Day 3, Jerusalem, Bethlehem & on to Tel Aviv, 6 December 2016

On our last day in Jerusalem,welcomingly, it was sunny in the morning. Our plan was to visit the West Bank and particularly, its most visited place, Bethlehem.

Upon request, the hotel had arranged a taxi for the trip. That taxi was a Mercedes-Benz. In Jerusalem, many taxicabs were Mercs. That was somewhat intriguing. History is replete with the stories of the German automakers' unsavory links with the Nazis. (In fact, the Volkswagen Beetle was the brainchild of Hitler himself). As Jews are known to be very mindful of their traumatic past, I expected not to spot German cars in Israel. I have heard that many Israelis are still, as a matter of principle, abhorring all things German. But the scenes on the ground are different. May be things have changed. 

The post war relationship between Germany and Israel is somewhat perplexing. The nation that inflicted the monumental tragedy on the Jewish people is now a staunch ally of Israel. Germany is Israel's top trading partner in Europe. 

As I expected, the taxi driver was a Palestinian Arab living in Jerusalem. His son, who worked as a teacher in the daytime and spoke a good English, was driving us the previous day. During the trips, as it is my habit, I probed and learnt something about their life in the troubled land.

The news hogging Palestinian West Bank is a land locked area, surrounded by Israel on three sides and Jordan on one side. Jordan is across the eponymous river and the Dead Sea. About 2 million Arabs, some half a million Israelis and a few thousand Arab Christians live there, in an area of the size of our Erode District. (Total population size is also the same). While Arabs live in the ancient cities and villages, Israelis have colonized in many newly built satellite settlements. The disparity of wealth is very much visible between the modern, affluent Israeli settlements and modest Palestinian neighbourhoods.

Under the British rule, the West Bank was part of the State of Palestine. In the Six Day’s war of 1997, Israel conquered it from Jordan. Though now a self-administered area, West Bank remains as a state within the state of Israel, the arrangements are like somewhat we have with Kashmir. Palestinians use the Israel Currency but have their own civil and police administration. 

Palestinians are now dependent on poorly paid jobs in Israeli areas. They grumble that the Israel has isolated their towns, stunted their economy and sucked out their water sources. But when we were there, it all appeared normal, business as usual, It was peaceful over the surface, but the crisis is just simmering. Occasional violent flare ups from the frustrated Young Palestinians (what they call Intifada, Uprisings) do happen.

Israel has erected a barrier, a big intimidating concrete wall and barbed wire fence between the main Israel and the Palestinian areas, along the internal border line. Israeli Military maintains check posts in the entry points. Tourists can visit Palestine, but there are restrictions for Palestinians and Israeli citizens to travel between their respective territories. It was all sick that these people were fighting for the smallish areas (imagine Coimbatore and Erode districts fighting for a Gounder land and Naidu Territory!). That they are making their lives hell, gave me a sick feeling about the regions and the religions.

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is just half an hour drive from Jerusalem. Till a few decades ago most of its residents were Christians, but today the great majority of greater Bethlehem’s 50,000 residents are Muslims. Needless to say, they thrive well with the constant supply of Christian pilgrims. Even the tourist guides who took us inside the holy Churches were Arabs! (Imagine, a Muslim guide taking a Hindu traveler inside a Christian site in a Jewish Country!).

Our driver connected us to a local guide, another local Arab, who was speaking with a heavy accent. (I could understand better!) This guide first took us to a souvenir shop, run by another Arab, who gave us  nice coffee. But the items, mostly miniature Crosses, Christs and Marys, were all kitsch and exorbitantly priced. We didn't buy any.

Bethlehem

Hilly Bethlehem has many stairs like this

An ornamental wooden gate of one of the houses

Bethlehem's story goes like this. About two thousand years ago, the Romans were conducting a population census of their empire. Israel at that time (Judaea) was under Herod, the Jewish Client King, (like a Governor). He orders all his citizens to go to their native places for enrolling in the census. Joseph is from Bethlehem, but had moved to Nazareth for living. He was a carpenter, a widower with six kids. He is betrothed  to Mary of Nazareth, a Galilean Jewish woman. Mary, while awaiting the formal marriage ceremony, (still a virgin), conceives, by the Holy Spirit. She marries Joseph and accompanies him to Bethlehem, for the census. 

Joseph could not find a lodging in that village, so they go to stay in a cave near the village. While they are there, Mary brings forth the Christ, the baby, and places Him in a manger, (a cow shed). Angels announce the birth and shepherds worship the child as Messiah and Lord. It is here the Magi, the three wise men from Arabia find Him.

Once a cow shed, the place has been built and decorated beyond recognition. The current Church of Nativity, is crowned by the different styles of Crosses, of the various Christian denominations that share the control. The massive basilica is entered through a very low narrow door, called the "Door of Humility". The big arched door is closed, we could see the original arch of the doorway. The low entrance has been designed in the 16th century to prevent the cart riding attackers. Nativity Church also has an equally troubled history of repeated damage and destruction by various invaders, like all the famed churches in Israel.

Door of Humility

Inside the main church, it is all vast and gloomy. In the central corridor, there is a large wooden trapdoor revealing an exquisite mosaic floor from the original building, supposedly built in the 4th century. 

