Dear reader,
There was a heatwave in the West Bank, but you know about that from wherever you’re reading this.
First the heat produced the arrival of a gecko in my house, then a tarantula, and finally a Scolopendra cingulata, which led to the welcoming of a street cat with a quiet and pleasant demeanour. She took it upon herself to keep the house clear of uninvited wildlife, and slowly, in the adorable ways of felines, she crept under my skin and into my broken heart until I finally accepted that we’re friends. She sleeps outside, but comes into the entrance area of my home and eats the snacks I lay out for her. She’s a member of the wild cat colony, a feral bunch that look like domesticated cats, but are feral by nature, and are everywhere.
Yes, I did say a tarantula, which is a very beautiful large, poisonous spider that’s native to Palestine, but it had to go. Then the Scolopendra cingulata arrived, and that was way more poisonous, like, its venom can kill a human. I got rid of that in a glass with a piece of cardboard, walking into the street at dawn in my pyjamas to escort it outside, and depositing it far away in a patch of rough open space, although in retrospect that was kinda insane, and I should have killed it. No shortage of local poisonous beasties. Look it up, it was enormous. A lot of legs, and armoured, with big biting jaws.
Then I noticed a weird circular wound on my wrist, and fish-like scales growing in the middle. I took myself to the clinic, where a skin specialist examined my warped skin with a magnifying glass for the subsidized price of $10. He diagnosed it as ringworm, and dispensed a topical cream that worked wonders. It was the first of two scourges from the little street cat; the second was the infestation I’d first seen in the morning light, looking at my ankles and wondering what the tiny black dots were.
The answer? Fleas. I purchased a new vacuum cleaner at the souk, and now they are history. The souk is a source of used items from the other side of the wall; anything they discard ends up there. This time, a vacuum cleaner, but we are the resale area for literally every item from the entire other side of the wall.
Recommended Read: Letters From the West Bank #4
The fleas also needed flea poison, and that came from one of the pet shops in the West Bank. While I was there, the power cut, as it often does, and I watched the fish tanks go dark, and the tropical fishes become less active.We held our collective breath as we counted the seconds and watched the temperature drop, as the warm water creatures prayed for the heaters that sustain their lives to come back on. The pet shop owner looked stressed. He has not been selling many pets since 2023; a pet shop is not a great business to be in right now in the West Bank, where everyone cuts any non-essential spending.
Meanwhile, cars were honking outside in a static line, but it’s not rush hour. It’s simply standstill traffic hoping to find gas, despite the brutal scarcity in the West Bank, through a combination of infighting between mafia-style oil gangs and the oil ministers around here. Something like that, plus Iran and the Strait of Hormuz not exactly helping relieve the pressure. A lot of honking outside the disempowered pet shop in Nablus.
But my friend is oblivious to this because yesterday they took him away at dawn. The front door to his house was bent out of shape, and his mother is left scratching her head as to why the soldiers arrived and invited themselves in and kidnapped her son. It’s called administrative detention, and it means no crime or accusation is made. They basically take people away and lock them up for up to 6 months, typically in any one specific ruling, and then can renew and extend the initial sentence for another 6 months, again and again, all in a military court that has no jury or records. I saw him on Monday, and it’s now Wednesday, and I won’t be seeing his face again any time soon, and when he does reappear, his face will be unrecognisable, as with everyone who has spent time in an Israeli prison.
Take care out there, look after each other and be kind.
Afaf
