Bethlehem

Tourist day again off to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the West Bank which is administered by the Palestinian Authority but controlled by Israel. To enter you have to do thru a checkpoint. It is just like the airport except there are long distances between buildings and the walkways are covered in steel and fencing. Abit like being a sheep.

From Israel

From Israel

The wall is very big and dominates the landscape. If you look carefully you can see the wall continuing on in the background to the left. this photo was taken between the security checkpoints. Sort of no mans land.

From Israel

Once in the West Bank I got a taxi and after a discussion with the taxi driver went off to Herodion. Basically a Summer Holiday Fortress for King Herod. The land is hilly around Bethlehem and this hill stands above all else. I climbed the hill and took a few photos.

From Israel

From Israel

Then off to the Sites Bethlehem is know for.
Church of the Nativity was very interesting and the entrance door was very low.

From Israel

From Israel

The crib is allegedly on the right of this photo.

From Israel

I put my head into a little doorway to find a factory making souvenirs from Olive wood.

From Israel

From Israel

Gaza Strip

I want to travel into the Gaza Strip to see what it is like and talk to some of the people there. You need to get a permit from the Israeli Mininstry of Defence. My application has come back "refused". They only let in people who are invited or very selected Press. Obviously I am neither. They dont want people in there like me. It does not come as a shock but I am not happy about it,

Old Jerusalem Tour

I became a tourist again and took a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of the old city. It was fantastic and every interesting. The city is divided into 4 quarters. Christian, Armenian, Jewish and Muslim. Each quarter sort of blends into the other quarters around the edges. We started in the Christian Quarter

From Israel

Here is where it all happens for Christians. Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is run by 4 religious groups who can not agree and was the scene of the religious punch up that took place within the church a year or so ago. Inside the Church is allegedly the tomb of Jesus, the site of his crucifixion plus the area where his cross was found. It is a massive church and very interesting.

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Site of Jesus crucifixion.

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The slab of stone Jesus was laid on after his crucifixion but before is burial.

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The tomb of Jesus where the stone was rolled back from and the Angel appeared. It is inside this structure and you have to line up to go in. We did not have the time.

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The Armenian Alter within the Armenian Church within the Holy Sepulchre.

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Crosses cut into the wall of the entrance of the Armenian Church by Pilgrims

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The Temple Mount. Site of the Al Asqa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Both structure are Muslim and I am not going to write the entire story here. In short it is the site where two Jewish Temples once stood and have now been destroyed. All religions believe the end of the world is when the third temple is rebuilt. All religions believe Jesus will return and go thru one of the gates Known as the Golden Gate and the scales will be placed on the Temple Mount to weigh each soul.

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No one is allowed into the Al Asqu Mosque unless you are Muslim. Opposite the Mosque but still on the Temple Mount is The Dome of the Rock. It is very impressive.

From Israel

From Israel

Just outside the walls of the old city is a huge cemetery called Mount of the Olives.

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We moved to the Room of the Last Supper

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Our tour was finished and I have shortened it dramatically to keep you from leaving. I specifically wanted to go to the Valley of Hennon. It is just outside the walls of the old city.

From Israel

From Israel

From Israel

You will notice that there are no houses built in the valley. I took a walk along the floor of the Valley. All three religions, Jewish, Muslim and Christian believe this Valley is the spot where the gates of Hell will open from.
For my last night in Jerusalem I have moved into the old city and staying at a little hotel within the walls.

From Israel

From Israel

Old Jerusalem

Needless to say Old Jerusalem is a very interesting place. It appears that everyone is here. There is no shortage of religious people from all religions walking around in their ceremonial outfits. No one bats an eyelid. I spent the entire day in the old city walking its stone streets taking in the sights sounds and smells. I had a very interesting conversation with a Muslim man who could speak excellent English. We had a 30 minute conversation about Religion, war, Palestine, gods, the devil and the Koran. It was a wonderful conversation and a pleasure. He was a real person of peace. I bounced some of the ideology of the Radical Islamic fundamentalist off him and he quoted me what the Koran says about each of the points. Basically it would be better to damage the house of god in Mecca than kill one believer. According to this man there is no religion in the conflicts. It is money.
The old city is full of churches, ruins, and temples amongst the shopping bazaars.
Inside the Tower of David

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The Jerusalem ruins are missing some of the adventure the Turkish ruins have. For a start they are very safe with safety rails and areas of no go for safety reasons. Turkey had none of this and kept you on your toes. Some parts of these ruins had displays and it was air conditioned.

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Yesterday was prayers and not as busy as today. It was shoulder to shoulder throughout the entire city.

From Israel

One of the most noticeable differences is not many people smoke. It is like Australia. Everyone smokes alot in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon and Jordan.

