I’m back in the United States and my life in Israel is over for now.  Thanks to everyone who followed my blog!  I’ve always appreciated all your comments… keep in touch!

For now so long from Denver!

This past Thursday was the end of my internship period, and we were essentially given 10 days to finish papers or do some traveling.  So, I decided to take a few nights this past weekend and visit Cairo and Giza by bus. 

After our farewell dinner with Amany, Mor, Danny, Daphna, and Hillel I took the midnight bus to Eilat and arrived at the Egypt/Israel border crossing around 4:30 am.  I knew that crossing into the Sinai would be easy; anyone with a valid passport can visit the Sinai for 14 days without a visa.  To go further into the actual continent of Africa, visitors need to buy a visa in advance from either the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv or from the Egyptian consulate in Eilat.  I had neither (being unprepared as I was).  At the final checkpoint, the passport official stamped me through in a hurry and almost let me through.  He talked to someone briefly and took one more look… it wasn’t long before he was crossing off the stamp and asking me where my visa was.  With a little persistence, instead of sending me back to Eilat in defeat, he suggested I wait for an Egyptian travel agent who could fix me up.  I sat down and, two hours later (long after my 6:30 bus left from Taba to Cairo) the agent arrived, shook my hand, gave me a visa (for $50), and guided me through the border to the bus station.  As I walked out of the building into the Egyptian sun, I sighed with relief, ready to start my short journey to Cairo. 

All in all I spent 12 hrs (there and back) on the East Delta Bus Company and I had to produce my passport (to one official or another) about 15 times.  By 5:00 pm on Friday, I got off the bus in Cairo, only to be greeted by a mob of taxi drivers willing to take me seemingly anywhere for a “cheap price.”  After reaching the Meramees Hostel near Talat Harb Square I settled in and went exploring.  I must have looked like a foreign tourist, because every where I walked people would ask me to come into their shops and try to make friends with me. 

“Where from? Where from?” was a popular question.

“America,” I would reply.

“Oh! Yankee Doodle… Hi Ho Silver! We love America! Obama!” 

I didn’t get far the first night before I realized I was hungry and exhausted.  I saw the Nile river, took some pictures, got some Kushari from Tom and Basel’s restaurant, and then promptly went to bed. 

The next morning I got up early and headed to Giza with one goal on my mind… see the Pyramids:

the sphinx

Khafre Pyramid

hard taking pictures by your self

Khufu in the background

Menkaure with Khafre in foreground

Menkaure with Khafre in foreground

lucky guy

Sphinx with Khafre

Khafre thru temple door

The Great Pyramid of Giza (Khufu)

eating the last surviving ancient wonder of the world

Sphinx w/ Khafre

What a mind trip!

I spent 4 hrs with the pyramids; rationing my water and fending off hundreds of camel riders and vendors.  After lunch I decided to put some faces and culture to the architecture, and I went to the Egyptian Museum.  I’m ashamed to say that I thought the Toledo Museum had a complete exhibit on Ancient Egyptian artifacts; and for some reason I didn’t realize how many tombs, sarcophagi, and mummys had actually been discovered throughout the greater Nile Delta region.  The separate room for King Tutankhamun was alone impressive, but the million+ artifacts throughout the building soon overwhelmed me. 

My final memories of Cairo came just before sundown, as the streets cleared and men began gathering for communal dinners throughout the streets and alleys.  It was the first day of Ramadan.  As I walked through the streets the call to prayer rang out frequently… echoing off the buildings. 

The next morning I was up by 5:00 am and back on a bus by 6:30.  Egypt was short but sweet!

While working with the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), I’ve been writing a paper about the implications of impunity in democratic governments.  The purpose of the paper is to use Israel’s position on torture as an example for how impunity can undermine democracies which rely on the rule of law.  The subject was difficult for me to tackle, considering the original vagueness I was trying to wrap my head around: it’s not easy outlining the basic principles of democracy in a few paragraphs.  But in the end, with the internship wrapping up, I think I’ve gotten myself to a strong, organized argument.  Here’s a short, unedited segment of the first draft:

 

