My first smoke since the wind changed direction suddenly at that camp fire.

Yusra is the eldest of the Jamous girls. She has been living in Ramallah for a while now, and I had yet to see her (she was not at last week’s gathering at the family’s home). This past Thursday was the Palestinian Labor Day. On Wednesday night I decided to take a trip to the Golan (Northern Israel) to see some of the beautiful landscapes and historical spots around Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. I was motivated partially out of a genuine interest to go and partially so that I would have material for my “vacation” to recount to the security at the airport when I leave at the end of May. To get to the Galilee and Golan I would have to go via Ramallah, via Jerusalem. I decided to set off.

First step was to leave Nablus. At the checkpoint the soldiers were friendly to me. They asked me where I was from, before I handed them my passport, and how I was doing. We exchanged courtesies. They asked me what I was doing in Nablus, and I replied tourism, “Just checking the place out”. We all smiled and I wished them a good night.

I met up with Yusra an hour later. I was going to crash on her couch, but her roommate, who was very nice and seemed pretty liberal (dressed liberally had a good job, etc.) just didn't feel right about a guy staying the night in the apartment. Fortunately, Yusra had a couple of really nice friends, Sa'id and Mohanad who took me in for the night and gave me one of their beds. The following day I decided to scrap my planned solo trip, to hang out with Yusra and her friends. They had planned a barbecue at a park area just north of Ramallah. The food included the traditional fair of pita bread, humus, yogurt, and a variety of meat dishes such as kafta (ground beef with spices) and lamb… wicked good.

Yusra and her friend Marwa had been on a marathon of smoking nargila over the past few weeks (water pipe for smoking a fruit based substance (no more noxious to your health than cigarettes and no chemical effects like marijuana (you can find it in the States)). The nargila is a quintessential artifact of Arab culture and daily life. Every café in the Middle East and Northern Africa has them, and you would be hard pressed to walk into a café and not find at least one for every two patrons. Toward the end of the day the girls started to seem like they were getting a little loopy and I began wondering if this nargila thing was an Islamic substitute for alcohol (or maybe it was the sugar from the marshmallows we were eating). Giving in to my curiosity I decided to try it. Despite the sweet apple smell of the smoke released by the smoker, this stuff was hooorrrrrrible. Of course, I coughed and they all had a good time watching me. I’m happy to say that it’s not a past time I’ll be taking up, but a bit disappointed that my inquiry into this nargila smoking has ended without answering any questions… primarily why anybody would smoke it in the first place.

The views of the surrounding hills were nice, and it was great get away from my city center apartment. In the photo to the right you can see an Israeli settlement. It seems incredibly bold, and completely unjustified that Israel would plant a settlement this far into the West Bank. I will try to write up a brief explanation about the current main themes of the conflict here, but for the time being, it’s useful to know that these types of settlements are one of the main agitators of the conflict, and that many believe they are an attempt by Israel to establish “facts on the ground” which will have a bearing on any final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.