I sat and listened to some political discourse today on NPR, and I was intrigued when I heard that Congressmen and women have been able to use their advance knowledge of the stock market to make trades and decisions about stock before the rest of the public.
I had no idea this was even possible in Congress. So I did a little investigating into the bill. It turns out that Congressmen and women can choose to receive briefings on the economy and forecasts about significant changes that are expected in the stock market; and it turns out that over the years, Congressmen and women have used this to their advantage to make as much money out of their stocks as possible. I read an opinion piece about it in the New Yorker where the columnist said that they should be allowed to use that information as they wish.
I disagree with him. I think Congressmen are briefed on the stock market so they know what kind of shape the nation's economy is in, and by that they'll know if any action is needed. They're not given the information so they can make personal gains in their wealth, and to think that it's okay is sickening to me. It's like saying they get security briefings so they know when to get to the bomb shelter before everyone else does. Does that makes sense to you?
I was blown away when the story after that was about Mitt Romney saying 'I don't care about the poor, they have a safety net...' Excuse me?! What are you talking about? They have a 'safety net'? If so I'd like to see it! The poor in America are the ones who need the MOST help, they don't need to get left behind... again. Welfare and food stamps help in some situations yes, but they don't always do enough. Some families have 2 adults who work 4-5 jobs between them, and still can't afford to live an 'average' life. They rely on those things for support, they're not there as a safety net.
Of course the middle class needs help too, but not as much as those who are below the poverty line are. It's despicable to think that people who have enough but are getting by with less than they had before should get more aid than people who have been living consistently below the poverty line. Where's the common sense Mitt? You should really rethink your assessment of those in need in this country if you hope to become the President one day.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Israel, Days 15-16: Kefar Azza, Sha'ar HaNegev, Be'er Sheba, and Unrecognized Bedouin Settlements
Now that I'm back home, and everything is pretty well wrapped up, I'll update everyone on the last few days of our class in Israel. Sunday, we woke up from our stay overnight in Be'er Sheba. We didn't do any touring there as there really isn't a whole lot of history in Be'er Sheba.
So first we headed to a small kibbutz called Kibbutz Kefar Azza. At first this kibbutz would have seemed like any other kibbutz that we had visited, only it had a very different feel. What made it different was that it was located on the border with Gaza. This kibbutz was founded in 1961, 6 years before the war that would bring the Gaza strip under the control of Israel.
The kibbutz had been under relatively peace until the second intifada started in 2004. Rockets, RPGs, and other homemade weapons have bombarded Kefar Azza and it's surrounding area every since. Chen, our guide on the tour of Kefar Azzza, told us that roughly 80% of the children under 18 on the kibbutz suffer from some sort of trauma or stress related to the conditions created by rockets and mortars from Gaza.
It's a strange place to walk around, every home and every building has its own bomb shelter. I got a very eerie feeling. It's got to be such a hard place to live. One minute you could be walking around going about your daily routine, then the code red siren could sound and you would literally have to drop everything your doing and head to the bomb shelter as quickly as you can. I wonder what kind of quality of life you could salvage while living in that kind of environment; I don't think I'd be able to do it.
After Kefar Azza, we went into the regional council area that Kefar Azza is apart of (many kibbutzim have joined together to create a 'regional council' that looks similar to a municipality in the US--many kibbutzim are too small to govern themselves alone so the join forces and pool resources and leadership). We toured the new school--completely fortified to withstand any bomb blast from Gaza. Around the buildings at the school, they've built 28 fortified bus stops, which double as bus stops. In case anyone is outside during a bombing, the shelters are strategically places so that anyone can get from anywhere on the property to a bomb shelter in less than 10 seconds (roughly the amount of time it takes a rocket launched in Gaza to reach Kefar Azza and the surrounding area).
We then headed to Be'er Sheba and the surrounding areas which mainly consist of unrecognized Bedouin settlements--settlements created after the nomadic Bedouins decided to settle in around the Be'er Sheba area. There are a lot of tensions between the Bedouins and Jews, the Bedouins and Palestinians, and the Bedouins and 'assimilated Bedouins'. They are a very proud and very secluded people. Unless you are invited into their home, they don't want you anywhere near them, and when they do invite you in, you're treated like royalty.
The places we visited are known as unrecognized settlements because they were created by nomadic Bedouins who just decided randomly where they were going to settle and expected the Israeli government to pay to have utilities and services sent to them. Just like in the US, you have to pay for land and apply for permits to have services sent to your land, i.e.: roads, water, electricity, sewer, and the like. Because the Bedouins settled such an expansive and distant area, the government decided that unless they move into predetermined areas paid for by the government, they weren't going to provide services. Each man 16 and older was offered a 1/4 acre of land that they could develop (worth roughly $75,000) but many refuse to take they offer because they want to live where they've settled. The main problems now are the unrecognized settlement issues and the coming battle of service provisions. Things are just starting to get heated there, and the battles between Israel and the Bedouins are starting to become intense.
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I enjoyed my time in Israel IMMENSELY. If I had the opportunity to go back, I'd go back in a heartbeat. There is so much rich history and beauty in Israel that I could spend a lifetime exploring there.
Everyday on our trip, I found myself thinking about the incredible complexity of the conflict. Each time we heard from someone on either side of the issue it seemed to get even more complicated. We talked with Bedouins, Christian Palestinians, Muslim Palestinians, Palestinian Israelis (yeah that's a complicated identity for sure!) Jordanians, Religious Jews, Secular Jews, American Jews, and everyone in between. Each time we heard a different story, a different perspective, and a different idea of what was the 'right solution' to the conflict; but one thing we found in common: there isn't one correct solution that will make the issue disappear.
There is no solution to this conflict where everyone comes out a winner, it's not possible. It's zero sum game--whoever gains something, gains it at the loss of the other side. Sure there are swaps and compromises but the essence of a swap or compromise is that you're giving something up in order to reach an agreement.
What I've taken away from this experience is that with radical groups on each side, there will never be a completely peaceful situation because the radicals on both sides won't stop until the other side is gone completely from what the radicals see as their land. It's an unfortunate reality that can only be resolved through education and tolerance which MUST start with the youth on all sides of the issue. Until the children from Gaza and the children from Kefar Azza can see each other as equals there will not be a peaceful ending to this conflict. When the 3rd grader from Sha'ar HaNegev can meet with the third grader from Gaza and not harbor any hatred, we know there is again a possibility for peace.
The sad thing is that it appears that the youth on both sides are only becoming more and more radicalized, and they're moving apart... One thing we heard from almost everyone--Palestinians and Jews--the greatest and likely last chance at peace was lost when Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by a Jewish zealot. Palestinians were going to get almost everything they had in 1967 and the Jews were so excited about peace that they (most of them anyway) were willing to give what it took for peace between two states. But when Yitzhak Rabin was murdered, many believe peace died with him.