Under international law, specifically the Convention against Torture (CAT), torture is an absolutely non-derogable offense.  In no circumstances could it become appropriate for a State to encourage the use of torture, or fail to prosecute those who have tortured.  While it is not terribly surprising that since 1999—after the landmark PCATI court case—Israel has continued to routinely justify torture via the necessity defense, it is surprising the degree to which Israel has failed to hold its interrogators responsible.  Considering that Israel has essentially legalized some forms of torture, it is even more important for the State to maintain strong, independent institutions of review that can easily and fluidly begin criminal investigations.  A democratic institution of accountability could effectively mitigate a growing torture environment, which clearly encourages abuse.  This has not happened in Israel.  It’s not entirely difficult to understand why international treaties have decided to make torture 100% non-derogable—besides its tremendous moral implications: it is incredibly difficult to maintain accountability.  For instance, if a State (like Israel) wanted to ban all forms of torture except in “ticking bomb” scenarios, the State would have to clearly and exactly define a “ticking bomb” situation.  This is something that the 1999 PCATI ruling failed to do.  Though an example of a ticking bomb scenario was mapped out, the court refused to elaborate the reasons such an example qualified as a necessary emergency situation.  Instead, the “landmark” ruling—which in some instances completely prohibits specific instances of torture (clearly and succinctly)—resorts to vague statements designed to give interrogators as much flexibility as possible, given the illegality of torture:

The State’s position is that by virtue of this “defence” to criminal liability, GSS investigators are also authorized to apply physical means, such as shaking, in the appropriate circumstances, in order to prevent serious harm to human life or body, in the absence of other alternatives.  The State maintains that an act committed under conditions of “necessity” does not constitute a crime.  Instead, it is deemed an act worth committing in such circumstances in order to prevent serious harm to a human life or body.  We are therefore speaking of a deed that society has an interest in encouraging, as it is deemed proper in the circumstances.  It is the choosing the lesser evil.[1]     

For the purposes of applying effective accountability, these sort of judicial rulings are nightmarish in their opaqueness.  From this statement, it is entirely unclear at what point torture becomes the lesser evil in the State’s eyes.  How many lives have to be at stake? 100? 1? These messy moral questions should never be left in the hands of individuals with such obvious personal and professional involvement.  If this lack of transparency weren’t enough to stifle democratic accountability, at one point, the court makes an effort to recommend shaking as a technique of “physical means” that can be used in times of necessity.     

 

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[1] The Supreme Court of Israel Judgment on Torture 1999 p 20

(my video from the Treasury in Petra… forgive the poor quality, but if it does nothing else it shows good scale and perspective)

In the 3rd century BC, the Nabateans began carving out of the cliffs of southern Jordan palaces, tombs, and homes.  The impressive remnaints constitute a whole ancient city hewn directly from the rock faces, providing magnificent views for photo-eager tourists and the native Bedouin people alike.  The history of Petra is not entirely clear to me, but the experience was otherworldly…

All in all Jordan was a serious change from the Israeli culture located on the other side of the Jordan river and the Bay of Aqaba.  Taxi drivers drive fast and the lines on the road are more suggestions than anythings.  We took the bus to Eilat, in the very South of Israel and crossed the border into Jordan via the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing.  From there Petra was a 2 hr cab ride north near the small village of Wadi Mussa (the location of our Orient Gate Hotel hostel).  At 8:30 pm we decide to participate in “Petra at Night,” a candle lit tour of the ruins that provided a unique spiritual exercise (of star gazing and peaceful hiking) rather than the ability to actually see any of the actual sites.  The tour took us a half an hour into the tall narrow canyons ending up in the presence of the iconic Treasury carving (portrayed in Indiana Jones Last Crusade).  Then we all gathered together and were treated to beautiful, traditional Bedouin music; the solitary notes seemed to echo perfectly off the high cliffs.  Though, in the end we couldn’t see much in the way of ruins and carvings are concerned (it was completely dark), we came away energized and ready see the city for what it truly is in the sunlight.

