zaytoun

"... lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, its oil all but giving off light even if no fire touches it"

I filmed the sunrise over Jordan in a Palestinian olive grove.
The pre dawn call to prayer surrounded us as we walked through the dusty avenues of trees.
For some reason I felt tears welling in my eyes, here felt close to heaven, the ancient Roman olive boughs touched by the first grains of light. The rolling sandy expanse of the Jordan Valley fell away before us as we set up the camera. Then, after a few minutes, the great orange orb of the sun crept up over the Jordan hills. Soft heat like thick oil flowed over us, and we waited. The world drew breath, and the village came gradually to life. Another day in Palestine.

skelfs in yer een

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.

this is generally something we should all take into account when travelling to cultures vastly different from our own

5 Pillars

I was very interested in visiting a mostly Islamic county for the first time.
The call to prayer echoes around the city, calling the faithful to their daily prayers. It is a sound immediately evocative of the Middle East and, like the chiming of church bells, brings rhythm and religion into each day. Daily prayer is an important part of Muslim life, and the many mosques around the city were seldom empty. We could see 19 different mosques from the balcony of our apartment, glowing green in the evening.

We were lucky to be visiting Nablus during the festival of Eid Al Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which is one of the most important holidays for Muslims. It honours the prophet Abraham who was called by God to sacrifice his son, however before he did so God intervened and he was told to sacrifice a ram instead. The festival is also the most important time to make the pilgrimage to Hajj in Mecca, so many Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia at this time of year.
Most people use the time to visit family and share food with them, special cakes called mamool are made which are AMAZING! Some families slaughter a ram - we could hear a bleating sound coming from next door which came to an abrupt stop on the first day of Eid. Our neighbour's young boys then delighted in showing us the poor beast's head over the garden wall!
It was an honour to share this time with our Muslim friends and learn more about the festival. I bought some special Eid lights to take home which are pretty cool.

Some of our friends were granted a special pass to visit family in "48" - Israel. Most of the time it is pretty much impossible for people to visit family on the other side of the green line, however during Eid the Israelis allow a few lucky people to travel across the border, worship at the Al Asqa mosque in Jerusalem, and visit loved ones in cities like Jaffa, Haifa, Tel Aviv or Nazareth. This luck does not extend to refugees however, and there are three refugee camps in Nablus. Balata, Askar and "1" are densely populated camps, consisting of people who fled what is now Israel in 1948 and their descendants. It is so sad to see that people have been refugees for generations, living in tightly packed housing in some of the poorest parts of the city. The people who live there are not allowed to vote in local elections, have very restricted travel and work opportunities and attend schools run by the UN. The camps are also the most targeted when it comes to attacks or arrests and the tiny narrow streets are lined with posters depicting men and boys who have died. 

The children and young people we met from the camps were amazing! They all had great English, even the 5 year olds, and were very positive, inquisitive and community minded. They showed us some Dabke - a lively arabic dance to macho, pulsing music that I've become totally addicted to.

A Dabke CD I bought in Ramallah

The city is also home to a small but thriving Christian population, as well as being close to one of the two Samaritan villages in the world. I will write a wee bit more about them later!!

marhaba

I have not been keeping this blog very well, and it is now my new resolution to keep it up to date with the various things I have been doing.

The time I spent in Nablus is the most obvious topic for my mind to be obsessing over, so I will attempt to put some of my thoughts into writing.

Nablus is certainly a place to make you think. Every evening during our stay would be spent in heated discussion around politics, religion, feminism, culture, language, food, traditions and then some more politics.
We were initially surprised at how little the people we met mentioned the occupation or the Israelis. Most political discussion was reserved for the local elections and people's thoughts on Fatah, Hamas and the various independent fractions forming. Most Nablusis seem to want to get on with life, and don't want to get bogged down in the topic of the ever present Israeli Occupation. However now and then it is brought back sharply into focus. A friend of ours greeted us warmly during a trip round the old city, when asked how he was he replied nonchalantly that he was recently out of prison. This is unfortunately the case for many young men who are arrested and then held for months without charge. Despite this constant worry and disruption, these men are continuing their studies and desperately trying to find work in an increasingly difficult economic climate.

There is a strong spirit of determined resolve in this city. We will strive to make the most for our young people. We will continue to develop the best University in Palestine. We will continue to improve roads, water, electricity and healthcare in our city. We will build new homes, new hospitals, new substations, new fire-stations and we will plant more trees and build more parks to inspire hope in our children . This is a city of positive modernistic thinking and progress, despite the circumstances.

3 weeks in Palestine

I have just returned from a three week trip to Palestine, where I was making a film for the Dundee Nablus Twinning Association.

Nablus is one of the biggest cities in the West Bank, a bustling, modern and peaceful place with a busy shopping district, world class university and friendly, welcoming and open minded citizens. 

Nestled between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, Nablus is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was known as Shechem in Biblical times and has also been a holy site for the Samaritan population for many years.

The Clock Tower in the Old City