Day 29: 29 Sept 2010

I realized today how far I’ve gotten behind with all that I’m supposed to be doing haha.  I’ve got quite a bit to catch up on: pictures, blogs (my journal), a huge paper due next week, my Arabic language stuff, and readings for my Jewish class.  It’ll be alright though J  We had OT and Ancient Near Eastern Studies classes today.  I missed the trip that almost everyone took to see the Jerusalem March this morning at 6ish, but apparently it was really cool.  We went over the significance of some of the holiday stuff in the NT because of the Jewish Fall Holidays, and then retraced our Egypt trip so that we can remember (at least to SOME extent) what we did there and its significance.  Afterwards we had lunch and I went with some students to a few places in the city.  We visited the place that Mary supposedly lived after Jesus was crucified (it’s now a Catholic Cathedral—it was alright.  I wanted to play the pipe organ they had there but the front desk said ‘no’ lol).  We also walked through the Jewish quarter to see the sukkoths that people had put up for the holiday (apparently today was the last day to see them; the festival ended a couple hours ago and they had to take them down).  We came back afterwards for Arabic class (I still love the teacher—SUCH a fun hour.  And, I think it’s totally awesome that there’s no verb for ‘to be’ in Arabic lol).  I worked on homework, had dinner, and then we had an incredible forum speaker come talk to us about the conflict in the Middle East. 

This guy has a good deal of experience behind him.  He’s spent the last 30 years covering Palestinian and Israel relations, he lives in Israel, is an Arab Muslim, and apparently works for a Jewish newspaper lol.  I don’t want to get too detailed because it might be considered sensitive, but the gist of what he said was this:  the conflict in the Middle East is between two GOOD peoples.  The overwhelming majority of the Arabs and the Jews want to live normal peaceful lives without killing each other.  The problem is obviously complex, but the escalating issues in the past few years can be partially (not exclusively, but partially) attributed to failed international relations on the part of both Americans and Europeans.  His suggestion is that we stop trying to force peace talks because every time we do people die.  I couldn’t believe how well he understands what’s going on—he spends time in the U.S., he spends time here, he spends time in other Arabic countries—He knows the theory and the practice of what’s going on pretty well.  I wish I could pick his brain more!  Maybe I can get his e-mail.  Anyway, it was a fascinating hour and a half. 

I’ve been super tired today and I haven’t gotten much done, but thankfully tomorrow is another day.  Till tomorrow!