SOLIDARITY NETWORK
By Megan Corro
The morning began bright and early at 6:30 a.m., the earliest we had to wake during our trip. We would be traveling across the Golan Heights and along the Jordan border and visiting Nazareth. Not used to such an early morning, everyone woke up groggily. Our usual bountiful breakfast consisted of humus, pita bread, meats, cheeses, yogurt, fruit and cereal. At 7:30 a.m., we were piled into the minivan and began our last trip.
After roughly half an hour at the checkpoint, we finally were allowed to pass and continued on our way. We passed groves of palm trees, rolling hills, majestic mountains, and a variety of other breaktaking sights that made for a very scenic drive. We could see the city of Jericho with its fields full of lush green agriculture. We passed by Gan Hashelosha, a beautiful nature park full of animals with a sign indicating there were also kangaroos, though several in the group did not think it likely. Unfortunately, we were not able to enter because the park itself required an entrance fee, and we wanted to just take a
We passed a prison that held roughly 8,000 Palestinians and was used solely for warehousing Palestinians. Israeli prisoners are kept in separate prisons than the Palestinians. We also passed by an Israeli prison which was obviously of better quality than its Palestinian counterpart. We approached the border of Jordan and observed the highly guarded electrical fence with military posts at intermittent points along the border. We also passed by an Israeli settlement called Beit Hashina where Yahya, one of our Palestinian companions, said the Israeli settlement radio encourages hostility towards Arabs.
We drove along listening to Arabic music, and eventually everyone was quite jovial, despite what we had seen; some of us even began to dance. Yahya and Nabil played the flute while the rest of the group clapped and cheered them on. A microphone in the vehicle was it hooked up to the speakers. It was passed around and commentary was made as we performed informal karaoke. Overall it was good, fun entertainment and provided us with a chance to relax a little and experience a bit of Arabic culture.
We eventually arrived at Nazareth and stopped at the Church of the Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel announced that Mary would give birth to a son, Jesus. There were many shops in Nazareth and an Arab market-
place where we were able to do the majority of our shopping. It seemed that tourism was bigger in Nazareth than it had been in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, most likely due to the lack of incursions by the Israeli military. After we shopped, we drove to a lookout point and were able to get a great panoramic view of Nazareth. We took a picture with the city in the background with the guys holding up Shamir horizontally for a candid photo. We then piled back into the minivan to continue our journey. As we drove, we saw the Sea of Galilee out the window and, personally, I think it is the most beautiful body of water in Palestine. Although while in Palestine we were able to see different bodies of water, all beautiful, I found the Sea of Galilee to be amazing. The way the water shimmers blue against the beautiful background of the mountains was one of the most beautiful sites along our whole journey.
We stopped next at the Jordan River, a holy site well-known to all of us due to its historical and religious significance. We were all excited to be able to get out of the minibus and get closer to the water by going underneath an old wooden bridge that was no longer used by vehicles. We took photos as a group, and some of us even gathered the water in bottles to take home with us. Once we had paused for a few moments of reflection and pictures, we drove alongside the Sea of Galilee and saw historical churches and holy sites, none of which are accessible to Palestinian Muslims or Christians. As we continued our trek through the area, we came upon Syria's occupied territories. People in these villages are unidentified peoples who have no formal citizenship; they are under the military rule of Israel but are accepted neither as Israeli citizens nor Syrian citizens. We stopped to look at some homes that had been bulldozed and a mosque that had been destroyed with Hebrew graffiti sprawled on its sides. Right across from the destroyed mosque was a sign warning of the danger of crossing the area because it was an IDF training ground and, subsequently, a military zone. We were also told there were likely land mines throughout the area, as well.
A bit further up the road, we stopped at a peak that provided a breataking view of the entire countryside. A Syrian man nearby was selling beads, cherries, nuts and various other items. In the distance, we could see an old Syrian military post that was no longer in use since it was within the occupied territory. Above and behind us was an active Israeli military base that had a constant military presence. As we prepared to leave the viewpoint, an Israeli tourist bus pulled up alongside us, and we all wondered to ourselves whether or not Israelis were aware of the situation of the Syrians in the land and of the complications faced due to the constant Israeli presence.
We drove to a small tourist stop facing Rom Pool, used by the Syrians to irrigating the cherry and apples crops for which the area is famous. We bought more cherries, conversed with Jewish visitors and found that many of them were from either the Tallahassee or Gainesville area, where most of us go to school. We left to find a suitable place for lunch and stopped in Tiberus, where we had falafel and chicken shawarma, both of which were very tasteful. After basically inhaling our food, we stopped for a rest along the edge of the Sea of Galilees. There, we were able to reflect and rest for a moment before getting back in the minibus for our four-hour ride back to Ramallah.
The ride back to Ramallah was peaceful and beautiful. While some of us used this time to take a much-needed nap, the rest of us took solace in watching our last sunset in Palestine. It was a sad yet wonderful time as we drove through the gorgeous mountains, greenery, fields and deserts. Once we arrived to the hotel, it was a rush to finish up any last-minute tasks. Some of us went into Ramallah to buy a couple of gifts, while others caught some rest or packed. Within the next couple of hours, we were downstairs for dinner, packed and ready to say our goodbyes. Saying goodbye to Nabil, Fuad, Said, Yahya, Manaf and Fadi was an extremely hard thing to do. None of us wanted to say goodbye, and none of us could fully express our immense gratitude for the amazing and phenomenal journey that we had undergone in the past week. After several minutes of hugging and kissing, we pulled ourselves away and prepared ourselves for our next challenge: getting through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
Getting through the checkpoint at midnight as we did would normally be impossible, but because we are Americans we were able to do so simply by faxing our passport and flight information ahead to the necessary officials. Once we passed the check point, we discussed what to expect at the airport and what we would probably go through. Issa helped to assure us that all would be well, but for those of us who had not already been interrogated by airport security, we were a bit nervous. Once we arrived at the airport and gathered our bags in front of the building, we were almost immediately approached by airport security. One gentleman proceeded to ask us of the nature of our trip and for our itinerary. After conversing with him for a moment and supplying the requested documents, we went into the airport. Little did we know there was much more interrogation to come. We began to walk over to check in our luggage, and I noticed that the same gentleman from outside was still following us and watching our every move.
Once in the line to check our luggage, some of us were pulled aside and questioned individually by airport personnel. I was lucky enough to not get pulled aside, but I can imagine that the questions consisted of why were in Israel, where we stayed, who we saw and so forth. The questioning went on for about 40 minutes and became quite frustrating for many of us.
Once the questioners seemed satisfied, we all had our luggage thoroughly searched. Every item was swabbed and checked for chemicals, and every item was removed from its bag to ensure that none of us were carrying any illegal or lethal items. I myself experienced the thorough search of having the female security remove my pants and check for some kind of security violation. After having been scanned, searched and questioned for about two hours, we were finally allowed to pass, but only with the accompaniment of Israeli security. We all met at the gate of the plane and then got something to eat.
At this point, most of us were exhausted from not having slept at all. We waited to board our flight and then passed out, only to wake up in a couple hours and switch planes in Frankfurt. It was in Frankfurt that I said goodbye to the group because I was flying into Washington, D.C., while everyone else was flying into Miami. We said our goodbyes, vowed to keep in close contact from the day we got back and parted ways. To say goodbye to the group was an extremely difficult thing for me. It caused me to realize that this whole experience was truly coming to an end and the most amazing trip I had ever taken was over -- until the day we can all return and do it all over agai