, I'm forced to ask myself, "at what cost?" This wall actually separates certain Palestinian neighborhoods who are part of Jerusalem proper (within the Blue Line) from the rest of the city, creating a slum where unemployment is rampant, city services cease to exist, and pressure is mounting. People there feel like exiles in their own homes. The Ir Amim tours once toured some of these neighborhoods until their busses began being pelted by rocks thrown by 9 & 10 year olds several months ago.

Above: the fence winds it's way North of the Old City. Below is depicted an unfinished portion that will follow the road down the hill, separating the olive field (vs. cutting right through it) from it's Bethlehem owners. They can apply for a permit to cross over daily to tend their trees once the fence is complete.

Above-Thousands of Palestinian Muslims enter through a checkpoint to board buses to pray at the Al -Aqsa Mosque & visit the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount (in the Old City) during Ramadan. Below, the view looking East from the Mt of Olives. Jerusalem is a crowded, bustling city, but just past the borders the land is desert. There are many plans to continue development of Jewish settlements in the territories, in addition to those who are already living in settlements throughout the occupied territories. A major Israeli settlement is just out of sight in this picture.

Silwan Neighborhood (Just South of the Old City)-Not uncommon to see youngsters riding donkeys or streets w/out sidewalks here.  According to some experts, this place is so tense that is likely to be the starting point of the Third Intifada. Lets hope and pray that does not happen.

Busted up tank from the War of Independence (1948)

Here I am with my finger on the heart of 3 major world religions (don't worry folks, I put it back). At the end of the tour(s), I was tired physically, but approaching 'exhausted' mentally. I honestly don't see how so many people of such differing beliefs and histories can continue to occupy such a small space, and I don't know how long the current situation will remain as it stands today. But I was happy to learn a little bit more about this beautiful & complex city, and it really got me thinking about the magnitude of the different problems and challenges that people face here on a daily basis.

& many thanks too to my friend & fellow Olmsted Scholar Sean Carano (OSC-10) for joining me. Shalom yall...