Gaza - Prison, no porridge

For internationals working in Ramallah there is often the sense that you are living on easy-street. I regularly find myself explaining that my quality of life here is much better than it was in London. My commute is a five minute walk, my rent is a third of what I paid in Brixton, and crime levels are so low to make south London seem like a den of vice and hate. The pressures that come with a military occupation are felt much less in the Ramallah bubble then elsewhere in the West Bank and as an Brit there is always the safety net of a budget flight home if things get a little hot.

Part 2 - My boss gets a (brief) taste of freedom

Before I launch into Part 2 of this social media human-themed blog I should update you on Omar (see Part 1). We have actually heard some news – but it is not good. However, before any of it is confirmed I am reluctant to put it out there in this (semi) public forum. For starters, it is very difficult to know what to believe. 

None of us have known Omar very long and although it seems impossible, for those of us who know him as the big loveable goalie from al-‘Amari, to imagine Omar being involved in anything untoward, it is rare to find a young Palestinian man who has not been in trouble with the Israeli authorities at one time or another, legitimately or not. Having said that, we all know that the Israeli military ‘have ways of making people talk’, of making people sign confessions and of locking people away on the basis of testimonies taken under duress. (They even do it with kids.) So it is difficult to know what to think. 

At this stage all we can do is wait anxiously and hope that Omar is not the latest in a long line of Palestinians jailed on dubious grounds, and if he is, that he is able to stay of sound mind and body and is returned to us before too long.

Now it's personal.

It has taken the kidnapping of a good friend and the (temporary) release of my boss from a travel ban to jolt me from my blogging lethargy. Here is part one.

Part 1

I had intended this blog to be about that oh-so Arab Spring cliché - ‘the power of social media’ - because at first that seemed to be the most interesting angle from which to tell the story of two memorable events that took place close to me over the last week. Then it struck me that perhaps I was missing the point and like so many jaded foreign correspondents searching for a ‘modern’ take on an old tale I was bypassing what was important - the flesh and blood at the centre. Anyway judge for yourselves.