It's a strange place to walk around, every home and every building has its own bomb shelter. I got a very eerie feeling. It's got to be such a hard place to live. One minute you could be walking around going about your daily routine, then the code red siren could sound and you would literally have to drop everything your doing and head to the bomb shelter as quickly as you can. I wonder what kind of quality of life you could salvage while living in that kind of environment; I don't think I'd be able to do it.
After Kefar Azza, we went into the regional council area that Kefar Azza is apart of (many kibbutzim have joined together to create a 'regional council' that looks similar to a municipality in the US--many kibbutzim are too small to govern themselves alone so the join forces and pool resources and leadership). We toured the new school--completely fortified to withstand any bomb blast from Gaza. Around the buildings at the school, they've built 28 fortified bus stops, which double as bus stops. In case anyone is outside during a bombing, the shelters are strategically places so that anyone can get from anywhere on the property to a bomb shelter in less than 10 seconds (roughly the amount of time it takes a rocket launched in Gaza to reach Kefar Azza and the surrounding area).
We then headed to Be'er Sheba and the surrounding areas which mainly consist of unrecognized Bedouin settlements--settlements created after the nomadic Bedouins decided to settle in around the Be'er Sheba area. There are a lot of tensions between the Bedouins and Jews, the Bedouins and Palestinians, and the Bedouins and 'assimilated Bedouins'. They are a very proud and very secluded people. Unless you are invited into their home, they don't want you anywhere near them, and when they do invite you in, you're treated like royalty.
The places we visited are known as unrecognized settlements because they were created by nomadic Bedouins who just decided randomly where they were going to settle and expected the Israeli government to pay to have utilities and services sent to them. Just like in the US, you have to pay for land and apply for permits to have services sent to your land, i.e.: roads, water, electricity, sewer, and the like. Because the Bedouins settled such an expansive and distant area, the government decided that unless they move into predetermined areas paid for by the government, they weren't going to provide services. Each man 16 and older was offered a 1/4 acre of land that they could develop (worth roughly $75,000) but many refuse to take they offer because they want to live where they've settled. The main problems now are the unrecognized settlement issues and the coming battle of service provisions. Things are just starting to get heated there, and the battles between Israel and the Bedouins are starting to become intense.
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I enjoyed my time in Israel IMMENSELY. If I had the opportunity to go back, I'd go back in a heartbeat. There is so much rich history and beauty in Israel that I could spend a lifetime exploring there.
Everyday on our trip, I found myself thinking about the incredible complexity of the conflict. Each time we heard from someone on either side of the issue it seemed to get even more complicated. We talked with Bedouins, Christian Palestinians, Muslim Palestinians, Palestinian Israelis (yeah that's a complicated identity for sure!) Jordanians, Religious Jews, Secular Jews, American Jews, and everyone in between. Each time we heard a different story, a different perspective, and a different idea of what was the 'right solution' to the conflict; but one thing we found in common: there isn't one correct solution that will make the issue disappear.
There is no solution to this conflict where everyone comes out a winner, it's not possible. It's zero sum game--whoever gains something, gains it at the loss of the other side. Sure there are swaps and compromises but the essence of a swap or compromise is that you're giving something up in order to reach an agreement.
What I've taken away from this experience is that with radical groups on each side, there will never be a completely peaceful situation because the radicals on both sides won't stop until the other side is gone completely from what the radicals see as their land. It's an unfortunate reality that can only be resolved through education and tolerance which MUST start with the youth on all sides of the issue. Until the children from Gaza and the children from Kefar Azza can see each other as equals there will not be a peaceful ending to this conflict. When the 3rd grader from Sha'ar HaNegev can meet with the third grader from Gaza and not harbor any hatred, we know there is again a possibility for peace.
The sad thing is that it appears that the youth on both sides are only becoming more and more radicalized, and they're moving apart... One thing we heard from almost everyone--Palestinians and Jews--the greatest and likely last chance at peace was lost when Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by a Jewish zealot. Palestinians were going to get almost everything they had in 1967 and the Jews were so excited about peace that they (most of them anyway) were willing to give what it took for peace between two states. But when Yitzhak Rabin was murdered, many believe peace died with him.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Israel, Day 14: Mitzpe Ramon and Sde Boqer (A Kibbutz where Ben Gurion lived and is buried).
We said goodbye to Eilat this morning, and started making our way to Be’er Sheva, in the far northern part of the Negev Desert. We drove for roughly one hour where we stopped at a site called a makhtesh, something that looks similar to a crater. A makhtesh is a geological phenomenon that is caused by movement of the earth’s tectonic plates.
Tens of millions of years ago, there was a vast desert of sand dunes that existed on the land that is the state of Israel today. Slowly the ocean rose to cover those sand dunes. After millions of years of sedimentation, layers upon layers of calcium and other minerals were deposited on the floor of the ocean, covering the sand dunes that were swallowed up by the ocean.
Eventually the ocean began to recede again and the plates on the earth’s crust began to move. The crust started to elevate in one spot, creating anticline planes—a ridge with one very steep side and one very shallow side. Because the top rocks (usually limestone) are very hard and brittle, they break very easily when stress is put on them. Stress cracks began to form and eventually the peak of the new ridge split and created a large fissure. This fissure grew wider and wider as millions of years passed.
Now what you have today is a very large crater shaped valley in the desert of Israel. In the bottom—after the limestone ridges were forced open and away from each other—the sand dunes that were once buried under millions of years of sedimentation are now exposed. A makhtesh is usually drained by one narrow river or stream, which is dry during much of the year as there is little rainfall.
We got the best view of Makhtesh Ramon from the small town of Mitzpe Ramon, a town situated on one of the ridges on the north side of the makhtesh, where we also had lunch. We then moved on up the road to the outskirts of the Kibbutz where David Ben Gurion is buried with his wife Paula.
As one of the founders and the first prime minister of Israel, Ben Gurion is admired by many Israelis. As a socialist and a Zionist, Ben Gurion’s dream was to create a state where resources where shared with everyone, to allow everyone to prosper in Israel. One of Ben Gurion’s great visions rose out of the 1947 partition plan, which relegated Israel to a small parcel of land in the north, and nearly all of the desert land in the south.
Because much of the land that was given to Israel was desert land, Gurion’s vision was to convert the desert to make it prosperous and useful. He envisioned small kibbutzim and villages across the desert; little oases across the desert making infertile land fertile and versatile. That dream has become partially true. Although the mass movement of people towards the desert that Gurion envisioned didn’t happen, his dream of using the desert as a place of growth and production did come true as most of the produce that Israel exports comes from the Negev desert.
