She's off exploring another university and country. You can find her at her new blog.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
A dusty mountain town
Jerusalem
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| The Old City (from Talpiot Promenade) August 2013 |
Hebrew - Jerusalem (Yerushalayim, possibly "city of peace" or "foundation")
القدس
Arabic - Jerusalem (but often known as Al-Quds, "holy place")
This dusty little town sitting in the Judean Mountains that I called home for a little over a year, is a magical, confounding, frustrating, exhausting, shabby-dirty-rundown, majestic, spectacular place. It is all those things and more at once. Anytime I ever felt I'd had enough of Jerusalem I would head to the coast (Tel Aviv) breathe in the humid (if polluted) air of the Mediterranean and focus outward. Or a bit further north (Ha-Bonim closer to Haifa).
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| Ha Bonim Beach (September 2013) |
That's something that's hard to do in Jerusalem: look outward. Many people across the world keep a watchful eye on Jerusalem; it has the second largest press corps in the world (just behind Washington, DC). As it turns out, Jerusalem itself is a parochial town. It looks inward and is rather self-absorbed.
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| The Bunting Clover Leaf Map, 1581 |
In this famous rendering, Jerusalem sits at the centre of the then known world, at the nexus of Europe, Asia, and Africa (with America far off). The Americas are still far away, and Jerusalem has become less the centre of the world. In the 21st Century many who were raised in the yoke of an Abrahamic religion (or at least the cultural leftovers of them) don't practice religion, and have become less attached to the place where it all started. Despite that big press corps, little is actually said about Jerusalem itself. When Jerusalem is in the news it is often the place from which news about the simmering region is shared or an update on another round of peace talks. (Or it's a story of a record snowfall!) Unsurprisingly, politics and human rights dominate the current events reported from Jerusalem.
From far away it's hard to get a sense of what Jerusalem is today. It is all that religious history, plus a new city that grew up during an ongoing sovereignty dispute. All sorts of people have passed through this place and many maintain claims to certain bits of it. What will happen to Jerusalem? Will it be the capital of two states? Who knows? Meanwhile, beyond the Old City walls and the explosive political situations, people (in all three of the major communities) get on with life. Here's one list of reasons to love Jerusalem.
Life in Jerusalem can't be described as easy or certain. It's often exasperating. It's complicated. It's deeply human and connected. I love Canada; I'm happy to be here. I will always miss Jerusalem.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence is the name of an organization of Israeli soldiers who talk about their experience in the Occupied Territories (West Bank, Palestine). They offer two tours in the West Bank: Hebron and South Hebron Hills. The first is a bit more of an urban tour, while the other is very rural. I was wait-listed last summer to go to Hebron, but I did manage to get a confirmed place on a tour to the South Hebron Hills in early September. It was a trip I'll not easily forget.
The tour meets at, departs from, and returns to the International Convention Center (ICC, Binyanei Ha’uma, near the Central Bus Station). Everyone boards a tour coach and the guide starts talking. Our guide, Avihai started telling us about how he'd always wanted to be a combat soldier. His father and older brothers had been combat soldiers, he too would be one and how important this was to him. The military begins sorting and recruiting soldiers when they are still in high school. Aptitude tests are administered for selection into the special forces -- pilots, spies, and the like. And forever after, Israeli men, in particular, are subject to being identified by where they served (combat, artillery, air, navy, etc) and they make lifelong bonds with their platoon (serving on reserve until 40 or 42 makes a difference too). I've been told by a few Israelis that being part of the Israeli Defence Forces is really important, partly as the making of Israeli identity and partly as the rebranding of the Jewish people that were very differently characterized in early 20th Century European propaganda and of course later as victims of the Holocaust. I don't know if all Israelis agree with this, but it seems like a reasonable statement.
Avihai told us about his training in the IDF: How he learned to use all sorts of weapons and only a little bit about how to interact with civilians. And then how he found himself serving in the Occupied Territories, in the South Hebron Hills, dealing daily with civilians. He told us about how he and his colleagues interacted with Palestinians and with settlers in the West Bank. And, he told us that a key job of the IDF soldiers in the Hebron Hills of Area C is preventing Palestinians from delivering their agricultural goods to the town of Yatta.
