David Smith

I arrived in Jordan on the 17th. I have not been posting since then for fear of being turned back at the crossing from Jordan. However, it went uneventfully. I had prepared all manner of stories… including telling them that my grandfather was an English Jew named Friedman who moved to Canada and changed his name to Smith — which is true. There is a funny story about that, but it will have to wait for another time.

My stay in Jordan was VERY memorable. I visited Petra— one of the seven wonders of the modern world — which I had not heard about until I began planning to go to Jordan. While I was on my layover in Rome I also saw the Colosseum which is another of the wonders of the modern world but it does not compare to Petra. I managed to have a complete tourist experience by being swindled by the local Bedouins — more power to them.

At 7:30AM on Thursday the 21st we began the trip to Palestine. My driver — Firas (?) — drove me to the King Hussein Border Crossing where after getting lost I caught the shuttle to Palestine. When I reached the Israeli customs, the agent seemed a little sceptical but let me through without a problem.

I had a hard time connecting with Mike — who was to drive me to Jerusalem — at the border. On both the Jordan and Palestine sides of the crossing it’s very confusing. I received my Visa, but didn’t initially realize the importance of it until Mike told me to send a picture of it. It’s now paper clipped to my passport. Mike was wearing a Dodgers cap and was Palestinian who I believe was born in Jerusalem. Initially I thought because he was lighter skinned that he was Jewish and I suppose because of this I told him about my grandfather — which he didn’t mind but also did not comment on.

I was exhausted when I reached the Jerusalem Hotel which is a very nice Palestinian hotel in Jerusalem. I was quite tired (woke up very early) but nevertheless set out on a walk. The Temple Mount is a short walk from here, so I decided to try to walk there. The streets leading there are very narrow. I passed through the Damascus Gate, but when I neared the Temple Mount, I was turned back by Israelis soldiers because I am not Muslim. I had forgotten that non-Muslims can only visit the Temple Mount at specific times. Despite it being a straight shot back to the hotel I got lost a couple of times. When I arrived there, exhaustion won out and I crashed.

I was scheduled to meet Erez from the Green Olive Collective at 4PM in the hotel restaurant. Erez is Jewish and works with the Green Olive Collective in Palestine. One of the highlights for me was to be able to share a Stalin joke that was told to me by Debbie Devorah Field almost 50 years ago and which certainly dates back to the 1930s. Though I’m sure my delivery was not as good as Debbie’s Erez found it very amusing.

Erez’s briefing covered many topics but the main one I think, which I would like to share with you is Israel’s long term strategy for the West Bank. The plan — known as the Allon Plan is roughly to drive the Palestinians out of the largely agriculture lands on the east side of West Bank into the cities on the West Side of the West Bank effectively partitioning the West Bank on a north-south basis with the Palestinians encircled and ghettoized in the cities. While the Allon Plan was never officially adopted it seems that it has effectively been the basis for Israeli policy and was also incorporated into the Oslo accords.

I’m going to stop there. Today we head to the Gaza border area. It’s murky how we will get there because of the current situation. You can find the rough plan for my tour here. I know some people have been worried about my safety, but I do want to assure you that while I am sure this will be disturbing and sometimes a little frightening it is very safe. Green Olive tours have been doing this for years and I have complete confidence in them. It is far less dangerous than some of the things I do at home… for example flying down Cyprus at 80km an hour on my bike– though perhaps you don’t find that reassuring.

David Smith is a lifelong peace activist and advocate for social justice whose commitment to equality, human rights, and collective action has guided his work for decades. Influenced by a family tradition of activism, he became deeply involved in peace and anti-war movements and later dedicated his professional career to supporting nonprofit organizations and social causes. Through his work and advocacy, he has remained committed to building stronger communities, promoting dialogue, and advancing movements for justice and lasting peace.