I planned to write some three or four posts after I came back to the UK in order to convey what I feel and what has been going through my mind in this past week...but before I do, I have to say that no number of posts can ever express just how much of an affinity i feel for the west bank, both its people and the land itself. So bloody cliche to say it, but words really cannot express how much more I want to explore the area, to talk to people, to record their words and and though I gained a lot medically, I really wish I could have travelled more to see a country that is so much more than a picture in the newspaper, or a video clip on the BBC.
I travelled a little around Israel itself as well and though I have had bad experiences in Jerusalem, I would have loved to see the Golan and Galilee, Eilat, and to swim in the Dead sea (or try to at least)! Must definitely come back, and must definitely set up links so that others can see what I saw. Inshallah i will go to Gaza one day as well.
Why affiinity? Why such a deep sense of attachment?
Because I learned to live again. To wake up everyday and see something different, to challenge and want to challenge myself further. Beause it put to rest so many of the erroneous thoughts and assumptions about the world and about people. Because it showed me how life in london and how I approached it, was so lacking and so devoid of real experience, where you interact with people and expect nothing but humanity and respect in return.
Talking to a dad of three young boys on a bus to the Makassed hospital in Jerusalem, whilst he was on way to see his new baby girl. Having him translate for his oldest kid (7 years i think) who told me he wanted to be a doctor too. Hearing 'welcome to my country' in about 20 different ways and encouragement to tell him something about myself and where I was from. Seeing their smiles and seeing no mistrust, illwill or barrier between us.
Walking down the main street to the centre of town on the last night of Ramadan with a German friend in Ramallah when a group of guys on the street who were about to break fast heard us talking in English. "Are you an Arab?" in arabic they asked...I then told em I was from India and that my friend was German. There was no refusing their invite to come sit down and have Iftar with them...offering us coke, bread, rice, vegetables, chicken. Of course I had to decline the last of those, and after they asked like so many other Palestinians before them why and after telling em, they sent one of their guys to pick me up a couple of falafel sandwiches! We talked for about half an hour about where we were all from and what they did. One of em showed me two very swollen fingers and the stitches he'd had along the back of em, following an industrial machinery accident where the machine to flatten rubber had crushed his index and middle finger.
They gave me their numbers and told me to call em when I went to Hebron city. though I never did, I'll be sure to email em! And when I offered to pay for the falafels they bought for me, they were shocked and said that thats not at all polite, as I was their guest and that I should be looked after. Sure the stresses and culture is totally different in England, but seeing such a display of affection for me, a total stranger was really amazing.
Was talking to a group of mums and their kids in a paeds ward in Jerusalem in the Makassed hospital, one of em could translate almost perfectly what was being said as she'd lived in the states. Three of them were from Gaza, having been given permission by the Israelis to travel for the medical complaints of their kids. They knew I didn't speak Arabic but assumed I was Palestinian, and we talked for about 5 minutes like that, but when i told em I was a student doc from India, they just stared at me blankly for a second, and then said in arabic...'wait! you're from India? you're not from here??'....and after that welcomed me and asked me loads of questions about why I had chosen here to come to, and what I thought of the place. THey told me all about their kids, and sometimes it seemed like it didn't matter that I couldn't speak the language....they would explain their medical problems and ask me questions in arabic, only pausing to translate when it was clear that I had no clue what was being told to me. One of em asked me to definitely say her kid didn't have autism and to examine her!
But generally the openness and frank nature with which everyone acts towards each other, and the complete lack of pretention in most people, makes social interaction so much more possible, common, and honest...so that niceties and superficial politeness are present only at the beginning of a conversation before people are truly themselves with you. And disagreement is done openly...no innate worry about whether someone is out to offend you or not, or whether that statement was meant in jest or whether it was truly an offensive one. Though things are different here, and there's so much more bullshit, I'll try and incorporate this approach to interaction into my daily life.
If one thought about it, one may say that such an approach to people is unrealistic here in London, as people are different here, there is so much more crime and you can't really be yourself with people. That's true, but only up to a point, and one can determine exactly how their interaction proceeds, by not assuming the worst straight out and not expecting the person on the road, or new acquaintances to stab you in the back. Sure you don't know what they will say or how they will act. But to deal with any hostility/aggression/fear when it is encountered and to prepare for how one will react to it when one has a quiet moment, is so much more relieving, honest and even practical than anticipating attack at every corner and closing yourself off as an individual by masking. This is something that has been a struggle for me as I never quite got the balance between masking and honesty right...maybe cause I hadn't seen just what people were capable of in terms of dealing with one another. Now that I have, my perspectives are very different.
Masalam, more later.
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