Today we left Egypt for Israel. Leaving St. Katherine’s, we first passed by the site of the traditional encampment of the Israelites around the foot of the mountain. After that, we stopped for some scenic pictures of St. Katherine’s Mountain and Mount Sinai. Then we stopped at Wadi something, that was a site of some event from the Exodus. It wasn’t clear to me what the event was or where in the Bible it occurred. Then we stopped (or maybe this was the place Peter was talking about) at a place where Bedouins sell those alabaster egg thingies. I forget what they’re called, but we picked up a bunch of ones they hadn’t chosen to sell. I picked up one about half the size of a softball, but it was too big for my liking so I gave it away. I have several small ones.
At this point, we were about an hour from the Israeli border. Somehow, my Vodaphone coverage ended outside St. Katherine’s; I now have Eginil, which has no data service.
We went through one checkpoint where the guards told our driver that there needed to be two drivers if you were going over a certain distance. Our driver, Ibrahim, tried to tell them that we made stops, but they didn’t understand, so he had to go inside with our armed guard. It all got straightened out.
Driving along, we finally hit the coast of the Red Sea. We were at Nuweuiba Port, and could see Saudi Arabia in the distance. I made a mental note to put diving the Red Sea (or at least snorkeling it) on my bucket list, as well as climbing all the way to the summit of Mt. Sinai.
Winding our way to Israel, we had the sea on one side and mountains on the other. There was opulence, including resort hotels, on one side, and poverty, including Bedouin tent villages, on the other. My thoughts as I entered were in John 17:25. I pray for peace in Jerusalem; I pray that all who witness and profess to believe may take action.
I want to make note here of the many Egyptian men I saw with marks on their foreheads. They looked like dark-skinned people get when diabetes is beginning to set in (or they’ve been sleeping with CPAPs – a darkened spot in the middle of the forehead. I asked about it and was told this mark comes from the mosques, and it’s a sign that they’re very religious and/or conservative. In my mind, I liken it to the Jewish guys who wear their prayers strapped to their foreheads.
Now we’re in Tobya. There are a gazillion hotels here, and we can see the border. Going through Israeli customs is always a pain. I had to take off both my knee braces, and they opened my luggage and opened the bag inside the bag, to take out my item with air freshener and feminine hygiene sprays (they rescanned that) and then went through it to find my power block, which they re-scanned. I will never complain about too much security in the Middle East; I just notice that when I showed the Egyptian guy my knee braces, he waved me through, while the Israelis made me take them off.
Pharoah’s Island has a palace built b y Salahadin. In Egypt, when they call things “Pharoah,” if just means they’re impressive. It’s like in Israel, when they call thing’s “Solomon’s.” It doesn’t mean things are built by that person, it just means someone thought they were impressive. I guess it’s like calling pizza “Ray’s” in NYC.
Anyhow. After Israeli customs, we were to go to Eilat and Wadi Araba. Our intention was to hit both the Dead Sea and Masada. Wadi Araba is part of the Afro-Syrian Rift, also known as the Dead Sea Valley, part of which is the Jordan Valley,. You can see the Transjordan Mountains, known biblicaly as the mountains of Edom and the mountains of Moab. It’s interesting to see that the Israelites didn’t go the easiest way back to Canaan, they went the hardest way. The reason is that they were repelled by a series of fortresses protecting the Negev. So they went back through the Transjordan Mountains (Edom and Moab). Exodus and Numbers tells about the Israelites seeking permission to go through Edom and Moab – they travelled through the King’s Highway to go to Jordan.
From where we are, we can see the Israeli/Jordanian border. I’m sorry I’m not going to Jordan this time. We’re seeing lots of acacia trees (They’re the ones with the flat tops); we’ll see more date palms as we go along.,
So we’re driving from Eilat through Wadi Araba. I’m listening to Elton John and Leon Russel, “You’re Never too Old to Hold Somebody” on their “The Union” CD. I need to find the lyrics and copy them down here.
We stopped at an interesting little Israeli service/grocery mart. We got expensive meals, there was Ben and Jerry’s (which some people got), there was soda, milk, relatively CLEAN TOILETS, candies, sweets – a pleasant change. I got an Israeli magnet for someone who’s not Christian, since this will likely be my only opportunity to get something without a Christian theme. We started looking at our maps, noting that in Israel, it’s illegal to publish a map differentiating between Israel , the West Bank, and the Golan. In Israel, it’s illegal to call them anything other than Israel, even though that condition does not exist as a reality in the international community – everywhere else, they’re illegally occupied territories. We talked about the bias of mapmaking. We didn’t talk about how similar brainwashing a whole country is to the conditions which caused the creation of this country.
We did talk about identifying Israel as a PEOPLE and not a PLACE, although later on we also talked about how, in some religious traditions, God intersects human history in a sacred Place or Space. It’s a little hard for Protestants to wrap our heads around, because we believe that God intersects human history in the Person of Jesus Christ. But we talked about this, and about how Hadrian had named the region Palestine (from the Philistines, who were its enemies). We talked about the fact that there is no nomenclature that is acceptable to everyone.
We talked about how 20% of Israel’s population is non-Jewish, and of that 20%, 70% are Arabs. We talked about Arab Jews, Palestinian Jews, Jewish people living in Palestine, Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, etc – 70% of the Jewish population in Israel traces its roots to an Arab country. Those are the Sephardim. The Ashkenazis come from Europe. We went on and on about birthrates and population densities. I guess you could look it up if you were really interested.
We were going to the part of the Dead Sea associated with Sodom and Gomorrah. We stopped at Har Sodom, Mount Sodom, and took pictures of Lot’s Wife. We went for a dip in the Dead Sea, HAD A CAPPUCCINO!!!, went to Johnnie’s where I sated my shopping demon, and came to the Golden Palace or Golden Palms hotel to find no internet service. It’s 11:30 at night and breakfast is at 7 am, so I’m going to bed. This may take on more form later, but I wanted to give myself a reminder of what the day was like. It’s hard to write in the bus, which is VERY cramped, so I jot down notes when I can. Problem is, you want to do as much as you can in a day so you get in very late. I’m usually too tired to do any more writing.
Tonight we did go out for a walk. Some people wanted to go to an ATM; I wanted something sweet (as I try to get back to high-protein/no carbs, the carb demon has reared its ugly head.) At the first ATM we went to, some guys who didn’t speak English came up to me and started talking. They were just chatting away in Arabic, I was speaking English, and we were completely NOT understanding each other. But the fellowship was rich. The guy has nine children, with two on the way (or else seven with two on the way; I wasn’t really clear). And the little boy wanted to take a picture with me. They thought I was either Ethiopian or Canadian or something. Clearly, black folk are a rarity in Israel, too…..
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