Joanna Wane
Joanna Wane finds herself amid tumultuous times on a two-week trip to Israel and discovers…well, it’s complicated.
Tuesday, 8 May
Jerusalem “returns the love” to Donald Trump for relocating the US Embassy from Tel Aviv, with mayor Nir Bakat announcing a nearby roundabout will be named in his honour.
That distinctive guttural rasp, described as a “backward snore”, seems at least one thing the Jewish and Arab worlds have in common, to the ears of an outsider, anyway. Later, I come to wonder if both sides might find such an observation offensive. It’s the differences that define and divide people here.
Don’t bother with Tel Aviv, I’ve been told by friends who did the hippy trail back in the 1970s. A lot has changed since then. The city itself was founded barely a century ago, but we’re staying in the old Yemenite district near the market, with its narrow, cobbled streets and chill hipster vibe; even the street art has serious attitude. The beach is a five-minute walk away. I love it, instantly.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanna Wane started out as a cadet on the Auckland Star in the days of manual typewriters, carbon copies, photographers’ darkrooms and hot-press printing. She still misses some of that. For the past 10 years, she’s been deputy editor at North & South, after working in newspapers and magazines in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, and dipping her toes briefly into TV documentary making before regaining her senses and finding her way into long-form journalism. She was judged Feature Writer of the Year (long-form) at the 2017 Canon Media Awards.
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