Jordan to Israel

Vahe and Haig (Son) drove me to the border so that I could cross into Israel. They have been fantastic hosts and I will catch up with them again once I have spent a week or so in Israel. I caught a bus to go thru to the Passport control in Israel. The Israel border crossing is very very thorough. We had to get off the bus and show our passports. The bus was searched and we were allowed to continue. Get back on the bus and drive 1 km and get off the bus again. The bus is under constant surveillance with armed guards on high alert. Unlike guards at other crossings these guys were anxious and moving like an attack was imminent. Sorry to say I could not take any photos. Our bags were taken from us and put thru x-ray machines I suspect as we did not see where they went. We moved into another area and thru the normal metal detectors. They had a second machine that blew air on you. It was like a walk in cupboard. I suspect it was for explosive analysis. I stood in line to have my passport stamped. This took over 1 hour and I was about 6th in line. Each person gets a very intense interview. Whilst in line I adopted the less is best method of answers. "Why are you coming to Israel? Tourist. Is this the first time? Yes. How long are you staying? 1 week. Where are you staying? Don’t know Hotel. Do you know anybody here? No. Are you going to meet anyone here? No. How much money do you have? Show me your departure ticket. Are you a Christian? Yes can’t you tell by my smile? She let me thru after that. I had my Passport checked two more times and my bags checked thru a machine once more. Finally I was out and in Israel. I found out that the border closes at 11.30 am and we just got thru. I was lucky Vahe got me down there in time. I never thought about the border being closed.
From the border post to Jerusalem is a 40 minute drive in a minibus. The bus driver had a ten seat mini bus and was not leaving until he had 10 passengers. After standing around for about an hour in the hot sun we had 7 passengers. Then it was 8 passengers after another 15 minutes. Because the border was closed not many people were behind us. I suggested after sharing a banana with Richard and Rhonde from Calgary who have previously lived in Jerusalem and taught at St. Georges Cathedral, the Eight of us put in a few extra dollars each and we buy the remaining seats so we could go. I purchased the extra two seats; Richard and Rhonde re paid me and the majority didn’t. What happened to the Middle East I have been in?
At 3.30 pm we get into Jerusalem, Richard and Rhonde now run tours of the Sinai and suggested I stay at the St.George Hostel. Richard directed the mini bus to my location and we all got off. I could not stay there as it was booked out but Richard and Rhonde stayed with me until they found me a place. It is great of them to do that. It is alway great getting information from the locals or former locals.

From Israel

Once Settled in I had a quick look at the Old City but will return there tomorrow for a good look. The first thing that is impressive in the old city is the pavement. It is very solid and smooth with a shiny texture. The laneways are just full of shops and only 3 metres wide.

From Israel

From Israel

I did come across the Western Wall so I had a quick look but tomorrow I will have another good look. Some Jewish men had big hats and I will find out tomorrow why.

From Israel

Arrived in Jordan

I took a short flight from Beirut to Jordan. I was in and out of customs in no time. I have not been asked once in all my border crossings in the Middle East to look at my luggage. It appears that it is only a paperwork issue. Vehe was there to pick me up from the Airport which was very convenient and generous considering his biggest problem is time. Jordan is very different to Lebanon. All the buildings are new and no buildings are higher than three or four stories as a general rule. I was taken to the flagship retail outlet of the Izmirian Empire where I met Greta.

From Jordan

The shop was very impressive indeed. The lighting, shopfitting and set out just let the spacious,opulant shop sparkle.

From Jordan

From Jordan

I was given a quick lesson in Gold, Diamonds and the industry. Vehe had some important documentation to do, so I returned to their house and caught up with the boys Haig and Varant. After getting my bottom kicked by Varant with an Xbox game I caught up on some much needed sleep before heading out for dinner to a very nice restaurant with Vehe,Greta and Caroline. Tomorrow I am going to get a more in depth lesson in Gold and Diamonds. I am really looking forward to that.

Tourist before Departure to Jordan

Haig and Nellie took me to Saint Maria in Lebanon.

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It is a mountain top church and statue dedicated to Mary mother of Jesus. There were alot of different religions represented in the large crowd.

From Lebanon

From Lebanon

The view over suburbia Beirut was excellent.

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Bedig,Lenna and the family meet us at Downtown Beirut. It is an area that is being rebuilt in the original style. It was well protected and we had a nice meal together.

From Lebanon

From Lebanon

From Lebanon

Boots

These were a brand new pair of boots six weeks ago. They could not go the distance. It probably explains why my feet are so blistered.

From Lebanon

Why climb the Mountain

Why did the population of Musa Dagh decide to climb the mountain? Having been there I must admit it seems like a silly idea. Six years earlier in 1909 at the time Garobed and the family were killed a group of Armenians in Kessab decided to climb a mountain to escape the massacre there. A World Vision ship was passing and the group came down to the sea shore and many were saved and over 300 were killed. This is where the idea to climb Musa Dagh was born.

Today V. 1915

Having climbed Musa Dagh Mountain it seems impossible to me for a civilian army to withhold a regular army for over 40 days. This question has been on my mind since. Tonight I have spoken to Yessayi Havatian who has added all the bits that now make sense. Firstly the Turkish Army did not know that the Armenians were armed with weapons and only sent a few soldiers to “Fix the problem.” The commander of the Turkish said I could send two Soldiers to fix this problem in the beginning. They were fired upon and came back for reinforcements. The Turkish were busy with other issues and conflicts and did not give this issue the resources needed. The second attempt was with and extra 100 soldiers. They too were bogged down and could not make head way. The third attempt included artillery and 5000 soldier from 3 different entry points. This would easily achieve the objective from my knowledge. What I did not know is the mountain side was “like the Amazon jungle” with the canopies of the trees so thick it stopped sunlight reaching the ground. When I showed the photos I took to Yessayi Havatian he commented that the conditions I experienced re the fog is exactly what it was like during the 40 odd days on the Mountain. The other interesting point is the Armenians were not in one spot. They were spread out over the mountain in the areas I had walked thru. The walk is over 1hour between each of the 4 groups of Armenian civilians on the mountain. So with thick Forrest, fog, spread out groups of population, lack of resources and importance applied to the task by the Turkish leaders initially by the Turkish army I can now see how the civilians were successful.
Yessayi Havatian told me a fascinating piece of information. Apparently when the ships initially were told of the Armenians on the Mountain they had to get authorisation from higher authorities to save or assist the Armenians. So the ship gave the civilians a French flag. They were told to raise this flag if things got bad as this would authorise immediate action from the ship and override the governments decision of waiting for approval.