Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories

Jerusalem - Masada - Dead Sea - Qumran - Jericho - Bethlehem - Hebron

Shalom!

Having reluctantly left Mar Musa monastery with Richard, we left Syria and headed into Amman in Jordan for the night, before leaving for Israel the next morning. Destination: Jerusalem, the third holiest city for muslims (after Mecca and Medina), and the holiest city for Christians and Jews...

We got to the border as early as possible because we knew that having entered Syria twice and Lebanon, we would have trouble getting into Israel. We were expecting interrogation in a bunker while they search our luggage sort of thing.

In actuality it wasn't as bad as we expected. After getting to the border, we had to catch a special bus across the bridge into Israel, stopping every 5 seconds for security checks. Then we arrived at a huge complex, where we had
baggage and ourselves scanned, then directed to the passport check area.

It is usually an unwritten law not to chat up border officials, and me and Richard struggled to resist the urge to do so, when we were interrogated at the passport check counter by two very pretty girls in the following manner. Read the following interrogation and see how easily you could take it out of context:

Girl: So James, what is your work?
Me: Computers
Girl: Are you married?
Me: No (so what about you?)
Girl: Can you write your phone number on this (unofficial looking)
scrap of paper please?
Me: OK (but can you write yours down as well?)

The interrogation was not bad. I've heard other travellers being asked questions like "So why you visit Syria, do you like Arabs?" and other dumb things like that.

Then they take your passport away somewhere and ask you to sit and wait till they call you. So you sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And 4 hours later, just when you're slowly fuming with impatience and concerned with
worry that something has gone wrong, they come up and hand you your passport, with the Israeli stamp on a piece of paper (which was considerate of them since they know that any evidence of visiting Israel on your passport means you can't visit many other countries, like Syria and Jordan - hence why I visited those countries first).

After that, more security checks, baggage checks, and then you find yourself in Israel trying to find a minibus to Jerusalem that won't rip you off.


JERUSALEM
Jerusalem, when you disregard the crazy people (i.e the majority), is a very nice city. Remarkably clean in the old town, the streets are all paved in yellow sandstone, the souks and shops all orderly and neat, many areas looking rebuilt in more yellow sandstone into churches, buildings etc... all surrounded by a huge wonderfully preserved defensive wall with several gates. Jerusalem is split up in four quarters: Armenian, Moslem, Jewish and Christian.

Went to see the 12 stations of the cross, the room where Jesus had the last supper, Gethsemane garden where he prayed before the arrest, the tomb of the Virgin Mary (in a cool grotto), the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and tomb (in the Holy Sepulchre, remarkable frescos and stuff), the place of his ascension... All these places of course having a chapel or church built on or near it's location... The view from the Mount of Olives of Jerusalem is magnificent,
with Jewish tombs coming down the hill to the walls of Jerusalem, where church spires abound, though the thing that catches your eyes the most is the gold domed stunningly decorated Islamic dome of the rock (which only women Moslems can enter unfortunately - the men worship at a less grand but larger mosque within the temple walls. Oh of course, there is the western (Wailing) wall, which is the only remaining wall of the Temple of Solomon, that the Jews worship at.


IS IT SOMETHING IN THE WATER?
I don't know what it is, but it seems like everyone we meet starts off seemingly normal, but end up being really weird. For example, we met this American girl in the street, who turned out to be a Jewish Zionist and insisted that we not stay where we were (near the Moslem quarter outside the walls) because suicide terrorists live there, and
there was a bomb that went off there a few days ago. Research proved however that this was not the case. There is a nice old man at the hostel who turned out to be a Christian trying to buy land at the Mount of Olives so he could live close by when Jesus rockets back in his return, the proximity covering him with saturated holy spirit. Uh huh.

So far, the only normal people seem to be the Arabs, and in fact they recognise the difference between American tourists and government, happy to welcome Richard and ask questions about it, just like most places in the middle east.


DISCUSSING THEOLOGY WITH A RABBI
At the wailing wall, we decided to ask a Rabbi some questions regarding the Jewish faith. Particularly, why they wear strings from their belts (because one of the 613 laws of God is to wear fringes on their clothes), why the hat and coats (because they want to be dressed when the Messiah comes), and why the long sideburns but the rest of
the head being shaved (because of another law in the 613). He then started to exchange questions on theology and philosophy with us, but we were no match for him. His answers always made us feel stupid, his questions had us always stumped. Then again, he's had years of practice, and we suffered the "nuts I wish I thought of that comeback when I was there" hours after we left him.

His theory on why the Holocaust happened? "Because the European Jews did not come to the Holy Land (Israel) after the Beaufort Agreement in WWI allowed them to, as well as not following the Jewish laws properly, so God punished them." Interesting take.

Read some of the Jewish code of Laws, fascinating reading, but sounds like an obsessive compulsive's book of etiquette! 613 laws telling you things from how to rise up in the morning, to how to wash your hands, to what to wear and say and do etc. Some examples: you must wear 8 strings on your belt, with 5 knots, to remind you of God. If a
garment catches on fire, you are not allowed to put it out. Instead, you can pour water around the garment so nothing else gets burnt! On Sabbath you are not allowed to sing, hum, clap or hit anything that can be construed as music. If your wife is having her period, you are not allowed to touch, share a table or bed, you can't pass things to
one another, or sleep facing each other... ... the laws are endless!

SUNRISE IN MASADA AND A SWIM IN THE DEAD SEA
Signed up for a day tour which involved sunrise in Masada, swimming in the Dead Sea, then visiting Qumran and Jericho.