After learning about Ben Gurion’s dream for Israel we took a short hike through a valley nearby. The valley, the Tsin Valley, is a former Nabatean trade route which stretches all the way to Petra, Jordan. Ben Gurion’s grave sits at the spot he frequented after his retirement. He moved to a small kibbutz—Sde Boqer—in the desert after retirement and walked to a ridge overlooking the Tsin Valley; he is now buried at that ridge.
After all this we made our final trek to our hotel in Be’er Sheva. Tomorrow we’re headed to a Bedouin community, and then a city that borders with Gaza to learn about relations with the Bedouins of the Negev desert and relations with Gaza. Afterwards we’ll be making our last stop once again in Tel Aviv, and in three short days we’ll be heading home! (Sorry, no pictures this time because the connection is too slow! I'll add them at our next stop in Tel Aviv!)
Friday, January 20, 2012
Israel (Jordan technically), Day 13: Petra
Today we made our way to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Currently under governance by King Abdullah II , Jordan is now on it's third king. King Abdullah's predecessors: his father King Hussein reigned from 1951-1999, and his grandfather King Abdullah reigned from 1921-1951.
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| The border entry gate between Israel and Jordan. This took us an hour, but it was worth it. I'd definitely go back to Jordan any day. |
The country of Jordan is a monarchic country, the monarchic family is the Abdullah family, descendants of the Hashemite family who ruled the Hashemite kingdom before and during the time of Mohammed. They family does have a direct connection to Mohammed, by blood and therefore have declared Jordan to be a Hashemite kingdom.
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| The sign welcoming us all to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We had to present our passports a total of 5 times to enter the country, and 4 times to return to Israel. It was surprising, but understandable. |
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| Look very carefully at the sand on the other side of the road...... |
After a 2 hour drive through the pea soup fog in the Jordanian mountains, we reached the city of Wadi Moussa--the city that surrounds the ancient city of Petra. Petra was discovered in 1831 by Francis Burkhart of Switzerland. During an exploratory mission through the Jordanian desert, Burkhart noticed there was a facade that was sticking out of the ground. He sent word back to Switzerland, where a crew was sent to start excavations around the facade. That's when they discovered this: a large temple/monument carved into the sandstone. After heavy research, the building was dated at over 1850 years old (now over 2000 years old).
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| The original discovery made by Francis Burkhart. He only found the top 5 feet or so, but this is what was uncovered during excavation. |
After we were all exhausted from hiking down the canyon, to see one of the new 7 wonders of the world, we boarded the bus and headed up the hill in Wadi Moussa. We stopped at the Amra Palace Hotel--a 5 star hotel that over looks the city and the Petra entrance facilities--and had a wonderful buffet lunch. I had THE BEST dessert I have ever had in my entire life. It's called Om Ali. It's an Egyptian dessert--literally translated it means mother of Ali. It's similar to bread pudding. It usually includes phyllo dough, dried fruit--strawberries of cranberries, any kind of nuts, heavy whipping cream, and cinnamon. It's baked and served warm, and is absolutely amazing.
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| Om Ali, the best dessert I have ever had... ever! |
Tomorrow we're headed to Beersheba, 'the capital of the Negev (desert)'. It's home to Beersheba University one of the largest universities in Israel, and is also located near the grave of Ben Gurion, considered the George Washington of Israel.
I'll have an updated on our excursion in Beersheba later tomorrow night, unless we don't have internet access.
Thanks again for reading everyone!
Israel, Day 12: Eilat
Today was a free day... IT WAS SPECTACULAR! We started out by getting to sleep in! (I hear a choir of angels when I woke up this morning.) I woke up and went down to breakfast at 9:45. Then at 10 we were given a "tour of Eilat". Basically our tour guide showed us how to sneak into the big fancy hotels to steal the services: internet, the pool, the bar, the restaurants, private beach access, etc.
Then we went to a jewelry manufacturer to see the biggest manufacturer of the Eilat stone in the world. Eilat stone is a semi precious stone that is a result of copper mining, secondary copper mining materials: malachite, turquoise, pseudomalachite, azurite, and chrysocolla. They are blue and green and are found in copper mines after mining is finished.
The stones are easy to cut, shape, and polish making them one of the cheaper semi precious stones, yet they have the beauty of the higher end of semi precious stones.
After that we headed south along the coast to the border with Egypt to see the border crossing. I would have gone across the border to get the Egypt stamp in my passport but there is an incredible entry tax that I didn't want to pay. We saw places where you could ride the dolphins of the Red Sea, rent scuba equipment to see the coral reefs, rent boating and fishing equipment, and even go dune buggy riding. I decided I wanted a relaxing day on the beach so I grabbed my swimsuit, my towel, a book and my computer and headed to the nicer beaches in front of the 5 star hotels on the north side of Eilat.
It was amazing, I finally got time to be lazy. I laid on the beach on a beach chair, listened to music on my iPod, and just vegged. Then I went to lunch at a restaurant on the boardwalk called CafeCafe. I had a Halloumi salad (Halloumi is basically cheese curds... SO GOOD), and a coke.
Afterwards, I walked along the boardwalk for a while looking in the different shops in the area. Then I stopped in a small store, grabbed a beer and went back to the beach to relax in the sun again.
This has been by far the best day we've had yet. It was a wonderful 72 degrees here (when the sun was out), the water was warm, and the food was excellent. I really wanna stay here! :D
Look for another blog post either later tonight (so for you between 4 and 6 pm), or sometime tomorrow. We're going to Petra, Jordan tomorrow and it's going to be a long day, we may not get back to Eilat until 10 pm.
That's all I've got, ta ta for now!
Then we went to a jewelry manufacturer to see the biggest manufacturer of the Eilat stone in the world. Eilat stone is a semi precious stone that is a result of copper mining, secondary copper mining materials: malachite, turquoise, pseudomalachite, azurite, and chrysocolla. They are blue and green and are found in copper mines after mining is finished.
The stones are easy to cut, shape, and polish making them one of the cheaper semi precious stones, yet they have the beauty of the higher end of semi precious stones.
After that we headed south along the coast to the border with Egypt to see the border crossing. I would have gone across the border to get the Egypt stamp in my passport but there is an incredible entry tax that I didn't want to pay. We saw places where you could ride the dolphins of the Red Sea, rent scuba equipment to see the coral reefs, rent boating and fishing equipment, and even go dune buggy riding. I decided I wanted a relaxing day on the beach so I grabbed my swimsuit, my towel, a book and my computer and headed to the nicer beaches in front of the 5 star hotels on the north side of Eilat.
