Finishing up Israel

Well there's been a bit of a break in the blogging here for me, sorry guys! We had a pretty packed last few weeks, combined with very few opportunities for Internet. Now I'll play catch-up to keep you all in the know about where I've been recently.

After the Jesus Trail ended, we explored Capernaum and its surrounding areas. We visited the Church of the Beatitudes, on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is thought to have preached his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. This church visit was quite eye-opening for me, because after seeing the inside our group met outside in the gardens to read the Sermon on the Mount. It was ridiculously windy and bright, I could barely read the words on my Bible or hear Bruce reading a few feet away. After a three-day hike through the land Jesus would have walked, this hit home. These experiences were showing me the humanity of Christ--he had to walk through mud and probably got splinters, he maybe even had to shout and lose his voice to preach on this mountaintop so people could hear him over the wind.

After leaving the Galilee area, we made our way up through the north of Israel to the Golan Heights, a plateau area at the center of Israel and Syria's border disputes. Israel has claimed control of the Golan, and uses it as highly militarized area to keep the border secure. Thus, many Arab Israelis have been forcefully evacuated from this area as well, contributing to the refugee problem. Currently, about 20,000 Israelis and 20,000 Druze live in the Golan. (The Druze are a splinter sect of Islam, but they are loyal to Israel so allowed to remain in their homes).

The Golan was gorgeous! We hiked through some old Roman ruins, temples and waterfalls--all surrounded by bright green plants and trees. Though my blistered feet didn't really want to do more hiking.

After the Golan we headed back down towards Jerusalem again, stopping at Acco (a town on the coast with remains of Herod's manmade harbor), and Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was an experience all its own--it was basically Israel's Santa Monica, with beaches and shopping and rollerblading and sushi. We had a much-needed free day and spent it playing volleyball and swimming at one of the beaches. Relaxing in a city like this, it was easy to see how some Israelis are so ignorant about the conflict--they just don't know or care what human rights are being obstructed a few hours away because they're living normal lives in a very Westernized city. The "burden of knowledge" (as Chris Lim puts it) expands to more than just the Israeli-Palestinian conflict though. How can I criticize ignorant Israelis when I might not know all about human trafficking in LA or something similar to that? I'm putting huge responsibility on myself now, to be aware of what goes on beneath the radar around me and act on it. "Once you see, you can't un-see."

To bookend our month in Israel and Palestine, we ended up back in Jerusalem. This time staying in a French convent on Via Dolarosa, we were awarded gorgeous nighttime views of the Dome of the Rock from our roof. We spent the last four days in this amazing city seeing the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, and the Israel Museum. We also had our Palm Sunday here, observing a procession through the Old City streets of pilgrims and tourists from around the world. And we got to spend some time also in West Jerusalem and Jaffa St, where we actually had an assignment to interview Jews. We asked them questions about Israel, security, Palestinians, etc. The most interesting responses I got from my street interviews were to these questions:

*What do the Palestinians want from Israel?
--Five of my six interviews had the exact same answer: "They want to kill us."
*What is Israel's biggest threat?
--Some said the Arabs, others said the disunity of the Israeli people and the government's selfish nature
*Should the Palestinians get their own state?
--Most said no, one said "Sure, but not here. They have 22 other Arab states to go to and we only have 1 Jewish state." And one older gentleman said, "Yes, why not?" as if that was the most obvious answer to this question.

To end our time in Israel, we drove south through the Negev to the bottom of Israel, where we had a day tour learning about the Bedouin. Another problem all their own, the Bedouin are Israel's pastoral native population, traveling around the desert with herds in specific tribes. The Israeli government has tried to settle them into towns, most of which are ill-equipped and poverty-ridden. Some Bedouin have made their own villages, however the government refuses to recognize these are they are cut off from service like water, electricity, and schools. Of course, Israeli towns right next door receive all these services. We had lunch in an unrecognized Bedouin village, and talked with the locals about their situation. It was a sad story, but just another side of things gone wrong in Israel.

