One phrase kept coming to my head as I was leaving the old city of Jerusalem: This city is alive despite occupation.

I cannot deny that it felt all-odd. Actually behaving as if we were on a sightseeing tour was the abnormal feeling of it all. I meant to sit on the stairs of Damascus gate. In a normal day we couldn’t do it, and apparently it wasn’t only me thinking about it and do it. It felt for the very first time that it was normal to see a young man and woman (veiled) sitting there. As much as it felt normal to see a group of young men sitting. It was all-obvious that they were like us. It definitely felt ridiculous to keep posing for a photo, especially walking between two teenagers who seemed playing the role of the adult infront of their immature mother.

They actually didn’t…