A Middle East View
A few months ago we were asked, "Is there anywhere in the world that you haven’t traveled that you really want to go?" We immediately responded, "Israel and Egypt."
We added, "… but we will probably never go to those places because it is just too unsafe to travel on our own."
Within a couple of weeks we received an e-mail about a month-long trip to Israel, Egypt and Jordan (also high on Tom's list). It looked like the exact trip we had dreamed of taking one day, the price was almost too reasonable to be believed, and although it was with a company we vowed we would never travel with again, we signed up.
And so began our odyssey to the Middle East.
People asked why we could possible think about going where it was so unsafe. One of our traveling companions was asked by her daughter, "Why Israel and Egypt? Is Afghanistan closed?!" With that she proceeded to put her name on her parents' possessions she wished to claim if they didn't return. We must confess that we also made certain that our papers were in order and drew up new wills, but decided that this was an opportunity we weren't going to pass up.
In retrospect, we never felt unsafe. This in spite of the events that occurred shortly after we left Bethlehem (there was a shooting that resulted in the city being closed) and after we returned home suicide bombers struck three hotels in Amman, Jordan (near where we had stayed). Throughout the trip there was evidence of extreme security measures; sometimes we were accompanied by armed guards, sometimes we had police escorts and other times we saw measures being taken around us to assure our safety as much as possible.
Overall in spite of much unrest in the Middle East we felt secure and well taken care of and we gained some new knowledge about that region of the world and the people who live there.
We began the trip in Jerusalem.
On the first leg of our tour, we arrived late in Tel Aviv airport where security was very tight. It seemed that we were the only ones in our group who didn't have their luggage searched or who weren't stopped for questioning. Our one traveling companion even had her shoe inspected carefully and she was questioned until she acknowledged that she had superglued the sole of her shoe to fix it. Others had their cameras dismantled. We felt fortunate.
We were exhausted after more than 24 hours of traveling to reach out destination. We were met by our guide, Anat, and boarded a bus for Jerusalem. Over the next week we learned a great deal about Anat and her view of the history and culture of the area and, through her, one side of the passionate fight for territory in that part of the world. Her Iraqi parents immigrated to Israel before she was born and she is clearly an ardent Zionist. With her background and initial presentation we knew that we would get a fairly one-sided view of the region and we did. However it also led to some private and impassioned debate during which we came to understand one another a little better and, we think, respect each other's views.
Nevertheless, this portion of our trip was framed from the Jewish perspective and we wished we could have also had the Muslim perspective and the Christian perspective, albeit an impossible task for one person --- as Israel has religious significance for all three religions.
Our schedule called for us to go directly to our hotel and begin our tour of the city the next day. Anat said she wanted us to see Jerusalem first before going to the hotel. Amid tired, but quiet, moans and groans we drove toward the Mount of Olives from which we were promised a breathtaking view of the city.
Along the way we saw the city wall, the Damascus gate to the Muslim section and other places familiar to us from the Bible on our way. Signs were in Hebrew, Arabic and English, and we saw many large posters of Yasir Arafat who had recently died. It was beginning to be more clear to us how the area in Jerusalem is divided up into Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian sections.
And then we had our first spectacular view of Jerusalem, centered by the golden Dome of the Rock. Since it was the end of the day and there were few tourists we had the view all to ourselves (except for the other 28 people in our group!) The setting sun framed the city. It was a superb view and we thanked Anat later for changing the schedule. Just as she predicted, the next morning when we returned to the spot to begin our in-depth city tour, it was crowded with other tourists and hawkers selling all sorts of souvenirs.
On the slope leading from the Mount of Olives down to the city wall is the largest and oldest Jewish cemetery in the world. This is only a small section of that cemetery. Since Jews cannot be cremated, according to their faith, finding space for burials has become quite a problem.
