Blog #2 Thursday: Supreme Court, Knesset, and State 194

This past Thursday was a very fun day. I enjoyed being able to sleep in a little longer and then meeting with everyone at the Supreme Court.  I found the legal system in Israel to be so interesting, and getting to see where the action happens was a great experience.  One thing that stuck out the most to me was the architecture of the building.  I loved how there were streetlights on the inside leading up the stairs to symbolize how public and open the Court is.  After that we headed to the Knesset which was just a walk away.  I was so excited to see the building I've only seen in movies and on the news.  The architecture of this building struck me as well.  On the outside it looks very epic and grand, and then on the inside it is just full of beautiful mosaics and tapestries that follow you throughout the tour.  I would've liked to have sat in on some of the action of Israeli politics.  And maybe I will someday.

Later that evening some of us went to the Cinematheque to see the new movie, "State 194."  I absolutely loved this movie.  It was fantastic and I hope in the future we can bring it to MSU for our Israeli Film Festival so more people can see it.  It was great to watch a documentary about the man at the time leading the West Bank Palestinians, Salem Fayyed.  I couldn't believe how similar their struggle is to that of the Jews' leading up to 1948.  I would like to know more about Fayyed; why he resigned, and where he is now.  Clearly he must have been pushed out by opposing viewpoints maybe from Fatah.  I also found it interesting to know that he was not as popular as the movie made him out to be.  He was popular with the West, but not as much with the Palestinians.  It was also very nice to see Israeli and Palestinian parents who have lost children because of the conflict working together towards a two state solution.  It was ever nicer to meet one of the parents from the movie afterwards for a Q and A outside on the balcony of the Cinematheque.  Overall a very enlightening day and evening learning about the Israeli political system, and Israeli society.