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| Probably the best day I've had since we got here. :) So amazing! |
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| My Halloumi salad, bread, and a coke. Next to the beach. So wonderful! |
This has been by far the best day we've had yet. It was a wonderful 72 degrees here (when the sun was out), the water was warm, and the food was excellent. I really wanna stay here! :D
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| The view from the hotel at the end of the day. :) Eilat is amazing! |
That's all I've got, ta ta for now!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Israel, Days 10-11, Ein Gedi, The Dead Sea, Masada, and Eilat.
After an overnight stay at Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov, we headed south a little ways to the small city of Beit She'an on day 10. The city of Beit She'an is located just above an ancient city of Beit She'an, a former Roman empire city.
We entered the site and immediately saw the incredibly enormous size of the city. According to the census by the Romans that year there were about 50,000 citizens. The Romans, built all of their new cities with the same general plan, they made a North-South running road called the Cardo--the heart line road, and an East-West running road, called the Decumanus--the 10 workers line. It isn't known why these streets were called this, but that's what they're know by.
The streets were often set up so that the city could be surrounded by walls and fortified so it was easy to defend, and each end of the 2 main streets was to end at a gate on one of the 4 city walls. These gates were entrance and exit points of trade for the city. People would then go to the city center or the acropolis to trade, buy, and sell their goods. Since the acropolis was built way upon a hill in Beit She'an, they lines of the main roads don't intersect at the top of the hill but at the bottom, so a city center was built which housed shops, contained sidewalks and streets, much like what a downtown might look like in America today.
Every Roman city also had a public bath house, since the Romans were obsessed with their cleanliness, they built massive public bath houses for places for people to bathe and keep themselves clean. There were extremely large rooms for saunas, hot baths, and pools. The first room was enormous and had walls that were 3 feet thick. They walls held the heat from the saunas in. The heat for the saunas was pumped in with massive blowers by slaves who blew hot air from furnaces under the floor of the sauna, this would then heat a large bowl of water.
After condensing on the ceiling, the water would wash down the walls into cisterns that would put the warm water into a large hot tub that had 'jets' usually human or animal faces that shot water out of their mouths onto a person's head or shoulders--like a modern jaccuzzi tub.
After we toured Beit She'an, we got back into the bus and we headed down the road to the Dead Sea. We drove along the sea and listened as our tour guide Amir explained to us about the Dead Sea Scrolls, their discovery and their eventual collection.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves around the Dead Sea in 1947. Shortly after having found a couple large pots with scrolls from the Torah in them, the Bedouin tribes that live in the area moved into the surrounding caves and raided the scrolls. Thinking they could harvest a lot of money from them, the Bedouins ripped the scrolls into tiny pieces and sold them to people all around the world. This created a nightmare for the people who had to reassemble them and try to decipher their meanings.
In the 1950's through the 1980's the Dead Sea Scrolls were slowly bought or gifted back and pieced back together to help try and decipher what it was these scrolls were saying. It was eventually found that they scrolls were original prints of the books of the Torah. We stopped for a while near the Dead Sea to have a look at the sight where they found the most Dead Sea Scrolls in one cave.
Then we drove all along the Sea to the town of Ein Gedi to stay overnight.
Today, we woke up at about 6 am in order to leave the hostel at 7am. Our plans today included heading to Masada, which is a very tall mountain that is near Ein Gedi. It is the location of an old, old Roman/Jewish city. King Herod chose this place, on a relatively flat mountain top, to be his palace because it was nearly impossible to penetrate.
It takes about an hour or a little less to hike up the side of the mountain to the top, and about 20 minutes to a half an hour to get back down again. I could have taken the cable car but 1) I wanted the exercise and 2) I didn't want to pay $15 to get up there, when I could do it for free.
We spent roughly 2 hours on Masada touring around. Afterwards we headed to the Dead Sea to go for a little swim. :) The Dead Sea is the most saline body of water on earth, it's also the lowest point on earth (1400 feet below sea level!). People with asthma can breath easier because there is more oxygen the lower you go on earth, and the salt water helps people's muscles and joints because it contains bromide, a commonly used substance for tranquilizing.
When you enter the water, you can immediately feel the difference between this water and normal lake water. This water almost feels like you're walking into a giant lake of olive oil, it's very slippery and greasy. It's good for your skin though, I can attest that I don't think I've ever felt my skin as soft as it is today! :D
After this short trip, we went headed our way down to the city of Eilat, the southern most city in Israel, and a large sourthern port. On our way there, we took a detour to the border with Jordan, which is interesting because it's not hardly fortified at all... all there is, is a small barbed wire fence that looks no different from a common barbed wire fence used to divide land in America. But there are signs signifying the danger of the possibility of lost land mines near the border fence.
Interestingly, Israel's largest agricultural region is in the Negev Desert in the south of the country. Irrigation and rich minerals help the plants grow quickly. The use of a mixture of aquifer water and salt water helps make produce more sweet as the plants over produce sugar to counterbalance the salt. A very creative and clever way to make your produce worth more!
After a short stop on the border with Jordan, we finally got to Eilat, where I have this view from my room, where I am sitting right now!
I hope you all enjoy these updates. I truly enjoy sharing my experiences with you all! :) Look for my next update soon!
We entered the site and immediately saw the incredibly enormous size of the city. According to the census by the Romans that year there were about 50,000 citizens. The Romans, built all of their new cities with the same general plan, they made a North-South running road called the Cardo--the heart line road, and an East-West running road, called the Decumanus--the 10 workers line. It isn't known why these streets were called this, but that's what they're know by.
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| The city of Beit She'an (ancient). The street you can see is the Cardo--the heart line. The columns on either side were to support a roof over the adjacent sidewalks that led past shops and merchants. |
Every Roman city also had a public bath house, since the Romans were obsessed with their cleanliness, they built massive public bath houses for places for people to bathe and keep themselves clean. There were extremely large rooms for saunas, hot baths, and pools. The first room was enormous and had walls that were 3 feet thick. They walls held the heat from the saunas in. The heat for the saunas was pumped in with massive blowers by slaves who blew hot air from furnaces under the floor of the sauna, this would then heat a large bowl of water.