Area C under the Oslo Accords is under the control of the Israeli military. These days Israeli soldiers patrol Area C and if you are in it, they will likely pull you over for a chat - it happened while we were on tour. Of particular interest, and visited on our tour, in the South Hebron Hills are (1) the line taken by the separation barrier (intruding at points into the West Bank by running north of the Green Line); (2) the village of Susiya; (3) the ring of hilltop settlements; and (4) Military Training Zone 918 (which is a polygon east of Susiya and Hwy 317 and wholly within the West Bank).
Briefly:
The take away of all this is that if it looks and smells like a fish, it probably is a fish. These four observations added together leave a strong impression that Israel is land grabbing in the South Hebron Hills of Area C of the West Bank. This is not a happy conclusion; however, it fits well within the current dominant political discourse to "create facts on the ground" that will lead to certain conclusions about dividing up land when (never mind the "if") the two state solution arrives.
Breaking the Silence is not uncontroversial. Some Israelis do not believe the testimony of these IDF soldiers and they consider this effort to be disloyal to the state. Breaking the Silence doesn't offer a solution to the conflict, but they do want to tell Israelis what IDF soldiers (the 18-21 year olds of Israel) are doing when in service in the West Bank. In this sense they share the questioning narrative of the movie The Gatekeepers which asked Israelis to consider the Occupation in terms of what it is costing Israel. What does it mean that your youth serve in an Occupied Territory and carry out the chores of an occupying state? None of this is to suggest that ending the Occupation will be an easy task. Israel does face an existential threat in its neighbourhood and it is a small country (this has implications for its defence): the security threat is real. Nevertheless, the cost of the Occupation is too high for everyone: it needs to end. But, just how to do it?
If you want to know more about Breaking the Silence visit their website to hear some of the IDF testimony. If you plan to be in Jerusalem consider taking a tour, but be sure to sign up well in advance.
The tour meets at, departs from, and returns to the International Convention Center (ICC, Binyanei Ha’uma, near the Central Bus Station). Everyone boards a tour coach and the guide starts talking. Our guide, Avihai started telling us about how he'd always wanted to be a combat soldier. His father and older brothers had been combat soldiers, he too would be one and how important this was to him. The military begins sorting and recruiting soldiers when they are still in high school. Aptitude tests are administered for selection into the special forces -- pilots, spies, and the like. And forever after, Israeli men, in particular, are subject to being identified by where they served (combat, artillery, air, navy, etc) and they make lifelong bonds with their platoon (serving on reserve until 40 or 42 makes a difference too). I've been told by a few Israelis that being part of the Israeli Defence Forces is really important, partly as the making of Israeli identity and partly as the rebranding of the Jewish people that were very differently characterized in early 20th Century European propaganda and of course later as victims of the Holocaust. I don't know if all Israelis agree with this, but it seems like a reasonable statement.
Avihai told us about his training in the IDF: How he learned to use all sorts of weapons and only a little bit about how to interact with civilians. And then how he found himself serving in the Occupied Territories, in the South Hebron Hills, dealing daily with civilians. He told us about how he and his colleagues interacted with Palestinians and with settlers in the West Bank. And, he told us that a key job of the IDF soldiers in the Hebron Hills of Area C is preventing Palestinians from delivering their agricultural goods to the town of Yatta.
Area C under the Oslo Accords is under the control of the Israeli military. These days Israeli soldiers patrol Area C and if you are in it, they will likely pull you over for a chat - it happened while we were on tour. Of particular interest, and visited on our tour, in the South Hebron Hills are (1) the line taken by the separation barrier (intruding at points into the West Bank by running north of the Green Line); (2) the village of Susiya; (3) the ring of hilltop settlements; and (4) Military Training Zone 918 (which is a polygon east of Susiya and Hwy 317 and wholly within the West Bank).
Briefly:
- The Line of the Separation Barrier. Apparently, the low barrier that runs along Hwy 317 (a road that runs from SW to NE sort of through Susiya) was the planned site of the separation barrier, but the incursion into the West Bank was later abandoned for a line further south that more closely traces the Green Line.
