First Steps in the West Bank are Baby Ones...Bethlehem and Rachel's Tomb

Day 4/4 Family Weekend #2

While I said my goodbyes to Mom Saturday evening, Dad was still up for adventure, so we looked up a tour and headed Sunday to the checkpoint for access to the West Bank territories, to visit Bethlehem. We required our visas for entrance, and walked along the walls filled with graffiti in many languages, protesting the Israeli occupation. The pictures and video speak for themselves, but that was really the more impacting part of the day.

The whole affair of the day was rather disappointing, since our tour guide did not speak the best English and he didn't speak so much in general, all our stops were delayed without notice, and we didn't even visit one place on the itinerary, the Shepherd's Field, because it was Sunday. That's understandable, but we were told this on the way back to the wall.

We first went to the Milk Grotto,



then the Church of the Nativity, where Jesus was born, as well as where services are televised every year for Christmas,



and then we went to a wild gift shop with gifts of every kind and free شاي أخضر (green tea). In honor of the occasion of my visit, I include here a special performance I did with my friend DBC at the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Ceneter in Allentown, for Christmas.



On the way back, Dad insisted on visiting Rachel's Tomb, located in the West Bank but accessible from the Israeli side. There wasn't much to see there, but I tried.



Overall, I felt like I was really in a Middle Eastern country in the West Bank. There was no Hebrew, Bethlehem had narrower winding than even Jerusalem. Unfortunately though, the other marker was the older taxis, and lower scale buildings. There's a seperate road from Jerusalem that goes to the Jewish Settlements in the West Bank, and the cab driver explained to Dad and I how difficult it is to get around. Even on our way back, an Arab Doctor from Hebron had to go through the equivalent of Customs to get through to ٲل-قدس (Jerusalem), while tourists can just wave their passports and go through. There was of course no security by the PA at the checkpoint.

This concluded four days of heavy traveling and touring, and I guess you can see by the brevity of my accounts that I'm absolutely exhausted. I have midterms week this week and then two weeks off for Passover where I'll be starting a four day hike in the Galilee on Friday, and then visiting Greece. But as far as 40 winks go, they only come during the day because I'm conviced I have giant papillary conjunctivitis again...