One of my highlights this week was our visit to Bethlehem University to talk to Palestinian students our age attending college in Bethlehem. (Our Palestinian Professor-above-took us to meet his other students.) There was a question and answer session and time to socialize. Bethlehem University is made up of Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Muslim students. 74% of the students are girls due to the high passing rate of women on entrance exams. 2500 apply and only 500 are accepted. It is extremely competitive to say the least.
Neat Facts I learned:
These youth chill, talk, watch American movies, play soccer, shop, and get on Facebook just like we do. These students were so down to earth and eventhough we come from drastically different backgrounds and cultures, I could have talked for hours with them; We did not want to leave.
Singe dating is not appropriate in the culture here, everyone goes out in groups. The Parents are extremely involved in engagements.
They wear their wedding rings on their right hands.
Many get married around 30, in order to have a secure foundation for a family.
THE MOST INTERESTING THING TO ME:
I have spent the past two weeks studying in depth for my Palestinian and Judaism Finals (hence no blog posts for some time.) I can't count how many hours I spent sprawled out on the floor, desperately trying to grasp onto the history and principles of these peoples and their various beliefs.
(Secretly, I enjoyed discovering for myself this previously-foreign world.)
I am slowly grapsed onto the many concepts that make up this complicated Palestinian-Israeli conflict that consummes the thoughts and lives of millions.
Guess What?
What I studied and "regurgited" on the finals is not a list of useless facts and made up history, It is life and reality for most. My test was these students' lives.
If you asked a typical college student what they struggle with on a daily basis, many will respond: balancing a social life with academics and a job.(Which is hard nonetheless)
Here is what these students replied:
Challenge: These Palestinian students cannot go in Israeli areas. Palestinian areas do not have airports so they must travel to Jordan to travel=most have never and will never leave this country. It is extremely difficult to cross check-points to go to Jerusalem (25 minutes away) let alone Jordan. It takes an entire day to get a permit to cross the borders and that permit lasts one day. Students from Jerusalem, Hebron, or any other city have to wake up at 5am to be at school on time. (It takes them two hours to cross the borders.) Many students are denied schooling due to their location. Places that I have traveled to in the past week are places these students have never been.....and they LIVE HERE!
These students desperately want peace. Many participate in NGO organizations where they communicate and negotiate with fellow Israeli students. Most of the students aspire to change the course of this internal conflict through pursuing an education and obtaining authority which would enable them to.
The history of the Palestinians lay in the hands of thier youth-
Young Adults My Age!
Favorite Quote of the Session:
“Education is not preparation for life, it is life itself.”
This is the wall/fence/barrier that surrounds Bethlehem today.
Powerful Messages are portrayed on the walls in graffiti.
According to the Israeli authorities the fence/wall is "a defensive measure, designed to block the passage of terrorists, weapons and explosives into the State of Israel...."
Close to 90% of the route of the fence/wall is on Palestinian land inside the West Bank, encircling Palestinian towns and villages and cutting off communities and families from each other and separating Palestinians from their places of work and education and other essential services.
Each side has a different story.
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