It was quite an amazing day—my friend Daniel, who works for
All for Peace radio (http://www.allforpeace.org) told me about a bike
ride coming up in the West Bank (which in case you don't know, is only
a couple kilometers from much of Jerusalem, on the other side of the
infamous "Wall", visible from many high points in the city).
The goal of the bike ride, sponsored by the East Jerusalem YMCA, was
to see if a large group of bicyclists of all ages could successfully
ride from Ramallah (the de factor capital of the Palestinian state) to
Jericho, a total of about 15 miles. Problem is, there are many
checkpoints between the two cities.
We all met in a large field in Ramallah and took off from there. About
350 people of all ages took part – 80% Palestinian, and the rest
Israelis and foreigners. The Y had rented over 200 bikes. The rest
showed up with their own bikes.
Check out the webisode to see what happened. It was an incredible
group experience. Every trip to the West Bank is a glimpse of life
under military occupation, and of a world that's only a few kilometers
away, but very different from Israeli life.
By the way, the next webisode will definitely focus on an Israeli
subject. I've said before that I (try to) see all sides on the issues
in this very complex area of the world. There are many creative, cool,
open-minded Israelis here - it's just the government (which reminds me
a lot of Bush, Inc., these days) that is hooked on arrogance and
aggression as a solution to all problems.
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