Day 105: Volcanic Ash Cloud April 21, 2010

I had felt that in some way I was tempting fate by naming my blog 99 Days. Sure enough, on Day 99, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland began to erupt, spreading ash across the flight paths of Europe. This is giving me extra time to catch up on a backlog of posts for this now [...]

Day 85: The Ramallah Elite April 4, 2010

Thursday saw one of my rare nights out drinking in Ramallah, when me and my housemate discovered we were both free for the first time in two whole months. A new bar had opened with nibbles and minimalist décor. Despite the fact it’s not in the centre and doesn’t yet even have any signs up, [...]

Day 64-65: The Dead Sea March 24, 2010

We decided to hitchhike. After a not-as-early-as-planned start, we got a bus from the centre to the outskirts of Jerusalem. I recognised the area as being where the bus from Ramallah passes through when it enters the city. We stopped in a layby to hitch, and we weren’t alone. We decided not to join the [...]

Day 67: Lockdown March 24, 2010

Last week, during the lockdown, the Israeli army shot some Birzeit students protesting at nearby ‘Attara (the checkpoint that doesn’t exist). Three of the ten were shot with live ammunition, according to the hospital. This trend continued later in the week, with four young men killed in the West Bank. (See also on Ma’an.)

Day 71: How to go to Jerusalem II: During clashes and closures March 19, 2010

Recently there have been confrontations around Palestine between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians protesting against home demolitions and the restriction of access to important mosques in East Jerusalem. I posted this about travelling to Jerusalem from Ramallah, though it’s a bit different at the moment. Step 1: Check the news and ask friends to try and [...]

Day 62: Strike at Birzeit University March 9, 2010

Today saw the latest in a series of strikes at Birzeit University. This was a teaching staff strike (from which my course was exempt), though over the past few weeks there have been general and student strikes too. This morning I arrived at the servees station a normally-dangerous five minutes late, expecting to see the [...]

Day 61: Potty International Women’s Day March 8, 2010

Happy International Women’s Day to all of you. To celebrate this important and joyous event, my university saw it fit to issue female staff with cooking pots:

Day 60: Arabic learning March 8, 2010

The time I spend in Ramallah has some kind of rhythm to it, dictated mainly by my studies. This time is punctuated by massive three-day weekends during which I travel and there is no normality. I still enjoy my course at PAS (the Palestine and Arabic Studies programme at Birzeit University). My teacher is good, [...]

Day 51: How to go to Jerusalem February 26, 2010

Step 1: Find the bus station in Ramallah. It’s the dull grey pollution-stained multi-storey building with a constant stream of bright yellow shiny clean vehicles rolling in and out of it. Enter by the street that leads to the souq, to the level which is underground on one side of the building but on the [...]

Day 44: Bil’in protests February 21, 2010

Having met some people who were part of the international Rhythms of Resistance samba band, as I used to be in Manchester, I decided to join them yesterday on the latest of Bil’in village’s weekly protests. Yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of the Bil’in protests, perhaps the most well-known of a collection of similar weekly [...]