Our bus driver dropped us off, we put on our bulging backpacks yet again, and trudged out into the Eilat border crossing between Israel and Egypt, ready for the next adventure!

Jesus Trail Photos

Turkish baths in Nazareth before the 3-day hike

View of Cana

Hiking!

A little out of order...relaxing with tea after the baths

Water break with Auds & Iskander

The group at some ruins (before the hike)

Goat eco-farm where we stayed the first night

We got lots of mud on our shoes

Kels and I at the Horns of Hatin

This is what hiking with Paul & Chris looks like...

Lunch break at Horns of Hatin

Lunch time

Overlooking the cliffs of Arbel

Senior year house? :)

View off the cliffs of Arbel 

Climbing down the cliffs

Valley below the cliffs 

Magnum break

Day 3: so excited to reach the Sea of Galilee!

Nazareth to Capernaum

Three days, two huge blisters, and one sunburnt neck later...I made it! We successfully completed the Jesus Trail last night, arriving here at a monastary in Tiberius where we're staying for two nights. The trail was awesome! Notes from the trail:

Day 1, April 17: We left Nazareth in the morning and hiked about 11-12 miles, up a nice easy hill and through some woods, then back down and along a highway to this eco-goat farm where we stayed the night. Stopped in Cana on the way, the spot associated with Jesus' first miracle of turning water into wine. Reyn stopped to go to the bathroom on a mountain, Amy & Lindsay decided to wait for him...and we effectively lost all three for the entire afternoon. They met us at the goat farm, which was neat, all organic and eco-friendly. Spent the night in tents (a trend of this semester)...which were loud and cold but not as bad as Tent of Nations Night.

Day 2, April 18: Muddy! Shoes turned into platforms with squishy mud. Hurting my knees. Made our own trail through wheat fields...scratches all over my legs...Did Jesus really walk on this old Roman road? Because that would be awesome! Maybe he tripped on these weeds too! Hiked up these little mountains, the Horns of Hattin, where we had awesome 360-degree views of the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, the Cliffs of Arbel and Jordan. Chatting with people and playing music on Audrey's speaker. Slipping and sliding down the Horns, sunburn on my neck. Got water from the Druze temple...dominated by an Israeli cracker that choked me for like 20 minutes. Made it to these cabins where we stayed the night. Sweet set-up: Senior Year House Dry Run (Amy, Kelsey, Amanda, me & Audrey). Sauna, pool, "hot tub", surgery on my blistered feet, group meeting, ping-pong.

Day 3, April 19: Man my blisters hurt. Shoot. Oh well, up the mountain we go for some SWEET views down the Cliffs of Arbel. Photo shoot. A new member joins the group: LIL FOO, the cutest Ibex ever! Down the mountain = adventure on handrails, ropes, scaling that cliff face. Exploring caves where Herod's enemies hid once in Biblical times. Gorgeous trails through this awesome valley--flowers and green and mountains everywhere. Falafel for lunch...Amy and Audrey bought a blow-up shark pool toy. Audrey = flower child with daisies in her braids. Hiking along the back of some kibbutz's orchard with music thanks to Sarah and Lim. Lim has great Princess Lea buns in his hair. We can see the Sea! Through the barbed wire fence, over more hills...finally we made it to Capernaum! Feet in the pool, making our own pasta dinner, some sort of strange rocket lights over the Golan Heights in the distance across the Sea of Galilee.

3 days, 40 miles, 23 people...the JESUS TRAIL!

The past few days in Nazareth have been awesome! We visited the Nazareth Village, with live actors and a recreated village of what this place would have looked like when Jesus lived here. We went swimming in these man-made lake things and had a big picnic lunch. We explored more Roman ruins (probably the 20th Roman city we've seen this trip). Then today we had a free day! After days of heavy stuff, like hearing from settlers in the city of Ariel and the shooting at Jenin, it was great to have a relaxing day off. Nine of us went to a coffee shop for the morning, where we felt very Middle Eastern smoking hookah and playing badgamman (I did not spell that right, sorry). Then we had our second Turkish bath experience--so much better than the first! We got the full treatment--massage, steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, fruit and juice and hot rocks...all for about 15 bucks. I love the Middle East.

