The Beauty of Palestine: Olives, Women, and Scarves
Frankly, Palestine is not a very pretty place. In hopes of scouting somewhere that looks good for our TV camera, I searched for natural zones. One place stole my heart — a natural preserve for hiking near the village of Battir west of Bethlehem. A fine trail snaked along terraces that defined this terrain in the time of Jesus. These 3000-year-old “Biblical Terraces” were lined with stately and graceful olive trees.
I also looked for beauty elsewhere. Like many Westerners, I’m fascinated and perplexed by the tradition of women needing to be covered in public for modesty. While it’s certainly not unique to Islam, you notice it a lot while traveling here. For Muslim men, it’s a sin to look lustfully at a woman who’s not your wife. Around here, hair is sexy, and in the strictest of Muslim societies, women carefully cover up every strand in public. (Of course, in the privacy of their own domestic world, they are welcome to be as sexy as they like for their husbands.)
Comments
3 Replies to “The Beauty of Palestine: Olives, Women, and Scarves”
Fascinating commentary.
Wow this is not dangerous for these young women to hang out and take pictures with you men?
I think it’s important to note that the strict code of behavior posed on Arab men result in them often harassing non Arab women. In Jerusalem it well known that the only place were a woman does not feel safe walking alone is in Arab areas. Arab men catcall non Arab women and worse. As a Jew living in Jerusalem I see now Arab young men walk around center and west Jerusalem trying to “hit” on Israeli Jewish women, or on tourists quite aggressively and in a disgusting way.
Fascinating commentary.
Wow this is not dangerous for these young women to hang out and take pictures with you men?
I think it’s important to note that the strict code of behavior posed on Arab men result in them often harassing non Arab women. In Jerusalem it well known that the only place were a woman does not feel safe walking alone is in Arab areas. Arab men catcall non Arab women and worse. As a Jew living in Jerusalem I see now Arab young men walk around center and west Jerusalem trying to “hit” on Israeli Jewish women, or on tourists quite aggressively and in a disgusting way.