Shopping in Jenin

On the second Saturday of July, I visited Jenin with a group of mostly women from the Arab-Israeli town of Abu Ghosh, about 2o minutes west of Jerusalem. I connected with them by calling up the director of the Jenin chamber of commerce, who connected me to a man who coordinates the trips, who connected me to the woman who organizes the bus from Abu Ghosh. A frend and I signed up to hitch a ride, which cost 20 shekels ($5), really not much for international travel. Here's the piece I wrote for this week's Jerusalem Report:


And here's a piece my friend Daniel did for NPR's Marketplace, with photos from yours truly.

Ahead of the trip I was a little nervous about visiting Jenin because it was not known as the safest of places during the Second Intifada; however, a lot changes in a few years. When I got to the outdoor market and the downtown, I felt mostly sensual overload by all the vendors selling used clothing, while in alleyways live chickens squawked miserably from their cages in poultry shops. Later I noticed this above the felafel stands on street level:

I think this article speaks for itself in terms of the identity issues Arab-Israelis feel when they cross the Green Line that separates Israel Proper from the West Bank. There is also a conversation there with urban planner Yosef Jabareen, of the Technion in Haifa, who explains that Arabs inside of Israel lack true cities and so they see the West Bank and beyond - Jordan, Egypt - as opportunities to feel like strangers among Arabic speakers.

Nimr Jabbar, one of the four men who joined a busload of women and kids to buy in Jenin.

Jenin District Gov. Moussa Qaddura.