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| The floor supports that left air room under the floor to allow hot air to be blown in, usually by animal or slaves. The hot air was blown in from the furnace, which was outside the sauna room through the small passages on the left wall. |
After we toured Beit She'an, we got back into the bus and we headed down the road to the Dead Sea. We drove along the sea and listened as our tour guide Amir explained to us about the Dead Sea Scrolls, their discovery and their eventual collection.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves around the Dead Sea in 1947. Shortly after having found a couple large pots with scrolls from the Torah in them, the Bedouin tribes that live in the area moved into the surrounding caves and raided the scrolls. Thinking they could harvest a lot of money from them, the Bedouins ripped the scrolls into tiny pieces and sold them to people all around the world. This created a nightmare for the people who had to reassemble them and try to decipher their meanings.
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| The majority of the Dead Sea scrolls were found in this cave. Located just steps away from the archaeological dig of a monastery that was supposed to find them. This cave was invaded by the Bedouins and the rest of the scrolls inside were taken and ripped apart to be sold world wide. |
Then we drove all along the Sea to the town of Ein Gedi to stay overnight.
Today, we woke up at about 6 am in order to leave the hostel at 7am. Our plans today included heading to Masada, which is a very tall mountain that is near Ein Gedi. It is the location of an old, old Roman/Jewish city. King Herod chose this place, on a relatively flat mountain top, to be his palace because it was nearly impossible to penetrate.
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| The faint path you can see zigzagging up the side of the mountain is the path we took up. It took me 50 minutes to go up and 20 minutes to come down. What a great way to start the day... with an intense uphill work out! :) |
We spent roughly 2 hours on Masada touring around. Afterwards we headed to the Dead Sea to go for a little swim. :) The Dead Sea is the most saline body of water on earth, it's also the lowest point on earth (1400 feet below sea level!). People with asthma can breath easier because there is more oxygen the lower you go on earth, and the salt water helps people's muscles and joints because it contains bromide, a commonly used substance for tranquilizing.
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| Me floating on the water! It's weird by it feels so good in the sun! |
After this short trip, we went headed our way down to the city of Eilat, the southern most city in Israel, and a large sourthern port. On our way there, we took a detour to the border with Jordan, which is interesting because it's not hardly fortified at all... all there is, is a small barbed wire fence that looks no different from a common barbed wire fence used to divide land in America. But there are signs signifying the danger of the possibility of lost land mines near the border fence.
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| Hundreds of greenhouses line the Negev Desert and grow crops year around. The greenhouses are completely computerized so as not to create any error in the cultivation the plants. Peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes are the main crops grown here. |
After a short stop on the border with Jordan, we finally got to Eilat, where I have this view from my room, where I am sitting right now!
Israel, Days 8-9: Kibbutz Gonen, the Sea of Galilee, and Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov
We began day 8, Sunday, with a trip from our stay at Kibbutz Gonen, located at the foot of the mountains in the Golan Heights, to the Golan Heights region.
We spent our day winding our way up the mountains to get a glimpse into Syria from the top of some high ridges. We heard briefly about the fear of the Israeli government that when the Syrian dictator, Assad, falls there will be a flood of Syrian refugees who leave the country for Israel. They're working furiously to protect the border so when/if it does happen, there will be no problems with illegal crossings.
We then stopped at a coffee shop at the peak of the mountains in the Golan Heights to talk about the war of 1967 and the continued mortar attacks against the kibbutzes along the border with Syria. The Syrians used to sit on the top of the mountains and fire rockets and mortars down the hill and they tried to blow up as many houses and civilians as they could, so the Israeli army, in 1967, decided to invade Syria (along with the West Bank, and the Sinai peninsula. They whole point of the invasions was to conquer land with which to trade back in exchange for peace and recognition of Israel as a state.
After some time spent in the Golan Heights, we worked our way down to the southern tip of the Golan Heights, to the upper Galilee region. There we stopped at the small town (now a tourist site and excavation area) of Capernaum. The city's name interestingly means nothing, there is no work for it in any language. It was an attempt by the Romans to name the city based off of its Hebrew name, they just added letters and switched the meaning of the word so that it now means nothing.
This is the city where Jesus met Simon (Peter). Jesus' main center for teaching the bible was here and he first met Simon here. The city sits right next to the Sea of Galilee (which is really just a lake--smaller than many lakes in Minnesota). The Sea is the only fresh body of water in Israel. It provides fresh water to all of Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and parts of western Jordan. The legend is that Jesus walked on water here, when really, the lake is so shallow when it first starts out that one could walk the length of a football field and it would only be up to your knees.
We didn't spend too much time at Capernaum, so when we started going again, we stopped at the part of the Jordan river that is south of the Sea of Galilee, it looks much more healthy than the northern part of the stream. The lake acts like a natural barrier to much of the muck the river picks up on it's way down stream.
After seeing some live Jordan River baptisms, we decided to head to our hotel for the night which was Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov.
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| These flowers are all over every kibbutz or moshav we visit. They're beautiful year around, which seems marvelously outrageous because we'd never have anything that could live outside all the time during the month of January. |
We then stopped at a coffee shop at the peak of the mountains in the Golan Heights to talk about the war of 1967 and the continued mortar attacks against the kibbutzes along the border with Syria. The Syrians used to sit on the top of the mountains and fire rockets and mortars down the hill and they tried to blow up as many houses and civilians as they could, so the Israeli army, in 1967, decided to invade Syria (along with the West Bank, and the Sinai peninsula. They whole point of the invasions was to conquer land with which to trade back in exchange for peace and recognition of Israel as a state.
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| The sun cuts through the clouds making for a spectacular scene. It almost didn't look real to me! |
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| Capernaum, or known to many orthodox/eastern Christians as the Capharnaum. The place where Jesus centered his teachings. |
This is the city where Jesus met Simon (Peter). Jesus' main center for teaching the bible was here and he first met Simon here. The city sits right next to the Sea of Galilee (which is really just a lake--smaller than many lakes in Minnesota). The Sea is the only fresh body of water in Israel. It provides fresh water to all of Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and parts of western Jordan. The legend is that Jesus walked on water here, when really, the lake is so shallow when it first starts out that one could walk the length of a football field and it would only be up to your knees.
We didn't spend too much time at Capernaum, so when we started going again, we stopped at the part of the Jordan river that is south of the Sea of Galilee, it looks much more healthy than the northern part of the stream. The lake acts like a natural barrier to much of the muck the river picks up on it's way down stream.
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| Another radiant beam of sunshine. When you don't see the sun for 4 days of vacation, when you do see sun it's amazing! :) |
After seeing some live Jordan River baptisms, we decided to head to our hotel for the night which was Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Israel, Days 6-7: Haifa and Kibbutz Gonen
So, since Thursday was my last blog, I need to put an update. Friday night we had a hotel with internet, but I didn't post a blog because by the time we were done with class, I literally couldn't keep my eyes open. Saturday and Sunday, we were at places that didn't have internet connections (wireless anyways), and today, I have to sit in the dining hall to find some free internet.