- The Village of Susiya (Palestinian) and the Settlement of Susiya (Israeli settlers). The village of Susiya experiences continuous water insecurity and has to have water trucked and to pay market rates (partly the politics of Israel and partly the politics of the Palestinian Authority are at play here). The settlement does not experience water insecurity and is serviced by pipes.
- Lucifer Farm and the ring of hilltop settlements. Settlements in the West Bank can be big like a suburb (e.g. Maale Adumim near Jerusalem) or they can be solo farmers (like homesteaders in the Canadian west) (e.g. the ring of settlements near Susiya and Firing Zone 918 - these are known as unauthorized (illegal) outposts). Evidently, under an arcane bit of Ottoman era law (which still operates in Palestine/Israel, along with some British and Jordanian law) hilltops couldn't be owned, thus they are not private property, and are available for settlement (I remain a bit fuzzy on this, it sounds almost as if you can obtain ownership by squatting). Settlements have begun to ring small Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills and, unfortunately, conflict between the two groups is not infrequent.
- Military Training Zone 918 (aka Firing Zone 918) is an area from which about 700 Palestinians were evicted in 1998 and 1999 on the grounds that they had taken up "illegal residence in a live fire zone". B'Tselem (the Israeli Human Rights Organization) has more on this story here.
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| Looking at Firing Range 918 (in that valley to the left of the hill behind Avihai) |
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| Susiya Village |
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| Susiya Village |
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| Susiya Village |
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| Susiya Village |
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| A workshop in a tent at Susiya - permanent dwellings are torn down |
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| Susiya Village |
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| Susiya Village Tractor |
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| Settlements on the hilltops |
The take away of all this is that if it looks and smells like a fish, it probably is a fish. These four observations added together leave a strong impression that Israel is land grabbing in the South Hebron Hills of Area C of the West Bank. This is not a happy conclusion; however, it fits well within the current dominant political discourse to "create facts on the ground" that will lead to certain conclusions about dividing up land when (never mind the "if") the two state solution arrives.
Breaking the Silence is not uncontroversial. Some Israelis do not believe the testimony of these IDF soldiers and they consider this effort to be disloyal to the state. Breaking the Silence doesn't offer a solution to the conflict, but they do want to tell Israelis what IDF soldiers (the 18-21 year olds of Israel) are doing when in service in the West Bank. In this sense they share the questioning narrative of the movie The Gatekeepers which asked Israelis to consider the Occupation in terms of what it is costing Israel. What does it mean that your youth serve in an Occupied Territory and carry out the chores of an occupying state? None of this is to suggest that ending the Occupation will be an easy task. Israel does face an existential threat in its neighbourhood and it is a small country (this has implications for its defence): the security threat is real. Nevertheless, the cost of the Occupation is too high for everyone: it needs to end. But, just how to do it?
If you want to know more about Breaking the Silence visit their website to hear some of the IDF testimony. If you plan to be in Jerusalem consider taking a tour, but be sure to sign up well in advance.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Visiting the Halls of Justice
In November, I visited the Supreme Court of Israel which is located just north of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament - where Stephen Harper spoke last week). The picture below is taken looking (mostly) south; the Supreme Court is in the front, the Knesset in the middle of the picture. Free English tours of the Court go at noon from Sunday to Thursday. The building is relatively new - finished in 1992 - and full of symbolism. From 1948 to 1992, the Supreme Court presided in rented quarters in the Russian Compound (further south and east of the current location of the court in Kiryat Ben Gurion).
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| Source: Flickr: Israel Supreme Court (israeltourism) |
The Supreme Court has two main functions: (1) as a Court of Appeal and (2) as a Court of Justice (a function Canadians know as judicial review of government office or agency decision making). Most cases at the Supreme Court proceed with a panel of three justices selected from the court's complement of fifteen. Judges are nominated and elected by a committee (made up of Knesset members, Bar Association members, and other judges); mandatory retirement is at 70 years old.
The building incorporates three main contrasts:
- inside and outside -- features like walls and windows give one a sense that they are inside and outside at the same time. There's so much natural light in the courtrooms the lights need not necessarily be turned on.
