The Dig at Dor
September 25, 2008 at 10:13 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Dor is about 30 kilometres south of Haifa. For more than two millenia it served as the main port of commerce for the entire region. Its shallow lagoon was a perfect location for the commerce that carried through the Persian, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, Ottoman, and European dominations of Palestine. Next to the lagoon is the dig of Tel Dor and a small museum loaded with artifacts from each of those periods. During Arab times, the village was called Tantura. Since nothing is exempt from historical controversy in Israel, the original story was that the Arab inhabitants of Tantura fled during the 1948 War of Independence, at which point, Israelis took over the village. A few years ago, an Israeli at the university wrote a Master’s thesis claiming that the residents didn’t, in fact, flee, but that Jews massacred all inhabitants of the village. Needless to say, this scathing investigation led to many arguments and the truth has yet to be determined.
After spending the first day loading a truck with equipment from the Maritime Museum in Haifa and transporting it to the beach at Dor, we began to set up for the dig. There were about 10 archeologists from the university, students and professors, and a rotating cohort of about 10 volunteer divers on the project. Each fall the department chooses two from over twenty identified wrecks in the lagoon to uncover and study. This year we were working on “Dor C” and “Tantura E”. Dor C’s exact origin is still unknown, however the guess is that it is from the late 1600’s or early 1700’s, most likely of Italian, French, or Spanish origin. Tantura E has been traced to the Byzantine era, around the 8th century.
We loaded a large pump onto a small boat which was then anchored in the lagoon inbetween the two wrecks. Long red fire hoses were connected to the pump leading to the area of each wreck. At the end of each hose, through heavy couplings, we attached “dredgers” connected to “flexors”, creating huge vacuum cleaners to remove sand and debris from the covered wrecks. Working in one hour shifts from 8 AM to 5 PM, six days a week, in shallow waters (84 degrees Farenheit) we removed all the sand from each wreck, slowly exposing the beauties. Dor C, the newer wreck, was uncovered revealing much of the original wood structure and a large amount of the cargo – a large number of ceramic pots, some still full of hazelnuts and other goods. In addition we found two sealed barrels that were too fragile to move and several crates. While I was gently removing sand from one of these crates, I uncovered two glass bottles with glass covers, probably used to store either perfume or spices. In between dives we shared tasks of filling tanks, sitting on the boat and monitoring pump pressure and heat, acting as beach safety spotters, and other tasks. Throughout the dig, the archeologists did what they do – photographing, mapping and measuring, drawing, and delicately recovering findings, all in an effort to learn more about the history and construction of the wrecks. Needless to say, I returned home each evening with just enough energy to eat something, check my e-mail, and get to sleep before getting up at 5:30 the next morning. What a great experience!
And the group of archeologists and volunteers got to be great friends. Lots of conversations, joking, explaining technical details of the findings, and the usual “diver talk”. Lunch each day was a tuna or humus sandwich, cookies and crackers all day long, and grilled meat yesterday after we finished putting sandbags back onto the two wrecks to protect what remained of the wood and ceramics, which nature would then cover with sand until the next year’s excavation. Today they are loading all the gear onto a truck to transport back to the museum. I exercised my prerogrative as the senior volunteer to allow the younger ones to accomplish that part and am spending the day catching up on my own work and home tasks.
A video of a local newcast on the dig can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBrwYApSGOw.
Joe Woolf
September 12, 2008 at 10:18 am | In Old Friends | Leave a Comment
Joe is now a feisty eighty years old, retired and living on a minimal pension plus rental income from his property. Saul and Micky are both married, live on the moshav, and have seven kids between them. David works as a driver for the US embassy and lives in Tel Aviv and was visiting the moshav that Shabbat. Galiya was engaged a few years ago but her fiance died in an accident, so she now lives with her father and works as a nurse/EMT for Mogan David Adom. Zeva died several years ago from lung cancer after a life of heavy smoking.
It was great to reconnect with my only relatives in Israel and to see the kids now grown up. Saul, along with working in some sort of sales position and farming, is a reservist in the border patrol and looks like someone I wouldn’t want to cross with. As we all sat around in Mickey’s living room (with the TV on in the background), as usual the conversation turned to Israeli politics. I immediately realized that I was sitting with a group of former South Africans from the apartheid era, transplanting their biases from the blacks back home to the Arabs of this region. Far right wing would be a good description of their views. I was pummelled by the standard right arguments, which include the fact that the Palestinians are just biding their time, playing around with insincere peace negotiatons until the time is right to wipe out all the Jews. Of course their criticisms of the weakness of this and past Israeli leaders is unrelenting, especially against current president, Shimon Peres, whom they blame for Oslo and all subsequent naive peace talks. I kept my mouth shut and waited to move on to another topic.
