As my time in the Middle East is drawing to a close, I decided to brave the border crossing into the Palestinian West Bank from Jordan to visit the State of Israel (I was delayed for questioning for three hours). My journey had two purposes. One was to see Jerusalem and the other was to visit a house in the town of Ramla.
The house and the lemon tree in the backyard had been the center of a book I read entitled The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan.
The book is an exceptional tool for understanding the perspectives of both the Palestinians and Israelis in a fair and even context. Tolan tells the story of a home built by Arabs and then used by Jews. I highly recommend reading this book if you want to understand the current conflict in a deeper way.
** Spoiler Alert: Do not read further if you intend to read the book. **
My journey to Ramle started as Bashir Khairi's did, at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station (Though I think the current station is new).
I arrived in Ramle/Al Ramla after passing the Israeli War Vehicle Memorial and the town of Latrun just as described in the book.
I had no idea how to navigate the city and no one seemed to know where Dalia's Open house at 1 Klausner Street was. So, I asked people where the Old Town was and found it in under an hour. I imagined that this poorly tended ruin was the main Khairi Family compound.
I do mean nobody knew of the Open House or Klausner Street. I found someone who knew English in the Old Town and he was happy to actually use his Blackberry GPS to find it for me...
I could have done this on my phone except the Google Maps for my phone did not have maps for Ramla. Here is the house on the real Google Maps.
After more wandering and asking for help I finally found the Open House. Ironically, it was closed and locked. But, I did get to see the gate that once held the crescent ornament that Dalia later regretted tearing down.
The building that serves as the school seemed smaller than I expected.
If I had gone south instead of north from where the bus dropped me off on Herzl Boulevard I would have gone straight to the house. My bus had actually driven right by the house and turned at this corner. I even think I had looked at this sign while imaging how Bashir felt when he saw Jewish names on his once Arab streets. Total navigation fail. :)
In true journalist/stalker fashion I went around back to try and see the lemon tree over the wall. I spotted this post which I think may be the site of the original tree. The Arabic reads "Peace for all the World".
As best I can tell, one of these two trees in the corner of the yard is the new lemon tree planted at the end of the book. I didn't have the guts to jump the wall to figure out exactly which one was a lemon tree. :)
I saw this poster at the Open House's intersection as I entered town. The troublesome historic realities of the forced removal of most of the Arabs of Al Ramla that this sign ignores was just horrifying to me.
The trip across the West Bank and the State of Israel was very educational for me. I saw many things that factor into the conflict in this land: the old historic sights of Old Jerusalem, the modern streets of Jerusalem, the growing Israeli barriers and the controversial Jewish West Bank settlements. I can't imagine what it would be like to be from this land and to attempt to navigate living within an uncertain security situation everyday.