My Trip

In May of 2012, I will be traveling to the city of El-Bireh, Palestine, on the outskirts of Ramallah – about 9 miles north of Jerusalem. I will be traveling there with my mom, who was born there, as was my late father.

My mom and dad married in 1962 in Palestine and moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where my dad had moved to in 1955. Over the years, both my mom and dad had brothers and sisters and other relatives moved to the United States. All moved here for a better life, but never lost their love and connection to their homeland. A lot of them settled in Youngstown, home a to a large Palestinian community, but over the years we’ve spread out throughout the U.S.

In El-Bireh, my mom’s younger brother and his family still reside, along with my dad’s nephew and family who lives down the street. Many other relatives live within blocks of where my parents, grandparents and great grandparents grew up and lived under Ottoman Rule, then British Rule, then Jordanian rule and, since 1967, under Israeli occupation.

El-Bireh is located in a section of the West Bank that is under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. But for all intents and purposes, Palestinians who live there are under the control of the Israeli government and military, where basic human rights and freedom are denied to them every day.

Arabs have lived in that area for centuries, including the lands that make up current day Israel. Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together, not always harmoniously, but they lived together.

Today they don’t live together. They are separated politically, but they are also separated physically by a wall that cuts through the holiest and historic of lands. The wall, both practically and figuratively, has created conditions where not all are treated equally. In today’s day and age, that is unacceptable. It is also unacceptable that this reality has been supported and deepened by the greatest democracy in the history of the world and “the only democracy in the Middle East.”

I’m not visiting my ancestral homeland for political reason, although I will soak in all I can to get a better sense of how this decades-long struggle can peacefully be resolved. I’m going to visit family and get a better connection to my history and roots. The last time I visited, I was 6 years old and was with my father. I’ll be traveling with mom on this trip, but hope to take my boys and family there soon.

I’m not sure how much I will add to this blog, but my intention is to document my trip in some way and paint some sort of picture of what life is like trapped behind a wall.