TEL AVIV AND JAFFA

So, that’s me back from Tel Aviv.

As I said in a previous post, Tel Aviv is a totally different world from the West Bank. It felt to me exactly like any American city, with lots of skyscrapers and neon, everybody seeming to be in a hurry and a heightened level of security.

TEL AVIV

It took be a while to feel comfortable there. To start with it felt like I was in some way consorting with the enemy, but knew I had to remind myself that not all Israelis are bad people.

I was staying with a friend of a friend, although it turns out I’d met him before while working for the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland. I had first met him at a conference entitled Youth Work in Contested Spaces, where delegates came from areas of conflict all over the world (including Palestine and Israel, the Balkans, South Africa and Northern Ireland itself) to share good youth work practice. This was a fantastic event which taught me a lot. It was also the first time I had met Palestinians and Israelis and, to a certain extent, led to my decision six years later to come to the West Bank.

On one of the days in Tel Aviv, my host allowed me to spend the working day with him and to find out about the different youth projects he has been involved with. I was very impressed with him and the projects themselves. As a youth worker, it’s always good to find out about examples of good practice, no matter where and in what context, so it was a day well spent. I also took the opportunity to get an Israeli perspective, or more specifically a liberal/leftist Israeli perspective, on the conflict and prospects for a peace deal. (Unfortunately, I'm told the prospects don't look all that good.)

JAFFA

I spent another one of days taking a wee dander to Jaffa. I walked the whole way there along gorgeous beaches with the sun shining and the waves lapping at my feet. I hadn’t realised I’d missed being by the sea so much. As I got nearer Jaffa, the people on the beaches seemed to change. To start with, everyone was dressed as you’d expect Westerners to dress on a sunny day on the beach. After a while, there were a few more people in Arabic dress. By the time I was almost at Jaffa, it was all people in Arabic dress. It was curious that I felt more and more comfortable as I neared Jaffa.

TOWER OF THE MARITIME MOSQUE IN OLD JAFFA

Jaffa itself is a lovely wee town. It’s old, and therefore is more beautiful and has much more character than Tel Aviv, and there was an interesting mix of people. This was reflected in the mix of places of worship, including mosques and Christian churches of every major denomination. There was even a Church of Scotland church. (This was initially hard to spot as it was by far the least ostentatious place of worship I saw .)

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND CHURCH

It was good to have a break for a couple of days, get a wee bit of head space and recover from the cold I’d been suffering from.

When I got back to Nablus, I felt rested, re-energised and, most importantly, glad to be home.