ISRAEL - 5 days in early 2000

To begin my trip of a few days here, I entered Israel’s Tel Aviv airport on a flight from Egypt in late Frbruary 2020.  We are all familiar with increased security after 9/11/2001 but I was surprised at the suspicion that I was viewed with from customs/immigration at the airport.  Thinking back from now (I am writing this blogpost in 2025) I understand that this is a nation constrantly vigilant.  Still, I was taken aback.

I went to my hotel, the venerable King David, named after the Biblical King David.  It is a storied hotel, opened in 1931 and built with locally quarried pink limestone It is located on King David Street in the center of Jerusalem and overlooks the Old City and Mount Zion.  Ithas traditionally been the chosen venue for hosting heads of state, dignitaries, politicians and celebrities during their visits to Jerusalem.

 

My first decision was to take myself on a walking tour of the Old City.  Meandering through the old city was pleasant enough, but after the vigor and verve of Egypt, even the market and the jumble of streets seems sterile.

It’s impossible to go into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, and not be moved.  I lit a candle in the chamber where Christ’s body was laid out (by tradition) and the display of Golgotha’s rocks with the opening under the table you can stick your hand in and feel the air was interesting. (Not sure if you can do this today….) The church was built in the 4th century in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. 

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Photo courtesy Britannica

 

A large stone structure with columns and a door

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Interior of the church

The mystical business is alive and well in Jerusalem.  If you haven’t felt moved before, you surely will be touched by some sense of a Great Being here.  The candles, smoke, smells, bells, black garbed ladies, tourists in a trance-like state, scowling priests at imagined heresies, murmured prayers, swinging scepters, etc – all combine to assault the sense, overwhelm reason, remove the mind and overall get you ready for the Holy Spirit to grab you – if you want

One good thing about doing this walking tour of the old city was getting a few hot tips – such as the info that you can only go to the mosque at the Temple Mount from 8:30-9:30 a.m.   And so, I did, on Monday early.  I wanted to have a peek at the bar mitzvah’s at the Wailing Wall (also known as the Western Wall) early on Monday too, but I was disappointed not to see any hoopla, just some small clusters of people.  According to Britannica, it is the only remains of the retaining wall surrounding the Temple Mount, which is the site of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem, held to be uniquely holy by the ancient Jews. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587–586 bce, and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 ce.”

A group of people in front of a stone wall with Western Wall in the background

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But after running the Israeli gauntlet a few times – inspection of bags and metal-detector-arches both going in and going out – I went up the path to the green door and into Temple Mount. 

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The Mount is really spectacular, and the walk that the rocks upon which Mohammed stood were well illuminated and mystically-visable through a wooden screen.  For Muslims, Temple Mount is known as the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and is the location where the Prophet Muhammed’s ascended to heaven. Temple Mount houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, and the Dome of the Rock.

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When my hotel-arranged-for guide showed up, he was pissed off that I’d done these things on my own, but I explained that I needed the help of a guide to do the hard things; the easy things I could do on my own!   Here is the map of our stops that first day out of Jerusalem.

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We drove to Bethlehem on my insistence.  When we got there, we could not enter.  I was horrified to see the tall fence around the city, but my guide explained that the city was primarily occupied these days by Palestinians, and they were “contained.”  I searched the internet now (June 2025) to get more clarity, and this is what AI said: “Bethlehem is partially surrounded by the Israeli West Bank barrier, often referred to as the separation wall or security fence. This barrier, constructed primarily of concrete and fencing, is a controversial structure that has sparked significant debate and impacted the lives of Palestinians in Bethlehem.”

Walled Off Hotel: Not all Palestinians are happy with Banksy's Bethlehem  hotel | The Independent | The Independent

 

Like most walls that separate factions, there are protest paintings and notes.  These are current ones.

Bethlehem, Palestine separation wall art showing the distance between Bethlehem and Jerusalem 

Life in occupied Palestine - Lacuna Magazine

To be fair, this separatism was the result of the Oslo accords.  Briefly (AI): The Oslo Accords were a pair of agreements signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1990s, aiming to establish a framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first accord, known as Oslo I, was signed in 1993 and focused on mutual recognition and a five-year interim period for self-governance. Oslo II, signed in 1995, further detailed the structure of Palestinian self-rule and expanded it to other areas of the West Bank. Ultimately, the accords aimed for a final peace treaty resolving issues like borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and settlements, but this was never achieved. 

 

Our next stop was Massada; that was very worthwhile.

Massada is a rugged natural fortress, of majestic beauty, in the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. It is a symbol of the ancient kingdom of Israel. There, a dramatic event unfolded during the First Jewish-Roman War.  After a lengthy siege by the Roman army, the Jewish defenders, rather than surrender, chose to commit mass suicide in 73 or 74 CE.    More information at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1040/

 

It’s a huge hulking rock!

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When you get to the top, these are the ruins that you’ll see.


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Image courtesy of UNESCO/ Leila Maziz

 

A view of a desert landscape from a cliff

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You can see the view from the top of Massada; there is a platform at the top left of the photo.   Image courtesy of UNESCO/ Leila Maziz

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That’s me, on the viewing platform!