There’s not much I can say about day two in Petra… it was awe inspiring.  In the end I spent 12 hours in the city, exploring, taking pictures, and fending off local Bedouin, looking to sell jewlery, ancient antiques, and donkey/camel rides.  Here are the best pictures of the day… but they really don’t do Petra justice.

stadium columns

kings tomb area

resting with columns

column ruins

at world’s end view

Jordanian flag and Monastery

drinking some water

intricate light play on cliffs

the treasury

I woke up early on Monday morning and went to the Old City and visited the holy Temple Mount.  This was the third time I’ve tried to go; the irregular hours for non-Muslim visitors makes it a hit-or-miss adventure everytime.  But on Monday we scored, and it was well worth it.  Though we were not allowed to enter the Dome of the Rock or the al-Aqsa Mosque, we got close enough to touch them.  The Dome of the Rock is supposedly the site of Adam’s creation, where Abraham nearly sacrificed Issac, and where Muhammad ascended into heaven.  It is the third holiest spot in Islam and the holiest spot in Judaism.  We got some great pictures…

soldiers

early sun light

on ramparts wall

al-Aqsa Mosque

inside Mosque thru window

al-Aqsa Mosque

dome in background

stairs to dome square

Tile work on Dome of Rock

opposite side of Dome

Golden Dome of the Rock

great view of 3 churches

If you want to see all my pictures from Jerusalem, I just added two albums on Facebook.  If we’re not already friends… friend me.

At about 6:30 in the morning yesterday I received a text message from my roommate.  It read, “Maher house in Shikh Jerah evicted. call rima for details.”  It’s funny how nothing seems very important before 7:00 am.  But ten minutes later I rolled out of bed and headed down the hill to the Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

If you’ve been following the news about Obama and his diplomacy effort in Israeland the Middle East, you know that the settlement issue is a major concern for all parties involved–Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans.  Sheikh Jarrah is one of the most contraversial sites in Israel.  While many moderates in Israel agree that the settlements in the West Bank are bad policy–and Netanyahu has agreed to a temporary freeze of settlements in the West Bank–most Israelis refuse to consider E. Jerusalem occupied territory.  As Netanyahu has repeatedly stated a “united Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel…[and] we cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and purchase in all parts of Jerusalem” (qtd. in nytimes).  This policy complicates the peace process for Palestinians who cannot imagine having an independent State without East Jerusalem as its capital (E. Jerusalem at the least).

Sheikh Jarrah has spiraled to the epicenter of these debates.  The legal question is about ownership. Who really owns each house in the neighborhood?  Jewish settlement organizations claim that many of the homes and apartments (which now reside in Palestinian hands) should be reinstated to the orginal families.  20 plus houses have open court cases about this issue in the Sheikh Jarrah area.  But the bigger question is political.  How can the transformation of a Palestinian neighborhood into a Jewish neighborhood hurt or help the opportunity for peace? 

The Maher house (referenced above in the text message) is one of two houses that were evicted on August 2nd; it had been battling in the Israeli court system for about 40 years.  When an eviction notice was finally issued recently, the residents refused to leave.  International supporters began spending the night to (a) delay the eviction and (b) ensure media attention when any activity takes place. 

I rushed to the scene and found the entire street blocked off by police officers.  I joined Ryan, Christina, and Heidi (Denver students) where they congregated outside the baricade with internationals, neighbors, human rights workers, family members, and members of the media.  From what I heard UN representatives were denied access to the site and certainly no NGO workers were allowed in.  But I witnessed a Hungarian consulate gain the authority to enter (what he was doing is unclear)–from what I can guess diplomats were interested.  After a fruitless attempt to get closer, we watched the police escort the new Jewish family into the evacuated home.  Here are some of the photos I snapped:

 

picture of the tent last month… it’s been rebuilt multiple times

…separately, evicted Palestinian tent destroyed down the street

Orthodox Jews get an emotional response from the crowd

ambulance and police cars

police van blocked the road to the house

officer takes a high position to survey the barrier

 

Some good news coverage from aljazeera:

making mud at the bedouin village; nice face ryan

Quoting Lolocreatives:  Your decision to be an observer is strategically interesting, as your choice to get out of the office one day a week. I’d like to hear more about what you’re doing on those days! 

Well Lauren, if you’re curious about what I’m doing on my days away from PCATI, this is the blog post to read.

On Monday, instead of going into the office, I decided to shadow Ryan and Sarah (who are working for Rabbis for Human Rights) as they headed to a Bedouin Village in the West Bank to help build a school.

