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I ignored the media and visited Palestine

I ignored the media and visited Palestine

Thom J. Défilet (ريّان)

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[00:00]

I'm going to visit Palestine. For the

[00:02]

past couple of years, the world has not

[00:03]

been quiet about the war happening

[00:05]

there. Politicians, celebrities,

[00:07]

universities, activists, and even whole

[00:09]

countries are all involved in this

[00:10]

conflict. The war has united many and

[00:13]

caused division for others. It has

[00:15]

brought people to Islam and at the same

[00:17]

time increased Islamophobia. After

[00:19]

watching all these videos about what is

[00:21]

going on and asking so many questions, I

[00:23]

decided to go and see it for myself. I'm

[00:25]

planning to visit the third holiest site

[00:27]

in Islam, Majid Ala. And even though I

[00:30]

won't be able to enter the places where

[00:31]

the war is happening, I really want to

[00:33]

see how the people of Palestine live

[00:36]

there, if they can even live a normal

[00:38]

life. What is daily life like? What

[00:40]

about the soldiers? This might be a

[00:41]

dangerous journey, but it might also be

[00:43]

something that changes my life forever.

[00:46]

This side is the West Bank. But in order

[00:50]

to go to Fine, I had to go through

[00:52]

Israel first. So I booked my ticket to

[00:55]

Tel a Viv. And my trip started in Dubai.

[00:57]

So I flew from back home Dubai all the

[01:00]

way to Tel Aviv. Right. All right. Time

[01:03]

to go. Got my stuff packed and ready.

[01:07]

Alhamdulillah. And now before we go, one

[01:10]

of the most important things, dua before

[01:13]

we leave the house. Dua before

[01:15]

traveling. The moment was here. I

[01:17]

finally left on my journey to Palestine.

[01:20]

I don't know what to expect. What I can

[01:22]

already tell is that everything is very

[01:25]

heavily secured. You can feel that you

[01:27]

really have to watch every step you

[01:29]

make. But we'll see what it will

[01:31]

actually be like once I arrive.

[01:37]

>> How are you, sir?

[01:40]

Good.

[02:00]

All right, here we are. Dubai airport.

[02:03]

Need to get used to the vlog style a

[02:05]

little bit. It's been a while, but I

[02:07]

like it. Let's bring you on a new

[02:09]

experience and let's explore. How is

[02:12]

Fine? How's life over there? We'll see.

[02:20]

Here

[02:23]

we go.

[02:36]

The trip went very smooth.

[02:37]

Alhamdulillah. But when I arrived, I

[02:39]

immediately felt a little bit of

[02:41]

tension. I was asked a lot of questions.

[02:43]

What are you going to do here? What is

[02:45]

the purpose of your trip? Who are you

[02:46]

going to meet?

[02:49]

where the leaves in the Ramala.

[02:51]

>> Where in Ramla?

[02:52]

>> Where? Uh I don't have the exact

[02:57]

Yeah, if you want I can look it up, but

[03:02]

>> but alhamdulillah I made it through. A

[03:04]

driver picked me up and brought me to

[03:06]

the West Bank. And on the way there, the

[03:08]

driver told me a lot of stories about

[03:10]

the situation there, how they live, and

[03:12]

also for me what to expect when I

[03:13]

arrive.

[03:20]

How are you? They uh they took me apart

[03:23]

in an office and they asked me questions

[03:25]

for 60 minutes long about everything.

[03:27]

They wanted to know everything. Why I

[03:29]

became Muslim, why I was coming here,

[03:33]

>> who I was visiting, everything because

[03:35]

they wanted to know everything at the

[03:37]

security. So I cannot I cannot lie.

[03:41]

I had to tell the truth. But they wanted

[03:43]

to.

[03:45]

How is the situation here right now?

[03:48]

>> The same.

[03:49]

>> The same.

[03:49]

>> No change.

[03:50]

>> Nothing change to checkpoints. Is it

[03:53]

going to be hard? Today is not going to

[03:54]

be a problem.

[03:55]

>> Not different. No.

[03:57]

>> It was maybe a 45 to 50minute drive to

[04:00]

reach the borders of the West Bank.

[04:02]

Until the point of us reaching this this

[04:04]

checkpoint, there was nothing really

[04:06]

going on. The streets were pretty clean,

[04:08]

was peaceful, not much not nothing too

[04:11]

crazy. But when we entered the borders,

[04:13]

you started feeling it. IDF soldiers

[04:15]

were there to check and question again

[04:17]

what we were going to do. And when we

[04:19]

passed through this checkpoint, we

[04:20]

entered the West Bank.

