The West Bank, Palestine

Before hopping the bus to Tel Aviv, we made our way to the entry checkpoint into the West Bank, with the intention of visiting the towns of Bethlehem and Hebron.



I think, for me, the most surreal/profound/moving part of the whole trip so far was when we rounded a corner in the mini-bus and the infamous Israeli "Security Fence" came into view. This is a 20 ft high concrete wall separating Israel from the Palestinian Territories. I believe it stretches some 700+ km around the West Bank. Construction of this wall began after the commencement of the Second Intifada in 2000, in order to stop the almost-daily infiltration of Palestinian suicide bombers into Jerusalem. It's a terrible shame that this wall even exists.... but let's not get political now. Suffice to say that seeing the wall in person generated many strong and mixed emotions within me.



This is part of the elaborate system of long, enclosed corridors and secured areas one must pass through in order to travel to/from the West Bank. The security was much tighter than that of most international airports.



Here is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem.... with the DomTron bending over to give it a rub. Moments later, he burst into a hellish, scorching fireball and died soon thereafter. Such dirty, heathenous infidels are not meant to go near sites of such divine holiness.

After visiting the Church of the Nativity, we went to the Milk Grotto Church. The story here is that after giving birth to Jesus, the Virgin Mary nursed him in the Grotto, and a few drops of her breast milk spilled to the ground and turned all the stone white and caused other miracles too. It's all quite erotic, really. (Too soon??)

After Bethlehem, we hopped in a shared taxi to the West Bank town of Hebron. This town has long been a major hot-spot and flashpoint in the Arab-Israeli conflict. You could definitely feel some tension in the air. Above is a picture of an Israeli security checkpoint and blockade separating Hebron from the Jewish settlement next door. One of the reasons for our visit to Hebron was to see the burial site of Abraham (of biblical fame) at the Ibrahimi Mosque... but because it was a Jewish holiday, the Israelis had closed off access to the area where the mosque is located, and we could not get in there from the Palestinian side.

One of the dusty and deserted streets of Hebron.