Jerusalem, my Destiny---or rather, my destination

We arrived in Jerusalem yesterday at like 4:30, after like 20 hours of traveling. Needless to say, it was a long couple days. Luckily, Ayesha was only detained for like 25 minutes, as opposed to 3 hours for the first time. We will count it a success.

As for Jerusalem, or القدس as it is known in Arabic. There is nothing to really describe the feeling of coming around a corner and seeing the Dome of the Rock for the first time. Even though I am not Muslim, I have longed to see it ever since my old religion teacher had the Jerusalem panorama on his wall; it rises above all the other sites of Jerusalem, a gorgeous golden dome (that puts Notre Dame's to shame) rstanding above the holy city on the Temple Mount. It's breathtaking, but "breathtaking" doesn't really even come close.

Our hostel is in East Jerusalem, which is an Arab part of the city, so it feels a little bit like Cairo, with fruit vendors downstairs, delcious Palestinian food next door, and I can speak a little Arabic with them. We are within view of the Damascus Gate to the Old City, and we went walking around there a little last night. It's a little like Khan al Khalili in Cairo, with people selling all kinds of things: food including produce, dead cow, roasting chickens, fresh fish, along with tons of shoestores and shops selling Jewish, Muslim and Christian souvenirs, scarves, Muslim clothing, T-shirt stores selling Pr0-Palestine and Pro-Peace shirts alongside Israeli Uzi ones. . . like Cairo, it's a 1000 things at once. And the funny thing is, we were on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, without even realizing it till we saw a part marking the Third Station. It absolutely blows my mind that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall are 10 minutes away. And the Orthodox Jews were heading, many at a run, or sort of a trot to the Wailing Wall and the Synaogogue before sundown, as the Call to Prayer played above our heads. it was just everything.

In all of this, I had a vision of what Jerusalem could be. Religions intermingling in the holy areas like they could be all over the country, if only politics could be sorted out and the Palestinians actually had their rights. It was a beautiful vision, but I know enough about the history and the current situation to realize this is make believe. Our Taxi driver, Ahmed, told us that even though he is one of the few Palestinians with an Israeli Passport, life and mobility are incredibly hard. Our hostel owner Hisham told us that Palestinians in the West Bank can't even visit Jerusalem because they have no passports of any kind. No matter how hard Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush tries, this isn't changing any time soon. We'll go to the West Bank tomorrow, so more on that later, but on the surface, the New Jerusalem is an amazing place. . . and my dream, my prayer at the Wailing Wall and at every station of the Cross was that this could be realized, peace with justice.

Today we tried to go to the Dome of the Rock, but the Israelis have closed it on account of Sabbath and Passover, because they do that. So instead we followed the Via Dolorosa, which is beautiful. They have small chapels in the midst of the market place, and it was nice to sit and reflect on it, but this will be easier to describe when I can add pictures from backin Cairo. We got to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but I in all honesty preferred the rest of the stations, because the Church was nuts, obnoxious Eastern European tour groups, it was crowded and the line for the tomb was 2 hours, and I decided that the Church didn't feel holy enoguh to wait 2 hours for 2 minutes. It was still really special and sacred to be there, but felt strange all the same.

Alright, enough for now. Check back for pictures in a few days. I hope this gives you a little taste, but let me tell you that I can't actually describe my joy at finally seeing Jerusalem, its sacredness and its modern challenges all at once.

With love and peace from the Holy City,
Laura