Song:Ritual Union by Little Dragon
Place: Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University
Time: 4:39 PM

As you can see, the Palestinian Workshop group has made it safely back to the US. School started this week and after the studio lottery, my housing partner and I have LOT-EK for as our critics. We are supremely excited about it!

But back to business. Here is second installment of the West Bank Workshop with trips to Jerusalem and Hebron.


JERUSALEM


We first arrived in Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives to have a panoramic view of the old city.


The old city!


The view from the Dominus Flavit Church by Antonio Barluzzi.


Typical Jerusalem street


Commercial wares in the Christian Quarter

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER


Church of the Holy Sepulcher (The church sits atop the site of three biblical events; the stone of annointing, calvary, and the burial place of Jesus. The proximity of these events defied my preconceptions of these events. I guess a lot of stuff happened closer together at that time.


Purported site of crucifixion.






The site of Jesus' tomb.


CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS


Garden of Gethsemane with one of the oldest olive trees in the world (said to be over 2000 years old...2000!).



Interior of the Church



HEBRON:


Qatayef (a pancake eaten during Ramadan) stand in the Hebron Souk. Qatayef sold here are subsidized by the government at a lower rate. This was a policy to encourage market visits as opposed to other commercial properties.


Hebron is the only place in Palestine where Israelis created settlements within an existing Palestinian town. There is much conflict between the two groups where Israelis throw rocks and garbage on Palestinians on the street. An overhead barrier was created to stop the abuse, but Israelis have devised an ingenious offensive. I was told stories of Israelis throwing buckets of urine now on the people below. Disgusting!

The lawfulness of these Israeli settlement camps is up to much debate. Unbeknown to me, these settlements have sprung up far in the interior of Palestine. Separate highways and infrastructure is then created to service these 'towns'.

Water and utilities is another big issue for Palestinians. Although Palestinians have the right to the land of the West Bank from the Oslo Accords. Israelis have the air and subterranean rights, so Palestinians have no access to the water table. Water is piped into Israel and then sold back to the Palestinians.





NEXT: Deir Ghassaneh and Our Proposal