I went to Jerusalem and all I got was horseshit

Palestinians in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood have been in a cheerful mood lately as the results of the secondary school examinations have come in and they are celebrating with parties and firecrackers that sound a lot like gun fire. We were invited to one family’s house and were told that the Shabak (Israeli secret police) had questioned them a number of times about the presence of internationals in Tel Rumeida to try and intimidate them into making us leave.

My friend Sunbula and I were invited by a nice man, H, from my neighborhood to go with him to visit the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. I've only ever been outside the mosque, as non-Muslims haven't been allowed inside since Ariel Sharon's visit to the Haram ash-Sharif (pictured below) kicked off the second intifada six years ago.