I am living in Balata camp near Nablus, working with my friend Salah on the music for a theatre piece being performed on the 20th october by children attending the Yaffa cultural centre. At the same time I am working at Music Harvest, a small organisation that offers music tuition to anyone who wants it. The people who run this place are vehemently a-political, hence they do not work with larger organisations that have perceived political affiliations. This principle includes where they get their money from, and seeing as it is almost impossible to be a-political in Palestine they are consequently desperate for money, so feel free to google them and donate (hint hint). the long term aim is to buy the top floor of the building they are currently using which was the house of a local landowner and was even occupied by the Germans in the first world war. It still has a few signs in German painted above door frames.

Time is spent happily playing with new friends here who run an organisation called Ceilidh Beyond Borders. Essentially they teach traditional folk tunes and run sessions to get local groups of children together playing music. The first time a few of us got together a couple of days ago it was truly surreal to be whacking out tunes in such a setting, including being joined by a Japanese guy who studied in Newcastle doing the folk degree in its early years. He knows every tune under the sky. EVERY TUNE. Other time is spent with Salah and Tania drinking 5 shekel cocktails on Sharia Quds and eating omelettes at the special omelette joint in Nablus's old city. It is amusing to imagine myself, Kevin and the violin teacher Katina seated in a small white-tiled cafe, mainly because all three of us have very curly hair in various shades of red and ginger. We could never be locals...

So, the Palestinians took to the street for Abbas' speech last week. My friend Salah, whom I'm staying with just found it upsetting that somehow people would build up empty hopes for a foregone conclusion. There are those that argue that that two-state solution is imperfect but must suffice. But it shouldn't be considered that; it shouldn't even be considered as a half-way means to an end. The US says that only direct negotiations will achieve long term stability in the area. But how far has that got the situation? It is merely a mantra that it uses in order to defend its veto, to try and give itself some scrap of credibility for its continued defence of Israel. The fact of the matter is that Israel needs cajolling into talks because as the situation stands it is all too easy to live with the status quo. It uses the PA to control the small amount of the West Bank it supposedly has 'authority' over (less than 40%). Indeed many of my friends in Nablus see the PA as being merely being a figurehead to deflect attention away from Israel's continued occupation by giving the illusion that it has granted authority to Palestinians. But how much autonomy does the PA have when it is not permitted to have an army, but rather a security force which must submit to any Israeli soldier? The Palestinian security force cannot do the job it is supposed to be doing, and the PA is merely a convenient way for Israel to get locals doing the local dirty work. If anything goes wrong in the West Bank, Israel can point the finger at the PA, saying it is their responsibility, completely ignoring the fact that there are so many restraints on it that it is a wonder there is any order at all.

Ignore the frustrated rant. It is hard to remain non-political here with the reality of occupation surrounding you.Moreover my new shiny visa means that I get a small taste of what it really is like to live here, as I am prevented from going to anywhere outside the Palestinian Authority controlled areas. Still, with a beer festival starting tomorrow in a small village near Ramallah this place throws up some surprises. Who'd have thought I'd be playing folk music at a Palestinian beer festival within 10 days of arriving? I hope the beer is good.