Living in the Palestinian community on the West Bank was a great experience for the three weeks I was there. They were all extremely kind towards me and made me feel very much at home. I'd walked through their housing district several times on my way to Jerusalem and usually made it back to my flat at the end of the day during daylight hours, but there was one day that I missed my bus and had to get on one that brought me back a little too late in the day. It was after dark and because of getting off at a different bus stop I had to walk almost a mile down the main road before I could get to where I was staying. There were very few houses on this stretch of pavement and no street lights to light up the road. I'd already had my share of nighttime ambushes and really didn't need another one to remind me what they were like...
Just about the time I thought I was out of the dark and into the view of the lit up bus stop, close to where I lived, I noticed three unfamiliar Palestinians walking abreast, coming towards me in the darkness. There was only one of me and three of them. I hadn't lived among the Palestinians for very long at this point and didn't know for sure what the majority of them thought of people from the U.S.A. I'd been inching my way towards getting to know them and really didn't exactly want to put them to the test this way. However, so much for having the ideal situation... At just a few yards away, I could see that they were staring at me and not saying anything to one another. There was no need to run the other way, because I had nowhere to go. I felt my heart start to pound and thought I'd better say something, but I didn't speak Arabic, and wouldn't know what to say if I could! I did know how to say hello though, and so I half heartedly waved and not wanting to sound apprehensive or noticeably distressed, I spoke out saying, "Marhabba!" Apparently, they were feeling a little uncomfortable as well and responded with a noticeable sigh of relief in their voices while waving and saying, "Marhabba!!" in return. The thing that I hadn't realized during my first week or two there was that most Palestinians on the West Bank spoke English...
While living at this location on the West Bank, I attended several church services of all kinds in and around Jerusalem. In the process, I learned of some other places to rent in the Jerusalem area. To have easier access to Bethlehem and places farther south, I decided to move closer to a bus stop in southern Jerusalem. I found a room to rent in a house owned by an English speaking married couple. She was from Germany and he was from the U.S. The house was in the southern most part of Jerusalem in an area called Gilo which is pronounced like Gee-low. Judging by its' appearance, it looked like it'd been made several hundred years ago. It was a simple looking square, stone house with a flat roof that had square shaped openings all around the top of it, as though it was a defensive roof on a castle or something. From my second story balcony at the rear of the house, I could see Bethlehem to the south which was about two miles away. Between the house and Bethlehem were rows of olive trees, probably about two city block's worth. In the middle of them was a soccer field where young Palestinians were usually playing soccer. This was a convenient location for me because the bus stop was only a short walk from the house and I was able to visit Bethlehem and the surrounding area easily from there. Gilo is a Jewish community marked by large, tall apartment buildings that could be seen from the front of the house. The Bethlehem community could be seen from behind the house.
Prior to moving into the house in Gilo, I'd taken two days to go to a place about ninety miles south of Jerusalem called IrAvot. Pronounced like "ear-a-vote," it was a tiny community somewhere in the middle of the Negev Desert. The sand was very hot and very dry and was the only thing other than the sky that could be seen for endless miles outside of this little spec of life in the desert called IrAvot. I believe that there was originally a small Kibbutz at this location. A Kibbutz is an Israeli collective farm, or a small communal Jewish settlement. Later, about 1986, this location came to be known as the 'Blossoming Rose Project' which was partially funded by the college I had attended in Cedar Springs, Michigan. Its' purpose was to create plant life in the desert by planting trees and other various kinds of vegetation. Judging by some rows of trees and plants that I could see off in the distance, the project appeared to be somewhat successful. There were only seven or eight people living and working there when I was there in 1987. It looked like most of them were young males in their early teens, or younger. When I saw them, at the end of each of the two days I was there, they all appeared to be totally worn out from working all day out in the extremely hot temperatures of the desert sun. Their sleeping quarters were very small, rectangular constructions, probably mobile offices which didn't appear to have any conveniences such as air conditioners.
The young workers appeared to be under the close supervision of a middle aged man who seemed to be running things. For some reason, I wasn't able to talk with them to find out more about them and get their perception of life in the desert. They seemed to be very tired and very young. While I was walking around the few buildings that were there one afternoon, I met a man who had a lot of things to say... I can't remember where he came from that day, or exactly what he was doing there in the middle of the desert, but we talked for a good hour or two in the shade of a large tree that stood all by itself. He explained that this was a very old tree and that it had started growing some time during the time of Christ. Anyway, he stated that he had formerly been an advisor to King Hussein in Saudi Arabia, and that while working there had traced his original name for some reason, and found that his ancestry was Jewish. He said that after making this discovery, he renounced his citizenship with Saudi Arabia, left his job with King Hussein, and moved to Israel...
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