nutella

This summer I lived in a small just south of Tel Aviv as part of an international volunteer effort. Mostly, we delivered food, clothing and other necessities to poor communities along the West Bank in parts of Gaza and in Sderot.  One night, I went out with some native Israelis to a party about an hour away form my apartment. We got off the bus in a town, that reminded me a little of Memphis; there were homes in neat rows, with streets, street signs, street lights, and a few stores and markets near by. Cars, buses, and motorcycles, were driving up and down the streets. We walked into this girls house; there were a lot of people there, some spoke hebrew, some were speaking arabic and others were speaking english. It was a fun party.  It wasn’t until the next day that I learned that this party was in the West Bank! At first I was shocked, but then I realized that the situation in the Middle East is nothing like what is broadcasted on TV.  There were no tanks, explosions, soldiers or any sign of military activity in the area. (Going through the wall, was a 5 minute check that felt like we were at a routine traffic stop, it took as long as driving through a toll booth).  The entire trip down to the West Bank, I felt safe; we rode the bus down, and partied in the West Bank without any incident at all. This was my first time ever going into the West Bank, I had traveled in Israel for awhile, and I had no idea that I had left Israel Proper and was in the West Bank. All throughout my traveling in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, I was completely safe and I saw no violence at all. Soldiers are everywhere in Israel, just like how Penn Station is full of Cops in NYC; there was nothing unusual, or scary at all. There were no bombers blowing themselves up, shootings or crazy acts of violence. I rode the bus everyday, I went into malls, movie theaters, night clubs, and did everything that I would normally do while living abroad. Israel is safe. There is security at every entrance and exit to public areas; there are metal detectors, and soldiers everywhere watching and looking for suspicious activity. I felt safer living in Israel than I do living in NYC. Its really incredible how safe I felt, especially after reading the news in the US which shows such awful terror attacks.  Yes, there are terror attacks, and there is fighting, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from going to Israel. There are more deaths and violence in NYC, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, or LA than in Israel.  Go! Have fun, and everything will be okay.     

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