As we traveled by bus Anat warned us that we should never let a hawker put anything into our hands. She said that if it were in our hands it would be very difficult to give it back. She also mentioned that for the last four years people had been afraid to come to Israel but, just this summer, the tourists had returned. We were tutored in the history of the new state of Israel and heard many lectures about religion, ardent Zionism and customs and geography in Israel. In the days to come we would see evidence of the various wars, taking of territory, "liberating" of territory, and the fence that was being built to separate Israel from Palestinian territory. We weren't aware until we were actually there how the area is chopped up into sections that are scattered throughout Israel. Only as we studied the map and experienced travel within the area did we realize that Palestine is made up of various enclaves that are surrounded by the state of Israel and so we would be skirting Palestinian territory as we traveled by bus. (See map.) Since our trip was just days after illegal Israeli settlers had been removed from the Gaza Strip it was especially interesting to us to see how the area is divided up. Along the road we saw many burned out cars that were remnants of the ’49 war and other reminders of how recent and bloody the conflicts have been and sometimes continue. This is a picture of a city wall in Jerusalem with the bullet holes still visible.
The Dome of the Rock is a site sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. It is the place where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac and also the place from which Mohammed ascended into heaven. The building, with its golden dome, houses the actual rock where these events took place. Unfortunately, and to our great disappointment, we were not able to enter the building to see the rock itself. It has been closed to non-Muslims since 2000. Our guide would only say that the area was off limits because of “security problems.” However, we knew that the closing was the result of two shootings of Muslims by Jewish terrorists since 2000. Anat said the Dome of the Rock should be opened in the next year. We wondered if the closing had to be for such a long time or if it was another example of a display of Israeli power over the Arabs.
As we rode the bus we saw this view --- looking up to the Mount of Olives, with the Church of All Nations in the foreground. The church was built in 1924 over the ruins of two other churches -- one dating to the 4th Century.
The Church of All Nations, located in the Garden of Gethsemane, is so called because its construction was financed by 12 different countries.
Its other name is the Gethsemane Basilica of the Agony because it is thought that it is built on the site where Jesus came to pray while awaiting the kiss of betrayal from Judas.
The Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus meditated and prayed and wept as he prepared to meet his fate on the cross was much like we imagined. With ancient olive trees it appeared to be more similar to our minds’ eye picture than many of the other places we would see in our travels throughout Israel. It seems that wherever it was thought that a particular event from the Bible took place, a church or other structure was built on the spot, even if it was not certain it the actual place. Later we were told that some of this was done to attract tourists and to satisfy their desire to see places where events from the Bible took place.
To the right is a view we thought encapsulated the region as well as any. Here we could see the Muslim, Christian and Jewish presences. The church steeple can be seen to the left, the Dome of the Rock in the center and the Western wall ("wailing wall") in the foreground., This wall is the most sacred Jewish spot in the world. It is considered by Jews to be the only remaining remnant of the Second Temple. It was quite an experience to go there and we were glad that we were able to do so. There was one side (the left) for men which was much bigger than the other side that was exclusively for women. People place their prayers in the wall's crevices and pray and study the Holy Scriptures.
Here is the "Golden Gate" or "Gate of Mercy" in the city wall. Tradition says that the double gate will only be opened at the time of the coming of the Jewish messiah.
We walked the Via Dolorosa, following the steps of Jesus on his way to his crucifixion, stopping at several chapels built to mark various Stations of the Cross. The route took us through narrow, winding passageways crowded with people and hemmed in by many stores and hawkers. It was a bit frenetic and it was difficult to be very meditative as we followed Jesus’ path.
The walk culminated at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, with the last five Stations of the Cross. The church was built on the spot where Jesus was crucified. Although it is one of the holiest sites in Christianity it is also where we learned of ongoing disputes among different Christian churches for influence and control of this holy place. Under the terms of a "status quo" pact agreed to in 1757, six different Christian groups administer various areas and responsibilities relating to the church. Nothing can be changed unless all groups agree to the it. One result of this interdenominational bickering is that the ladder at the top window on the right has not been moved for decades. It is a further irony that the church is opened in the morning and closed in the evening by a Muslim family that has had that responsibility since the 1600's.
