Our Last Country!

We have completed our final border crossing and are in Egypt! We spent just under a week in Israel, and probably couldn't have afforded to spend much more. It is by far the most expensive place we've visited, and the value is quite low for what you pay. We started out in Jerusalem and were able to stay within the walls of the Old City in a lively part of town. We spent a few days seeing some of the holy sights for Christians, Jews, and Muslims, including the Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, the places they think Jesus may have been killed, the Mount of Olives, and some beautiful churches. We also saw a few cemeteries, including Oskar Schindler's grave. It was fascinating to see how the different religions interacted (or clashed) through the city, each having its own section.

We happened to be there on the day of Shavuot, a Jewish holiday celebrating the day God gave the Torah to the Israelites. We went to the Wailing Wall that evening and the whole area was packed with Jewish men (and some women) in traditional dress singing, dancing, and praying at the wall. It was amazing to see!! We took a lot of pictures that are posted, and a video that we will try to post at some point. Our last stop in Jerusalem was Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. As you can imagine it was very thorough and an excellent exhibit--we spent 5 hours there and could have spent more! It included multiple memorials including a unique and haunting children's memorial, and also had a comprehensive history museum about the Holocaust. It was certainly interesting to see it from the Jewish perspective as opposed to an outside view...there were a few subtle differences.

After Jerusalem we rented a car for 3 days to see the rest of Israel. We drove north and spent a night at the Sea of Galilee, then drove through the Golan Heights and saw the borders with Syria and Lebanon. We also drove through Nazareth, which is actually the largest Muslim city in Israel. The Golan Heights was a beautiful area, but we could definitely see remnants of wars there, including bombed out buildings and large areas with warnings of land mines. We also drove to Tel Aviv which was quite different from the rest of Israel. Renting the car helped save us money because we slept in it for a few nights, but gas was $9/gallon! I suppose that's what happens when you are surrounded by countries full of oil that don't like you. We ended our time in Israel by driving all the way south to the Egyptian border at Eilat. We could actually see Aqaba in Jordan from where we were, and we had been there a few weeks ago. The two sides are very different!

The day before we entered Israel, Noam Chomsky was denied entry at the border we went through. When we were there we actually got to see an interview with him on an Israeli newsstation, and it was fascinating. It gave a bit of insight into the Israeli mindset and why they have been unable to achieve peace in the region. The reporter interviewing him was a young and passionate woman who asked Chomsky why he put Israel and Palestine at the top of his agenda when there are worse human rights violations occuring in Darfur and Afghanistan. She actually asked him where Israel ranked with those, and which country was worse. I couldn't believe she even put Israel in the same field as those! Clearly if that's the case Israel needs to step back and look at what they're doing to the Palestinians. She mentioned Israeli security many times which is a big concern, but it just seems so obvious that by reconciling with the Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, their security would improve tremendously. We heard that talks are supposed to being again in July...I'm skeptical based on the slow progress made over the last 60 years, but perhaps these will at least lead to and end of violations of the Palestinian's rights. It will also be interesting to see what direction the US takes in its involvement in the situation, and whether we will continue to support and fund the Israelis as heavily as we are now.

So now we are in Egypt! We had planned to head straight to Cairo, but got side tracked at the beach in the Sinai peninsula. We are staying at a lovely hotel with a loft that is right on the beach. We considered staying today as well, but unfortunately need to get moving. We are catching the late bus to Cairo and will spend the end of our trip exploring Egyptian ruins at Abu Simbel, Luxor, and Cairo. And in 10 days we will be home! We are both a bit sad the trip is ending, but so excited to get home! We have talked about how much we appreciate the U.S. and that even though there are many things we disagree with, we wouldn't want to be from anywhere else! There's my "I love America" statement in honor of Memorial Day :) Check out the Israel pictures in the link on the right, and we'll try to update again before heading home!