So I'll give an update on all the happenings as of late, and direct you to my Facebook page to look at the last three photo albums I've added (Day 6, Days 7&8, and Day 9).
On Saturday, we spent the day making our way from Tel Aviv to Haifa. Normally, the drive from Tel Aviv to Haifa would take about 45 minutes, but we took a detour to the east on our way there. First, we stopped in Nazareth (a surprisingly small and unimpressive village), where we talked to a man named Rassan, a Sufi sheikh who started a center for peace and coexistence in a town where hostilities, especially between Christians and Muslims have hit a peak.
Nazareth, a formerly entirely Christian town started slowly declining in its Christian population, has started to become more and more Muslim. As the Muslims move in, they begin to create hostilities with Christians; small acts of violence started in the mid-90's, but reached a peak during the second intifada in 2004. Rassan told us a story about his son. Shortly after he and his partner, a Christian minister from the Basilica of Annunciation, founded their peace center, Rassan's family began to experience attacks for being "traitors of the Palestinian cause" even though his family is Palestinian.
One day, during the height of the intifada, Rassan's son was brutally beaten until he went into a coma for two weeks. The incredible tension that has built up between the Christians and the Muslims has even created inter-Muslim fighting because they see people who work for peace as "collaborators" with the Israelis who want to squash the Palestinian cause... But the vast (and very silent) majority of Muslims do not agree that Muslims who want peace are traitors--because many of them are for peace.
In fact, many of them are interested in a solution as soon as possible. I was surprised to hear from both Palestinians that we've talked with, that they want to see a SINGLE state solution, preferably an ISRAELI state... I was blown away when I heard this from the mouths of Palestinians. Their explanation of this view is is that the interim government is too corrupt and they'd rather live under the Israeli government, then their own, corrupt government.
This sounds like a happy solution to the conflict, but not so. Israel wants nothing to do with the West Bank. Israel, founded as a Jewish state, does not want to annex the West Bank because there are enough Muslims living in the West Bank that the balance of Jewish to Muslim citizens inside the state of Israel would swing towards the Muslims, who would then constitute the majority in Israel. The Israeli's fear is that if this happens, the populous will vote more Muslims into parliament and the Israelis will go to being a suppressed minority in what was supposed to be their own country.
This is what makes this struggle so difficult. There are so many different eccentricities to every detail of society, that when people that don't live here try to help solve the conflict, there are aspects that get overlooked and there is an upheaval of discontent to each agreement that is made. Of course there is no perfect solution that will make everyone happy, but there is a solution that could make the most people happy, and it's just a matter of achieving that goal.
After Nazareth we headed to Moshav Nahalal (from here out Nahalal). A Moshav is much like a kibbutz, but less communal. At Nahalal, there are 75 families that live in the same area (that has now become a town called Nahalal). The organization of the city is in the shape of an oval, with a center plot of land that has an oval shaped road that goes around it, and each family with an equal plot of land that surrounds the oval. In the center there are all the essential services for the Moshav: post office, supermarket, schools, the dairy, small shops, and the town hall.
Around the outside of the road, every family has their home built next to the road, with their 12.5 acre plot of land extending out behind their homes in a wedge shape; this makes for an incredible overhead view. :)
We had the best lunch I have EVER had in my entire life, and it was vegetarian surprisingly. It was a 3 course meal that was served at Nahalal by a man who was generous enough to share his home with us. His wife cooked for us and he told us his story. In short, he's the fifth generation of his family to live in Nahalal (he's in his 60's) and the sixth and seventh generations now live there as well.
After Rosh HaNikra, we drove along the Lebanese border to Kibbutz Gonen, a small kibbutz on the border with Syria... it's located in the 'finger' of Israel, the farthest norther tip of Israel that extends partly into Lebanon and partly into Syria. We spent our night there and awoke the next day to learn more about kibbutz living and troubles on the border with Syria.
So I'll give an update on all the happenings as of late, and direct you to my Facebook page to look at the last three photo albums I've added (Day 6, Days 7&8, and Day 9).
On Saturday, we spent the day making our way from Tel Aviv to Haifa. Normally, the drive from Tel Aviv to Haifa would take about 45 minutes, but we took a detour to the east on our way there. First, we stopped in Nazareth (a surprisingly small and unimpressive village), where we talked to a man named Rassan, a Sufi sheikh who started a center for peace and coexistence in a town where hostilities, especially between Christians and Muslims have hit a peak.
Nazareth, a formerly entirely Christian town started slowly declining in its Christian population, has started to become more and more Muslim. As the Muslims move in, they begin to create hostilities with Christians; small acts of violence started in the mid-90's, but reached a peak during the second intifada in 2004. Rassan told us a story about his son. Shortly after he and his partner, a Christian minister from the Basilica of Annunciation, founded their peace center, Rassan's family began to experience attacks for being "traitors of the Palestinian cause" even though his family is Palestinian.
One day, during the height of the intifada, Rassan's son was brutally beaten until he went into a coma for two weeks. The incredible tension that has built up between the Christians and the Muslims has even created inter-Muslim fighting because they see people who work for peace as "collaborators" with the Israelis who want to squash the Palestinian cause... But the vast (and very silent) majority of Muslims do not agree that Muslims who want peace are traitors--because many of them are for peace.
In fact, many of them are interested in a solution as soon as possible. I was surprised to hear from both Palestinians that we've talked with, that they want to see a SINGLE state solution, preferably an ISRAELI state... I was blown away when I heard this from the mouths of Palestinians. Their explanation of this view is is that the interim government is too corrupt and they'd rather live under the Israeli government, then their own, corrupt government.
This sounds like a happy solution to the conflict, but not so. Israel wants nothing to do with the West Bank. Israel, founded as a Jewish state, does not want to annex the West Bank because there are enough Muslims living in the West Bank that the balance of Jewish to Muslim citizens inside the state of Israel would swing towards the Muslims, who would then constitute the majority in Israel. The Israeli's fear is that if this happens, the populous will vote more Muslims into parliament and the Israelis will go to being a suppressed minority in what was supposed to be their own country.
This is what makes this struggle so difficult. There are so many different eccentricities to every detail of society, that when people that don't live here try to help solve the conflict, there are aspects that get overlooked and there is an upheaval of discontent to each agreement that is made. Of course there is no perfect solution that will make everyone happy, but there is a solution that could make the most people happy, and it's just a matter of achieving that goal.