Tomorrow we're embarking on the Jesus Trail, a 3-day, 40-mile hiking trail going from Nazareth to Capernum, walking the roads Jesus walked. 23 people, 3 days, 40 miles, 23 tiny little backpacks...it's gonna be an adventure! So stoked!

Processing Jerusalem

Jerusalem! The 8 days we spent there were amazing...full of fun sightseeing, exploring the Old City market, eating schwarma and pita and hummus and smoking hookah and hanging out...We also were confronted with an army of opinions and loud voices concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict. It's so good to see the issues we're learning about first-hand...walking through the Palestinian town of Silwan in East Jerusalem and seeing the Israeli settlements, complete with soldiers and flags, planted there illegally. We talked with people on all ends of the spectrum--an Israeli professor at Hebrew University, a Palestinian working for peace through non-violence, and an organization called Combatants for Peace which embodies ex-fighters from both sides working together. We heard the technical side of the story--the "final status" issues like who gets Jerusalem, what to do with the settlements and refugees, etc. We heard the personal sides of each story--eating Shabat dinners with an Israeli family on Friday night and talking to them about how they just want to live their daily lives like any normal family. Homestays in Bethlehem with a wonderful Christian Palestinian family made me ache for their story--losing 40 acres to the IDF and settlers in 1998 with no way to get that property back. Or talking to Palestinian refugees who just want the right to return to their home of years ago. It's a crazy, complicated situation, and at times it makes me really sad to see what humanity has done to itself. But at the end of the day, there are enough people devoting their work and life towards a peaceful solution and the end of the illegal Israeli occupation that I have hope for the future of the Middle East. Enough Israelis and Palestinians are living and working peacefully side-by-side today that I can see it's not a fundamental Judaism vs. Islam conflict; it's not a historical conflict that is destined to go on forever either--it's a politically focused conflict that thrives on flaws in leadership and not enough international pressure on Israel to end the occupation. But things are changing, awareness is being spread, support for a Palestinian state is being raised and the people are working towards peace. Someday soon the wall will fall. I'd love to go into full explanations of all this--call me up when I get home and I can tell you about the people I met and things I saw in more detail!



On a lighter note, I've got some awesome pictures of our time in and near Jerusalem:

The view from our roof. You can see the Dome of the Rock in the distance.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Chapel marking where Jesus is said to have been buried and rose again.

Super Jew!

The Western Wall

An orthodox Jew in the Old City

Israeli flag

Me, Sarah & Kelsey at the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount

Jerusalem's first ever marathon!

Old city in the distance with Palestinian villages and Israeli settlements in the foreground

More photos to come later! Stay posted!

Israel

This is going to be one of the coolest parts of my trip. Israel is a place I've heard so much about, from the Bible and CNN alike. As a class, we've been preparing for the situations and sights we'll experience in Israel for a while now. It will be incredible to be on the ground experiencing life in Israel for about a month. Here's the schedule of events:

March 19-27: Jerusalem, staying at the Hotel Hashimi.
March 27-28: Bethlehem in the West Bank. We're staying at Tent of Nations (www.tentofnations.org).
March 28-31: Beit Sahour, West Bank. These days will also feature home-stays with local Arab families, facilitated through Holyland Trust (www.holylandtrust.org).
March 31-April 1: Jericho. We're bunking at Auja Center (another Eco-center I believe).
April 1-2: Taybeh, West Bank.
April 2-4: Nablus, at the International Friends Guest House (www.GuestHouse.ps)
April 4-7: Nazareth. We'll stay at the Convent of the Sisters of Nazareth.
April 7-8: Yarok AZ. Staying in the Lower Galilee Hadar and Shahar Barkai (www.yarokaz.co.il/english/)
April 8-9: Arbel
April 9-11: Tabgha
April 11-12: Ibillin
April 12-15: Tel Aviv
April 15-19: back to Jerusalem
April 19-20: Mizpeh Ramon

And at this point, it's off to see the Pyramids in Egypt!