Saul and his family are off to the local swimming pool. Mickey and his family are off to Nazareth for a day of shopping. Joe offers to make me lunch but I suggest I take him out for lunch. He, David, and I head off to an Arab restaurant down the road from the moshav. The food is certainly to my liking. As usual I enjoy my humos and fool with assorted salads while they tackle their meat dishes. Joe then begins with much animation to describe to me the genealogy project he has been working on for the past few years, with David’s assistance. He has actually visited Lithuania twice and has found some amazing documentation of our family history in his research. He has completed his father’s side and asked me to help him on his mother’s (and my) side. Both sides are almost complete going back to the early 1700’s. Needless to say, I was blown away.
Joe’s mother and my father’s mother (my bubbe) were sisters. The family had lived for a couple hundred years in the Lithuanian village (shtetle) of Shat (or Seta in Lithuanian). There were three sisters – Ida, Bessie (my bubbe), and Olga (Joe’s mother) – and two brothers – Yankele and Yitzhak. Bessie and Ida were sent to the United States in 1908, sponsored by a Silverman family, with marriage arrangements. Joe has found entry documents for both sisters via Ellis Island, then to Boston. Olga and the brothers were much younger and remained in the village. Olga later married and Joe was born there. As the tensions mounted in the early 1930’s (not that it was ever easy for Jews in that area) attempts were made to get the family to America, but immigration was very limited. So Olga, her husband, and Joe, along with one of the brothers, emmigrated to South Africa, as did any other members of that side of my family that survived. One of the brothers, along with their parents and everyone else in the village, were massacred in 1941 and buried in a mass grave. Joe has visited that site, along with the house the family lived in, and much more. He has collaborated with another researcher from the village now in the US. Joe’s dining room table is piled high with photographs, binders of photocopies of birth and death certificates, immigration papers, etc. In addition he has created a genealogy tree on a poster-sized chart for both his father’s and mother’s sides. With David’s help, he has also uploaded the father’s side to a genealogy website and asked me to help with his mother’s side.
My grandmother died when I was 13. Nobody in my family ever was willing to talk about anything to do with their past in Eastern Europe, so I knew very little of this stuff. In addition it is very rare to be able to trace Jewish lineage back to the 1700’s, given the history of expulsions, pogroms, and worse. I was so moved by what Joe had accomplished.
As I drove back to Haifa late in the afternoon I was thinking about the many-faceted intensity of the day – reconnecting with all those relatives past and present.
Jerusalem – Day 4
September 7, 2008 at 7:03 pm | In Jeusalem, Old Friends | Leave a Comment
When I arrived in Israel I looked at the on-line phone directory for Avraham Pfeffer in Jerusalem. There were two listings, so I tried the first. In Hebrew I asked, is the the Avi Pfeffer that worked in Bank Leumi many years ago? Yes. Is this the Avi Pfeffer who came for the US? Yes. Then switching to English, I ask him if he knows who this might be. Are you tall with a beard? Yes. Then we spent the next hour on the phone catching up on the past 33 years. Avi retired from the bank five years ago, is still married to Tsili, has a son and two daughters and two grandchildren. His health is good.
So last Wednesday, Avi picked me up in his black VW near my hotel with the plan to spend the day together. When I had mentioned that I had visited Bethlehem and Beit Sahor, he had bristled. He was going to show me the other side. He took me around Jerusalem proper on Rehov Begin (which didn’t exist back then) to his neighborhood of Gonen, built on former Palestinian land. His home, which he had built in the early 1980s, was very nice, in a growing suburb of the city. He drove me around to the other side of Gonen where you can look directly across to the next hill and the Arab village of Beit Jalla. From Beit Jalla, Gonen was severely hit by rockets for several weeks a few years ago, resulting in a massive Israeli military response and the construction of yet another massive concrete wall protecting the suburb from further attacks. Although all the apartments that had been hit are now totally repaired, Avi pointed out houses that had been hit.
We then took a ride along the settler road heading toward Gush Emunim (the Hebron area occupied by the most militant of the religious settlers). He showed me how concrete barriers had been erected on both sides of the road to protect from rock-throwers. We went through two long tunnels, built to keep from driving through or close to Arab villages (one can wonder whether for security reasons or to protect the Arabs from visible signs of intrusion). Since I had already seen enough of this stuff, I suggested we return to Jerusalem and have lunch.