After Nazareth we headed to Moshav Nahalal (from here out Nahalal). A Moshav is much like a kibbutz, but less communal. At Nahalal, there are 75 families that live in the same area (that has now become a town called Nahalal). The organization of the city is in the shape of an oval, with a center plot of land that has an oval shaped road that goes around it, and each family with an equal plot of land that surrounds the oval. In the center there are all the essential services for the Moshav: post office, supermarket, schools, the dairy, small shops, and the town hall.
Around the outside of the road, every family has their home built next to the road, with their 12.5 acre plot of land extending out behind their homes in a wedge shape; this makes for an incredible overhead view. :)
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| Moshav Nahalal as seen from the air. |
We had the best lunch I have EVER had in my entire life, and it was vegetarian surprisingly. It was a 3 course meal that was served at Nahalal by a man who was generous enough to share his home with us. His wife cooked for us and he told us his story. In short, he's the fifth generation of his family to live in Nahalal (he's in his 60's) and the sixth and seventh generations now live there as well.
Nahalal has a wide variety of different flowers, fruit trees, and wonderful other products of all different varieties. They sell their produce collectively outside of Nahalal all across Israel, whatever one contributes to be sold, they will receive in return after the produce has been sold. It's essentially a capitalist kibbutz.
While in Haifa, we spent most of our time visiting the Baha'i center for the Baha'i religion. A religion that I've found fits all my beliefs, almost exactly. It's a religion that follows the teachings of all the major religions throughout the world. It recognizes all the prophets from Moses to Mohammed, and also recognizes it's own prophets: the Bab, and Baha'u'llah, prophets who heard messages from God saying that humans should recognize the oneness of humanity, the equality of everyone, men, women, all races etc., it recognizes Baha'u'llah's teachings about humanity, and the idea of service to mankind as a central part of religion.
The Baha'is have a SPECTACULAR garden located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, the gardens descend down from the top of the mountain to the Mediterranean Sea. Filled with different varieties of flower, trees, and shrubs, the gardens are a place of peace and reflection for people of all faiths, especially the Baha'is. The Baha'is are a religion of peace and promote the equality of all. There are roughly 6 million Baha'i people world wide. The Baha'i religion started in Iran, but the Baha'is were badly persecuted during the Iranian revolution in 1979 and have since left in great numbers for Africa and South America. Although the gardens were closed due to the rain making the limestone paths incredibly slippery, we were able to get some great pictures of the gardens.
While in Haifa, we spent most of our time visiting the Baha'i center for the Baha'i religion. A religion that I've found fits all my beliefs, almost exactly. It's a religion that follows the teachings of all the major religions throughout the world. It recognizes all the prophets from Moses to Mohammed, and also recognizes it's own prophets: the Bab, and Baha'u'llah, prophets who heard messages from God saying that humans should recognize the oneness of humanity, the equality of everyone, men, women, all races etc., it recognizes Baha'u'llah's teachings about humanity, and the idea of service to mankind as a central part of religion.
The Baha'is have a SPECTACULAR garden located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, the gardens descend down from the top of the mountain to the Mediterranean Sea. Filled with different varieties of flower, trees, and shrubs, the gardens are a place of peace and reflection for people of all faiths, especially the Baha'is. The Baha'is are a religion of peace and promote the equality of all. There are roughly 6 million Baha'i people world wide. The Baha'i religion started in Iran, but the Baha'is were badly persecuted during the Iranian revolution in 1979 and have since left in great numbers for Africa and South America. Although the gardens were closed due to the rain making the limestone paths incredibly slippery, we were able to get some great pictures of the gardens.
The next day, we spent the day driving up the coast to Rosh HaNikra, the part of the border between Lebanon and Israel that touches the Mediterranean. At this point, there are giant cliffs of chalk that touch the ocean, and for thousands of years, the sea has slowly been eroding the chalk away from the cliffs and has opened large grottoes, or caves, in the side of the mountain. Today the grottoes are a big tourist attraction, that we visited.
After Rosh HaNikra, we drove along the Lebanese border to Kibbutz Gonen, a small kibbutz on the border with Syria... it's located in the 'finger' of Israel, the farthest norther tip of Israel that extends partly into Lebanon and partly into Syria. We spent our night there and awoke the next day to learn more about kibbutz living and troubles on the border with Syria.
Sorry I didn't get a post up sooner, and I'm missing pictures, but the internet access is very spotty to non existence in the kibbutzes. If you would like to see some of the 300 pictures I took in the past 4 days, you can go to my Facebook page to see them: http://www.facebook.com/danielgerdes2011/photos
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Israel, Day 5: Tel Aviv-Jaffa
This has been a great a great day so far. We were allowed to sleep in until 10am today. It was glorious. I feel so rested that after I post this I think I'm going to go out on an adventure in Tel Aviv! :D
The highlight of the day was our discussion at the group meeting this evening. We were talking about the things that we've noticed and have been thinking about since our last group discussion (three days ago) and we got onto the topic of the Palestinian perspective and how we all agree that it has been lost on our trip. We have a WONDERFUL tour guide named Amir. He's an Israeli native who grew up in Jerusalem on a kibbutz. His family helped fight in the war of independence in 1948 and he has been a part of the Labor party ever since he could vote. Although we all love Amir, his perspective is blatantly biased towards the Israeli side of every issue. Although it's great to hear the Israeli's side to every event, we would rather have that side also told with the opposing (or not so opposing) view point from the Palestinians.
There is a nice quality to learning about a topic and you hear about it from more than one (or even two) sides. I feel like we're incredibly heavy on the Israeli side and it makes it extremely difficult to sift through all the information without opposing view points. The other day, we talked with a Palestinian Christian named Ibrihim. He explained to us that many Palestinians don't believe what most of the Arab countries believe, he thinks that there should be a peaceful end to the conflict, and he believes that Israel should be the one and only state that exists on the land.
To many of you, this may seem shocking, "How could a Palestinian want Israel to be the only state that prevails out of the two state conflict that exists today?!" Well it's actually a relatively easy but unrealized answer. Ibrihim is Christian, a very small minority in the Israel and the rest of the Middle East these days. The Christians are all pushing for either an Arab nationalist state or the State of Israel to prevail out of the conflict. Christians know they will be heavily persecuted if Palestine prevails and an Islamic republic is installed, because under an Islamic republic, Islam is the one and only allowable religion. Therefore, if a secular Arab state or a Jewish state is created or kept in power, the Christians will be left largely alone and they will most likely not be affected.
The rest of the day today besides discussing the Palestinian side of the conflict was spent touring Tel Aviv and the old city of Jaffa (they are now considered to be the same city). The first site (and only) site we stopped at in Tel Aviv was the site where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a religious Jewish zealot. Rabin was the first Prime Minister of Israel to open talks directly with Yasser Arafat. He was willing to make concessions and deal directly with Arafat to create a solid and lasting peace with the Palestinian people. Shortly after his announcement of planned peace talks at the Tel Aviv government square, Rabin was shot in the back three times by a radical religious Jew who was mad at Rabin for even suggesting negotiating territory away with the Palestinians.