- old and new -- elements from the history of Jerusalem (including some stones) are found in the building. The main foyer entrance is filled with old Jerusalem stone.
- lines and circles -- are a visual representation of law and justice.
- lines represent law: "You are righteous...and Your laws are straight" (Psalms 119:137)
- circles represent justice: "He leads me in circles of justice" (Psalms 23:3)
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Canada's PM goes to Israel
As you may (if you live in Canada and possibly if you live in Israel, but unlikely if you live in the USA) have heard, our PM has gone to Israel. Why? Well, in part, since Canada is a middle power, we might never be entirely clear on what he's up to. Clearly, Canadian persuasion is not going to shift the peace talks in any particular direction. On the agenda (according to the CBC) are the free trade agreement, some transport agreement, and maybe a research institution partnership. Plus, the Canadian delegation will meet with Abu Mazen.
Bibi has welcomed Harper "as a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people" and thanked him for his support, that is his staunch and unquestioning support of Israel. And, perhaps the real reason for the trip: A park will be named after our PM. The Jewish Community of Toronto has fundraised for this honour and it's not just any park, it's a bird interpretive centre: the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Centre. For a Canadian with an environmental bone in her body there is some irony in our PM -- who has been actively dismantling all the domestic environmental law he can via obfuscating omnibus budget bills -- having his name tagged to a major ecosystem rehabilitation project.
The Hula Valley marshlands were drained in the 1950s by the Jewish National Fund as part of its Zionist mandate to green and make bloom Greater Israel/Palestine. In time it became obvious that the drainage of the swamps was not such a great idea, not least because it diminished the quality of the water flowing into Lake Kinneret (Israel's major freshwater lake and reservoir). Concern with the draining of the Hula precipitated the creation of the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel (SPNI) which remains a leading environmental NGO in Israel. Emek HaHula is a key stop on the route of migratory birds from and to Europe, Africa, and Asia. We might only hope Harper will be inspired enough to bring enthusiasm for ecosystem rehabilitation back to Canada with him. The Great Lakes Basin could use his support.
Bibi has welcomed Harper "as a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people" and thanked him for his support, that is his staunch and unquestioning support of Israel. And, perhaps the real reason for the trip: A park will be named after our PM. The Jewish Community of Toronto has fundraised for this honour and it's not just any park, it's a bird interpretive centre: the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Centre. For a Canadian with an environmental bone in her body there is some irony in our PM -- who has been actively dismantling all the domestic environmental law he can via obfuscating omnibus budget bills -- having his name tagged to a major ecosystem rehabilitation project.
The Hula Valley marshlands were drained in the 1950s by the Jewish National Fund as part of its Zionist mandate to green and make bloom Greater Israel/Palestine. In time it became obvious that the drainage of the swamps was not such a great idea, not least because it diminished the quality of the water flowing into Lake Kinneret (Israel's major freshwater lake and reservoir). Concern with the draining of the Hula precipitated the creation of the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel (SPNI) which remains a leading environmental NGO in Israel. Emek HaHula is a key stop on the route of migratory birds from and to Europe, Africa, and Asia. We might only hope Harper will be inspired enough to bring enthusiasm for ecosystem rehabilitation back to Canada with him. The Great Lakes Basin could use his support.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Biking in Jerusalem (no) and Tel Aviv (yes)
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| Some rental bikes in Jerusalem |
It turns out biking in Jerusalem is an extreme sport. (Unless you rent a bike and pedal along the linear park that goes south from the (new) Old Station. But that's not exactly cycling.) Those that commute by bike in Jerusalem are fearless warriors and will tell you to stop being such a wimp and get on your bike...and they might recommend you ride on the sidewalk. Those who don't ride in Jerusalem will give a long lecture on why not to bike in Jerusalem --- there's no space on the roads, riding on the sidewalks is illegal and rude, it's too hilly (why would you ride up hills?) --- and list off the top 3 worst (most recent) bike accidents in town (they are blood curdling). I was easily convinced that travelling by foot and bus would be a better option for me.
I walked everywhere in Jerusalem and really got to know the city in a way that only a pedestrian can. Of course, on the days that we did rent a car and had to find the highway to get out of town it took superior navigating (or patience when the navigating was inferior and we had to take a few loops) to not get caught up in the one-way streets that are irrelevant to the foot traveller.
