Wow! Wow! Wow! Talk about an eye-opener.
We spent the morning in the "notorious" West Bank; the place of terrible Arab Refuge Camps and persecution. I couldn't have had a more incorrect perception.
We crossed the check point to go into the West Bank after leaving Jerusalem maybe half an hour earlier. The first thing I noticed is that the much talked about concrete wall actually covers very little of the fence, in fact, it only covers 5% of the fence. So already we have been totally misinformed. The balance of the 95% is an alarm fence, and not an electrified fence. It is unobtrusive.
We drove along the road until we reached a reasonable sized Jewish Settlement of approximately 650 families. They had been there for over 35 years. We entered a beautiful girls school. The place was neat. The scholars appeared to be very happy and friendly. We were given a talk about how the settlement operates and their hopes for peace with their Arab neighbors. It was certainly illuminating. We drove around the settlement. It was spick and span. The gardens were well maintained, the houses were neat and the overall impression was that this could be a really good place to live.
We drove further until we came to the top of a mountain where we visited another settlement near Nablus, 63 km (41 miles) from Jerusalem. We had a delicious lunch served with excellent local wines, made from grapes grown right there. The owner explained his passionate views of the biblical history of the region. He told us that he just wants to be left alone to grow his grapes, make his wine and serve his customers in his mountaintop restaurant. He told us that his vines had been damaged maliciously by his Arab neighbors, but he did not retaliate because this would only start a cycle of unnecessary violence. He would even live under Palestinian control, if they left him alone and didn't threaten or harm him.
We saw a number of Arab refugee camps, about which we have heard so much. The only difference is that these were beautiful towns. The picture attached to this blog is one of these camps!
Our guide through the West Bank was Danny Tirza, one who normally takes VIP's through the area for fence tours. His knowledge of the negotiations, the territory and the people is amazing. He was forthcoming with valuable information. It is interesting to note that he has taken Senator Obama and Hilary Clinton on two hour fence tours. They did not take the trouble to get an in-depth knowledge of the West Bank as we did.
After we left the West Bank, we went to the Israel museum for a guided tour of the Old City of Jerusalem model and the Dead Sea scrolls. Our time was limited, but we enjoyed this educational session greatly.
We returned to the hotel to prepare for our farewell dinner. When entering the Inbal's ballroom, we were surprised to see that it had been set up for a true gala farewell dinner. The guest speaker was the mayor of Jerusalem, a young self-made millionaire. Another fascinating insight into Israel, Jerusalem and the territory.
After the thank-you's and speeches, we partied until late at night with all our newfound friends. It was very sad to say goodbye to our Mission friends.
We are definitely going on the next one!! Join us on March 3, 2013.
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