After we left the site of Rabin's assassination, we headed to the old city of Jaffa, and toured the currently-being-revitalized port and old city district in Jaffa. There is a beautiful contrast of old and new in Jaffa. Many old buildings that have fallen deep into disrepair are brought back from the brink of devastation and given new life by wealthy real estate moguls who want to revitalize the 'tired city of Jaffa'. We stopped at two places in the old city that really stood out for me. We stopped at the shop of a Yemenite Jew who immigrated from Yemen right before WWII. This man, Ben Zion David makes Yemeni jewelry, mainly out of silver, using generations old tools and techniques that have been handed down through his family since the 1700s. After observing some silversmith-ing at work, we moved on to a very special theater. Its name is Please Touch, its a theater company in which all the actors are blind, deaf, or both. This theater was one of the first things in the dilapidated old port district of Jaffa that is now being beautifully renovated. This theater company has captured region wide appraisal for it's incredible contribution to the community, and the world of artwork--where no disabilities can prevent you from creating your own kind of are.
That's all I have for this day. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Haifa, the 'working city' in Israel! Stay tuned!
The highlight of the day was our discussion at the group meeting this evening. We were talking about the things that we've noticed and have been thinking about since our last group discussion (three days ago) and we got onto the topic of the Palestinian perspective and how we all agree that it has been lost on our trip. We have a WONDERFUL tour guide named Amir. He's an Israeli native who grew up in Jerusalem on a kibbutz. His family helped fight in the war of independence in 1948 and he has been a part of the Labor party ever since he could vote. Although we all love Amir, his perspective is blatantly biased towards the Israeli side of every issue. Although it's great to hear the Israeli's side to every event, we would rather have that side also told with the opposing (or not so opposing) view point from the Palestinians.
There is a nice quality to learning about a topic and you hear about it from more than one (or even two) sides. I feel like we're incredibly heavy on the Israeli side and it makes it extremely difficult to sift through all the information without opposing view points. The other day, we talked with a Palestinian Christian named Ibrihim. He explained to us that many Palestinians don't believe what most of the Arab countries believe, he thinks that there should be a peaceful end to the conflict, and he believes that Israel should be the one and only state that exists on the land.
To many of you, this may seem shocking, "How could a Palestinian want Israel to be the only state that prevails out of the two state conflict that exists today?!" Well it's actually a relatively easy but unrealized answer. Ibrihim is Christian, a very small minority in the Israel and the rest of the Middle East these days. The Christians are all pushing for either an Arab nationalist state or the State of Israel to prevail out of the conflict. Christians know they will be heavily persecuted if Palestine prevails and an Islamic republic is installed, because under an Islamic republic, Islam is the one and only allowable religion. Therefore, if a secular Arab state or a Jewish state is created or kept in power, the Christians will be left largely alone and they will most likely not be affected.
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| Beautiful view of a mosque which sits roughly 20 feet from the Mediterranean Sea. |
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| Memorial for Yitzhak Rabin. |
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| David Ben Zion, the Yemenite silversmith who showed us his craft by creating a piece of jewelry in 10 minutes. It was incredible! |
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| The theater company's review by the Guardian: "It's a test of theater itself, the way good work can communicate across the boundaries of darkness and silence." |
That's all I have for this day. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Haifa, the 'working city' in Israel! Stay tuned!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Israel, Day 3: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Har Gillo (Israeli 'Settlement')
We arrived at the border checkpoint--run by Israelis to keep Israelis out, not to keep Palestinians out-- and the first thing we saw was this sign:
This meant that our main tour guide, Amir, couldn't go with us because he has an Israeli passport; and although Nurith (my professor) was a citizen of Israel, she is now an American citizen with an American passport. If the guards at the gate chose to question her, they could have but because she didn't say anything and they didn't hear her accent, she was able to pass through the checkpoint just fine.
When we arrived in Bethlehem, we met our tour guide from Palestine where she took us to the Church of the Holy Nativity, one of the most well known and holy sites for Christians. We arrived in the Nativity plaza (if anyone has ever seen the Christmas programs from Bethlehem on TV or the internet, this is the place you've seen on TV). My professor told us that the last time she was there, there was a huge Hamas protest in the Nativity plaza right after they were there (there were no such protests while we were there--thankfully we have had a quite uneventful trip so far).
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| This door is incredibly small. Roughly 3 feet 9 inches. There used to be a door there where the archway was (you might be able to see it filled in with stone). |
This door replaced the old archway which allowed animals to enter the church, but under the rule of the British, the door was changed when the British wanted to disallow animals from entering the church. When you enter the church, you can see the ancient Byzantine floors that were found by the British under their rule, they did research on the age and ancient use tiles and mosaic in the building. There are now pieces of the mosaic floor that can be seen when opening the wooden hatches on the floor.
The church of the nativity is also built over what is believed to be the birth place of Jesus Christ... unlike what many people believe, the inn and stable that Mary and Joseph were supposed to have tried to stay in were actually a cave. We saw the site that is believed to be where Mary gave birth to Jesus, and we also saw where historians believed the manger was located.
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| The supposed birth place of Jesus, the star is said to show the location of Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. |
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| The supposed location of Jesus' manger is on the right side, where the large slab of marble is. |
After we visited the Church of the Nativity, we talked with a Palestinian Christian what he thinks about the conflict and his ideas for the solution. He believed, like many other Palestinians, that there should be a one state solution so that everyone can live in the same place, instead of being a crazy mess.
We then moved onto talk at a house on a settlement in Jerusalem. It just so happens that when we got inside, he told us that the house was his! It was a total shock, and we didn't know what to do or to ask... we didn't want to offend our tour guide and we didn't want to be seen as unknowing either, so there were long awkward silences pauses,but the time was definitely worth the discussion.
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| Just behind this group of houses (owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy) is Har Gillo, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. This is where the house we visited was located. |
The next day, we gathered an hour later, after packing and began to leave the city. We first took a short tour of the government hill with a tour around the supreme court and the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament). Then we worked our way down the road to Tel Aviv by learning about the battles that were fought over the road from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in the war for independence. We stopped at some of the battle grounds to find out about the different struggles and how it was possible for a small Israeli population of 600,000 people (men women, and children) to defeat 6 mighty Arab armies: Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria.
I'll throw another blog post up tomorrow depending on how much we end up doing tomorrow... we may get a leisure day tomorrow! Thanks again for reading!
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