It seems that the Israeli government will not be stopped in its plan to uproot the Israeli communities in Gush Katif (a bloc of settlements in the Gaza Strip) and that this will happen in July of this year. It also seems that the Israeli military will stop allowing non-residents to enter the area after Passover later this month. So, with a push from an interested student making a documentary, I planned a trip. My first step was to find a tour, so we could go with someone who knew the area and who could give us first-hand details (including things like where terrorist attacks happened and personal stories). All of my attempts (and those of friends) to find such a tour were in vain. I suspect that such tours are not available because the GK residents are uninterested in giving them (but I could be wrong).

So we decided to go on our own (6 of us), driving one of our vehicles. It went quite well. The area was peaceful and quiet. We saw lots of military posts and vehicles, but there was no indication of recent unrest. Some observations:

1. The recurring question to us throughout the day was, could Israel really rip all of this out? We’re not talking about caravans and temporary houses, but about some very nice houses, beautiful synagogues, and developing shopping areas. There are parks, schools, and lots of agriculture (in greenhouses). To destroy it all seems a shame.

2. Everything is built on sand. And it’s amazing what they’ve done on sand. It’s apparently a quite prosperous area agriculturally, and there are hundreds (thousands?) of buildings with nice yards with green grass.

3. At the borders and sensitive areas you see heavy Israeli defenses and armored vehicles. But the area really is a “bloc” and in the center, you don’t get a feel that you’re in the middle of a 1.3 million Arabs. You could be dropped in the middle of one of the towns and you wouldn’t know that you weren’t in a coastal city north of Ashkelon.

4. The Gush Katif bloc is only a small section in the southwestern corner of the Gaza Strip. These settlements are not scattered throughout the Palestinian areas (though there are a few other Jewish communities outside of this bloc). This area was largely uninhabited before 1967. The Jews did not take inhabited land away from Arabs; they took “worthless” sand and made it into thriving communities and farms. (Yes, it’s true that those communities now cause hardships on the Palestinians because of the secure routes that are provided to the Israelis that cuts off some Palestinian routes.)

5. I was again reminded how valuable a personal visit is in understanding things. So many things that I have read for years did not make as much sense as they will now that I’ve actually been to these places. It’s rare that I get to experience such a thing in Israel anymore, so this was a good reminder of this fact. (And the guy who told a friend of mine that he didn’t need to visit Israel because he had “visited Israel in the text” is just plain wrong.)

I have more thoughts but it’s been a long day and I need to get some sleep before another long day (teaching) tomorrow. This entry is not intended to give an answer about which position is right – to “disengage” or to maintain the status quo. I’m not sure that I know my own opinion. But neither am I sure that anyone knows whether destroying the Gush Katif communities will actually help the “peace process.”

We’re just back from a great week in Galilee (more on that later, hopefully), and in catching up on some things I see a neat device mentioned by Between Two Worlds. It’s the TV-B-Gone keychain and it can turn off virtually any television. It does this by emitting 209 different turn-off codes at the press of a button. It fits on your keyring and can be activated without anyone knowing! This sure could have been handy at Grandpa’s house :-).

I learned of this from the blog of Justin Taylor, which I recently discovered. I find it quite good. JT is an associate of John Piper, and his topics range from politics to theology to keychains.

Back when the idea of an Israel campus for The Master’s College was being dreamed up, we were tossing around different ideas for names. My offering was rejected: Middle Eastern Center of Christian Activity (MECCA). Instead, Greg Behle’s idea became the identity of our school: Israel Bible Extension (IBEX). Besides the fact that the two descriptors state our two primary subjects, IBEX is a suitable name because of the animal that climbs the hills of Israel (Ps 104:18). Our students prove every semester why such an adventuresome creature is a suitable mascot.

Last month, NASA decided to send forth its own IBEX mission:

A satellite that will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space has been selected as part of NASA’s SmallExplorer program. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission will belaunched in 2008.

IBEX is the first mission designed to detect the edge of the SolarSystem. As the solar wind from the sun flows out beyond Pluto, it collides with thematerial between the stars, forming a shock front. IBEX contains two neutral atomimagers designed to detect particles from the termination shock at the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space.

The website is here: http://www.ibex.swri.edu/

That doesn’t seem like a bad project to share a name with.

I’ve never actually stayed in a hotel in Jerusalem that cost more than $20, so maybe I am unqualified to answer the above question. Last night, however, I did spend $4 for a mattress on a roof of the oldest hotel in the Old City. There are disadvantages, like the cold and the noise, but I can’t imagine a better view of the sunrise over Jerusalem, no matter what the price. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that 99%+ of the rooms in the city have much worse or no views of the sunrise/sunset.

