Looking ahead to this great adventure, the trip I am making in May 2013, here are some thoughts that begin already to bubble up from the pre-travel conversations, thoughts, emails being sent to me etc.
How am I able to keep the tour 'pure'? I can't! It cannot be about the holy ancient sites without also being about the people politics tensions chaos beauty of today. Just today I read about the bus to/from Jericho, and people's aspirations that we get to visit Ramallah...
On the video below, here is a look, many looks (at the Land and mostly Jewish men, no women or Palestinians that I noticed), while hearing the national anthem. So many breathtaking landscapes await us.
Hatikvah
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The next installment of the back and forth -- whether and how to visit Ramallah.
ReplyDeleteRAMALLAH is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority. With a population of nearly 27,092 Ramallah was historically a Christian town, but today Muslims form the majority of the population, with Christians still making up a significant minority.
The meaning of the city's name is quite poetic:
“Ram,” an Aramaic word that means “high place or mountain” and “Allah,” the Arabic word for God. (literally "Height of God")
JERUSALEM - Out of Darkness Comes Light
ReplyDeletehttp://vimeo.com/7438825
Song by Matisyahu, 2006
Chorus is from Psalm 137:5 (and follows 'By the rivers of Babylon...'. He sings it as:
Jerusalem, if I forget you
Fire not gonna come from me tongue
Jerusalem, if I forget you
Let my right hand forget what it’s supposed to do
Meanwhile, here are the parallel translations from many editions of the Bible:
http://bible.cc/psalms/137-5.htm
Quote from an email exchange between travellers in our group earlier this week: "To visit Ariel University, take bus 148 from Jerusalem Central Bus station. In the northern West Bank/Samaria, the journey time is approx 1:40."
ReplyDeleteCan I imagine being on a bus for an hour and forty minutes and arriving in the West Bank? No, I can barely countenance being in the country, the Holy City... this is getting to be mind-boggling.
Musings from my brother Ken:
ReplyDeleteWho knows when the spirit might speak? at the Wall? at the Dome of the Rock? the Church of Mary Magdalene? Or it might be the smell of coffee coming up from the street as you nap some afternoon, or the smell of salt coming off the Dead Sea.
Main thing is to be as open as your heart and soul can bear.