[04:22]

>> You can see the difference directly. Uh,

[04:24]

>> of course,

[04:26]

>> the buildings, the streets,

[04:30]

>> everything,

[04:32]

>> but they have mosques here more.

[04:34]

>> Yeah, of course.

[04:37]

And I immediately felt the difference

[04:39]

especially because of the huge wall that

[04:41]

is in between Israel and and the West

[04:44]

Bank in and of itself. Also the quality

[04:46]

of the streets, the buildings and just

[04:48]

the area in general. I stayed in

[04:50]

Ramallah. It's one of the bigger cities

[04:52]

in the West Bank. To my surprise, the

[04:54]

West Bank actually is huge. It has

[04:56]

different villages, multiple cities, and

[04:59]

from the moment when I entered, you see

[05:01]

Palestinian flags everywhere. It's

[05:03]

beautiful and you really feel kind of

[05:05]

that you are in Palestine. It's a very

[05:07]

weird feeling because you have seen

[05:08]

everything online, all the stories and

[05:10]

now I was finally here. But one thing

[05:13]

that you have to keep in mind and that

[05:14]

is very important to understand is that

[05:16]

I travel to the West Bank. Extreme

[05:18]

things that we've seen in Gaza is not

[05:20]

what is happening over here because that

[05:22]

area is impossible for me to enter.

[05:24]

While on the other hand, the West Bank

[05:26]

is still an area that you can access.

[05:28]

Even though the situation is not ideal,

[05:30]

people are living here just normal

[05:32]

day-to-day life. They have a job, they

[05:34]

have their families, they have their

[05:35]

houses, and they get around with

[05:38]

limitations of course, but it was

[05:39]

beautiful to see. I was hosted in such a

[05:42]

nice way and they made me feel safe

[05:44]

right from the start. I arrived on a

[05:46]

Thursday and the next day was Juma. And

[05:48]

one of the biggest goals that I actually

[05:49]

had for this trip was to visit Masid

[05:51]

Alaka, one of the three holy mosques in

[05:54]

Islam. So I asked people what I could do

[05:56]

in order to get there because the mosque

[05:58]

is actually just a little bit outside of

[06:00]

the West Bank in the middle of

[06:01]

Jerusalem. So from Ramla I had to go

[06:04]

through the borders, the checkpoints

[06:05]

again in order to enter Jerusalem.

[06:17]

All right. So I just crossed the border.

[06:21]

This side is the West Bank.

[06:24]

the side to the salah part of Israel.

[06:28]

You can see it even over here. They're

[06:30]

checking every car and the flags over

[06:34]

there.

[06:38]

It's actually crazy.

[06:40]

The whole wall

[06:43]

around the area,

[06:45]

it's insane. I don't know. And for me,

[06:47]

because of my passport, my foreigner

[06:49]

passport, it's easy to make these

[06:51]

travels and go in and out. But for the

[06:53]

Palestinians themselves, it's not.

[06:55]

They're actually not even allowed to go

[06:57]

out. It was not far away. It was maybe

[06:59]

20 minutes or something like that. And

[07:00]

then I entered Jerusalem. It's actually

[07:02]

a beautiful big city. First entered the

[07:05]

old town, you saw these little markets

[07:07]

and beautiful areas, especially because

[07:09]

it was a Juma. You see so many Muslims,

[07:11]

local markets, nice food, and actually a

[07:14]

very good vibe. So I took some time to

[07:16]

explore a little bit, get some food. But

[07:18]

then very quickly, it was already time

[07:19]

for the Juma prayer. In the middle of

[07:21]

the day, I made my way to the masid, to

[07:23]

the mosque. It was a huge area and like

[07:25]

I said, there was not much going on. The

[07:27]

only thing that you saw was soldiers

[07:29]

everywhere keeping an eye on what's

[07:31]

going on. And maybe that's the only

[07:33]

reason for me to actually feel that

[07:35]

there was something, you know, just

[07:37]

because of the soldiers, but other than

[07:38]

that, it was pretty peaceful to walk

[07:40]

around. The beautiful golden dome that

[07:42]

I've seen online for so many times was

[07:44]

now in front of me. Alhamdulillah,

[07:47]

we made it. Falstine

[07:51]

at one of the three holy mosques in

[07:53]

