Israeli Impressions

The first day of the seminar was interesting from a historical perspective.  This is especially true when considering the nature of the guide who took us around the old city.  Being a Jewish woman, I was interested in her take on several issues.  What struck me the most, however, was her description of events at the Western Wall.  After visiting the site, I asked her why the construction of houses stopped and when the renovation of the plaza took place.  I knew full well what happened after the 1967 takeover of Jerusalem, but i wanted to hear what she said.  Her take on it was that after taking control of the Old City, the authorities decided to clear some shoddy old houses from the area and create the plaza.  This was glossed over very quickly and the subject moved on.  She didn't mention the army bringing in bulldozers without approval 48 hours after establishing control.  I thought this was a little irresponsible on her part and not very objective, though I can understand how that might not be some thing she would be particularly proud of.

The next day, seeing the poverty of Hevron was devastating.  The area of the old market and even some of the surrounding areas were at least as bad as I had seen elsewhere in the developing world (Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala).  I felt that the discussion was, overall, fairly biased and almost propaganda-esque.  The fact that the man said he was worried that he would be shot if he wasn't with Americans was a little over the top and I find it hard to believe that the settlers regularly throw rocks at Arab children and the soldiers are all monsters who completely ignore this.  I'm sure they aren't nice to each other and that rock throwing happens, but he had a very good reason to distort the facts for the visiting Americans.  Also, the gas bomb that just happened to be lying in the street several days after the incident in the market with the flashbangs was a bit suspicious as well.  The streets were fairly well maintained as far as trash was concerned and I can't believe that they would just leave it there for almost a week when there is surely someone who collects them to record the serial numbers.  All this notwistanding, there is still the very real fact that the wall/checkpoints/etc are certainly bad for the local economy as well as for the convenience of the residents.  I would assume that the raids conducted by the IDF were not for their own amusements, but rather to go after suspected terrorists.  Considering that Hevron is a very Hamas friendly city, this is most likely the case, though I can see how it would appear to be very aggressive to the locals.  The fact of the matter is, though, that the more the Israeli government opressess the local population, the more they will become sympathetic to extremist groups that promise to provide services, improve living conditions, and remove the occupation.  As incomes decrease, many of the residents are left with no other choice.