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| Day 111, 2011/08/20 |
Saturdays in Israel are Shabat so, almost everything is closed. The hostel however has a guided tour that is going to the West Bank. I am always keen on getting bit sides to this story and believe there is more to this Israel than just what the Israelis have to say about it. I manage to add myself to the list and end up joining some of the fellow tourists that were on the previous days Mount Olives tour. The tour was to go to Bethlehem, Ramalha and Jericho however, as a result of much persuasion from one of the Spanish girls, it was finally changed and Ramalha gave way for Hebron. Hebron, is a city that is truly on the front line when it comes to clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. The city is largely significant to both Muslims and Jews because, the patriarch of monotheistic religions, namely Abraham,is berried beneath the main Mosque in town. Added to this, there are a number of Jewish Settlements which are situated physically in the town rather than like other cities where they are located outside. This all leads to a very tense and possible explosive situation between the Palestinians and the Jewish Settlers.
That is precisely what happened a couple of years back where a settler managed to enter the Mosque with a semi automatic weapon and ended up killing a number of Palestinians. That incident, combined with the continues acquisition of Palestinian land by Jewish Settlers has left Hebron in very high state of tension. And boy you can feel it. All access points to the Mosque, bar one, have been closed, and access to that one is turn is manned by heavy armed Israeli solders. Also, numerous roads have been cordoned off, shops closed and passage limited to only Jewish Settlers, or Non Palestinian foreigners. So we manage to enter however, our guides were not. Felt like was back in the apartheid years in South Africa. Amazing! Well not really, actually extremely sad that, is this day and age, that these situations still exist! Truly eyeopening!
After seeing first had what life is like as a Palestinian in the occupied territories we head back to Bethlehem to do the normal touristy sites. After an amazing late lunch of humus, chickpeas and felafel, it is off to the church of the nativity. The church itself is rather plain all things considered, but apparently it is because the church is under the control of more than one christian group and hence reaching consensus on what needs to be done to restore it, is seldom reached. That is why I love religion so much! The church has a chamber below it where apparently Jesus was born. A big star marks the spot. I simply take a picture but, many pilgrims take turns to get down on their knees to kiss the spot.
We still want to see Jericho, so we are all bungled into the bus and head off. Not far out of town we are however on fronted with a large traffic jam which proceeds to delay us for two hours. The cause of this delay, an impromptu Israeli roadblock. Lovely stuff! We are told by our guide that these are common in the occupied territories and cause major disruption to peoples day to day lives. Needless to say this road block screws up our plans of getting to see Jericho. Well, I guess this life in the West Bank!
I get back to the hostel at around 7pm and quickly confirm my dinner arrangements with Errol. Errol is an old work colleague of mine. We use to work together at eBucks many years back. He has subsequently immigrated to Israel and now lives in Jerusalem. Fortunately, he does not live far from the hostel, so manage to meet him close to his side of town. We catchup on all that has happened in the last couple of years and he explains to me why he has immigrated to Israel. He is full of questions on my trip and I tell him all he wants to know.
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