at the ocean

howdy. i am in tel aviv now and i'll be heading for the west bank soon. getting here has been a bit funny. first my flight was cancelled because of snow in new york. then, after a few attempts and lots of time on the phone, i left for new york where the next flight was delayed. because of this delay, i missed the connection in istanbul to tel aviv but it was alright; turkish air got all of us that missed our connection (about ten) hotel rooms and dinner in istanbul. after showering, eating, and a short stroll in istanbul i got on a plane to istanbul (also after questioning from security concerning why i was going to israel, etc.). i got to tel aviv and, after much questioning, made it into the city. i met a palestinian on the flight who was very kind; we sat together and talked during the flight. he works at columbia university in new york and is going home to see his sister who is in the hospital.
now, i just got back from walking along the beach and watching some guys fishing off of a rock pier. i'm pretty tired. earlier today, i felt some apprehension about going to nablus. i was sitting in tel aviv, watching people walking on the street, and i just felt like i didn't really want to see the oppression in palestine. you could be in tel aviv, so close, and never know anything about it. it is really wierd. in nablus it is everywhere and people talk about it all the time because it is immediate and in everything. when i was waiting in istanbul, an older man began talking to me about travelling in israel. he soon turned to palestinians and arabs in general and told me they are beasts. this is really what he said. he said 'i won't even call them animals. they are just beasts.' he elaborated about the lack of humanity, etc. and, not knowing anything about me or my personal experiences, told me i was in for a shocking trip because i would see 'how they live' or some suck shit. he was nice to me and told me about things to see and do in tel aviv. i wasn't even mad at him, just amazingly sad. but then, as i talked about other things on the flight with ghassam, the palestinian man, i felt much better. he is active in trying to help the situation and he told me 'i am very inclusive, you know. i will with anyone....arab, jew, israeli, christian, asian....anyone as long as it is for peace.' this made me feel much better. this man at the airport, by the way, is not representative of my experience with people in general or of any percieved group. i met others on the flight and while eating at the hotel, etc. that were very kind and not like this at all. a couple gave me there phone number and address so that i could meet up with their friend who knows a lot about archaeological sites. another young israeli and i talked about travelling in south america. a man, who runs a used book store here in tel aviv, and i were talking today. i had met him last year and he is a very cool guy. he plays the harmonica amazingly. today we were talking about music and he was talking about blues and soul. he said everyone has soul in them. 'everyone,' he said and went on to describe different groups of people, like the ghassam had. he said 'i don't care about gender or ethnicity or skin color or anything like that. we all have soul.' it was great. and we talked about books which made happy. anyway, my time here is about up. i will try to write to this thing once in awhile.