Israel

I have been attempting lately to educate myself in preparation for my trip. I have read books, magazines, and newspapers, and have watched educational TV programs. Some notes from these sources: The attitudes of Jews at present are largely informed by the Holocaust. This is reflected in the Jewish slogan “never again.” The Jews invaded and took over much of Palestine in 1947. Due in large part to the Holocaust, the UN was willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a free republic. The Palestinians protested, of course, but the Jews countered with the claim that God had given them this land 3,000 years ago. The slogan of the Jews was “a land with no people for a people with no land.” The problem was that it was not a land with no people. The Palestinians had been living there for hundreds and thousands of years. In the seven day war of 1967 the Jews took over the Palestinian territories of Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into refugee camps. Israel recently returned the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians, and plans are under way to return parts of the West Bank as well. There is also talk of creating a Palestinian state, if agreement could ever be reached as to what that should look like. *Presently checkpoints are set up in various parts of Israel. These are a source of humiliation and frustration for Palestinians. – I hope to visit one of the territories, perhaps Hebron or the West Bank, to go through a checkpoint, and hopefully to talk to some Israeli soldiers (if I can find any who speak English) about their experiences, and about their views on the above topics.