2019 writing competition
- by Kirsty LG -
It’s summertime in Scotland and finally after four intensive months I
feel enough distance and cooling of the air to be able to reflect on my
time in Jerusalem. I’ll be returning soon as it’s to be my home for the
next few years and for that I feel lucky. When I first arrived it
bothered me that no-one seemed able to give us a precise address for our
apartment. I get it now though. Language matters, spellings matter and
both carry labels and meanings often beyond my comprehension. Living in
East Jerusalem, I feel caught in a no-mans land between Israel and
Palestine and by ‘no-mans’ really I mean ‘everyman’s’.
Previously I had little understanding of the conflict that divides the
people and the land. Not wishing to sound ignorant, if it was raised in
conversation, I would probably have trotted out phrases like ‘it’s
complicated’, or worse ‘there is fault on both sides’, and ‘no easy
solutions’. Perhaps these are still true. Certainly these phrases have
created a convenient curtain to shield politicians and institutions for
many years. Space travel is complicated. Brain surgery is complicated.
The stock market is complicated. It seems to me that things are only
insurmountable when there is not enough collective will to resolve them.
This conclusion has deeply saddened and disappointed me. Why is so much
suffering allowed to continue? How can such a system founded on
injustice and inequality go unchallenged? Does the world not see, or
does the world not care? For these questions I have no answers.
Despite being swaddled in this great cloak of sadness and suffering, the
city and the land have both enchanted and enthralled me. Layer upon
layer of history and religious diversity have created a depth of culture
that is unlike anywhere else I’ve been in the world. I would call
Jerusalem a melting pot but the ingredients don’t mix so easily here as
they do in other great cities of the world. The Old and new city are
separated by a wall. East and West is separated by the invisible but
keenly felt green line and each neighbourhood has a strict sense of its
own identity and rules.
I do not underestimate the great privilege I have in being able to
travel freely throughout Israel and Palestine. One of the greatest
sorrows I’ve seen is that those who love the land are often separated
from it through a lottery permit system. I suspect that rather like an
immersive theatre experience the show plays out differently every day
for every person depending on their background and it is this which
shapes their experiences of this place. I know that I am living a
sheltered existence and I often feel guilty for being able to view it as
others can’t and equally for not seeing the things that shape other
peoples’ lives.
I feel sad that most Israelis will never get to drive to Ramallah and
experience the hustle and bustle of the old city or the divine cakes at
Vanilla café in the shiny new area of the city. Similarly, most West
bankers can only dream of hiking up Ein Gedi, floating in the Dead Sea
or visiting the Tel Aviv beaches again. The human spirit is resilient
however and there is always someone worse off with a staircase of
suffering leading from East Jerusalem, to the West Bank, to Gaza and
down from there to other Arab states like Syria and Yemen. This
resilience of spirit impresses me but it’s not ok in the same way as
Apartheid in South Africa wasn’t ok. When will the curtain drop and
meaningful steps towards peace become a reality? We cannot afford to sit
back and passively let another 50 years of pain and suffering occur.
Comments
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Beautiful, Kirsty, thank you.
ReplyDeleteTouching & Insightful read Kirsty, I am glad you are enjoying making it home and exploring its wonderment in such an insightful lens.
ReplyDeleteKirsty, you have hit on the most profound of dilemmas: the solution to the suffering endured by the Palestinians SHOULD be simple, but as is often the case, the TRUTH is often difficult for people to access. All countries who sit by and allow this to happen are culpable - none more than my country, the U.S. For that I am ashamed.
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