#dividinglines2015

[nprontheroad]

This final post from the West Bank underlines the essence of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and points the way to the radio series beginning later this week. Here we see a major Israeli settlement on the West Bank known as Ariel. Israelis have been building this town in the Palestinian territories since the 1970’s, long enough that there are second-generation residents - among them Shlomy Mizrahi, 30, a real estate broker who now sells homes in this still-growing settlement atop a ridgeline. He showed us around, and in the top photo he’s walking between producer Emily Ochsenschlager and me. Mizrahi believes Jews have a right to this land, even though the United Nations long ago declared the settlements to be illegal. Ariel is a pleasant community with a college; but it all looks very different when gazing up at Ariel from Marda, a Palestinian village at the bottom of the ridge. There we met with Murad al-Khuffash, an advocate for sustainable agriculture. He contends the Israelis took land to which they have no right, and adds that Palestinians are partly ringed in by security fences. The unresolved conflict is becoming a fact of life for another generation of children.

- Steve Inskeep and Emily Ochsenschlager

Photos (except for the third) by Tanya Habjouba

[nprontheroad]

Around Area C - the sixty percent of West Bank land entirely under Israeli military control, where Israelis and Palestinians rub elbows. Above, the owners of the Tura winery by its barrel-shaped tasting room in the Israeli settlement of Rehelim; the spaceship-like theater at the ancient Jewish site of Shiloh, offering a brief movie for busloads of tourists, many Christian; and Palestinian employees removing plastic covers from an export herb crop on an Israeli farm in the Jordan Valley. Below, a double view from the old desert mosque of Nabi Musa off the road between Jerusalem and Jericho; a Palestinian man in front of his home, which is split - half the building is in Area C and half in Area B - meaning different rules for security and building apply; and a Palestinian activist wanting access to a protest/construction site guarded by Israeli soldiers. We explore Area C - in many ways, the heart of the land conflict here - in stories later this week.

-Emily Harris

[nprontheroad]

It is worth climbing, even in dress shoes, for the tangy treat of a springtime almond. Before living here, I had no idea young almonds are entirely edible. That green fuzz will darken and harden into a break-your-teeth shell, but right now it’s just the right texture for a crisp crunch. Inside is a still gelatinous middle - pale white - which will become the familiar part of the nut. I absolutely love these, fresh off the tree or dampened and salted.

Can’t say as much for the greenery below, which our intrepid interpreter Nuha Musleh adores. Producer Lauren Migaki got a kick out of her enthusiasm, as well as, of course, the audio of it being eaten. Not sure that will heard be in our stories this week about the part of the West Bank known as “Area C” (sound vaguely Roswell? Whole different mind-bender.) This is the sixty percent of the West Bank exclusively under Israeli control, the space east of the dividing Green Line where Israelis and Palestinians mix more than any other.

-Emily Harris

[nprontheroad]

Jerusalem is a city of stone. The centuries-old walls of the Old City are of course made of stone, but so too is a decades-old building that has become a museum; and modern-day regulations stipulate that every house, every apartment building, and a hospital with its soaring outdoor staircase are also clad in stone. A trip around the surrounding countryside makes it clear why this is such a practical choice; stone is by far the most abundant natural resource. There are not many trees, other than olive trees, but every hill offers a nearly limitless supply of stone. This choice of building materials gives Jerusalem a feeling of permanence, of eternity. Surely that is appropriate for a holy city, but it’s also deceptive. Things do change. The bottom photo shows the stone wall surrounding the patio at the Cafe de Paris, near the prime minister’s official residence. It’s one of several restaurants to occupy this spot over the years. In 2002 the restaurant was called Cafe Moment, and in March of that year it was struck by a Palestinian suicide bomber. Ten people were killed. Their names are inscribed on a memorial plaque to the left side of the wall. The plaque is made of stone.  

- Steve Inskeep and Emily Ochsenschlager

[nprontheroad]

We were lucky to be visiting Israel during Purim. It’s an annual Jewish holiday which celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people. The Bible holds that an adviser to the king of Persia plotted to have the Jews killed; but Esther, a Jew who was married to the king, foiled the plot. The annual celebration of Purim calls for feasting and heavy drinking. It’s not entirely clear to me why, but it was nevertheless a great delight, that Jews are also encouraged to dress in costume during Purim; and people in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were on the streets in costume for most of the week. Our excellent photographer Tanya Habjouqa took these shots of celebrants in Jerusalem. 

- Steve Inskeep and Emily Ochsenschlager

- Photos by Tanya Habjouba

[nprontheroad]

I came to Nablus for the kanafe. Okay, that’s not entirely true. There was a good bit of non-food related reporting involved, but the kanafe was worth the trip alone. For the uninitiated, kanafe is made of salty and tangy Nabulsi cheese sandwiched between two layers of crispy semolina dough. (In the second photo you can see what it looks like before the final layer of semolina is added.) The deliciousness doesn’t stop there, because the final step is to top this treat with a generous pour of simple syrup. In Nablus’ old city, a generous portion is ladled onto your plate, and I doubt that it has ever taken more than a minute to consume. It’s that delicious. -Emily Ochsenschlager

[nprontheroad]

Outside of Jerusalem we visited Rawabi, a planned city under construction. It is the dream of Palestinian investor Bashar Masri, and it is a much a political statement as a business proposition: Palestinians are trying to give expression to their goal of their own state. Israel was blamed for several delays in the project but recently approved a water connection that should allow the first apartments to be lived in soon. Above we see workers with the stone that covers each building. Jack Nassar, a company employee, stands at the Roman-style amphitheater that he calls his favorite part of Rawabi; and two statues contemplate the city center under construction. In honor of Qatar, which has provided much of the financing for the project, the main street around the city center was made in the shape of a Q.

- Steve Inskeep and Emily Ochsenschlager

[nprontheroad]

We’ve spent the last week in Israel and the Palestinian territories reporting on the struggle for land. In East Jerusalem and on the West Bank of the Jordan River, Palestinians live close by Israeli settlers in a decades-old contest for territory. Israel has maintained a military occupation since a war in 1967; Palestinians have spent decades agitating for a state of their own. The formal peace process may be going nowhere, but there are many developments on the ground, as we will learn in the coming days. No place better symbolizes the struggle than Jerusalem’s close and claustrophobic Old City, where three different religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - jostle for space. Most notable is the Dome of the Rock, the great golden-domed holy site that abuts the Western Wall, the holiest site of Judaism. Strict rules govern who may pray where; violating those rules can lead to violence. Above, we see the Dome of the Rock as viewed through barbed wire; a panorama of the Western Wall; an ornate water fountain where Muslims once performed their ablutions on the way to a mosque; candles in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; one of the many Old City Streets that are so narrow the overhanging buildings turn them into tunnels; and a bar, of all places, beneath a Christian memorial to Armenians killed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. 

- Steve Inskeep and Emily Ochsenschlager