Maaaakhoul Village

Internet is a scary place. I want to write about my friends, but realize it is not a good idea to use their real names. The name of the village is usually written with less a.

Everything around was take over by the Jewish. Several hundred of the Palestinian villages were destroyed and the pine trees planted on top. There was this young guy, smart and tough for his 22, he left his village and 1952 started building a house several km away from it. But the authorities would not give him a license. Who would give a license to a Palestinian, when all the country around was busy destroying their houses and covering them with pine trees?

It was a matter of stubbornness, bravery and luck, that when the men came over to destroy the house, he could point at the paper on his door, that he attained that day. The supreme court decided that local authorities were not right not giving him a license to build a house.

An unimaginable victory for the uncle and frightening precedent for Israeli authorities. After him his relatives came and started building houses. This was the beginning of the Maaakhoul village.

Sirens or illegal falafel

Memorial day. Sirens. For Israeli soldiers. All traffic stops. Everyone stops. Emotional. Tears in the eyes of people.

One of the weirdest phenomena. Aggressors manage to feel easily as victims. Germany after the first world war leading to the Nazi regime. Serbia. Israel. Severe problems with self esteem. Symptoms here – unimaginable arrogance against anything beyond the boarder. Showing off. Taking too many showers.

Not the enemy, but the image of an enemy is what counts. Most Israelis, and to my surprise also left wing ones, dont know and dont mingle with Arabs. Two worlds. Side by side. Interaction and communication takes place only with bullets.

Two little Jewish girls in the Old Town in Jerusalem are being followed by a body guard  equiped with a heavy machine gun. The houses nearby have been overtaken by Jewish from the Arabs. It would go like this, that they would come with the fake ownership papers, get the Arabs out, and be sure, that the court will never do anything about this.

This is the place where the is no white and black. There are no good or bad guys. Not among ones or the others. No saints in this game. Neither on Palestinian, nor on Israeli side. And not the ones who tried to save this place from something – Christian Orthodox could have tried to promote balance between the population, but the ruling point is fiscal calculation. The church sold enourmous land and real estate in Jerusalem to the ones who offered more money. As simple as that. And these were Jewish.

It is by law that every class of children has to be guarded by someone with the gun. The ones who carry the thing are maybe 18. Children themselves.

All, men and women are obliged to go to the army for two years. Except the Arabic Israelis.

All perfect strategies to create an enemy. And maintain the illusion, that everyone is individual here. Brainwash? What is it? We are in a free democratic country.

We were hungry on the memorial day. Even if I respect every persons sorrow, I am strictly against these kind of memorial days, since they are a clear tool of manipulation of peoples emotions in a directions that is wanted by the ones in the power. We went to Jaffa, an Arabic district of Tel Aviv to find something to eat. The streets full of police, controlling also that all shops and inns are closed. We were lucky. One restaurant unlocked. We got inside. They locked again. Windows covered with paper.

There was a period few years ago, during the Zuokas rule, when it was illegal to ride a bike in Vilnius or ride skates. The easiest way to sell cameras because of the increased criminality. Making eating a falafel illegal one can increase criminality even more. Those dirty Arabs they say. And receive billions from US for weapons and cameras.

Arabs gave us food that night.

King Hussein or Allenby?

From Jordan they call it Malik Hussein Bridge. From here – Allenby checkpoint.

Where is the river? No river. All water to the Dead Sea comes from Tiberias. But as some proud Isreali said, we take a shower three times a day, not like uncivilised Palestinians, Israelis need a lot of water to wash themselves, their cars, and their sins. No Jordan river. Visit Dead Sea now, since it will not exist in couple of years.

Where is Cyprus? Elena explains, it is just there, you just have to swim and you will come to Cyprus. The woman on checking the passports seems to be ignorant of the existance of Cyprus and Lithuania. Never mind. But it gets really strange, when people dont know, where is Ramallah, when it is 15 km away.

Manar explains to us later, that the pine trees did not grow here before. The Isrealis brought their view of nature from Europe. They planted pine trees on destroyed Palestinian villages. This is how you can tell where they were. And they seem to have brought their survival strategy – ghettos. Which is under big proof in the Middle East.

Israelis dont seem to know the music of Fairuz or get a notion of what can be the magic of the Arab world. Israel is a ghetto in the middle of the Middle East.

Sagi is an absolute exception. He asked to live with Arabs in the University dormitory. He learned Arabic and traveled Egypt. This country does not support too much tolerance, I wonder what will be with Sagi. Such as the Knesset member Bishara, trying to call for more equality between the Jewish and Arab Israelis do notc survive here long.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6581105.stm

It took us 4 hours to pass the boarder. Do I know anyone there? No. What is my parents number? No parents, but you can call my ex, if you want. Why dont you have a mobile? Because it is expensive. Can I see your bank cards? How much money do you have in all your accounts?