Avi took me to a very trendy street in Emek Refayim (imagine Centre St., Jamaica Plain) with cafes and restaurants on both sides of the street. We went to Tal’s Bagels, an American style cafe serving light meals, complete with young people sitting at tables with coffee drinks and laptops connected to the free wifi. The salad I ordered was great, as was the whole wheat bagel (bagels weren’t part of the cuisine 35 years ago!). And the lunch conversation was great – two 60ish men talking about their lives, their fears, getting old, their feelings. Gone was any tension about Israeli politics.
After lunch I asked Avi if we could swing by Ir Ganim, the neighborhood next to Kiryat Yovel where I received a new immigrant apartment after declaring Israeli citizenship. He said he hadn’t been there in years, but had heard that it had turned into a slum. So off we went looking for the neighborhood. We weaved up the road past Ein Kerem leading to Hadassah Hospital and turned left at the Ir Ganim sign. I didn’t remember the name of the street and many more streets had since been built. But by gut I directed Avi and soon we came upon the apartment building, which I recognized immediately. It was brand-new when we moved in. It now looked quite run-down and appeared to be now occupied by Russian and Ethiopian new immigrants.
So it was now late afternoon and I needed to catch a bus back to Haifa. Avi drove me to the central bus station, we said our goodbyes, promised to keep in touch, and I hopped on the next direct bus home. My visit to Jerusalem – clearly a success.
Jerusalem – Day 3
September 5, 2008 at 2:59 pm | In Jeusalem | Leave a Comment
From there I make my way back to East Jerusalem and walk down what the Israelis now call HaTsankanim St. (the tank corp) and the Arabs call Sultan Suleiman St. towards the Damascus Gate leading into the Old City. Maybe it won’t be as crowded as two days ago and I can look for some old haunts. As I approach the gate, a tour bus full of bedouin women is unloading a group of women covered head to foot in black, including veils across their faces. They walk single file towards the gate, most likely on their way to Haram Ash-Sharif (the Temple Mount), one of the most holy sites for Muslims.
As I’d hope, it’s too early for the crowds or the heat. So I set out to revisit some of the holy sites of the three Western religions and maybe find my favorite homus place from 35 years ago. I walk quietly down towards the Western Wall again, enter the security point, and am there. I walk down to the wall and into the archway to the new prayer area. I pull up a plastic chair and sit in prayer for a while, mostly among haredim and other orthodox Jews. From there I decide to go up on top of the Temple Mount again. I used to find it a peaceful place, but it was the site of the beginning of the first Intifada when Ariel Sharon (then Minister of Defense) led a group of followers onto the Muslim holy site, instigating an overflow of pent-up anger that led to a major Palestinian uprising and ensuing Israeli response.
On the Temple Mount are two beautiful mosques, Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, where Abraham is said to have been prepared to sacrifice his son (although Jews and Muslims disagree over which son). There are very few people in the area and it has that eiry feeling of a cool place in the middle of a very hot area, peaceful, holy, serene. After looking at the outside of the mosques (non-Muslim entry is prohibited) for a while, I find a shady spot and just sit and relax.
I leave through the gate that is supposedly restricted to Muslims only. I guess exit is OK, but not entrance. After wandering through the covered market areas of the old city for a while and, without anyone hassling me or trying to sell me anything, make my way to the Christian section to see the Church of the Holy Sepluchre. Thirty five years ago it was in the process of major restoration with masons hammering away all day on huge limestone blocks. Now the restoration is about complete. The church is full of Christian pilgrims of all sort – Europeans, Greek and Armenian Orthodox, nuns and monks, tourists, and me. I probably should know the history of the place, and it’s all in the guidebooks, but suffice to to say that it is a very holy place to Christians, dating back to the time of Jesus. Once again the feeling of holiness and immense serenity. Another opportunity to sit and take it in.
From there I wander through the Christian section looking for that memory of humos lunches after working all day at the bank on Jaffa Road. All of a sudden, a little hole-in-the-wall place that looks vaguely familiar, with the exception of the big Coca Cola cooler in the window where the humos-maker used to stand. I walk in and ask the proprietor how old the place is. He says his father opened it fifty years ago. I tell him that I remember his father and how he stood in that window with a huge plastic bowl under his arm, mashing the chick peas. He beams and insists I sit. I am brought a huge plate of the stuff, a side dish of felafel balls, and the usual assortment of onions, pickled cucumbers, olives, and radish. Yes, it’s as good as I remember, thankfully!