The trip as a whole went extremely well. I was a bit afraid because 1) I was feeling sick when we left on Tues evening; 2) I hadn’t prepared very much; and 3) the weather on Tuesday was positively lousy. But the Lord was good to strengthen me, get the logistics to work smoothly, and give sunny skies and warm weather today. On the lunch break, I got to see something new. I must have tried to get into this place dozens of times over the past decade. Today the shop was open and for 5 NIS the shopkeeper opened the door so I could take a look. I’ve seen photos and drawings, but it’s always better in person. This is part of the entrance to the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As I said here not long ago, there’s always something new to see in Jerusalem.

One ongoing development is the ramp leading to the Temple Mount (Mughrabi Gate) next to the Western Wall plaza. Work is underway now in constructing the replacement ramp. Perhaps the plan is to finish the replacement before removing the current (deteriorating) mountain of earth. The first photo shows workers putting wooden plans on the metal scaffolding. The second photo gives some idea for the damage caused by the collapse of the slope a year ago.

A comment on the Temple Mount situation. Since it reopened a year ago, the atmosphere has cooled considerably. This morning I was there for two hours with our students and never had a problem or a hint of a problem. We were able to view at length the relatively new entrance/exit into the underground Marwani Mosque (in “Solomon’s Stables”). There were police and soldiers around, as well as the occasional Waqf official, but no one seemed concerned about us. Neither did the security guys check my teaching binder for diagrams of the Temple, as they have done (to forbid) in the past, nor did they say anything to us about our Bibles, as they have before. In general, I felt like things were similar to how they were pre-2000, except that the holy buildings are not open to visitors.

I got home and both the boys beat me in “Memory” (aka Concentration) in separate games and I sure wasn’t trying to let them.

A scheduling conflict prevented today’s planned excavations, so instead I headed for the wilderness, following the “Alon Road” from the Jerusalem-Jericho highway to the north. It ended with a failed attempt to climb Alexandrium – we simply didn’t have time to make it and be back home in time for a student’s appointment. I told the students last night they could join me if they wanted; only four accepted. That itself is quite amazing to me – to have a once-in-a-lifetime shot like that and to pass it by, for what? Homework? There are plenty of days to do that, and few when you can go to out of the way places.

I remembered today the answer to the question I frequently get – what is my favorite part of the country. The answer: the hill country of Samaria. Perhaps part of the reason for that is that I have spent relatively little time there over the years, and almost none in the last 5 years. I also like it because it strikes me as so similar to what it would have been like in biblical times, with the numerous terraces and olive groves. It’s also very biblical territory – the heartland of ancient Israel with the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. And countless biblical stories took place at sites like Shiloh, Shechem, and Samaria. We didn’t visit any “sites” today, but I enjoyed the same terrain, just a bit east of the central ridge, where the main route and sites lie.

I took 467 photos today, which is on the high side for a regular day of shooting. The largest number was of sheep and shepherds (about 150). There were flocks on many of the green hills, and we stopped a number of times to take pictures. The shepherds were all nice, but without knowledge of Arabic, our conversation was quite limited.

We saw a number of other animals as well, but no gazelles as I was hoping. I saw more cranes than I remember seeing in any one day, and many we were able to get quite close to. We also saw many donkeys, camels, sheep dogs, dozens of millipedes, and a frog.

Besides sheep, my other photographic goal for the day was wildflowers. I didn’t see so many exotic ones, but I was impressed (again) with just how green everything is after the spring rains. Usually the red anemones were to be found in patches of hundreds or thousands, but I liked this shot with just a few. Seems like it might illustrate better than others the truth that “the grass withers and the flowers fall” (Isa 40).

Great trip. I commented to the students that it could well end up being my favorite of the semester. What does that say about me?

Tomorrow we’re into the Old City for a night sleeping on a rooftop and then a full day of seeing some of the best sites of Jerusalem!

Between this and my last post I went to Cyprus. This was my first trip and in the five days, I hope I saw it all and never need to return, unless it’s for a vacation on the beach. (Maybe more on that trip in a future blog.)

Today we took our students to participate in the ongoing work on the Pool of Siloam. I wouldn’t call it the most productive day, but it was enjoyable (including the sunshine and beautiful blue skies, after a week of rain). I’ll narrate with the help of photos. The first one shows a general view of the excavation area. The previously excavated steps of the pool are hidden under dirt on the left side. I was working with a crew in the distant left, near the minaret. Another group was excavating in the Siloam Channel, just off to the right. (More orientation: the Old City walls are barely visible in far left; the rocky escarpment in the center is the southern end of the City of David; the minaret is above the traditional Pool of Siloam.)

