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| Talk,
Thomas Garland,
15 January 1999 | |
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I entered Israel from the Sinai at Eilat having just attempted to enjoy a sunrise from the summit of Mount Sinai in the company of too many young American Christians. Having got my passport stamped at the border, I could now forget about travelling around most of the rest of the Middle East, so I hoped Israel would be worth the inconvenience. That's much to expect from a nation no bigger than Belgium, however with it's unique mix of conflicting religions, Israel, Palestine, the Holy Land or what ever you want to call it, pulls it off. At this point I should warn you that I will attempt to avoid making any more references to any religious-political issues, I haven't got the space and I don't want to die.
The "Egged" buses get you around everywhere and so I boarded one for Jerusalem and stopped off for a swim in the Dead Sea, along with a coach party of teens heading for the beach with their towels and M16s. Get used to this, loaded rifles on crowded public transport and in busy night clubs make some people a little nervous, but it is comforting to know that any knife wielding maniac isn't going to get very far. As a result of these guns you can't Ignore Israel's precarious position in the Middle East, but its peculiar state of siege is all part of its charm, let me remind you that an Uzi looks good on a pretty girl in uniform. As for the water, it does make you float, but it feels like warm paraffin and tastes even worse. Cuts will sting like hell, but at least you'll never get sunburnt there, so I'm told.
Do not miss Jerusalem, now I'm not one for religion, but when you've got three of the biggest and three and a half thousand years of fighting packed into one tiny little space like Jerusalem's old city, it does get quite interesting. After a couple of days of walking the covered suqs you'll still be loosing yourself, stumbling upon some little corner shop where Jesus used to buy his Sunday papers or the spot where he was then crucified. Up the road in Bethlehem you can take pictures of the X that marks the spot where he was born, before buying the crown of thorns from one of the many shops around the corner.
Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city, has none of these charms, it's more of an experiment in concrete that has resulted in some good art deco, so I headed further north to the ancient port of Akko, then to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee where I got stuck for Yom Kippur. Beware of Yom Kippur, everything closes down for a couple of days, no traffic or TV, no shops or restaurants, so find yourself a nice spot and stock up with food and don’t worry if little old ladies tell you off for not being at Synagogues. There's plenty more to see, but I had run out of time, so I returned to Egypt, its bad roads reminding me just how westernised Israel has become, lets face it, it never misses a Eurovision song contest.
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