Overall this walk, in spite of the oppressing commercialism, was a good review of the story of the crucifixion and resurrection, and made it come alive to us. Now when we read the story in the Bible we have a physical sense of where it occurred and what may have happened along the way.
The following day we drove to Nazareth. The trip began with a narrative that included all sorts of facts about the area, Orthodox Judaism, and the history of the region. We learned that Jerusalem is 800 feet about sea level, that New Jerusalem is 500 years old, all the buildings are constructed out of the same white rock and that deep footers are required for houses. The total population in Israel is about 6 million with 600,000 living in Jerusalem. We learned of women having to shave their heads to remain clean and how our guide deliberately chooses to have long, curly, dyed, unruly hair as a statement. She told us that women in the Orthodox culture have few rights and much abuse exists. Since only 20% of the population are religious and 80% are secular, the minority actually dominates the majority.
Her narrative was fairly light and informative until we began to notice sections of the security wall that the Israeli government was beginning to build along its border with the Palestinian Authority. It is a highly controversial project and Anat was doing her best to direct everyone's attention to the other side of the road. Not being distracted, passengers began asking Anat about the whole Israeli-Palestinian issue. After answering a number of questions, Anat entered into a harangue justifying the actions of the Israeli government. She railed against the United States which she said wasn't giving enough money to support the building the "fence" and the UN which refused to endorse the project. Her voice grew more strident and louder over the PA as she was goaded to continue to discuss the situation in gory details by two travelers in the front seat. We felt captive by the harangue. Around us it was becoming clear that many people were becoming quite upset with her. Finally, Tom left his seat near the rear of the bus and went to confront Anat. He asked her to turn off the PA system if she was going to answer anymore questions because he knew that she was giving only one side of the story and totally ignoring the other side. She did as he asked and, after finishing answering more questions, came back to talk with us. Tom explained to her that it was not appropriate for her to propagandize a captive audience in that way. Later, many of our fellow travelers thanked Tom for the way he had handled the situation. However, now as we look back, the whole experience colored our trip and left us with few memories of Nazareth. We were still reeling from the tirade.
In Nazareth we visited the Church of the Annunciation where Mary learned that she would be carrying Jesus and then on to the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberius) which is 200 feet below sea level. We stopped for lunch at a kibbutz, situated on the sea, and had a tour around the property. Before Israel became a nation, groups of Jews moved to Palestine to create a presence for the later claims to the land. These kibbutzim were usually agricultural communities though some also started light industries. In most cases the land was bought by the settlers from Palestinian Arabs. Anat explained that each kibbutz specializes in what it produces. This one, originally settled by Italians, derives most of its income from banana trees which were covered with netting to keep in moisture and prevent wind damage. We were quite surprised to learn that the trees had come from Iraq and Iran. We saw the living quarters, farm areas, schools, and activities of everyday life, as well as the restaurant on the lake for tourists.
We ended the day at the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. This was a definite highlight of our trip.
We began our tour with a visit to a church which marked the location of the home of St. Peter's mother-in-law. It is in the valley at the bottom of the Mount.
This church sits atop the hillside where tradition says that Jesus gave his sermon on the mount. The setting is a lovely and fitting area for the event. In 2000, to commemorate the Millennium, Pope John Paul II visited the site to deliver a sermon. More than 100,000 people attended. Our guide said it was a huge task to accommodate so many people in such a small area. More that 300 buses were used to shuttle people to the hilltop. Each bus ran on a tight schedule. The group that Anat led, a Catholic church group from California, had to leave the hotel at midnight. They arrived very early in the morning and had to wait until noon to hear the Pope speak. They stayed on the hillside until very late that night singing songs. Anat was quite moved by the experience and we could almost experience it vicariously through her telling.
This is the magnificent view from behind the church looking down Sermon Mount toward the Sea of Galilee.
Back in Jerusalem the next day...