After returning to my hotel room to rest for a while, I decide that a nice contrast will be to wander into Meah Shearim to look for a new tallis. This is the ultra-orthodox section of Jerusalem, almost entirely populated by the Hasidim. The street is certainly abuzz with the black hatted, black coated, heavy bearded men rushing off to wherever, always rushing. And also no shortage of modestly dressed women inevitably pushing strollers. There are lots of shops selling Judaica, so shouldn’t be a problem finding a tallis. In the first three shops, the men insist I need a size 80, which, when I drape it over my shoulders, descends all the way to the floor. Obviously this is their style, but I guess I’m looking for a “shorty” style. Finally one guy allows me to choose a shorter one, we negotiate a price (less than Israel Bookstore) and I’m off. Although my only real meal of the day was the humos at lunch several hours ago, I am not the least bit hungry, so back to the room to relax and sleep.
Jerusalem – Day 2
September 2, 2008 at 4:33 pm | In Jeusalem | Leave a Comment
On Saturday, I received an e-mail from the tour leader, Fred Schlomka, that my tour had been cancelled due to low registration. I e-mailed back that I had planned my trip to Jerusalem around his tour and if there was any alternative, please let me know. So on Sunday, while wandering the streets of the old city, I received a call from Fred with an option. He was doing a private tour of Greater Jerusalem and Bethlehem for a couple of Americans who said I could tag along (for a rather exorbitant fee). As an Israeli citizen, I am prohibited from entering the Palestinian controlled sections of the West Bank, including Bethlehem. I told that to Fred. He informed me that we would be traveling on roads that are used by settlers and “usually” we wouldn’t be stopped at any checkpoints. He said the worst that could happen to me (due to vagueness of the law) was that I might be detained for a few hours. This reminded me of my trip to Cuba about ten years ago! I really wanted to do the tour and my 60’s politics was pushing me to join in. Fred thought the risk was minimal and he was also an Israeli (with UK and American citizenship), so I decided to join in.
At 7 AM on Monday morning I caught a local bus to the hotel where Bill and his wife, Tara, were staying. They are a very nice couple from Washington State. Bill is CFO of the company that makes the Leatherman. He is a military history buff and very interested in the issues addressed by this tour. He is not Jewish, although she is. I met Fred there and filled him in on my anxiety and gave him a little history, including my military tenure in the Israeli Defense Forces. Fred gave a great briefing in a corner of the lobby of the hotel including maps showing the various partition options dating back to 1947 (UN proposal), Oslo, and various negotiations leading up to today. Clearly each round of negotiation had left the Palestinian section greatly diminished. In its current iteration, the Palestinian controlled areas are non-contiguous and it would be impossible to govern these “islands” as any sort of autonomous country by any standard. Further, since the various Intifadas and the increase in restrictions for Palestinians from traveling from one “island” to another, let alone entering annexed Arab East Jerusalem or Israel proper, make life incredibly difficult on a day-to-day basis.
We left the hotel around 9 AM and drove around Jerusalem onto the “settler road” towards the town of Beit Sahor outside of Bethlehem to meet up with one of our guides, Samir, an Arab Greek Orthodox political activist resident of Beit Sahor. The settler road is open to Israelis and Palestinians (at least for the moment) and is bordered on either side by imposing metal fences with rows of barbed wire on top. These fences aparently have sensors on them that immediate alert the military if anyone touches it, and response takes a matter of a minute or two. Isn’t technology great!
At Samir’s house, we meet him and he joins us in the van as our guide. He takes us to the top of a hill in his town and shows us where a beautifully forested hill adjacent had been appropriated and within a matter of a couple of years converted into a suburb of Jerusalem, complete with high-rise apartment buildings and related infrastructure, of course surrounded by rows of fences and more barbed wire. He also shows us many newly constructed local homes slated for demolition. The Israeli reason is that no building permit was given. Of course no building permits are ever given, so locals just go ahead and build. Eventually the military shows up unannounced at 4 AM giving the family 20 minutes to removed belongings before a bulldozer razes the house. Resistance is futile. One group, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (http://www.icahd.org/eng/) is trying to help on this issue, including raising funds to continually rebuild demolished homes, often several times.