We woke up early to catch a 6:30 bus into the territory.  After about an hour ride we finally arrived “close enough” at a gas station located a half mile outside a Jewish settlement.  As we hiked back up the highway toward the village, Sarah helped me understand the history of this project…  Bedouin communities in the Sinai and the Negev desert have traditionally lived as nomadic tribes throughout the region.  However, with the establishment of internationally recognized borders, many communities have been forced to create permanent villages.  These shanty-town buildings (the homes I saw were nothing more than scrap metal and old shipping crates)  have been traditionally declared illegal by the State of Israel.  Despite these proclamations, this particular village has been around for approximately 40 years.  Recent financial consideration have prevented the children of this community from attending school for a little over a year now; the price of transportation is just to overwhelming.  To find a suitable solution, the tribe met with Valerio Marazzi, an Italian architect, who subsequently suggested Earthships.

As we walked into camp, followed by a group of curious children, the partially built school buildings sat surrounded by white rock and dirt, next to dozens of camp style shacks on the verge of collapse.  If you imagine three small structures with mud, dirt, and tire walls and aluminum rooftops, you’d be thinking of a building far more superior in stability, insulation, permanency, and architectural integrity than any other “building” in the area.  The goal was quite simple, add one part water, one part dirt, mix thoroughly, and apply to walls.  The most effective application was to throw it so that it simultaneously stuck and evenly dispersed.  We arrived fairly early, before the architect was around, and the kids entertained themselves at our expense, spraying us with water and throwing mud any which way.  When Valerio showed up, we were already drenched in sweat, dirt, and mud.  He thoroughly thanked us and gave us a little more guidance.  Tired of patching walls, I decided to complete the wrap-around bench made of rocks, dirt, and you guessed it… mud.  With a lot of help and hard work, we made a lot of progress.  About a half hour after we left, and Israeli news crew swung by to film are work and to interview a few of the Bedouin.  I may have been on TV, but I don’t know because I don’t have a television.

The great thing about this project was the ease in which these structures can be built; how amazingly cost efficient they are.  If their durability is proven, then Bedouin camps all over the country will have a significant model to produce sustainable schools and homes.  And from the news coverage it’s getting, (a) there’s little chance the Israeli government will stop their construction (they have no building permits); and (b) this is something that could really catch on fast.

 

It was hard work, but at the end of the day I just playing in mud.  It’s always nice to simultaneously fulfill a childhood dream and help some people in need.

 

Thanks for all the great comments guys… here are some links that relate to the project… one of them is a CNN news video taken before I was on the site (but two Denver students strategically placed themselves in shots).

 

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099334.html (this is a news article that got frontpage on Haaretz)

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/07/12/wedeman.mideast.recycled.school.cnn?iref=videosearch (CNN Video)

 

mixin’ the mud

a couple of the troublemakers

camel that greeted us on the way into the village

making mud at the bedouin village; nice face ryan

 

At 7:00 pm, Brett and I decided to take bus 19 to the city center to get a closer look at the old city and some of the sites we’ve only seen in passing.  I won’t write too much about the experience, but we got some good photos and some interesting videos that might be worth taking a look at. 

We made a point to find the Western Wall near the Dome of the Rock and get a closer look.  For Jews, the wall is the holiest place on earth and attracts observers from all over the city, country, and world.  Given this weight, it was hard to fully understand what was appropriate and what wasn’t:  Do we have to cover our heads, can we get closer, can we actually touch the wall, and should we take pictures?  We decided that we couldn’t possibly get that close and not touch it.  Here are some of my videos and pictures:

The Western Wall from inside the barriers

On the rooftops in the Old City: the sun was setting

Cars drive through the old city too

a :mechanical donkey” collecting trash

Nightime photo in the old city

Brett and I stop and take a rest outside the Old City

Right on the wall; people praying…

the Western Wall from inside the barrier

the Western wall from inside the barrier 2

i forgot my camera, so this is a picture of Tel Aviv I didn't take

This past weekend the Denver group and I headed out for the great Israeli city on the Mediterranean Sea known as Tel Aviv.  We knew about the beautiful beaches but decided to spend the night on Friday in order to explore the other attractions that the city could offer. 