Fortunately, the cosmopolitan and (mostly) flat metropolis of Tel Aviv-Jaffa has a wonderful bike share system and loads of bike paths so I did get some riding in.
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| Bike share in Tel Aviv |
Whenever I arrived by bus in Tel Aviv, I would hire a bike at the bus station and ride wherever I was going. Key destinations in Tel Aviv include (OBVIOUSLY) the beach, Jaffa (it's fabulous and not just for its oranges), the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the awesome neighbourhood of Neve Tzedek (although now Florentin is where it's at). Biking in Tel Aviv is probably not "safe" (it is as hazardous as in any city) but it is way more inviting than Jerusalem. This is in part because Tel Aviv is filled with wide boulevards (the legacy-benefit of being a new city), has many bike lanes, is flat (yes, that bears repeating), and drivers are expecting to see cyclists.
Despite its hills and lack of infrastructure, Jerusalem could be a great biking city. The traffic in the city is horrible and often vehicular traffic is reduced to a crawl along the two lane (one each way) arterial roads (Haneviim, Shivtei Israel, King George, King David, Keren Hayesod, Agrippas) at rush hour. I'm sure more than a few Jerusalemites would be happy to have a shorter commute (and a bit of exercise). The climate in Jerusalem has few days that really preclude cycling: possibly a few snow days, and a few really horribly rainy days that only ducks would enjoy, and a few stifling hot days. Owing to its placement on top of the Judean Hills and its lack of industry, the air quality in Jerusalem is among the best of Middle Eastern cities (granted riding alongside traffic at rush hour will likely render a poor air quality profile). Plus, the city is geographically not that big. Still, I think its unlikely that Jerusalem will be ground zero for biking in Israel anytime soon. (Although, west of the city, on fine weather days, on some of the most scenic roads of Israel you can stumble upon pelotons of MAMILS (middle aged men in lycra) on fancy roadbikes.) For now the Tel Aviv is the seat of bike commuting and culture in Israel, despite its long and very sticky summer.
A few pics of biking in Jerusalem:
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| Cyclists on road! |  |
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| Cyclists on sidewalk! |  |
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| You can hire a bike, park a bike, and ride it on a path from the (new) Old Station |
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| Bike parking |
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| Exceptional in Jerusalem - a bike path |
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Happy New Year!!
Forgive my tardy greetings!
I've been very busy while in Vancouver and I've neglected this blog (since it isn't really about life in Vancouver!). My days have been filled with contract work, visiting family and friends, and networking around town. The busy holiday season is over and now it's on to the business of quotidian life. For me this means some serious changes.
I've decided to stay in Canada and transition out of my postdoc in Israel. I'll be wrapping up my project work there from here while I look for a job in Vancouver. In my home province of British Columbia many natural gas projects are either under proposal or in development right now. I want to be involved in shaping those projects and environmental policy in ways that benefit our economy without harming long term human well-being and ecosystem health. There is much work to be done in Canada.
The upshot of this is that I'll be winding up this blog shortly. My fifteen months in Israel were unforgettable and amazing; I have a few more stories I'd like to share. So, I plan to post until the end of the month. After that my blogging future is uncertain.
More posts soon! Thanks for reading.
I've been very busy while in Vancouver and I've neglected this blog (since it isn't really about life in Vancouver!). My days have been filled with contract work, visiting family and friends, and networking around town. The busy holiday season is over and now it's on to the business of quotidian life. For me this means some serious changes.
I've decided to stay in Canada and transition out of my postdoc in Israel. I'll be wrapping up my project work there from here while I look for a job in Vancouver. In my home province of British Columbia many natural gas projects are either under proposal or in development right now. I want to be involved in shaping those projects and environmental policy in ways that benefit our economy without harming long term human well-being and ecosystem health. There is much work to be done in Canada.
The upshot of this is that I'll be winding up this blog shortly. My fifteen months in Israel were unforgettable and amazing; I have a few more stories I'd like to share. So, I plan to post until the end of the month. After that my blogging future is uncertain.
More posts soon! Thanks for reading.
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