Foreign becomes familiar

Disturbed when I found myself on the road in the back of this van advertising  "security" services.

There are so many things I’ve become accustomed to now that I’ve been here for almost 4 years:  not being able to read road sides and ingredient lists on food at the grocery store, being closely observed so that I can be efficiently put into somebody’s box view of who I should be, not having answers to “what? Why? How?” on a very frequent basis, being the only woman present in a crowd of men.  Then, there are those things that I have not become accustomed to: the wall, the religious “costumes”, the bad hair dye jobs of the Russian Jews and the sight of weapons in the most innocuous of places.  I blogged previously about seeing large AK47s over the shoulder of a settler on a recent emergency room visit and how completely out-of-place it seemed. 

It’s been a rainy winter, similar to one that I experienced my first winter here.   We’ve had some pretty dreary days and weekends here lately, with predictions of many more to come, and even possibly snow.  So when the sun comes out on a winter weekend day, even with a stiff, cold northerly wind, we take our mandatory Vitamin D excursion.  Today, we ventured out to a park just north of Jerusalem city limits called Sataff.  It’s a free, public park with many hiking and biking trails perfect for families of all ages.  There are caves to explore, water streams to explore and rocks and trees to climb.  A friend who I believe has probably visited 99.9% of Israeli national parks, had been pleading with me to discover this park so I knew it should be good.

We arrived to be greeted by a traffic jam, an odd sight on the morning of Shabbat.  I made a quick call to my friend who gave me excellent directions to a few out-of the-way trail heads.  Fortunately, even with the crowds, there was so much park space, that it didn’t feel crowded once we got in.  The exception was an area around an underground spring rising out of a cave. There were kids and families all about, so I knew whatever was inside this cave must be good.  Inside the cave was a small pool of water, and towards the back it lead through an underground stream/tunnel that only kids could fit through and climb their way out of a rocky exit 20 meters later.   Just the kind of exploring my son loves!

After I grabbed my son’s shoes and socks from the cave, I walked down to the end where he would exit from.  There were plenty of parents, mothers and fathers, milling about with their cameras in hand.  It reminded me to take out my own.  One man bends down in front of me to pull his splashing 3 year old out of the water and his shirt rises from his pant waist.  I suddenly see a nice fire arm, in plain tucked neatly into his side waist.  I do a double-take….and then a triple take.  What the F&*(?!?  (is what my mind is saying over and over and over again).  I decide I want to take a photo, but it becomes too difficult with the crowds and running children.  A few minutes later I saunter off along a hiking trail, quiet, and peaceful and the early spring nature in full view.  Red poppies and cherry blossoms and the olive trees all seem to be smiling with the bountiful winter rains.    And yet with all that, I still not get the image of the firearm near small children out of my head. 

I’ve actually seen this frequently during my outings in Israel.  Usually when I see it, I start looking at the legs and waists of all the other Israeli men around, trying to discover who “is packing.”  I’m a firm believer that violence begets violence.  I don’t know why Israelis think they are exempt from this universal truth.  They themselves, victims of unjustifiable violence, so adeptly and unquestioning they seem able to arm themselves with the firm belief that they are and always will be under attack.

All the rhetoric this week over the need to attack Iran seems absolutely senseless.  I wonder how the leaders can be so naïve about this part of the world not to realize that it will unleash a battle unforeseen.  I’ve decided to go to the Jordanian consulate in Ramallah this week to get visas for Jordan for my son and I….we may never know when that will come in handy.