{Email Content}

Sat, 13 Sep 2003 06:00:51 -0600

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dear Mom, Nate, Cassie,Dad,Mary, Aunt Becky, Uncle Lance, cousins et al
,and supporters in Nuevo Mexico, i have arrived, for which i am very thankful. i am in the Old City of Jerusalem, for now in the Christian quarter, which is very international and casual relative to my previous perceptions.

my hotel is run by the Catholic mission here, these Monks wear brown robes like the Friar from Robin Hood. The Old City {i am still figurin all this out} is within the walls of Old Jerusalem, but the modern city expands far beyond these walls now, . the old city has a christian, jewish and muslim quarters,.i walked [foolishly given the heat} the complete radius around the walls today, and ventured in at several parts. the inner areas of this old city are just as we
percieve a middle eastern city to be, in terms of the cluttered real estate,
hidden courtyards, merchants, and you just can't figure much out because its
all random. navigating is a joke,which leads to more of a wandering
experience than any sort of itinerary{ i hear you chuckling Nate, but its not just
me!!!}. its all alleys with small doorways that lead who knows where,
everythings fairly hidden, criss crossed. myLOOSE GOAL WAS TO FIND THE wAILING wALL, WHICH i eventually did.....by chance{smile}. that was
very interesting, i have always wanted to see it. i did not approach the
wall, though non jews can if they put on a jewish hat and dress modestly.
as today is Shabbatt there were no photos allowed, so i will try to get
lost enough to find it again so i can taKE photos you can see. i enjoyed the
experience, i am very intersted in physical places to which people
attach strong spiritual import. lots of security, one is very struck by the
feeling that one is being observed from a secure, undisclosed location {if i
may quote Uncle Dick Cheney}, which of course one is.

Security was tight, and i felt that the slightest cultural misstep would bring officials running, despite my harmless intentions. i understood though, it just takes some getting used to. such is the nature of a charged atmosphere, i suppose. in terms of my very limited interactions with Israeli soldiers so far,
they are all over, including the Muslim quarter, with big huge guns. They did
not return my smiles. there appears to be a pronounced difference though
for the Black ones, who mostly came from Ethiopia in the 80s, they have been real nice. bear in mind that i'm less than 24 hours in }. i suppose that
governmental forces worldwide try to put off a tough, unapproachable
energy, but it is very pronounced here, it is very much a situation of
intimidation via the threat of physical violence, though of course i just got here.

These are my initial impressions of that dynamic, one i am about to
step into in a serious way. i will know more about this dynamic next time i
see you. anyways, the Old city is very interesting, it is hard to believe
i am in the midst of so much history, and harder to believe that of all of
us, i should end up here touring Biblical sights-smile. i walked by the
church of the Holy Sepulchre, City of David, Mt Zion, and to be honest i don't
know what else. i am putting concentrated energy into learning about it
though, and will continue to do so. i am now reading 2 books about Jewish
history, both are helping alot. i hope to go see the Dome of the Rock tomorrow, as well as the Garden of Gestheminee, stations of the Cross etc. i would say that the trickiest part is figuring out who is who, my tendency is to
overgeneralize and assume all brown people who don't dress Jewish are
Muslim, far from the truth. one could spend a lifetime figuring it all
out, and that wouldn't include navigating the alleys of the Old City-smile.
if i'm here in Jereusalem a good bit longer i would like to meet and
interview some Holocaust survivors. As to getting in, it was definitely in the top 10 most nervous/bizarre/scary 24 hour periods in my young life. i won't go into detail except to say that i was playing a part, like an actor, and it required all of my thespian talents. i was" in character". it felt funny {as in bad}to do so as i have no beef with Israelis at all, but given the nuts and bolts logistics of the Apartheid system here, i had no choice, so i did it. i could say i feel bad about doing so , which i kinda do, but i could also say that i
shouldn't have had to, also true. how is it that a "western democracy" could
deny entry to anyone who expresses any interest in anything besides 100%
support of current policies.? Imagine an English man being denied entry to the US because he expressed an interest in ....say Democrats as opposed to Republicans, or an interest in Native American issues. There is mutual
violence and horrors here, to be sure, but there is nothing
illegitimate about Palestinians physically existing here. its not like they rolled
in here in the 1970s or something. Come on. that is the implication
though. there begins the horror of the current state of things. what is it
exactly that has taught us otherwise?? how can we apply human rights and
democracy here but not there, randomly? i thought we learned that lesson, perhaps not. I had to flush my contact info {for the Occupied Territories} due to repeted questioning. if i had blown it and officials got those #s i woulda
been turned around simply for having a Palestinian ph #, and the poor souls
whose phone #s i had..... tortured, jailed, killed, all very well within the
realm of possibility were the activist linkages to be made. that is the
heaviest part of this for me, esp. once i cross over. i could get good people
killed, while i would be sent home in comfort, cold drinks and pillows.
that will not happen though. enough of that though, for now i may as
well be in any foreign city, one does not feel the brunt of things here, its
an island of relative peace. its a place for me to observe human history
and marvel at the different things people have come up with over the
millenia. very stimulating and beautiful. i hope to cross over within the next
week. i can't say much more than that until i do so. it'll be interesting.
my white skin privilege will go a long way, please don't worry. i am well
aware of the tensions/politics heating up and will act accordingly,
smile at everyone is my policy. i am so curious beyond words to actually see
that situation as it really exists, i look forward to filtering it all for
mysef and you all who i love. i know where Rupert murdock and GE {NBC}
stand, as that is all that has been allowed on the table for discussion in our
society.

i hope that all of you are well, i am carrying you with me, leaning on
your strength and Love, and that was very true at the "questioning" room at
Ben Gurion airport yesterday-smile. So, you helped me without knowing it!
i will continue to do my best to carry out this activity, and as i head
in to the actual occupation i will try to maintain the standard that has been
set for thru the ages, from Sitting Bull to Dr. King, from Gandhi to the
Black Panther Party, John Brown to Mother Jones, and my own loving family,
both literal and aquainted.thanks also for financial help. i love you aLL
and will remain in touch. Ain't no shame in being: a Pro-Jewish
anti-imperialist for a free Palestine, 67 borders will do just fine.
Yours In Struggle, Ben

Please feel free to forward this widely, plus website will be cracking
soon. Mom-i love you, i'm searchin these bazaars for an arm cure!! please
send this to Aunt Becky and her family.