Across the Border in Jordan

We began our trip to Petra, Wadi Musa, Jordan taking the bus to Eilat. The ride down was uneventful and fast. Especially fast for me since I slept part of the time. We passed the elegant Dead Sea resorts and the salt mining businesses. Crossing the border was a fortunately uneventful but we had to wait almost an hour for the guide because the bus was so early.

Bonnie, I and the driver and the guide drove to Aqaba and sat by the water drinking tea and talking.

I asked the driver, Sofrin, and the guide, George about the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, just out of curiosity not even thinking that I might be stepping into something. George, whose family has lived in Jordan for many generations told me there were several large ones here but they are no longer tents, but real buildings. He named a few but said nothing else. As it turns out 60% of the Jordanian population is Palestinian. And as it turns out the driver was from a Palestinian family who left Haifa when war broke out in 1948. He was born in Jordan and sees himself as a Jordanian. He said his father talks about Haifa and the old home but it does not seem to be a controlling idea like some of the Palestinians we have met or read about. He said that in 1948 his family had a choice as to whether to keep his Palestinian papers or surrender them and become a Jordanian citizen. His father elected to become a Jordanian citizen. Sofrin's attitude was very pragmatic. "This was a war; we lost; get on with life."

I had a weird feeling talking about this with these people. It seemed like the natural progression in my conversations during the last few weeks. First we talked with a man on a a moshav on the Gaza border who deals with personal safety on a daily business, then we met with Palestinian Israelis who deal with prejudice and unequal delegation of resources within the State of Israel; then a Palestinian who lives in the occupied territories; and now a Palestinian who lives in Jordan. They are all connected.

Well, folks, never have me choose a hotel. I found the most basic hotel for the one night in Petra. It makes the Guesthouse in the Old City look like the Ritz.

L'hitraot