"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem..."

Source: Psalm 137, 5

Last Wednesday, I went to Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, for a panel discussion on international humanitarian law in the wake of the flotilla (no pun). The legal issues were fascinating, and even more so was the group of Palestinian lawyers video-conferenced in from Gaza. Even their office furniture was interesting, and I tried to gauge what kind of facilities were available and what Gazan lawyers wear to work. Afterwards, I went to the Jerusalem office of my org, met a friend of a friend, Jaqui (now my friend), and an old friend (my homegirl Shelby from JDS).

I also had some nice run-ins. A Canadian ex-pat who advocated for a "no states" (plural) solution. A former Olympic boxer (or so his business card says) who is now a religious Jewish dietician. An elderly British man who insisted on holding my hand for a suspiciously long time as he asked for directions.

And on Friday, I went to my first Gay Pride parade. "No rainbow." Tel Aviv is essentially the most liberal city in the Middle East (not a hard contest to win), and the annual gay pride parade is an opportunity for gays, gay allies, lesbians over forty, asexuals, and burly gay men who call themselves "bears" to all wear speedos and wave highly identity-specific flags. The event of the season, to be sure.

It's just one of the ways in which TA and Jerusalem is a study in contrasts. In TA, for example, I had a lengthy conversation with a member of the Israeli Communist party (the words "proletariat" and "bougois" were used liberally, in both senses). In Jerusalem, on the other hand, I saw graffiti that read in Hebrew, "death to Arabs". Now, I think it is probably very likely that similar anti-Jewish graffiti can be found in Arab neighborhoods, but I don't read Arabic. In any event, the diversity of perspectives even among Israeli Jews is a constant feature of my experience in Israel.

The weekend was tight and deserves its own post. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Simone's party (in case u forgot, I already told ya).