My team worked on exposing and cleaning the pavement on the northern end of the (presumed) plaza. On the right is the temporary drainage channel (moved recently, but to be moved again). On the lower left is a Byzantine aqueduct, slated to be photographed and removed tomorrow. More important – look up. The guy in the center is nearly at street level until a few weeks ago. Some of the pavement had been exposed in small squares on the right side, but the street removal makes work much easier.

The site is being supervised by Eli Shukrun, who is always on the site, and Ronny Reich, who has various other responsibilities. Ronny stopped by today to see the progress and we chatted some on break.

At the end of the day, here’s what my area looked like. It’s significantly improved from the beginning. You might note the darker stones in the foreground. Those are indeed dirty and nearly impossible to clean – this is because they are a different kind of stone than the other “clean” stones; the dirty ones are a softer type of limestone.

Most of the group spent the day excavating inside the southern section of the Siloam Channel.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

Last night I went into the Old City with my Jerusalem Archaeology class. After checking into our hotel, we spent some time at the Western Wall, including an interesting conversation (maybe more on that later). This morning I went out to look around a bit before our trip started at 8. We spent most of our time in the City of David, including Central Valley excavations, new City of David overlook, Area G, Kenyon’s Trench A, Warren’s Shaft and related structures, Reich’s Area J, Shiloh’s Areas E, D, and B, Weill’s T1-9, and the Pool of Siloam. A few observations on recent or ongoing “movements” in Jerusalem.

1. There is a lot of work going on in the City of David. Besides the Pool of Siloam project (see #2 below), there were a lot of people excavating above Area G (in the area of the new “park”/entrance). These was all closed off, so getting a look inside was difficult, but there appeared to be several dozen digging in numerous squares. I would guess this was part of a school dig. Then there were another dozen or so moving dirt away from the site (down a chute in Area G to waiting tractor beds).

2. The Pool of Siloam area looks quite different than when I was last there (a month ago?). The road that ran between the escarpment and the excavation has now been largely removed and the drainage pipe moved. Now that pipe is located directly next to the escarpment above the area where the Gihon/Siloam water drains to the Kidron. The recently excavated steps are now completely covered by dirt moved in the process. This really isn’t a surprise, as the moving of the road/drain would hardly allow the steps to remain in view. I expect that once the moving of the drain pipe is finished, they’ll again uncover all of the steps, this time without a road running through them. I’ll be there in a couple of weeks with our students helping them; perhaps that will be part of our assignment.

3. There is no sign of any start to the plan to remove the ramp leading to the Mughrabi Gate of the Temple Mount, just south of the Western Wall. Construction does continue on the wall on the north side of the prayer plaza.

4. Workers were in action making repairs on the bulge on the southern wall of the Temple Mount. I didn’t get around to the eastern wall to see if anyone was present there.

I often tell my students that there is always more to see and do in Jerusalem. I often prove that to myself, as I did today. For the first time, that I can remember anyway, I was in the Armenian Church of St. James. It was early Sunday morning and a service was going on, so I could not take many photos, but it was interesting to observe. That’s a rather important church in the city, and it’s somewhat embarassing that I have not yet been inside. In my defense, I’ll just note that there are a lot of things to see and do in Jerusalem. And a lot of the time that I am there, my schedule is dictated by others. And when I finish, I am often quite tired. Good day today. And I’m quite tired.

This weekend I led a trip focused on the life of David. We camped at En Gedi and hiked around the area. I’ve led field trips on David about 7-8 times and in this particular area about half that many. For our Sunday hike (some of my pictures of the group here), we walked up the Nahal Arugot, past Tel Goren and to the Hidden Waterfall. We climbed up the ridge, about a 2000-feet ascent (on a steep and sometimes challenging path), crossed over, and went down the ancient route (of Ziz) to the Nahal David. We enjoyed waterfalls at the beginning and the end, a few springs, a Chalcolithic temple, and a herd of male ibex. The temperature was about 75 with a light breeze and clouds that kept the sun off our heads most of the day. It was as perfect a day for hiking as I could imagine.

The night before and along the way we reflected on David’s life. So many things are instructive. The dryness of the land (not really barren though in February). The preciousness of the spring water. The need for food for strength (I forgot my sack lunch). Here are a few observations.

1. In this terrain it is easy to see how Saul’s and David’s men could see each other and yet be hours away from each other. It is also easy to see how one group could quickly “disappear” and escape the other’s clutches.

