Nablus is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in the West Bank. It is nestled between two mountains and made for a valley of hell when there was a siege in 2002 so all over the city you see scars from the blown up buildings and large pictures of men who died in the battles defending their town. But the city has and is building itself up again and is quite the bustling center of West Bank Palestinian life. A few of us hopped off the bus early and ran through the old city buying soap and spices and specialty deserts. It was a lovely voyage with curious stares at our mix of colors and language with these beautiful black women guided by our Palestinian friends and my strange green eyed choppy haired blonde white self among them and P Michael, such a delight at his ability to express every emotion that runs through his body from the site of chickens in a cage and hanging open aired meat to the trinkets and shops that catch the eye like a kid looking at candy. Ramzi, Nadaal and Rajai leading us through the Old city market and the windy hilly terrain to the University.
There we were met by some dignitaries of the University and our lovely US Consulate woman, Cindy, flagged with her body guard and other consulate members. The man proudly explained the Universities role in giving an advanced education for Palestinians so they don’t have to go abroad for education and how they have grown up in this occupation and are not able to even see a sea or go to Jerusalem or study with their fellow Palestinians from Gaza. The University has partnered with the US Consulate to help facilitate this and they now have one student from Gaza studying here. One. May there please be more students in Gaza able to go to college. Education is essential here (and everywhere!).
I love Nablus. The theatre is a giant auditorium and lecture hall that doesn’t have much front light and had so much more space on the stage itself that you feel a little drowned by the size. But the audience is well versed in seeing different shows and was right with us from the start. I personally felt like I had a tough time getting in the rhythm- I felt like trucks were running between my cue line and my words but eventually I got on board. The group of actors is a lovely bunch and on the way home Kamel made us laugh as he sat in the tour guides seat and pretended to give us a tour over the loud speakers. I love seeing him like this, his playful side. It is such different touring this year as we are much bigger in numbers and size so a large group tour bus is needed for transport.
Jenin and Nablus are two places that have intrigued me the most, because of their beauty, their recent painful histories and the ancient pulse of the land that dominates the vistas. I don’t know if it is because I come from a hilly mountainous locale or that there is something in the air that I can’t quite articulate but both of these areas have something special. Jenin has fertile agricultural valleys but the rivers are drying up from Israeli’s control of the water for settlements and the farmers are in more and more of a desperate situation. We stopped at a large sign that speaks of the money the Americans are pouring into the area but as our Palestinian friends have said, “Yes, it’s blood money. It was American bombs that destroyed this place so they are giving money to rebuild.” And rebuild they are.
The freedom theatre was a lovely contrast to the stage at Nablus. So tiny yet filled with creativity. Nablus felt more academic of course. I loved the photos of Alice in Wonderland that were up on the Freedom Theatre walls. Apparently they do fifty shows in a year. We stopped for sandwiches in the town after our show and I felt there were lots of students and an energy that was young and shifting.
But the views from the University in Nablus still paint the vistas of my mind the way the Palestinian olives linger in my palate. Such delicious beauty and so different then my Pacific Northwest wonders. The colors are golden rocky and green and the haze makes you almost see the tanks that not long ago topped the hillsides so high above. I can’t get those vistas out of my mind and returning to them was like reliving a dream. I drank it in.