Islam. It's even mentioned in the Quran

[07:56]

and multiple uh narrations of the

[07:59]

prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi

[08:00]

wasallam that praying over here one

[08:02]

narration says it's equal to 500 prayers

[08:05]

another says a thousand

[08:08]

no matter how much it is it's really

[08:11]

really really beautiful to be

[08:13]

alhamdulillah and was the first kibla of

[08:17]

uh of Islam the prayer direction Muslims

[08:20]

uh they used to pray in this direction

[08:23]

and After that it became the Cabba. It's

[08:26]

beautiful. And also like people think

[08:29]

that this is the mosque but actually the

[08:31]

mosque is over there like a little bit

[08:34]

further. This is the place the the

[08:37]

golden uh uh thumb that it actually um

[08:42]

marks the place where the cave is where

[08:44]

the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi

[08:45]

wasallam was uh raised to heaven during

[08:48]

the Israel

[08:51]

that in the right way. [clears throat]

[08:54]

was the the night where the prophet

[08:56]

Muhammad wasallam was raised to heaven

[08:58]

[music] and where he heard the

[09:01]

obligationary prayer like the amount of

[09:03]

prayers we as Muslims [music] do. We do

[09:06]

five prayers every day and it happened

[09:08]

over here high up in the sky. Subhan

[09:11]

Allah. I mean I'm still new to Islam,

[09:14]

you know. I learn every single day. But

[09:17]

it's beautiful and especially if you're

[09:19]

able to walk around and visit those

[09:21]

places. And the thing is, I mean, it's

[09:22]

pretty peaceful here. Everything is

[09:24]

fine. But the the thing is just that you

[09:26]

have a lot of uh soldiers everywhere.

[09:28]

Every gate is being protected and

[09:30]

checked and you see soldiers everywhere.

[09:33]

Even over here, you see it like I'll

[09:35]

zoom in a bit with this. Even there, you

[09:37]

see soldiers checking IDF, Israeli

[09:41]

soldiers just it's a bit weird, you

[09:44]

know, the whole situation, but

[09:46]

alhamdulillah actually do have a lot of

[09:48]

gates. There are a lot of gates around

[09:49]

this area. It's actually huge. Um,

[09:52]

[music] I looked it up online and it

[09:54]

says that it's close to 150,000 square

[09:57]

meters. This whole area of the of the

[10:00]

mosque. And this is the actual Axa

[10:02]

Mosque. And this is, [music] like I

[10:05]

said, the uh the golden thumb.

[10:08]

It's uh it's huge. It's beautiful.

[10:13]

So, as you can see here, here's the

[10:15]

dome. And this this is the entrance of

[10:18]

of the mosque. This is the real AXA

[10:21]

mosque. When you search of AXA, people

[10:24]

always think about this. The real real

[10:26]

mosque that's here.

[10:30]

Now I'm officially inside the uh Alaka

[10:33]

Mosque

[10:38]

is about to start in a little bit. It's

[10:42]

beautiful. And the funny thing is when I

[10:44]

entered the Muslims themselves hold me

[10:46]

back for just a second because they were

[10:48]

questioning if I was actually a Muslim

[10:50]

or not. A lot of people were very

[10:51]

confused. A foreigner, white guy, blonde

[10:54]

guy entering the masid. So I actually

[10:56]

was asked to do my shahada and recite

[10:59]

the fat to to show them that I actually

[11:02]

a Muslim. The thing is they made me even

[11:04]

recite and do my shahada to prove that

[11:07]

I'm Muslim. I get it. Especially in this

[11:09]

time here, you know, you don't have a

[11:11]

lot of tourists here that go here,

[11:13]

especially like blonde guys. I even see

[11:15]

a lot of people just looking at me

[11:16]

weird. But it's uh it's great.

[11:20]

>> It was funny and they also could laugh

[11:22]

about it. But then I finally reached the

[11:25]

famous part of Pachaka.

[11:27]

[music]

[11:32]

[music]

[11:36]

>> [music]

[11:42]

[music]

[11:47]

[music]

[11:48]

>> It was beautiful and it was actually so

[11:50]

busy. A lot of Muslims were there and of

[11:53]

course especially because it was a

[11:54]

Friday. It was very nice. I made my way

[11:56]

into the mosque and made sure I was on

[11:58]

time so I could, you know, sit, reflect

[12:01]

a little bit. It was beautiful. I really

[12:03]

felt the peace in there. So I took my

[12:04]

time. I enjoyed the hudba. Did my prayer

[12:07]

and then it was time to explore the area

[12:10]

of Jerusalem a little bit more because

[12:11]

you know it is the holy land for the

[12:13]

Muslims but also for a lot of other

[12:15]

religion. You know the Christians, the

[12:16]

Jews. So you also do see a lot of

[12:18]

different things at the same time. On

[12:20]

one hand you see a church, the other

[12:22]

hand you see a mosque. There's a history

[12:24]

for all these religions in there and all

[12:26]

these people really live hand in hand

[12:28]

like they live in peace together. You

[12:30]

know, the whole thing is that this whole

[12:31]

situation and what people hear online

[12:34]

about the war going on, this and that,

[12:36]

it has actually nothing to do with

[12:38]

religion because I spoke to a few

[12:39]

