After reading over the background information on PYALARA is appears that the programs they are running have the best intentions for young Palestinians and helping them to deal with their frustrations of the occupation in new and artistic ways. The background information of the historical guideline of more recent events in the Gaza Strip and West Bank was also very interesting because the article really emphasized how much harder it was for women who are youth in nearly all aspects of life. I did not realize that Palestinian culture was so patriarchal and that so much social and cultural things were holding them back along with living in occupied territories. I also had learned in previous classes about Hamas and wonder if their negative view on a global perspective is making it extremely hard for the people of the Gaza strip to reach out to the international community, also dealing with Israel restricting them. I just read an article in the news how Hamas recently executed three Palestinians yesterday and all this negative media attention if focused on the area.

Menachem Klein's article started off somewhat confusing when talking about all the agreements that had been previously discussed on what to do with the city,if there should be walls and where they should be, how the city would be divided who would be allowed in etc, etc, but this is a very confusing subject so it is understandable that I got a little lost in all the different possible ideas of the division of the city. I did like though how he discussed all the different kinds of walls because that was something that I had never come across before, and when talking about the context of people in Jerusalem being involved he wrote "When a resident of East Jerusalem and one of West Jerusalem refer to themselves as “we,” it is rare for that pronoun to be grounded in the reality of their lives and consciousness."

It was good to read how people could cross over to seek medical attention in East Jerusalem if they were in need under certain conditions since there was better medical help there. It shows that people are able to work peacefully and always leaves room for hope in bad situations. It was unfortunate the the second intifada brought about a lack of joint understanding between Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem and less focus on coexistence.

If I had a question for Menachem Klein I would say do you think that by creating Jerusalem to be divided as how you stated "not a product of agreement but of war" it was doomed from the start to be a territory literally and consciously divided to the people who inhabited the land creating a sense of loss and yearning from each side? How do you think this affected the view of the city before 1967 and then after?