You have a pal in Palestine

Well, my next move has been decided, and that move is Palestine.  It was between that and Haiti, actually.  Funny story.  You see, one fine day I woke up and found the following in my email inbox:

Thank you for contacting the Palestine Red crescent Society.  Being a nurse, we would like to have you volunteering at the Hebron branch Hospital. I have already contacted them, they need you for at least 8 months. Is that suitable for you? They will provide you with accommodation and meals.

This was sort of a shock since I barely remembered applying.  I sort of took a rapid-fire approach when I got back to Haiti and realized how much I wanted to work overseas.  My preferences where Haiti, Palestine, and Nepal.  Most of the places that I applied to wanted me to basically write a disertation before they would even consdier rejecting my application.  So to be accepted outright was sort of a rush and terrifing at the same time.  Give a girl some warning, will ya?

You might also have noticed the definite lack of information that the email gives.  I actually really had to beg to wean more information out, but it looks like I would be staying at a hospital in Hebron.  In fact, I think that I am going to be doing something like this:  http://www.ms.dk/sw187323.asp

So, my next question was how to get there.  Like a moron, I assumed that I would get a working visa, etc.  What I found out was:

We prefer that you get one way ticket or an open ticket that you may change later according to the situation over here.  You will get the ticket to the Airport, that you are coming for Tourism to Jerus'm and so. After 3 months here, volunteers actually go to Jordan, stay there for a couple days and then come back through the same bridge an get visa on borders for new 3 months.. so we may only have for 6 months instead of 8, unless we figure out a way for you to stay here more.

As Lando said, "This deal is getting worse all the time."  Uh, you want me to lie at the airport and you can't guarantee eight months?  Of course, I felt like an idiot to think that the Red Crescent was going to get me a visa.  The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) has about as much authority to hand out visas as I do (perhaps even slightly less!)  So I figured, well, this is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), right?  Perhaps I can appeal to the Israeli version of the Red Cross (MDA), to let me in, citing the impartiality that the Red Cross inflicts on it's members.  (They aren't called that, but I am using that name so that this post doesn't pop up on too many search engines.)

Now this is interesting.  Turns out that there was a huge debate and the ICRC wouldn't let them in.  While I was researching this debate, I figured that the ICRC did this because the MDA was stopping PRC ambulances and accusing them of hiding terrorists.   I found out that in fact, the dely of letting Israel in was actually due to a squabble over what symbol they would use. MDA wanted to use a Red Star, the ICRC demanded that they use one of the three designs that they already had.  I mean, what the hell?

It was around this time that I heard back from an organization in Haiti.  This post is getting long, so I will wrap it up to say that I did not get the Haiti job, and I have since chalked it up to God or fate or whatever telling me that I need to go to oPT, where I am probably more needed.  I felt like a bit of an ass anyway for choosing Haiti over them simply because Haiti was more convenient.