From Beit Sahor we travel to Bethlehem, the next town. I remember Bethlehem very well. When I lived in Israel, the West Bank was occupied territory and Israelis could freely travel there. We used to drive to Bethlehem from Jerusalem frequently for lunch or shopping, or show visitors the Christian tourist sites, a 20 minute, totally safe and routine drive. At the outskirts of the city I get my first glimpse of the separation wall which Israel has erected in several parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. I don’t know how I can describe it, but have included several photos. Imposing is an understatement. Stories of how the wall has separated villages, families, neighborhoods, etc., abound. Samir also shows us how the wall has wound its way around the tomb of Rachel in the middle of Bethlehem, such that it is now outside of the Palestinian side of Bethlehem and only accessible on the other side, the Jewish side, of the wall.
Just outside of Bethlehem are two refugee camps. The largest, Dheisheh, is home to 11,000 residents who left their homes (by choice or eviction) in 1948. 6,000 of these residents are children and the camp is less than one square kilometre. During the first Intifada residents were locked in, and the now unused gate is left as a memorial to the residents killed during the conflict. We are brought to a little community center where we meet a young resident whose name I can’t remember. We are offered coffee, then told none is available since this is the first day of Ramadan. Then we are told in detail how difficult life is in the camp. Although I agree that life is hard here, I don’t hear anything I haven’t heard or read about before. These people lived in tents for several years until the UN built each family a 3 metre by 3 metre square room (up to 10 people per room). Now residents are starting build apartments. Poverty abounds, unemployment is over 70%, residents have minimal legal status (no passports) and life is even harder since the Intifadas. Before that, many people worked in Israel proper. Even after the conflicts, residents were able to get into Israel illegally. The separation wall has all but eliminated that option.
Samir then took us to a restaurant for lunch (owned by his in-laws). Again humos and felafel, then back to Greater Jerusalem. This is the point where I could potentially get caught. Fred tells me that if I get asked at a checkpoint, just to give my Israeli passport (the one which has the entrance stamp in it) and hope for the best. At the checkpoint, the border policeman asks who we are. Fred says I am a friend from Haifa and our guests are Americans. He requests the American passports and ignores me. We are allowed to pass through and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Now we’re back in Greater Jerusalem. Fred is going to show us parts of Arab East Jerusalem, how the separation wall has split neighborhoods (in what looks like a strategic way of making life so untenable that residents will leave), and also some of the new Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem built on expropriated Arab areas. He takes us to the checkpoint where Palestinians can go from Jerusalem (annexed as part of Israel) to Ramallah. What used to be a twenty minute drive now takes a couple of hours due to checkpoint delays. There are now over 400 checkpoints in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. There are also a network of Jewish-only, Palestinian-only (not as nice), and mixed roads. Also the rules seem to be constantly changing. We are also taken to an area where a mixed road is being converted to a Jewish-only road with the construction of a Palestinian-only road right next to in, but on the other side of the separation wall. All seems to be designed to make life even more unbearable for Arabs (all in the name of security). The Israelis cite the fact that suicide bombings have all but stopped since the building of the various separation walls. Of course, Israeli press makes no mention of a Hamas moratorium on attacks about a year ago. I guess it depends on your political leanings, how this is viewed. We are also taking to Ma’ale Adomim, one of the first of the suburbs of Jerusalem built in occupied lands. It is a beautiful, modern suburb, complete with shopping centers, swimming pool and other amenities.
It was a great day. Although I learned a lot, I was already aware of much of this. The main import was in seeing it with my own eyes, something that was difficult on many levels. Regretfully the vast majority of Israelis have a much different view of the situation and political discussions with them is impossible, so I am careful. Even when I mentioned my plans to my old friend Avi (both he and his brother were seriously injured in 1973), he got quite upset and I dropped it. I’m meeting him tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. I also need to mention that there are at least two sides to the conflict and I was given a very biased description from the Palestinian side. It needs to be put into perspective. But it is clear that Israel is continually violating human rights. The average Palestinian, just trying to get by and provide for family, is suffering a great deal.
Throughout the day, I asked each of our three guides what they thought a workable solution was. Each gave the same view. At one point, they all favored a two-state option. In its current iteration, given the shrinking and cutting up of the Palestinian sections, this is now no longer an option. In addition all acknowledged the curruption and ineptitude of the Palestinian Authority in its ability to govern. The only solution, which I heard from a Jew, a Christian Arab, and a Muslim Arab, is one state. They all contend that Israel, as a Jewish state, is not really a democracy (equal rights for all residents). Israel needs to be converted to a true democracy which will extend its borders to the Jordan River. There needs to be a period of “forgiveness and forgetting”. The model is similar to South Africa, but also different. It is closer to the 200 year history of the United States and its conflict with civil rights and democracy. 200 years ago the founding father gave rights to white, land holding men. It has taken 200 years to include all factions of our population (including women and minorities) and we are still struggling with inequities in our system. So Israel needs to begin its own process of equality. It seems to me that it fits the Judaic teachings as I understand them.