Christians. You even have, fun fact, a

[12:41]

lot of Palestinian Christians living in

[12:43]

the West Bank. So, it was actually very

[12:45]

beautiful to see. I even visited some

[12:47]

churches myself, the birthplace of

[12:49]

Mariam, also something that we Muslims

[12:51]

believe in. It was nice to explore this

[12:53]

and to learn about these histories and

[12:55]

also beautiful to see that these people

[12:57]

really live in harmony. something that

[12:59]

we online never really hear or see, you

[13:01]

know. And let me tell you something, the

[13:02]

Palestinian food. It's it's delicious.

[13:05]

It's beautiful. I had so many different

[13:08]

little things from food to me, [music]

[13:10]

little candies. I was really enjoying my

[13:13]

time there. And from there, I made my

[13:14]

way back into the West Bank into

[13:16]

Ramallah, you know. Now, I also want to

[13:18]

dive a little bit deeper into a lot of

[13:19]

questions that I received after

[13:21]

publishing a story that I was actually

[13:22]

in Falstein cuz people are asking like

[13:24]

how how did you get there? Is it even

[13:26]

safe to go there? And you know, it has

[13:28]

two sides because yes, it's a controlled

[13:29]

area. You have to go through the

[13:31]

checkpoints. There's a whole border

[13:33]

around the whole area of the West Bank.

[13:34]

But inside, like I said, it's actually

[13:36]

pretty normal life. Day-to-day life,

[13:38]

people go to work, the families are

[13:40]

together, they eat, they have their

[13:42]

houses. It's it's actually very

[13:43]

peaceful. But you do feel a little bit

[13:45]

of that tension [music] when you have to

[13:46]

cross the border. When you see those

[13:48]

soldiers around, but the people inside,

[13:50]

they were so friendly. And I mean, for

[13:52]

me, it is easy to go in and out. But for

[13:54]

the Palestinians themselves, they're

[13:56]

more [music] limited. They grow up in a

[13:58]

place where it's almost impossible to go

[14:00]

in and out. They have a lot of

[14:01]

limitations to travel and the situation

[14:03]

is not ideal. But when I started talking

[14:05]

to them individually, you really see

[14:07]

that they the strength that they have

[14:09]

and the faith that they have in in Allah

[14:12]

and the plan, it's it's it's beautiful.

[14:14]

You know, they were born into something

[14:16]

that they didn't chose for themselves,

[14:18]

but they still smile. They don't live

[14:20]

with anger or frustration. They're just

[14:22]

very sad that they are so limited and

[14:24]

most of them they are not even able to

[14:26]

go to the mosque to go to Masal Aa

[14:28]

because it's just a little bit outside

[14:30]

of the border. For me it was 15 minutes

[14:32]

to drive there but they themselves are

[14:34]

not able to go there and that of course

[14:35]

is very unfortunate and beautiful thing

[14:37]

is in Ramallah it's actually a beautiful

[14:39]

big city. You have a lot of cafes,

[14:41]

restaurants like stores even a big mall.

[14:43]

There is a lot to explore and it was

[14:45]

beautiful to to just see and also

[14:47]

something that you sometimes don't

[14:48]

realize. You hear all these things

[14:50]

online, but in the West Bank it's

[14:52]

actually huge. You have a lot of

[14:54]

different cities, a lot of different

[14:55]

villages and towns. And they showed me

[14:57]

around everywhere [music] from the

[14:59]

bigger cities to the smaller villages

[15:01]

and the nature over there. The way they

[15:03]

live, it's very simple, but that creates

[15:06]

the beauty actually. You know, these

[15:07]

families are very united together like

[15:10]

eating every single evening. It's it was

[15:12]

very nice to see. It was an eyeopening

[15:14]

experience. It was very nice to see all

[15:16]

these people and I also felt that there

[15:19]

was still hope. Speaking to the

[15:20]

Palestinian individuals, the families,

[15:23]

you also see and feel that they have

[15:25]

hope. They are attached to their

[15:26]

religion. They trust the plan of God,

[15:28]

the plan of Allah. And that's what we

[15:30]

Muslims all should do. They are a big

[15:32]

inspiration for all of us. We can learn

[15:34]

so much from them. You know, we have to

[15:35]

keep making dua, keep them in our minds,

[15:37]

and not forget about the whole

[15:39]

situation. May Allahh bless you and I'll

[15:41]

see you in the next video. Asalam

[15:42]

allaykum.

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