Wandering Palestine Part 1: Jericho

The first thing to I want to say about staying here in the West Bank is that Palestinians are lovely people.

Sure, there are those who want to take advantage of tourists, and a lot of the young boys who hang out on the streets can have a serious attitude problem, but they are the minority.

Arab hospitality gets all the credit that its reputation deserves. Whether by Christians or Muslims, I’ve been welcomed like family when I’ve stayed and sat with people.

The second thing that I want to address is a popular quote by Mark Twain. His famous quote about the Holy Land comes from a book called “Innocents Abroad”, in which he describes the land as follows:

“ ....A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent mournful expanse.... a desolation.... we never saw a human being on the whole route.... hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."

The reborn nation of Israel has certainly done a lot to make the land grow, but even in the parts that they don’t control the land doesn’t all fit Mark Twain’s description. Simply riding the bus from Tiberius to Jericho I was astounded at how green the countryside was. In Jericho itself the land is filled with palm trees, bananas, oranges, and all sorts of greenery. And as for the country being empty, this also doesn’t fit with history. Reading the statistics of people and the villages inhabited here around the turn of the 20th century makes me wonder just how much of the land he saw when he penned his writings. Did he pass through villages? Was he here in the summer when the land is dry or in the winter? Christians in Taybeh claim they have family records showing their lives here for up to 600 years, and even though the land has a lot of rocks and desert, much of it is gorgeous and a pleasure to explore.

That being said, we in the west have a view of Palestinians (and this land) as being harsh and difficult (which is just as true as it is untrue). So as I exited the bus and looked around to find a ride into Jericho (Israeli buses aren’t allowed in Palestinian controlled towns) I had my guard up and my expectations low.

Driving in to the city didn’t fill me with excitement either. The unfortunate truth about Jericho is that the city is poor and trash is everywhere. The stretch of highway leading into the city doesn’t look welcoming, as many of the buildings are in great need of repair. It’s a stark contrast from the wealthy neighbourhoods in Israel. (I later learned that we were driving past a refugee camp.) Walking some of these streets feels like walking through a third world country, yet on the other hand some of the houses are nice and new. It’s ....interesting.

On my first adventure around the city I got lost, and google maps led me straight down a path that turned into a police area. The police were just as confused as me as to why I was there, but I explained where I was going and one of them decided to walk me to my destination (which was only 5 mins away). That destination was Hisham’s palace, a place built by Caliph Hisham bin Abd el-Malik around 730 A.D.

The palace was cool, and the very large, but I wasn’t able to see the really impressive mosaic floor as it was under renovation. But the place was still cool to walk around, and it was good to snap a shot of one of the signature pictures associated with Israel travel guides that you’ll see below.

When I came back to the hostel the guy who owns and runs the operation was there (he only shows up once or twice a week) and I got to chat with him a little bit. He was born in Jerusalem, which means that he has a blue ID which allows him to travel in and out of the country with greater ease than Palestinians born in the rest of the West Bank. Arabs born in Jerusalem have the option to reside in Israel, become citizens, and avoid being issued Palestinian passports, but many refuse citizenship and an Israeli passport because they see it as an acceptance of occupation. 

As a result of having no passport, but being counted as an Israeli citizen, he’s not allowed to live in the West Bank without losing his blue ID. So even though he is free to travel across the seperation wall, if he is found to be a resident of Palestine his travel privileges will be revoked and he will be classified as a Palestinian citizen, thus being issued a green ID. So he and his family exist in a sort of grey area. However, his wife is Italian, so that at least promises more opportunities for their children.

Like most people in Jericho he was raised Muslim, but like many Muslims he keeps away from religion and focuses instead on politics. I found this to be a parallel to a lot of the people I had met in Israel. It seems that he, like many people all over the world, have grown to distrust religious institutions and see their role in the world as only to hold power and control people’s lives. I think we can all understand the distrust of religious leaders. I mean, even Jesus called out the religious leaders of his day. But a quick point for you to remember, dear reader, is that this phenomenon isn’t unique to the religious world. 

Power draws corruption.

Anyway, because of his distrust he expressed his suspicion of any mission or group coming to help out in Palestine. “Who’s giving them money?” he asked, “What are they actually trying to accomplish?”

He told me about a mission that existed here a number of years ago. The woman who ran the mission didn’t do well to make peace with the local people, but had a real fire in her heart to save souls. Her ministry used to be right across the street from our hostel, and started off well enough, but she was too aggressive in her tactics. She aggravated the locals to the point that they torched her church, her car, and in the Jerusalem branch of her mission they would even assault her staff and volunteers.

He mentioned another mission called Seeds of Hope. This evangelical mission in Jericho has a better relationship with the community, and he even said he would consider sending his kids to some of their programs when they’re older, but he was clear about his suspicions to their political aims as well.

I was intrigued. 

I needed to pay them a visit.

The organization was started by a man named Tass Saida. I recommend looking this guy up. He’s written a couple of books titled “Once An Arafat Man” and “Mind of Terror”. He was born in Gaza, and has a heart for his people. Kind of makes sense why he knows how to keep good relationships with his neighbours, eh?

Tass wasn’t there for me to speak with, but I did get to talk with the other co-founder of the organization. This was one of those meetings that I came to this country to have; to speak with a Christian Palestinian who doesn’t hate Israel, but has a real life view of what it means to live in the West Bank. He was very gracious in his understanding of how the evangelical church in the West views Palestinians. He understands why people are very pro-Israel and see Palestinians as terrorists, and doesn’t blame them because he knows what kind of news and stories we’re delivered. What he laments is that few come to see this half of the land for themselves. If you are a Christian and reading this, remember that the believers here are our brothers and sisters. We must not let the weight of that escape us.

