Introduction

In May 2008 I traveled to Israel for the first time. Friends were able to take us to villages on the West Bank, where we met Palestinian families and experienced their abundant hospitality. The trip gave me a clear idea of how life is for people living in, and between, Israel. In this blog I've tried to organize my impressions into a coherent whole, taken from the travel diary I kept as we moved. The entries were scrawled hastily in the back of cabs, on stone benches next to the Jaffa gate and in the rooms we stayed in during the trip.