Jerusalem – Day 1
September 2, 2008 at 2:21 pm | In Jeusalem | Leave a Comment
Getting to Jerusalem was a snap. I hopped on the number 3 bus from my corner and it wound down the hills of Haifa to the new bus station next to the new train station. I bought a round-trip ticket on the direct bus to Jerusalem which leaves every half hour or so. I had been warned not to get there too early, as the buses would be crammed with soldiers returning from weekend leave. By 10 AM there were still a lot of soldiers, but I did my best to push my way into what served as a queue onto the bus. The bus left and headed down the main road to Tel Aviv. It then veered off onto the new highway that cuts through parts of the disputed West Bank area (all of which is classified as Zones A, B, or C). This four lane highway is a “Jews only” highway (more in the next segment) and cuts through to rejoin the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway further on. Within an hour and a half I felt us ascending the winding hills towards Jerusalem. I really could sense something, and without warning started to feel quite emotional and tearful, perhaps from my history there or perhaps from my people’s.
The entrance to Jerusalem and the central bus station were totally unrecognizable. When we finally got through the traffic jam to the bus station, we descended into chaos, retrieved our bags from under the bus, and pushed our way through the security checkpoint to enter the station. This took quite a while. The central station has a little mini-shopping mall in it. I got out of there as quickly as possible and walked across Jaffa Road to find the bus stop to get downtown. The bus took about 30 minutes to arrive and then wound through various detours to get to Kikar Tzion where my hotel was located. Jaffa Road is a total mess, as it is being torn up for the installation of a light rail system through the center of the city.
My hotel, the Jerusalem Hostel, was certainly “modest”. The guide book did it justice – great location if you aren’t going to be spending a lot of time in your room! The single room was quite small, a bit dingy, but a very clean bathroom and good ventilation. There was also a very comfortable chair for reading and working, a comfortable bed, and a small TV. And it is easy walking distance to the old city, market, and other places, including the new pedestrian shopping mall that was once Ben Yehuda Street.
After settling in, I let my feet decide to take me down to the old city. It was hot and I was a bit tired, but thought it would be a good orientation. On the way I passed the Bank Leumi building where I worked for many years. As Avi had told me, the bank had sold the building and was planning to move to more modern digs outside the city center next month. The ground floor where I had worked is now closed, but I was able to look at it through the locked glass doors. The place had not changed a bit!
I entered the Jaffa Gate into the old city and proceeded down the main commercial area in the Muslim Quarter, turning left into the Christian Quarter. Then I headed for the Damascus Gate. I was immediately overcome by the mass of people, so cut down a small street headed to the Wall. Surprisingly everything looked quite familiar to me. All the shops looked the same, as did all the goods for sale. There didn’t seem to be many foreign tourists around, mostly locals and occasionally Israelis behaving like tourists. Of course, when I told people in Haifa that I was going to Jerusalem, they all warned me to stay out of the old city as it was “dangerous”. Was this fear of Arabs justified or not? I certainly wanted to find out. The Israeli military – army, police, and border police – are all over the place, decked out in heavy vests, rifles and batons at the ready. I keep myself focused and aware of my surroundings and did not sense any feelings of danger, tension, or animosity. But it certainly was not as friendly as I remember it long ago.
The entrance to the area of the Western Wall has certainly changed. First, very intense security to get it – X-ray machines, lots of uniforms, etc. The area leading to the Wall has been totally renovated and modernized. Of course the Wall hasn’t changed, nor the scene as one approaches it. To the immediate left of the wall, the tunnel that was first opened up while I was there has now been transformed into a very nice cavern/sanctuary full of men praying. I went it and just sat there for quite some time.
By then I was tired, so headed back to my hotel. I realized that I hadn’t eaten yet today (in the heat it’s easy to forget). I passed an Ethiopian restuarant at the beginning of Jaffa Road and went it. Since it was only 5 PM, I was the only one there. I ordered a vegetarian dish and enjoyed scooping up the lentils and yellow peas in the sour, spongy ingira bread, a welcome change from my regular diet of humos and felafel (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).
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