I asked him about the prophecy of Ezekiel where God says that he will bring his people back to their land, and raise up “the valley of dry bones” (Ezekiel 36 and 37 if you want to read the passage and wrestle with it for yourself). The critique that he and Tass hold against Israel is that if this is the fulfillment of that prophecy, why do they not also have the law of God in their hearts, and heed His word to honour the covenants (agreements) that they made? Why do they not treat their neighbors as themselves? To be clear, this man is not anti-Israel. He longs for the day when they heed the words of the Torah and treat their neighbors fairly.

As I mentioned, many people in Israel are more political than religious, as with people here in Palestine. It’s hard for a political minded person to see spiritual things and not suspect politics at play. The evangelicals here in Jericho actually meet with Messianic Jews for praise, worship, and fellowship, but they have to be careful and somewhat secretive about it because their neighbors won’t understand. They will only see them meeting with Jews, and accuse them of being traitors.

Feel free to look up Seeds of Hope. Maybe you’ll be compelled to come and visit too.

Let’s move on to lighter things!

I went for a dangerous hike up the mount of temptation with a group of Muslims that all volunteer for the Red Crescent (Islamic nations branch of the Red Cross).

These guys were all awesome. Really, Palestinians get a bad rap. And I can safely say that all the people I spent time with in Jericho made no issue with my faith, and were very happy to treat me as guest of honour.

On top of the mountain you can see a wall. That was our destination! We hiked up past the monastery (which has a cable car system that runs to it), passed the restaurants that are half way up the mount, then hopped over a fence and got ourselves onto some really thin, sketchy paths. I’m not scared of heights, but some of these points were a little bit out of my comfort zone. That being as it is, I was surrounded by young women and even younger guys, so, no point being a chicken about it!

In the two photos immediately above you can see the top of the monastery, and above that you may notice some poles that are part of an Israeli army base. One of the young guys I was with was not too happy about the  base being right there, and said it was dangerous for palestinians to get too close to it.

But we made it to the top, and walked in to an old Byzantine structure. Some people told me it was a lookout point and fortress, others told me it was a church. As far as I can tell (via Wikipedia) it was built by the crusaders, although there had been previous structures there during the times of the Maccabees.

Below you can see a cross in the middle of the building, which makes sense for a crusader fort. I wasn’t able to climb high enough to get a solid picture, but you can see the outline of the top of the cross in the stonework.

We hung out a little bit, and while lunch was being cooked we played games and danced in silly ways. They were all quite entertained by me being there, and I enjoyed myself immensely. 

Once lunch was ready, we all sat down to eat. But what you need to see is what we used for chairs and tables!

After being on the Israeli side where all acheological sites are well manicured and column heads like these are upright and sometimes behind a fence, to sit on them with little or no regard to their significance was out of this world. 

There’s also a big difference in the way that trash is dealt with here. The culture doesn’t have a stigma against littering. It’s distressing. Even up in the fort where we had our lunch there was a pit constructed by the crusaders, which now serves as a massive trash can.

While we sat to eat our lunch a number of Israelis showed up. They came into the fort wearing their army sized guns (the really big ones that are half the length of a man) as well as their holstered pistols. None of them were in military fatigues, but rather it looked as though two of them were leading the others on a tour. There were no hostilities, but the atmosphere changed. 

I found myself very much sitting on the other side from where I have been for the last few months, eating happily with a group of Palestinians when armed Israelis show up. Our group leader spoke Hebrew, and chatted a little bit with them. As they were running around taking pictures our group leader offered them some of our food. Most declined, but one came up to us and accepted a piece of bread with sauce and asked if he could take a picture. Maybe two of our group said “no”, but he posed for the picture anyway. I could tell that my group weren’t so happy, but our leader had made the invitation. 

As the Israeli took his picture he laughed and (in Hebrew) said “I’m like a Bedouin! Ha ha!” 

This was definitely not the most tactful or sensitive thing he could’ve said. My group was not impressed. One of us said “not Bedouin. Like a Palestinian!”

It wasn’t tense though. Just a bit uncomfortable. But they moved on and things became more normal. Just to illustrate the emotions a little more, I can tell you that the mature people in our group were not bothered and very relaxed about it, but one or two of the young guys were muttering curses under their breaths. 

Underneath the mountain is the old city. Actually, it’s an ancient city. They have dug up several different layers of civilization there, but unfortunately the plaques and signposts in the site itself were mostly empty. After being in Israel where ruins are well manicured and taken care of, it’s a bummer to see the state of the sites here in Jericho. I told this to one of the guys working at the hostel afterwards, and he lamented it, saying “It’s terrible man. They (the Israelis) care more about our land than we do.” 

The study of the ancient city in Jericho is WAY beyond the scope of this blog. Feel free to click on the link below for a critical examination of the current understanding regarding whether or not Joshua and the Israelites actually conquered this city. 

Bible Archeology - Did the Israelites really destroy Jericho?

But of course I went to go walk around the ancient city, and have attached for you a little video. It may not be so informative, and that’s partly because the site itself was seriously lacking in literature or explanation. It’s a shame..

I will share one more video with you. This one takes place in an area called Wadi Qelt. As you may know, a wadi is a riverbed that is sometimes dry, but fills up during the winter rains, sometimes flash flooding. This is a hike that I highly recommend if you come to visit this land. If not...then enjoy the video! And maybe it’ll make you wonder about Mark Twain’s comments as well.