2. Knowledge of the water sources is essential for survival. David’s years of shepherding in the wilderness would have served him well in these years on the run.

3. Perhaps theirs was Spirit-induced, but the hard sleep of Saul and his men is understandable after a difficult day of trekking up and down cliffs.

4. My appreciation of David’s patience and restraint is greatly increased when I see the physical stresses and mental pressures he faced. He was surrounded by a rather rough crew, yet he kept his focus on God. He no doubt was often hungry and weary, yet his spirit remained strong. It is easy to contrast this with my hike – where we had a happy group, plenty of supplies, and a rather short trip.

I am often asked what my favorite place in Israel is. I don’t have an answer. But I do think that this trip, with deliberate reflection on the circumstances of David’s life, is one of the most profitable experiences that I have been apart of. The psalms have always been a favorite of God’s people; how much moreso when some of the barriers are removed.

This post is about something I had intended not to really talk about. In other words, an adventure that could be misunderstood if not fully explained. And since I don’t have the intention to explain it fully, I think it better not to speak of it.

But I am going to mention a little of it because I think it instructive of one aspect of the situation in Israel. Those who have lived where I live will appreciate it most (namely, former students), but I think any with an interest in Israel might profit.

This afternoon I went for a little excursion with a friend. We drove about a mile from home, parked the car and hiked another mile. We passed no fences. But in a short span of two miles, I found myself in a completely different world. A world I have experienced in other places, but never in this area and never so close to home. I was in a Palestinian village. Not an Israeli Arab village, and not a Palestinian community that mingles freely with the Israeli world. A village that, as far as I could tell, was not in Israel. The buildings, the streets, the people, the signs, the language – all were suggestive of an Arab community isolated from anything Israeli. It was like towns I have visited in Jordan or deep in the West Bank. How could this be? How could a town only a few miles away from dozens of Jewish communities, modern malls, McDonalds, and freeways apparently have no relation to them at all? This is something that Americans do not understand. They see something about Israel on TV and they think that the whole country is affected, that all of Israel is dangerous. But I just described a world that I have lived “next door” to for nearly 9 years and really had no knowledge of its existence (I knew in my head there was an Arab town there, but I could not picture it).

How could this be? Geography. My little village and that little village are separated by several deep valleys and ridges. And there are no roads connecting them. To drive to where we walked would have been about a 20-mile drive (assuming soldiers at Israeli checkpoints didn’t stop you). There simply is no way to go between the two except for walking. Another Israeli community actually overlooks this one, so they see each other every day. But they too are separated – here by a fence and security road. Arabs may not come to the Jewish community, and Jews would never think of going to the Arab village. There is an exception – hundreds of Arabs cross a checkpoint daily to go to work in the Jewish village – building houses. They are the ones constructing the houses of this “settlement” (a Jewish community in former West Bank territory). It might be seen as ironic that Palestinians are the ones who build the settlements they despise. But there is another reality here – they profit from the presence of the Jews here. This is the best-paying job they can find. Contrast this whole situation with another one close by. Half of a mile from where I live is an Israeli Arab village. The town’s inhabitants are Arab, but they are Israeli citizens. They didn’t fight or flee in the 1948 or 1967 wars, and they were given what Israel said they would give to Arabs who didn’t fight or flee – citizenship, freedom, and numerous other benefits. You walk through that town and you don’t feel like you’re in another world. There are sidewalks, new schools, and thriving businesses. Jewish Israelis flock to the town on weekends for the popular restaurants. These residents can travel freely throughout Israel, vote in elections, and get jobs any other Israeli can get.

The two Arab villages are only two miles apart, yet they are radically different. The primary difference: the government. There are those who aspire to Palestinian self-goverance (indeed they’ve had some form of that for 10 years). But there is something better: living under Israeli rule. But those who have that usually keep quiet and you won’t see them boasting about it on TV talk shows. On the other hand, as I walked through the Palestinian village, it was so clear to see why Israel really doesn’t want to rule the West Bank. It’s just a different world.

On the entire trip, I never saw one woman dressed immodestly (except on some magazines and TV). On one day I remarked in my notes, “I did see one woman’s neck today.” One time I saw a young lady in a restaurant in a skirt and tall boots (with a portion of her legs visible). But both were such extreme exceptions. Most have their faces visible (only); only a few their eyes; very few are completely covered. I was astonished at the consistency. Maybe it would be different were it not winter (it was in the 60s), but I’m not sure about that. This is in contrast with America there seem to be so many who do not dress modestly, including at the church service. This of course leads to the question of what defines modesty. More on that in a future post.