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| From Israel and Petra, Jordan |
From the moment I arrive in Israel, the war in Gaza was flaring. Most of the time I stay in Tel-Aviv, but there are missiles falling in Israel only 20 minutes south of where I am. I always feel safe, but the tension is in the air. When there is news that a solder has been killed, everyone listens just in case they recognize the name. The war is on TV 24/7. Generally the opinion of most Israelis I talked to is that Israel has no choice when it comes to the war in Gaza. Israel withdrew unilaterally a few years ago and the response was thousands of missiles launched from Gaza into Israel. I meet lots of people from the right and left who debate how effective the war would be. But very few people are against it outright.
My cousins tell me about a pro-Palestinian protest happening in Tel-Aviv. This is a pretty big deal because it’s the first time that Palestinian flags are being included in a Tel-Aviv protest. They go to participate in the counter-protest and I come along. The counter-protest was lead by the right wing Likud party – which made me a little uncomfortable. There was no middle ground there.
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| From Israel and Petra, Jordan |
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| From Israel and Petra, Jordan |
I meet some cool CouchSurfers in Israel that go hiking every weekend in a cool place. I come along a few times. I never realized how many beautiful places there in Israel to explore.
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| From Israel and Petra, Jordan |
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| From Israel and Petra, Jordan |
While CouchSurfing in Haifa, my host mentions that someone in her building was doing a Masters in Computer Science at the prestigious Technion in Haifa. I have been considering doing a Masters for a while now. I discuss the issue with him and he invites me to join him at the Technion the next day. I end up applying for fall of 2009.
Thanks to CouchSurfing, I travel all over Israel – Yodfat in the North, Eilat, Sde Boker, and Beersheva.
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