Wednesday Oct 3

Today I got my first taste of what segregation really feels like. I started volunteering at a place last week the deals in the reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian Christians. It is a little over two miles from the JUC campus so last week I rode the Israeli bus back after I got finished. This week I decided to try and ride the Arab bus that runs right past the lower level of the school, it is also cheaper at 3 1/2 shekels instead of 5 1/2 for the Israeli bus. To shorten the story a little I ended up walking the entire way because none of the Arab buses would stop to pick me up. For those that don't know about it, because of all the bus bombings and things that happened in the past the Israeli bus service refused to carry Palestinians on the buses. Because of that and a few other things I guess, an Arab bus service started around Jerusalem to cater to those who don't look like Jews. Well, I guess I look enough like a Jew because none of the Arab buses would stop for me. It was not a pleasant feeling knowing that I was refused a service based on the color of my skin, and it got me thinking more about the conflict that has been raging throughout history on people judging the abilities and status of other simply by the way they look, and in other cases what family they may have been born into. Since this is really my first time of receiving this type of judgment I really didn't know what to think about it other than to know that it felt unpleasant.

To add to it a little while I was at Musalaha, the ministry I volunteer at, I got the opportunity to watch a video they produced about one of their connection retreats. this is where they bring younger, mostly upper teen, Israeli and Palestinian Christians together in another country to talk about and build connection and friendships together. It was an amazing story of two young girls who became friends during this retreat and how they were working to try and keep that friendship going once they both returned to Israel. But what got me thinking is when the Palestinian girl tried to go visit her Israeli friend and the guards at the Checkpoint at the wall would not let her pass. If any of you don't already know Israel is building a 25 foot wall all around the west bank area. Looking at it really reminds me of the Berlin wall. Is is very high thick and gray. It stick out lick a sore thumb against the brown desert geography of this land. The first time I saw it I was amazed because I had never heard anything about them building this wall; and if any of you are familiar with the border that was drawn for the west bank Israel separation it is a very long wall. Well, for Israelis it is very easy to pass through these checkpoints that are along the wall. Most of the cars with Israeli registration have a yellow license plate on them and are basically waved through. Cars with Palestinian registration are often held and backed up for quite a distance at every checkpoint we have been waved through so far. But back to the video I was watching. When the girl was turned back at the checkpoint she called her friend and told her she couldn't come and visit because they would not let her pass so her friend decided to come to Bethlehem and visit her. She had never been through a check point herself and didn't know now if they would let her through, but she walked right through the checkpoint and not one of the guards even really looked at her. Well I can say that I have been in that place, all the times we have been through checkpoints going into or out of the west bank area we are not even stopped for an id verification. There are a few students on campus that travel down to Bethlehem Bible College twice a week for Arabic classes and the bus that takes them there has to stop at the border and drop them off because it is not allowed to cross over because it is an Arab licensed bus. But now for the first time I have gotten a hint of what it is like to be looked at and restricted because of how I look. I felt a little better as I was returning home because I caught an Arab bus pulled over to pick up someone else and jumped on board. I paid my 3 1/2 shekels and sat down, but I could feel every pair of eyes on the bus looking at me. I was the only one on the bus that was not of Arab complexion and I felt that they were all wondering why I was on their bus. As I pushed the button to stop the bus the driver looked into the rear view mirror with a quizzical look on his face, because I was getting off in a very Arab part of town, but it is the closest stop to walk back to school. I also felt all the eyes on the bus again watch me as I got off and began to walk through the streets toward the hill leading back up to Mt. Zion and the protective walls of JUC. I must admit that it was a little unnerving at first as I stepped onto and off of that bus, but I am determined to continue taking the bus as long as they let me on them it is a lot fast than the 40 minutes it took me to walk there this morning.