We arrived at our hostel at about 11:00 am on Friday after a 45 min bus ride from the central station in Jerusalem: sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re in a country about the size of New Jersey, and no two points are unreachable in a few hours or minutes.  The Hostel was a block away from the sea and as we walked down the street, the road seemed fade away in the distance, giving way to the blue oasis in the background.  We didn’t waste any time and headed straight for the water.  The sand was white hot and we kept our feet cool by staying near the water as we walked.  The beach was gorgeous, and predictably packed with swimmers, sunbathers, and tourists.  After about a half a mile or so we found our spot near a northern breaker by the Hilton Hotel, it was busy, but calm.

After about five hours of sun, salty water, sand, and jellyfish I was about ready to head back to the “comfort” of Jerusalem… but of course I had already committed to the Hostel and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  (as for myself, while the sunburn was setting in, I began to remember why I tend to stay away from beaches).  After a quick shower we hit the town and realized that weekend tourism in Israel is extremely difficult (everything was closed for Shabbat).  We found a Japanese restaurant still open and then decide to head back to the beach while the moon was shining brightly overhead (a novel idea that everyone in Tel Aviv seemed to share; there were a lot of people with the same idea).

The one thing that I really enjoyed about Tel Aviv was the informality.  Though still in Israel, it was nice to be in a city that is more laid back and less obsessed wtih religious/traditional rules.  In Jerusalem it’s easy to get sucked into a stressful mentality of cultural observance: If I’m in this neighborhood I have to wear conservative clothes; if I’m in this neighborhood I have to cover my head; should I even be in this neighborhood?

Some quick observations about Tel Aviv:

(1) The beaches are fairly dirty… too many people and too much litter.

(2) Tel Aviv is far more modern than Jerusalem: less modesty, more secularism, and more non-kosher restaurants

(3) Tel Aviv just recently celebrated its 100th aniversery

(4)  The Mediterranean is salty

(5)  Israelis love playing Matkot, a paddle ball game, in which two people hit a rubber ball back and forth.

(6) Jerusalem is better (though many people from my group disagreed)

(I forgot to bring my camera, so I got this picture off the internet)

Last week I started my internship with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI).  http://www.stoptorture.org.il/en 

The organization was originally established in 1990 as a reponse to the increasing incidents of unchecked torture inflicted on Palestinian detainees.  With the first Intifada in full swing, Israeli forces were utilizing the full extent of the law to extract national security information.  At the time, Israel was the only democratic state that had a legal apparatus protecting “extreme physical pressure.”  In 1999, with the help of PCATI, the High Court of Justice ruled to implement an absolute prohibition on torture.  As a case standard, this ruling was a landmark decision for the people at PCATI and the people throughout the occupied territories.  However, the absolute ban on torture was not quite absolute…  If an interogater was accused of torture, the interogator would have the possibility of claiming the “necessity defense.”  If it could be proven that the interogator acted out of necessity for the protection of national security, no criminal charges could be brought before him: he could act with impunity.  PCATI, therefore still fights torture in Israel… the kind that abuses the standard operating procedure, and the kind that happens with court sanctioned impunity. 

With PCATI, I will be doing academic research to write, vaguely, about ethics and torture.  I will also be trying to establish an international forum of experts who can participate in on-line discussions and possibly conduct english language interviews.

As a human rights organization in Israel, I feel mostly like an outsider right now.  I tried to explain to my co-workers why I would be interested in Human Rights as a student of International Security, but they mostly don’t seem to understand, and sometimes I’m not sure myself.  As it currently stands in Israel, there are essentially two teams: those who implement the security policies and those that fight the policies (the human rights organizations).  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a policy maker in security who studied human rights and understands the importance of the individual and the balance required to avoid a self prepetuating security problem?  “Us versus them” is not going to work. 

Anyway, what little work I’ve already put into this internship has been stimulating and eye-opening; and the people I work with have all been very nice.  In the end, I’m stuck in an office all day; so I have come to an understanding with them that I will be away from the office for at least one day a week, helping other NGOs, trying to gain a different perspective on the conflict. If you are interested in torture in general there are some very interesting videos on the subject that you can watch online… (note that some of them are disturbing).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4030426275197703364 (Standard Operating Procedure: the true story of abu ghraib)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1645843955674514445 (Taxi to the Dark Side)