There was this guy from Ramallah. He lives in New York. His wife and a child are still in Ramallah. He was trying to visit them some time ago. They sent him back. This time he is more lucky. They let him go. But only for 1 month instead of 3 that he asked for.

We are inside. King Hussein bridge turned to Allenby.

Over the Jordan river

Entering Amman by bus after having spend a lifetime in Damascus was the same as to be expelled from the paradise. Even if Amman is everything else but a nice city I try to convince myself that it is not that bad and that every time I get to a new country, it takes at least two weeks time to get to love it.

 

I will not take this time now and just accept the fact that I will not fall in love in Jordan this time. Have a meeting here. With Elena. She had some adventures with Indian mafia before and I was looking forward to see her alive and to here the stories.

 

They sayd, the Arab League Hotel was closed since 3 years. And we were supposed to meet here. Elena is incredible. We manage to find each other and then to get lost together.

I tell you, it is a privilege to travel with people like her.  I said, common, come with me to see Manar. She said, ok. So, we went together. Over the Jordan river.

 

 

 

 

 

Pics

uploaded some pics finally to flickr. my homeserver seems to be blocked from here.

http://flickr.com/photos/46539910@N00/

Fotkes

pakroviau i flickr fotkiu. suveike i ta. i savo serveri nueit niekaip is cia negaliu. gal blokuoja. nzn.

http://flickr.com/photos/46539910@N00/

Hammam ir Haram

Moteru diena. Siandien pirma syki gyvenime nuejau i hamama. Turkiska pirti. Kazkaip nebuvo kompanijos. Bet jau siandien einu, nes paskutine proga. Praveriu duris. Uzuolaida. Muzika arabisku sokiu, bet dar nieko nematau. Atidarau uzuolaida. Sakes.
Vaiku gimtadienis. Mergaites ir moterys soka, pastatas senobinis kaip baznycios ir saliono kombinacija. Pasirodo ne gimtadienis. Mergvakaris. Nuotaka juodais plaukais, raudonas gele plaukuose, permatoma suknele, krutines apvalios. Jai 15 metu. Nuryju akmeny. Atrodo, laimingos jos. Bet pasirinkimo didelio gyvenime neturi. Kaip ten bebutu, dabar balius. Sokiai aplink fontana, salotos, tada visos eina i vidu pirties, viena kita sveicia, vandeniu pilsto. Senobe. Per stiklus skliautuose sviesos spinduoliai inyra. As irgi plikutis smaginuosi ir pradedu vel tiketi laiko keliavimu.
Po nusisveitimu vel sokiai, jos rengiasi, dazosi lupas, tada kruva mane kamantineja. Sako, kiek turi pinigu. Nu, sakau, falafeli galiu nusipirkt. Tada jos atnesa man zaisliniu monetu nuo kazkokios sunkeles ir sako, nusipirkt uz sitas bapkes nama Damaske. Gerai, sakau. Aciu labai. Bet tai jus ateisit pas mane arbatos, ne?

Sokam visos. As cia dristu tik nakti prie mecetes sokti, kai visi jau miega, ar ant stogo. O dabar pagaliau turiu moteru kompanija.

Haram reiskia draudziama. Ta namo dalis, kur gyvena moterys ir draudziama kitiems ieiti. Haram reiskia ir nuodeme. Cia vyksta slaptas gyvenimas. Fotkinti lygiai taip pat siukstu. Kaip gerai buti moterim. Vyrai niekad nepamatys, kas vyksta HARAMe.

Black holes

… read about black holes yesterday in some file from the internet. so close to poetry..

Space and time

swap roles

space flows in only

one direction

towards the centre

and the singularity lies

in a falling

objects inevitable

future.

http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html

Loads of days

like a stone thown in a river

i feel the load

of days washing

me through

watching light play and

schools of fish i

dream of lightness of the

wind

Saying

There is a saying, that if you catch yourself thinking more than once a day that you are not in a right place, it means it is time to change – the work, the person you are with, the place, otherwise you can start counting your days until you have a diagnosis with cancer.  

I was wondering what one’s body develops, if one thinks from the morning to the evening, that everything is better than you could expect from your life? Sometimes I think that I eventually have so much energy, that if everything would work in esoteric or alchemic ways, it would be enough to solve any Middle East conflict. 

Or as Milena sings – it is not the Middle East, it is my Middle Ear. www.alleederkosmonauten.org