The Shrine of the Book holds a collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is below ground and has a dome shaped like the lid of jars in which the scrolls were kept for over two thousand years before they were first discovered by a Bedouin boy tending his flock. No pictures were allowed inside where the Dead Sea Scrolls were on display ---(although one husband and wife in our party thought the rule didn't apply to them and she was escorted out of the museum --- there is always one in every group!) --- so we have no pictures of the scrolls themselves. We can only tell you that we were awed by them
Later when we went to the Dead Sea we would see the caves where the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
The Holocaust Museum was a required stop on our tour, though we were apprehensive about going in. We knew the story and were not sure what the museum would add to our understanding of that horror. Before entering the museum we walked in the "garden of remembrance" where 3500 trees have been planted to honor individuals who aided Jews during the holocaust. Among the trees we saw were ones dedicated to Raoul Wallenstein, Oskar Schindler and the king of Denmark. We went into the museum and found ourselves in a darkened room with tiny lights in the ceiling. The lights represented the children who had died in the death camps. As we walk through, the names of the children are recited quietly over a speaker and visitors were asked to remember one child's name, age and nation before leaving the area. Tom remembered Baruch Isal (?) age 6 from Poland. We moved quickly through the rest of the museum as did several others including a friend whose father served in WWI, who had lost a boyfriend in WWII, whose husband served during WWII, and whose son served in Vietnam. It was an emotionally wrenching experience for her and others. We remembered how many war museums, memorials, and death camps we had been to all over the world and the insanity of war struck us once again with a vengeance. Leaving the museum we saw Anat, who introduced us to her husband. She informed us that he had been in the Israel Army for 25 years and had worked in the intelligence service. Currently, he was involved in foreign press relations for the Israeli government. Thus began the dialogue we would have with them privately over the next several days.
Seeing how close Bethlehem was to Jerusalem (6 miles), some of us asked if we could go there. We were told that special arrangements might be made. Because Bethlehem is in Palestinian territory Anat said she would not be able to travel there but she could arrange for a guide to meet us on the other side.
First we had to go through an Israeli military checkpoint. We were entering a new political entity. Our bus parked on the Israeli side of the border. We disembarked and walked to the checkpoint. We showed our passports to the soldiers. Instead of just allowing us to pass on into Bethlehem, they directed us to a opening that required us to zigzag through dirt, go up steep steps walk through packed dirt and rocks before stepping back onto concrete and entering the city. It seemed like a petty imposition on people returning home or visiting the city so sacred to Christians. (Leaving Bethlehem, Tom spotted some graffiti which read, " Warsaw 1943 Bethlehem 2005".)
We were met by our Christian guide who led us to a waiting van. He was a pleasure and we wish we could have had more time to be with him. He told us that guiding tourists was his main source of income and would appreciate any tips because he was not receiving a salary for conducting the tour.
Finally we arrived in the town of Bethlehem. Most of the city's population is Muslim, with a constantly dwindling Christian minority. Unemployment is very high and the city is in a serious state of decline, though there are improvements being planned in concert with the United Nations. Conditions did not seem fitting for the birthplace of Jesus and David.
Our first stop was at the very pleasant Nissan Brothers Restaurant. Service was excellent, the food was good and much cheaper than any place we had eaten in Israel.
After lunch we went to the place we primarily came to see --- the place of Christ's birth. It was necessary to bend over to enter the Church of the Nativity. The doorway was lowered twice, once by the Crusaders and then by the Ottoman Turks, to prevent anyone from entering the church on horseback.
The Church of the Nativity is administered by three separate Christian sects: the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox and the Franciscans. The Franciscans control only a small chapel and must conduct services there every day or lose their claim to it forever.
The "Manger" where Christ was born is actually a cave. The spot is marked by a 14 pointed star. They are fairly certain that the church marks the spot of Jesus' birth because it is known that in 135 A.D. the Roman Emperor Hadrian desecrated all of the sacred Jewish and Christian sites and put a shrine to Adonis at the location of the Grotto of the Nativity.