 

 

Camps V and VI

Here is what the Jewish defenders saw, when they looked down… huge Roman camps!

Snake Path

Photos courtesy of holylandphotos.org

 

Today you can take a cable car to the top, but during the siege, the soldiers created this and other ramps for their attack.

 

A high angle view of Masada

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Massada aerial view; photo courtesy of Andrew Shiva

 

Overall, the rich experience of Israel is an armchair experience in fact, because it is the great and many stories that lend interest to a trip here.  Massada was a good example.  From the top of the “tell”, it was possible to get a really good feel for how desperate the people felt as they saw the Roman camps increase in numbers and in size, and the slow and steady construction of the ramp up the mountain.  Of all the sights I saw in Israel, this impressed me the most.

Our next stop was Qumran National Park.  Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about 1.5 km from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about 10 km south of the historic city of Jericho.

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The ancient city….

According to the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO, “The site, identified by some scholars with the biblical “City of Salt”, was occupied mainly during the Greco-Roman period (ca. 150 BC-68 AD). The community that inhabited Qumran is generally identified with the Essenes, a religious sect, which lived in isolation in this region west of the Dead Sea. 

Qumran became internationally well known in 1947, when a Palestinian shepherd called Mohammad al-Theeb discovered in a cave a series of scrolls, which were known later on as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The cave, then called cave no.1, was excavated in 1949. Below is a photo of Cave No 4.  Scrolls were found in many caves at Qumran.

The dates of these scrolls range from the II century BC to 68 AD, but mostly dated from the first century BC. The study of the Scrolls developed into an academic discipline known as Qumranic studies. It provides us with valuable information about the history of Judaism and the early phase of Christianity.  The excavated site is composed by a large complex of buildings, including communal facilities, a sophisticated water system, a library and a large cemetery. The Dead Sea Scrolls constitute one of the major archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. They incorporate the earliest known manuscripts of the Bible as well as other important historical documents describing the life of the Essene community. At the same time, they are a main source for the study of the history of Palestine: the Dead Sea Scrolls have shed light on Judaism and the roots of Christianity on the shore of the Dead Sea.

The scrolls, of course, are no longer in Qumran, but here is what some of them looked like (see above)…       For more info on visiting Qumran, go to https://www.hike-israel.com/nature-in-israel/qumran/

We drove by Jericho, but did not stop. And silly me, thwarted again by “the region's unique political and security situation”, as this separation strategy is called. Today, AI warns anyone who searches that “While some roads are under full Israeli control, others are in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority. Jericho itself is within the Palestinian Authority.

So back to the King David Hotel. It was already a full day of driving and time was up. 

On our second day out, the guide started with a visit to Bet She’an.

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“In the 12th century B.C. Egyptian rule reached its peak in the country. Bet She'an became a key administrative center in the north. This house served as the headquarters of the Egyptian governor. The bathhouse included a square hall (20 x 20 meters) that served as the frigidarium (cold room). The room's wall and floor were covered with marble slabs. In one of its walls was a fountain and in the other walls were niches for statues. Fragments of statues were found in a pit below the bathhouse; they are a life-sized young Dionysus, a nude Aphrodite, an emperor wearing armor and an Athena. The main part of the bathhouse contained rooms and halls, including a caldarium heated by a hypocaust. A large latrine, with a colonnaded courtyard, had rows of evenly spaced stone toilet seats along its walls, and drainage channels beneath them.”

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Photo and commentary courtesy of Dennis Jarvis

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Excavation is still going on….

 

Next, we went in the direction of Nazareth.  I must comment, however, on how fortunate Jesus was to be from Nazareth.  It really is the prettiest part of the country and in these days, one of the best developed agriculturally. The guide said that most of the irrigated fields we saw, many of them carved out of the desert area between Jericho and the Sea of Galilee, were the result of hard work.  This view of the Jezreel Valley nearby Nazareth gives you an idea of the agricultural production here.

Jezreel Valley from the top of Mount Tabor.

Photo courtesy of Jenny Ehrlich


 In Haifa, we did not explore the city, but enjoyed the beautiful overlook.  he impressive gardens and quiet site are provided by the Bahai for the people of Haifa: the Baháʼí Terraces, or the Hanging Gardens of Haifa, are garden terraces on Mount Carmel in Haifa, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Israel. Completed in 2001, there are 19 terraces and more than 1,500 steps ascending the mountain.  The view from here of the port and the Mediterranean Sea are really spectacular!

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Photo courtesy of Lea Jersonsky

 

The central terrace has the Shrine of the Báb, one of the main religious sites of the Baháʼí Faith.

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Photo courtesy of Eitan Bloch

 

The Druze villages between Tiberius and Haifa, in my opinion, are little more than a tourist trap. 

druze villages

Photo courtesy Anglo-list.com

Learn more about the Druze at  https://www.giltravel.com/blog/wonderful-druze-villages-in-israel/

 

And that’s the end of the trip. 

Four busy days in Israel, and that’s all I need to see, for the rest of my life.  Leaving Israel was an ordeal.  I was searched and questioned three times, and not in a friendly way.  I really don’t think I’ll go back.