On Christmas we traveled to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Left early on the 24th to cross the border from the King Hussein bridge. Which is the only border where you have a chance to gross to Palestine without getting the Israel stamp in your passport.
Once you have this stamp in your passport, no other middle eastern country will allow you in. In middle east Israel is not accepted as a country. There is one country, Palestine.
The border grossing was long, but safe. Lot of check points and explaining to the Israel military girls (Only young girls with big guns as military) why you don’t want the stamp in your passport.
We arrived in Jerusalem during noon. The city amazed us with the greenness and level of development from the first sight. The main attraction is the old city of Jerusalem. A small area surrounded by big ancient walls and filled with different religious places. The old down is divided to 4 parts:
1. The Jewish quarter. Where is the famous Western wall:
2. Armenian quarter. Closed quarter, where no one is allowed in and there are about 2000 Armenians living behind the closed walls.
3. Christian quarter. With lot of churches and with the main church where Jesus was crucified.
4. Moslem part. With the main mosque, that is the next biggest religious spot for Moslems out of Saudi Arabia.
The whole old city just felt like a fairyland. Just like walking in a movie with full of culture and feeling like every corner or a wall would have a story to tell. It s a city where you would just want to spend weeks to explore around. Eat in the small cafeterias, walk around the narrow streets, climb the roof tops and enjoy the spirituality in the air.
The next day we went to Bethlehem. Which also meant grossing the border to West bank, the Palestinian territory. Surprisingly the border crossing was very smooth. And as we heard afterwards, the security was lowered for Christmas.
We took a long walk into the city center following the wall separating West bank from the rest of the country:
We visited the church were Jesus was born:
And we attended the mass at the Sheppard’s field. The field were the first star was seen.
So that the run down of the tourist side. Apart from that this trip did have a deeper meaning as well. Most of the people living in Amman are originally from Palestine. They have actually never been there, but where you are from depends on where your father was from. Most of the current Palestinians living in Jordan are not allowed to enter the territory. So when ever you would tell your workmates or friends that you are going to Jerusalem, they would get excited, that you are going to their home land and then sad that they cant go them selves.
It makes you appreciate your privilege and also feel a bit awkward of why you have it. Feels like you are like an ambassador to see as much as possible to bring back as much as possible.
Also interestingly, two days after our visit, Israel attacked the west bank, killing 3 people. Which is the biggest attack after the Gaza war last year. Makes you wonder, if there are any links between the two decisions: Low security during Christmas, when the most western tourists visit the country. So it actually seems like everything is very peaceful. And a planned attack 2 days after Christmas, when the air is clean from the tourists?
Left early on the 24th to cross the border from the King Hussein bridge. Which is the only border where you have a chance to gross to Palestine without getting the Israel stamp in your passport.
Once you have this stamp in your passport, no other middle eastern country will allow you in. In middle east Israel is not accepted as a country. There is one country, Palestine.
The border grossing was long, but safe. Lot of check points and explaining to the Israel military girls (Only young girls with big guns as military) why you don’t want the stamp in your passport.
We arrived in Jerusalem during noon. The city amazed us with the greenness and level of development from the first sight. The main attraction is the old city of Jerusalem. A small area surrounded by big ancient walls and filled with different religious places. The old down is divided to 4 parts:
1. The Jewish quarter. Where is the famous Western wall:
2. Armenian quarter. Closed quarter, where no one is allowed in and there are about 2000 Armenians living behind the closed walls.
3. Christian quarter. With lot of churches and with the main church where Jesus was crucified.
4. Moslem part. With the main mosque, that is the next biggest religious spot for Moslems out of Saudi Arabia.
The whole old city just felt like a fairyland. Just like walking in a movie with full of culture and feeling like every corner or a wall would have a story to tell. It s a city where you would just want to spend weeks to explore around. Eat in the small cafeterias, walk around the narrow streets, climb the roof tops and enjoy the spirituality in the air.
The next day we went to Bethlehem. Which also meant grossing the border to West bank, the Palestinian territory. Surprisingly the border crossing was very smooth. And as we heard afterwards, the security was lowered for Christmas.
We took a long walk into the city center following the wall separating West bank from the rest of the country:
We visited the church were Jesus was born:
And we attended the mass at the Sheppard’s field. The field were the first star was seen.
So that the run down of the tourist side. Apart from that this trip did have a deeper meaning as well. Most of the people living in Amman are originally from Palestine. They have actually never been there, but where you are from depends on where your father was from. Most of the current Palestinians living in Jordan are not allowed to enter the territory. So when ever you would tell your workmates or friends that you are going to Jerusalem, they would get excited, that you are going to their home land and then sad that they cant go them selves.
It makes you appreciate your privilege and also feel a bit awkward of why you have it. Feels like you are like an ambassador to see as much as possible to bring back as much as possible.
Also interestingly, two days after our visit, Israel attacked the west bank, killing 3 people. Which is the biggest attack after the Gaza war last year. Makes you wonder, if there are any links between the two decisions: Low security during Christmas, when the most western tourists visit the country. So it actually seems like everything is very peaceful. And a planned attack 2 days after Christmas, when the air is clean from the tourists?
No comments:
Post a Comment