After our tour of Bethlehem we stopped at a souvenir shop. We made a quick trip through the store and sat outside to wait for the group to finish. We asked several men how people get to Jerusalem and were told that it requires a permit. We asked how long it took to get a permit. One man said, a week ... a month ... several months. No one could tell when permission would be granted. When we inquired about the length of a stay after getting a permit we were told, to our consternation, one day.
Much to our surprise, as we prepared to leave, we found our bus and Anat waiting for us on the Bethlehem side of the border and we drove through to the other side. We never asked how all of that had come to be. She said only that she had made "special arrangements." But after years of travel we know that things often are not what the official tourist spiel declares.
On our final day in Israel we drove into the Judean Hills to the Dead Sea, visiting Masada along the way. As we were boarding our bus for the trip two young men boarded with us. Both were wearing shorts but one was carrying his gun over his shoulder and his ammunition around his waist. We were taken back and assumed that these young men were on the bus for security. However they were the grandsons of one of our fellow travelers. The one young man was in the Israeli army and had to keep his weapon with him even on his days off. His brother was in Israel to go to college for a semester. They had both been given the day off to travel with their grandparents and the group. We took the opportunity to get to know them and ask them many questions about their experiences of living in Israel and serving in the army.
Masada is the mountain stronghold that withstood Roman siege for three years. It became the last Jewish holdout against the Romans following the revolt in 70 A.D. About 1000 zealots held out for 3 years before the Romans broke through their defenses. When it became clear to the defenders that they were going to be defeated, the leaders decided that everyone would be put to death rather than be taken into slavery by the Romans. Today, inductees in the Israeli army are marched to the top and, at sunrise, take the oath to defend their country. After a long cable car ride you can tour the area and get a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape and the Dead Sea. The movie with the same name portrays the events that took place there. Upon returning home we decided to watch the movie, but unfortunately were unable to locate it.
The landscape in the Dead Sea region was interesting. Here we saw Bedouins about whom we thought we knew a lot. However it wasn't until we were traveling in Jordan that we became more enlightened.
After driving for what seemed like hours around the Dead Sea we got an appreciation of its size. It is about 1300 feet below sea level and the lowest point on earth. The water has such a high mineral content that you really can float and read a newspaper. Sadly, the sea is decreasing in size at an alarming rate. Since 1960, it has lost over 60 percent of its original area. This is being caused by "mining" operations by Israel and Jordan to extract valuable minerals (especially potash) from the water and by water being drawn off the Jordan River (which flows into the Dead Sea) and the Sea of Galilee by Israel. In some areas in is dangerous, and even forbidden, to walk along the shoreline because of sink holes caused by the lowering of the water level.
Our stop along the Dead Sea was at Kalia Beach. Here we could look across to Jordan on the other side. Kalia Beach is one of several resorts on the Dead Sea where people can swim (float) in the waters. A further experience, is to cover your body with the mud that lies at the bottom of the Dead Sea. It is suppose to have wonderful therapeutic properties, but we chose not to find out for ourselves. Later our nephew told us that when he was there he decided to submerge his whole body in the Sea since he was at the lowest point on earth. He swears that no one had warned him that he should not put his head under water (as we were told) and he was sorry that he did! He was lucky that he did not have more serious consequences than some painful burning.
After returning to our hotel in Jerusalem for the night it was time to set off for Tel Aviv and the flight to Cairo. Someone in our party said that they counted 6 separate checkpoints at the airport when leaving Israel. Again we think we may have been the only ones in our party who were not searched. We have no idea why.
The most harrowing story we heard was from a young woman from Michigan. She had been traveling with a church group from the US on a Christian pilgrimage in Israel and then left the group to visit a friend before rejoining her group in Egypt. Her friend is from Poland and is married to a Palestinian living outside Jerusalem. First of all she had arrived 2 hours and 40 minutes before her flight and we were supposed to be there 3 hours prior to the flight. She was grilled about why she was late. For two hours she was detained and questioned. She had to remove all of her clothes and be searched and then she had her stomach x-rayed. It was a truly harrowing experience and she would have missed the plane's departure if it were not delayed. We felt great empathy.
With that sendoff we were headed to Egypt.
