Ramallah, just 10km north of Jerusalem, has become Palestine’s de-facto capital, home to the Palestinian parliament, government ministries and the offices of the President and Prime Minister. Closely associated for me with the Intifada and Palestinian resistance, Ramallah is today the most affluent and liberal city in Palestine and the cultural hub of the West Bank, with many famous Palestinian activists, poets, musicians and artists residing here. We took a Palestinian bus from Jerusalem for the short trip, without much of a plan of […]
Palestine
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Famous as the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem is a small city in Palestine, whose residents are living with the severe inconvenience and economic impacts of a huge wall that Israel has erected. Not only does it impair residents ability to commute to work in Israel and the West Bank, it cuts many residents off from their own farm land. đ It is illegal for Israelis to travel to Bethlehem (or any other town in Palestine), but plenty of tourists make the short trip from […]
Traveling to Israel / Palestine
Normally I get pretty excited about traveling to new countries and cultures but for a few reasons the excitement just didnât hit this time round. Not even when we were about to board the plane. In fact looking at the huge CO2 emitting machine that was about to whisk me half way round the world made me feel pretty bad, what the Swedes call Flygskam. Less than 48 hours before, I had joined the local Ashburton School Strike for Climate and felt super proud […]