Looking for a safe space to call home in Jerusalem

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat November 8, 2011 | Edit

The ad was promising: two rooms in the city center for 2750. Sure, it was a little expensive for me. And the rent seemed improbable for the location. But the owner wasn’t calling for religious tenants. I figured I’d check it out.

The apartment was so small that I gently tut-tutted the tenant for paying the landlord so much. “The price is exaggerated,” I told her. “You should get him to lower it.”

She shrugged. “I’m not one to argue. I don’t want any problems. But, if you want the place, you can ask him.”

I looked around and tried to imagine myself and my cat in the sliver of space.

“I wonder if I’m allowed to have a pet here,” I wondered aloud.

“I do. I have a ferret,” the tenant said. She opened the bottom drawer of the armoire that stood in her bedroom/living room/study/dining area (the “second” room was a tiny kitchen). There was the animal, snuggled up in a towel.

I couldn’t stick my cat in a drawer. But I was desperate for an apartment. I stood there, trying to make a decision—if I wanted the place, I should probably pounce. We chatted as I thought things over.

The tenant asked me what I did for work. I hesitated. It’s hard to tell someone’s political affiliation just by looking at them. Sometimes, however, there are clues. I sized her up and guessed her to be “safe.”

“I work for a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization,” I said. “I’m a journalist, too. I used to write a lot for Al Jazeera.”

“Awesome,” she answered. “I don’t have any problem with that. But don’t tell the landlord. He won’t rent to you.”

The place looked even smaller then. I thanked the tenant and headed out.

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat is a writer and independent journalist based in South Florida after almost a decade in Israel/Palestine. Her book, The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel's New Others (Pluto Press) was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. Her reportage and commentary has been published in The Nation, The NY Times, Haaretz, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian and many other outlets. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Slate, Guernica, the Jewish Quarterly, Narrative, and The Kenyon Review. She is currently working on a memoir.

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