Yesterday, I have been cooped up in the Jerusalem Center all this week working on midterms, so I went to the shook (if that is how you spell it) in West Jerusalem. The shook is an outdoor market place. I love the shook. I discovered that I have an affinity for markets. To me, market places have genuinie personalities.
The time that I went to the shook was right before the start of the Jews' sabbath day. The sabbath day for the Jews starts on Friday sun down. The shook was crowded with locals. Since I was in West Jerusalem, the locals were Jews. I am pretty sure I could have found every kind of Jew here. There were the Orthodox Jews with their top hats and curly locks. There were a couple Hasidic Jews with their furry hats. There were a ton of people wearing a kippah. I overheard people speaking in Hebrew. A hand full spoke perfect English. I wonder what made these English speakers move from America to Israel. My guess is the Zionist movement. I was amazed to see a whole Jewish culture at a market place. I am pretty sure there is no where else in the world where you would find a community of Jews.
West Jerusalem is a clean, modern, European-style city. Even though West Jerusalem's shook has personality, West Jerusalem is a little too artificial for my taste considering this is Jerusalem. West Jerusalem is nice and all, but in addition to its artificiality, there is something off about this city that I cannot put my finger on.
I felt like I was in another country when I crossed the street to East Jerusalem to get back to the Jerusalem Center. The people were dark. Women wore head scarves and trench coats. The sidewalks were broken. The city was dirty. The modes of transportation looked broken down. Palestinians live here in East Jerusalem.
I am amazed at the stark differences seen between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I don't think I could have ever grasped the disparity between these two nations if I had only learned about them through a textbook. I could see why some people want a two-state solution; however, I do not think the Israelis and Palestinians are ready for this jump anytime soon.
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