Two weeks and counting...

Hi everyone,

Rather than spending countless hours emailing each of you about my current status in the Middle East, I decided to go ahead and start a blog. I will be sending a link to this blog only to good friends, so, unless you found this site by default, feel lucky and loved. Since I am two weeks over-due, I have lots to catch everyone up on as well as pictures to post. So, let's just get down to what is happening this minute.

As I am sure most of you are already aware, Israel is on the verge of going to war with Lebanon after Hizbullah (or Hezbollah, but I'll stick with the version they use here) threw rockets into northern Israel and kidnapped two soldiers earlier this week. Fast-forward to today, Lebanon's airport has been disabled, bridges have been completely destroyed as well as Hizbullah's headquarters. To put it simply, the shit has hit the fan, and this is not just any regular kind of shit, this shit is boiling hot and it burns...

My time in Israel before this has been very pleasant. The people are very kind, the weather is great, I'm learning Hebrew, and the sites are amazing and oozing with thousands of years of history. In the interest of time, I'll only mention a few words to describe Israeli culture: funky sandals, hummus, "salad" (cucumbers, red and green bell peppers, onions, cheese, and tomatoes chopped into little squares and mixed with olive oil and lemon juice), felafel stands, kippahs, shabbat, kosher (oh, how I miss cheeseburgers and enchiladas), military, egged, sherut, and.... many, many other things, which I'll get into later.

At the moment, Jerusalem is relatively peaceful (we are about 80 miles away from the mess going on in the northern border, give or take a few miles). Today is shabbat and I just had a light dinner at a friend's house. Technically, well, if I was an observant Jew (which all of my roommates are), I would not be on a computer right now, or be allowed to operate any sort of electronic device in observance of the sabbath. Lights and refrigerators are ok, but everything else is off limits. But I am a neutral observer, here to absord and learn, so I will refrain from limiting myself.

So, some of you might be wondering what I am doing here exactly. Well, I am taking three summer courses at the Rothberg International School in the Hebrew University (http://overseas.huji.ac.il/). I am surveying the history of the Modern Middle East, from the time of Mohammad and the emergence of Islam, through the Ottoman Empire, to the 20th century. I am also taking a course on the social-psychological aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a third course on Islamic revival and revolution in Iran. Taking these courses in a place like Israel at a time like this is very interesting (let's hope it doesn't get TOO interesting). Much of the current confict stems back to 1948, when Israel was officially established. However, like many other conflicts, there are several centuries of history to consider as well as a high level of ambivalence. Each narrative, whether it is a Zionist narrative or an Arab nationalist, a Palestinian or an Israeli, a Jewish, Christian, or Muslim--each narrative has its own merits. My intention is to hear these different narratives, learn the history, and maybe find a way to understand.

Missing you all,

Denise