Performing Israeli Militarism

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few months. Surprisingly enough, Poughkeepsie, New York is less of a blogworthy place than Ramallah, Palestine (at least in my humble opinion). For those faithful few who still visit this page, here’s an essay that I recently wrote for a Hebrew literature course that I’m taking this semester [...]

It’s hard to find the words.

Sitting in my suburban Canadian home for the winter holiday, it’s hard to find the words to adequately capture my thoughts and feelings towards the nightmarish Israeli offensive attack on the Gaza Strip. As I continue to search for my own form of response to offer up to the blogosphere, I’ll provide the following comments [...]

Giving a voice to Gaza.

The other night, a friend of mine spoke with one of his journalist contacts currently working in the besieged Gaza Strip. He commented to her that he was sitting comfortably sipping a glass of wine in Ramallah. She replied by saying “well, we’re busy giving voices to the voiceless.”
For the past two weeks, Israel has [...]

“Martyrdom.”

It’s lunchtime in the quiet village of Asira al-Qibliya. I’m eating with some friends, both foreign and local, in the house of Muhannad and Linda, who hosted us on our last stay in the village for the olive harvest. In the middle of our meal, their son, three year-old Khalil, runs up to [...]

“Angry boys throwing stones.”

On Friday, two friends and I went to see a weekly demonstration in the Palestinian village of Ni’lin. Since May, local residents alongside Israeli and international activists have protested the confiscation of farmlands by the Israeli government in order to build a security barrier. The Israeli military has barricaded roads entering the village, with plans [...]

A response to “Anonymous.”

A reader recently commented on my last post with the following statement:
“Go to Israel, go to 2 malls in one week and get evacuated from both due to bomb scares. Israel isn’t aimlessly shooting Palestine from hillsides. You make it sound like Israel is terrorizing the Middle East, ignoring peace treaties, hell bent on killing [...]

“That’s where it happened.”

(Standing on the roof of a construction site at dusk, in the village of Asira, where nearby we had helped with the olive harvest earlier in the day.)
“Look, over there, you see those trees?”
I scanned the side of the hill and noticed a small gathering of tall trees in the distance.
“Yes, I see them.”
“That’s where [...]

Capoeira and Molotov Cocktails.

Capoeira dancers in downtown Ramallah, 10/14/08

For a brief moment yesterday, the city centre of Ramallah was transformed into a stage. I was sitting in a café, a few stories above all of the commotion and excitement, when I looked down from the window and noticed a crowd starting to form in the busy traffic circle. [...]

Toys that children in a conflict zone should not own.

… or children in any part of the world for that matter. It just seems to standout as particularly disturbing here in Palestine, in a city that was under siege only six years ago. 
Another interesting thing spotted today in Bethlehem: check out those dots along the top of the wall, above the windows. Apparently they’re [...]

When things get tense, head to Café de la Paix.

A friend and I decided to make our way to Jerusalem for a nice Friday of sightseeing and indulging in sushi and other consumerist comforts.
After getting ourselves sufficiently caffeinated, we left the dormitory around late-morning and caught a taxi from the city center to the checkpoint into the Holy City. The taxi driver dropped us [...]