The heavily decorated section of the security wall, right of Bethlehem, West Bank
Since August I had few nostalgic days around my old stomping
ground,
Cornwall and also found my self walking
on ‘the not so cobble paved streets’ of
Yorkshire
in early November. However this letter is from
Israel a place I had planed to
visit in 2002 (the year my husband passed away) and finally had time and money
to make a very expensive journey in November 2013.
What a journey it was! All the way to Jesus’ stomping ground
where my husband would loved to have been but I had to settle with the
second best to keep me company, his memory! The journey was only for seven days
and seven nights however I came home with head full of new experience with lots
of questions unanswered. The tour guide, an Israeli Palestinian Arab knew his
subject and the history of three major religions of his country (Judaism, Christianity
and Islam) were brought to life every day as I travelled with a group of 15
from the West. The guide followed the Pilgrimage route starting from Tel Aviv and quickly moved on to the
old port of Jaffa and then on to Druze village for a home cooked lunch
with a Druze family (followers of interesting philosophy!).
We travelled to see Roman ruins of
Caesarea, then to
Akko,
Nazareth,
Safed city of spiritualists and
artists. Travelling dangerously and avoiding the minefields on the way, we
stopped at
Golan Heights (disputed
area) for photo snaps of
Syria
which looked green and pleasant from the border but still undergoing a bloody
war somewhere beyond the border line. Another short stop at
Jordan River for a holy
dip (for few but not for me) and then off to
Tiberias for the night. Boat ride in the
Sea of Galilee reminded me
of lots of loaves, fish and walking on water miracles by Christ. Living
dangerously again and travelling on the almost deserted
Jordan Valley Road to
Masada and then to the
Dead Sea to
watch people floating! (Having spent money on mud packs I discovered later that
the Dead Sea is fast losing its lustre due to the removal of mud for beauty
products… sad, sad,
sad……). For
desperately needed pee stop (W.C. in
Israel)
the driver had to make big U turn and introduce the group to the deserted
Palestinian town of
Jericho, the
oldest continuously inhabited place on earth.
A visit to
Holocaust
Museum, reminded me of black and white world war movies at home. A visit
to
Bethlehem where the Star was born
and the Palestinian refugee camp behind the gigantic Security Wall separating
the
West Bank (where Banksy and
others made their Graffiti marks) were all very short but emotional. The final
day in
East Jerusalem was spent
exploring the inside of the Old Jerusalem Wall: the Temple Mount (highly
contested land mark on the planet and has its’ own security check where
Christians are not allowed in.. sad.. sad.. sad), Wailing Wall (open to all), The
Church of Holy Sepulchre (where Christians meet from all over the world) and
the rest of The Holy, Holy, Holy sights…all well protected by CCTV systems.
Israel
being the world leader in CCTV system I was well protected ?
Would I go again or better still recommend the trip to my
friends? Not really and here are some of my reasons. Israel has some of the most
stringent security polices in the world and I should really feel safe, I did
not! When boarding the plane from Amsterdam, I
had to answer some silly questions such as “do I know any body in Israel” (yes I did have 2 friends in Israel
but did not confess, what would happen to me if I said Yes, I shall never
know?) and “why am I going there anyway” (I thought that was pretty obvious?).
Once I landed at the airport in Tel-Aviv at 2 am, I was interrogated again with
same questions; luck was on my side I escaped a full interrogation in a little
room! (Some of my fellow travellers did not). So the start of the journey was a
bit unpleasant but it did not get better as I and the rest were reminded all
the time by the guide to be ready for any questions about our travels at
various Israeli check-points. When we were on the road to the Palestinian town
of Jericho we
stopped at a road sign and were encouraged to take photos (see below) and
our guide pointed out that the road was not safe for the tourists like us, he
was not joking!! (Kidnapping immediately came to my mind!).
You would think that the Israel would be glad to get rid of
you once you had finished your holiday and spent your well earned money to help
the economy, but the answer is “NO”. They make sure you go through some more
check points leading to the Tel-Aviv airport and once you are at the airport
(which looked pretty deserted Friday afternoon, who in the right mind wants to
go on holiday to Israel anyway?) you end up having to answer more stupid
questions such as "what is your father’s name, what is your mother’s name
what is your sibling’s names etc…".and if you are unlucky your luggage is opened
and each item is examined by young kids with plastic gloves who are employed to
do their national service at the air port. Luck was on my side again, I escaped
another Spanish inquisition and luggage examination which was taking place out
in the open area of the air port for everybody to watch! (How embarrassing, imagine
all my dirty laundry out for public display ……)
Israel is
very fussy about who is allowed into their well protected Fort Knox
heavily guarded country. If I had a passport with entry stamp from Islamic
country such as Saudi Arabia
or Bangladesh
the chances are that I would have been sent home. Again luck was on my side; my
10 years passport was renewed, just before my travel to Israel (my old passport carried
lots of Bangladeshi visa entries). On arrival at Tel-Aviv airport I was given
Entry Permit (a little paper slip) and at the point of leaving the country, I
was given an Exit Permit (another paper slip) thus avoiding stamping the
tourist passport like mine. This is to ensure that I and other tourists like me
can travel to any Islamic country without being turned away by them, such as Bangladesh.
(I guess?).
Security aside, which was unnerving, I felt that the
whole of The Holy land is made to look like one big theme park and in return for few
New Israeli shekels the tourists are encouraged to take photos. As a non
believer of religions on show I felt uncomfortable taking photos of sacred
places where prayers were said (I came home with 500 photos… shame,
shame, shame on me). Believe it or not, in the Land of Milk
and Honey, water is like gold dust. Israel buys its bottled water from
abroad and it is cheaper to drink water from a plastic bottle. There are
massive big bottle banks every where. One water expert I met at the airport
pointed out that Israel
will run out of water by 2020 and some experts have forecasted the next world
war, if it takes place, will be over water, scary!
We all know that the tiny state of The Holy
Land has been trying to find peace for over 60 years. There is a
Peace Centre in the heart of Bethlehem, near the Nativity Churches and people
come from all over the world, including some from my city of Coventry (Coventry
is a city of Peace and Reconciliation) to spread the Message of Peace. The
final message I brought back with me is the writing I found on the side wall of
the Peace Centre:
This year Kenya
was celebrating 50 years of Independence and
fifty years ago I and my family were kicked out of Kenya
and we landed in England
with our British passports and found new home. My British upbringing
spiced up with Indian and African background gave me freedom to travel with my passport and experience through my own
eyes the wonders of this magical planet I live in. I hope the similar freedom will reach the home of one
young Palestinian student I met in Bethlehem
and many more like her. She told me she was studying English at Bethlehem University and she told me she wanted to
travel……...........she told me …………….
Finally, I feel I have now reached the end of fifty years of my
travel blog. I have written approx. 65000 words and so far received approx.3000
page reviews from across the world!! I like to thank all the comments (made
privately) by family and my friends… with that in mind I might just start
another blog:
“travellingwithabuspass.com”, so watch this space?
