1988-1989 Rothberg Yearbook

The questions I get asked the m ost outside of Israel are: "Is it safe? A re there riots?" People have a
hard tim e d istinguish ing betw een the areas occupied by Israel in 1967, those under Israeli m ilitary
adm inistration, and Israel itself. For us studying at Hebrew University, the W est Bank is always close
at hand. The university is surrounded by East Jerusalem and from here it is possible to lookout across
the desert and see the hills of Jordan rising from Judea. Because of the Intifada, the Palestinian
uprising th a t started in December of 1987, the W est Bank has not been a popular destination fo r us
students. Some of us, however, made trips. I found it im possible to live here in Israel and not make an
effort to see w h a t w as going on in the W est Bank and Gaza, w here Israel controls a m illion and a half
Palestinian Arabs. I made trip s to the W est Bank on about 10 occasions: 3 tim es to Nablus, tw ice to
Hebron, to Jericho, Bir Zeit, Bethlehem , and Ramallah It can be a very scary experience. You leave
Jerusalem in an Arab-shared taxi. Im m ediately, the only signs of Israel th a t you see are the army. All
signs are in Arabic and English. It takes tim e to pass through the m ilita ry checkpoints. Every w a ll in
sight is covered w ith n a tionalistic g ra ffiti th a t the arm y has painted over. W alking through the tow ns
everyone stares at you. There are no tourists, but people are fantastically friendly. They invite you to
th e ir homes for a meal, to drink tea, then w alk you around tow n until they see an arm y patrol. Then,
they vanish into alleyw ays, because they are afraid to be seen w ith you. The atm osphere is tense, and
w hen the stores close th e streets become deserted. W e once ran into the arm y teargassing the m arket
in Nablus. It is like being in a w a r zone at tim es. But the experience w as w o rth it because despite th e ir
circum stances, th e P alestinians hospitality and friendship shone through.
Josh Schwarcz