Palestine

In March, when I told my Mom I wanted to go to the Old Jerusalem restaurant in San Francisco, she didn’t understand why. After all, we can get Middle Eastern food just down the street. I convinced her that I specifically needed Palestinian food and although Mom, Dad, and Suzy ordered the usual falafel sandwiches, tabouli, and hummus, I ordered things I had never had before:

· Qudsiah: fava beans and hummus mixed together with garlic, lemon juice, pepper and olive oil.

· Mossabaka: hummus with whole garbanzos

· Mosabaha: roasted chicken on a bed of sautéed peppers and onion on a large pita with paprika

They were all so good and I’m glad we made the trip!

I drove past many more Middle Eastern restaurants this last Sunday to go to Kaza Maza in Norco to have their spicy potatoes maza and their delicious salmon kabob with tahini sauce. I’ve had Kaza Maza on my list since 2019 when it was recommended to me by a Palestinian Lyft driver. He had just returned from spending the summer in Palestine with his family and had left his three kids, ages eight, ten, and eleven, to spend a year with his father, so they could learn the culture. When I asked, he told me he felt safe everywhere he went.

Besides recommending Kaza Maza (which has a bakery opening in July, so I’ll be going back), my Palestinian driver also gave me cooking tips. I'll be using them when I make some of the recipes from these two websites:

· Taste of Palestine has both recipes and stories: https://tasteofpalestine.org/recipes

· Bint Rhoda's Kitchen has a lovely essay on the gift of going home to Palestine: http://bintrhodaskitchen.blogspot.com/

For those who are wondering, of course I need to eat Palestinian food and find Palestinian books, music, and dance! I have a Palestinian sister-in-law! Allan’s first memory is from her wedding in Egypt. Through all the years I have known Norma, she is passionate and has given her life to the subject of caring for orphans. If you would like to know more about Norma, including her relationship with the Darnell family, you can read Norma: Beyond Their Tears by William Johnson or watch the film Shadow Child on the webpage of Norma’s charity. In the film, you’ll even catch a glimpse of Allan’s dad when he was at the beginning of his career! https://www.restoreachild.org/shadow-child

Other ways to get to know Palestine include:

· Watch the comedian Aron Kader, (you might remember him from the Axis of Evil Comedy tour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0kFvVAzbNI

· Read the young adult story Against the Tide by Taghreed Najjar: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2020-04/april-2020-arabic-young-adult-literature-against-the-tide-najjar-jaquette/

· Learn some history through the songs of Palestine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIPeEXiG1Yk

· Hear traditional Palestinian music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUL1lrv5cH4

· Put on some Palestinian techno music and just let it play (this was my favorite of the music options): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9VYKrtziSg

Let’s also take a minute and acknowledge the difficult things that come with visiting Palestine. My AAUW book group read two books from Palestine in the last year. In the first, I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish, the physician author tells about how three of his daughters and his niece were killed in his home by Israeli shelling and how he now works for peace. An interview with Dr. Abuelaish is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uslS-In4hPQ

The second Palestinian book that my book group read this year was Apeirogon by Colum McCann. Wow! If nothing else, check out this book for the form! There are 1001 vignettes (reminding the reader of 1001 Arabian Nights). The vignettes are numbered from one to five hundred, the center one is numbered 1001, then the rest count back from five hundred down to one. You can go back to my Guinea-Bissau blog if you want to review what a chiasm is, but I’ll remind you here that the center is the most important point. The center of Apeirogon is the meeting and the relationship between two men, Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, one Israeli, one Palestinian, both who have had a child die in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and both who work for peace. Their talk at the 2016 YPO EDGE conference is well worth watching. I’m still thinking hard about what it would look like to follow their advice, "Do not be pro-Israel. Do not be pro-Palestine. Be pro-peace." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO0gwwQ_M60

I read several more books to prepare for this blog. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter was fascinating to me. He covered the history of peace negotiations and made it clear that the large majority of the people want peace and could come to a reasonable solution. I also came across two books by Palestinian authors while I was reading for Kuwait, and I saved them to recommend here. They are A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar and Salt Houses by Hala Alyan. They describe Palestinian families in the kind of diaspora where your houses dissolve and the only thing you have from home is a map.

For thoughtful documentaries on how and when Israel and Palestine got into this conflict and where they are now, search Kanopy for the word Palestine. Namrud: Troublemaker appealed to me the most because of the personality and the music. For the high school level explanation, check The Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/whp-origins/era-7-the-great-convergence-and-divergence-1880-ce-to-the-future/74-end-of-empires-betaa/v/conflict-in-israel-and-palestine-crash-course-world-history-223-beta

With this conflict, is there tourism in Palestine? There is! Here is a site listing ten things to do in Palestine: https://www.globeguide.ca/things-to-do-in-palestine/ and yes, I would love to go, especially if I could go with Norma. I look forward to a time when we can all travel, and hope we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Palestine and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: JJ Merelo https://www.flickr.com/photos/atalaya/5268942937/