Hebron James

Despite having some sort of kooky stomach-flu like thing, I went (stuffed to the gills with Immodium) to Hebron on Friday. What a messed up place. 600 settlers, 450 soldiers and 35,000 Palestinians who are not allowed to walk or drive down the main market street. We were given a guided tour by an Israeli leftist organization called Sons of Abraham who are affiliated with Breaking the Silence, a group of former soldiers who served in Hebron who have come out with their stories of what actually goes on out there. As a surprise added bonus we met and talked with Baruch Marzel (google him) who is one of the most bonkers settlers in the whole bunch. All in all a very interesting day out.

Nablus

Finally got myself together and did a little touristing this weekend. Went up to Nablus, a town about an hour north of Ramallah famous for its olive oil soap, sweets and Israeli incursions. My Arabic teacher lives there, so we had a really nice lunch together. I walked around the old city and checked out the Turkish bath which dates back to 1480. Beautiful. I also met the olive oil soap king of Nablus who was lamenting the decline of his sales. Not resting on his laurels, he is currently working on a liquid version of his soap (no, don't just grab the bottle from beside the stove) and also reshaping his soap blocks into more user-friendly bars.
One of the hardest things about going to Nablus is the Huwara checkpoint, about 10 minutes outside of town. This checkpoint controls all movement in and out of Nablus to the south and is well known as being a nasty one. I saw the first example of wanton cruelty by the Israelis (besides the normal cruelty of making people wait for no reason) and was really saddened by how inhuman the checkpoints make the guards and the people waiting. The occupation is really taking its toll. On both sides. More pics on Flickr.