Because the tour driver was late in picking us up, we were late in arriving at Masada, as a result catching the sunrise two-thirds the way up the 350m high fortress on a outcrop of rock surrounded by salt plains in the Jordan valley. Still, the views from the top were extraordinary, some Americans claimed the views are better than from
the Grand Canyon.

The fortress on top was the fortress of some Jewish rebels who were fighting against the Romans. The only way the Romans were able to conquer them was to build a huge ramp up to the fortress, which took about 2 years! By the time the Romans reached the top however, they discovered that the 200+ Jews, rather than surrender, had all
committed suicide!

Next was the Dead Sea. A huge salt lake of turquoise blue like the Mediterranean. 400m below sea level in the Jordan valley, it is so briny and saturated with salt that nothing lives in it, salt crystals form at the bottom and you can't drown or sink in it, only float.

Swimming in it was like swimming in warm olive oil. Not very pleasant, and the salt burns you in cuts you never knew existed on your body!

Next was Qumran, the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. However, due to the cost of entrance and the fact you couldn't even go in just look at it from a distance from above, meant that we didn't bother going in.

Finally, we went to Jericho and the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Unfortunately, Jericho, even though it is mentioned many times in the Bible and history, is a disappointingly uninteresting dull place.


BETHLEHEM
Went to Bethlehem to see the manger where Jesus was born. The problem with travelling in the West bank is that transport consists of catching an Israeli bus to the checkpoint, crossing by foot, then catching a Palestinian bus the rest of the way. No direct public transport.

Bethlehem was also not very exciting and overly touristed. The manger is actually in a grotto under a church, where a marble floor with a silver star of David marks the spot where it was located.


HEBRON AND THE JEWISH SETTLERS
We continued to Hebron through it's wonderful souks and friendly people to find Abraham’s tomb (which was also ordinary, holy places are not very exciting really, but you go there just to see it anyway). On route however, we saw some Jewish settlers from their apartments above throwing sandbags, garbage and toilet water onto the Palestinian souks below - luckily it's covered with a strong metal mesh for that purpose, but the Arabs shake their heads sadly and say it's a common occurrence, and they tell the police/army, but they never do anything about it...


SOME PALESTINIAN JOKES:

A Russian, American, and Israeli were in a supermarket, where they saw a sign saying "Sorry, We Have No Meat!"
The Russian goes "No Meat? What is that? I do not understand what that means" (Because Russians always have meat)
The American goes "We Have No? What is that? I do not understand what that means" (Because Americans have everything)
The Israeli goes "Sorry? What is that? I do not understand..."

Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat find a Genie, who gives them a wish each.
Ariel Sharon goes "I want a big strong wall around my country to protect us from our enemies!" The Genie grants the wish.
Yasser Arafat asks the Genie "So, tell me about this wall"
The Genie goes "It's several metres tall, several metres thick, barbed wire on top, very strong indeed"
Yasser Arafat goes "Great, fill it all up with water!"


JAMES' INTERPRETATION OF THE ISRAEL SITUATION

Before I entered the Middle East, I admit I was not familiar with what the situation was with Israel. Having now seen it for myself, I have never felt so angry, and so much contempt for what the Israelis are doing here and have done...

Basically, Israel was the creation and problem of the Brits, Soviets, UN, and America with their own agendas.

First it was the Arabs being lied to after WWI, when Laurence of Arabia lead the Arabs to drive out the Ottoman Turks from the Middle East for the British in French in return for being a recognised unified Arab nation.

Instead, the British and French carved up the Middle East between themselves. There was also an agreement I think called the Belfort agreement that Britain signed with Zionists saying it would look favourably in the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.

After WWII, with the memory of the Holocaust still in peoples minds, the UN voted in favor of creating the Jewish state, (supported strongly by the Soviet Union, who at the time thought it would be a great location for fighting against the British, who they wrongly assumed was a great superpower at the time. Interestingly, America was
apprehensive, and even initially had embargos on the new State of Israel. In fact, it's interesting how the Soviets have done more bloodshed, government manipulation and control over the Arab world than America, yet America is seen in radical fundamentalist eyes as "The Great Satan". But I digress).

The Arabs were not impressed by this decision, and as soon as Israel was declared a country, war broke out between Israel (supplied with Soviet and French weapons), and the Arab world.

Israel won, and after several wars, ended up also taking the Sinai peninsula (which it has given back to Egypt sorta), and the Golan Heights from Syria (which Syria still want back).

I cannot comprehend how anyone has the right to take land from someone else, on the basis of their religion and origin of their ancestors, and decided by other nations without their consent! It's like me going into your home and telling you to get out because my God tells me this was my land, and because my ancestors were born there so we were there first!

The Palestinians have lived there for hundreds of years, and are now being not only forced from their homes and moved about, but also walled up. They also have identity cards which they must show whenever they want to visit another town, even Jerusalem. They are essentially not free to move around their own country! The Israeli army are
completely biased and basically the Palestinians are treated like scum. I tell you, finally being here witnessing it all instead of watching the news on TV I feel nothing but great anger and sadness. It looks like the persecuted have become the persecutors. Truly tragic indeed.

Rant over.


NOW WHAT?
Anyway, next stop is partying and beaching in Tel Aviv, and holy site visiting in Nazareth, Armageddon (yes it's a place, battleground for final war between good and evil on judgement day), Lake of Galilee, then off to Turkey!