On the way to the Altar

Stairs to the grotto

The Grotto of the Nativity, is a  small cavern located beneath the main altar, is the focal point here. We entered the grotto by a flight of winding steps. This is the cave that is said to be the exact site of Jesus Christ's birth.Inside cave, on the floor below it is the focal point of the entire site: a 14-point silver star with the Latin inscription “hic de virgine maria jesus christus natus est” (Here of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ was born).

14 POinted SIlver Star, 'Here of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ was born'

Sampoo in the grotto

For centuries, the different sects of Christianity have fought for the control of the church and brawls between the priests of the rival orders do happen even now. There is a 19th-century Status Quo Agreement which has frozen their respective rights and privileges of ownership, that keeps the brawls in check. You need just two groups to have a conflict. Even though the Christianity teaches to show the other cheek, monks interpret it differently it seems.

Different Denominations different Crosses

Different Styles of Crosses

A corridor of the church

After going around the church, we came out and went to see the adjacent Manger square. Manger Square is the paved central plaza located just across the church. It is believed to be the place where the cow shed once stood. 

Monger Square

Now it occupies the center of Bethlehem Old City and is surrounded by many cafes and souvenir shops. There was a giant decorated Christmas tree when we were there. People were preparing for the Christmas. 

Christmas Tree

Briefly after visiting the Square, we had a long walk back to the place where our car had been parked. Compared to Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher church, the Bethlehem church is well maintained. The Palestinians do a good job here.

Afterwards we drove to see the barricade (wall) between Israel and Palestine. The Wall, is a separation fencing in the West Bank, along the ‘Green Line’, the disputed separating line between Israel and Palestine.

Barrier wall

This 700 km long barrier is mostly a tough barbed wire fencing and has stretches of very tall tough concrete wall in the town areas. Long stretches of the fence or the wall could be seen in many areas along the highways in Israel during our drives. Israel built this fencing to protect them from the suicide bombings during the Palestinian uprisings. Israel considers it a security barrier against terrorism, and Palestinians call it a racial segregation or apartheid wall. For the protesters, the wall has become a message board to post calls for resistance. For the travelers, it has become a big attraction displaying some notable artworks on it. Graffiti artists, both local and international, have covered the Palestinian side of the wall with some beautiful, poignant and thought provoking artworks.

Wall Art

Art on the Barrier wall

Abstract Art Graffitti

Bansky Artwork, Armoured Dove.

Some of the works of the noted British artist Banksy’s are also there. The Bansky story is intriguing. Banksy, - he or she, nobody knows still, is an English graffiti artist and political activist of unverified identity. (Even the name is confused between Banksy and Bansky). Banksy’s works, all made with a special technique, are mostly satirical, displaying thought provoking dark humour. Many of the artist’s works have been featured on streets, and walls in many cities throughout the world.

Protester throwing a flower bouquet, Bansky

From Bethlehem to Jerusalem, on our way back, we were checked again at the check post. But, as we were to encounter in the following days also, the ‘checking’ was just a cursory glance. (Or could it be that we looked so innocuous?)

Back in the hotel, we had our lunch, kept our bags in the cloak room and vacated the hotel.  In the afternoon, we had planned to visit the Yad Vashem Museum located in the outskirts of the Jerusalem, on a forested slope in Mount Herzl.

The newly built Jerusalem Light Rail runs across the city with one end near this museum. The comfortable train ride (5.90 NIS, about 100 Rs, for one trip one way) shows you the non-touristy side of the city and its people. On board, there were passengers of different hues- Jewish men in religious skullcaps next to Muslim women in headscarves, Palestinians farmers going to the market, a batch of khaki clad young men and women on the compulsory Military duty, Americans wearing their typical shorts, everyone chatting on their mobile phones in Arabic, Hebrew and English. (A common joke there is, Bad English is Israel’s unofficial Third Language)

Jerusalem Light Rail

We alighted at the Mt Herzl station and nearby was the Holland Square which had the seminal attraction, The Calder statue.

Homage to Jerusalem, The Calder 'Stabile"

Alexander Calder (1898-1976), American sculptor known for his mega statues made up of steel sheets, that move with the air currents, had designed this 'Homage to Jerusalem'. Painted in the characteristic 'Calder Red' colour, the contour of the sculpture is said to resemble the hills of Jerusalem. I have seen his another work, a flamingo shaped one, in Chicago.  

There is a free shuttle bus between the station and the museum, but we didnt want to wait for another 30 minutes there. After a brisk walk from the train station, (Be prepared to walk excessively in Israel. I clocked almost 15000 steps every day during in my trip), we reached the Yad Vashem Museum. Yad Vashem in Hebrew means “A Memorial and a Name”. This is the memorial to the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, at the hands of the Nazis.

About Yad Vashem, Lonely Planet says “If there is a more moving and powerful museum experience in the world, we've yet to encounter it” and I can personally vouch that.

Yad Vashem Museum

We registered at the Visitor Center, rented the free audio guides, and checked out the Basement Cafeteria. Like in any museum complex anywhere in the world, Cafeteria was the most crowded part in the museum. But the food was good here, an exception.

Holocaust History Museum, not allowed to take photos inside

The Holocaust History Museum is the centerpiece of this memorial site complex. Built like a prism, it is a big triangular concrete edifice. A series of galleries describe the Jewish life in Europe before the catastrophe and follow the path to the escalation of persecution and ultimately the Nazi’s “Final Solution.” Poignant and too engrossing. 

There are many exhibits that will move you - video interviews, photographs, art installations, personal artifacts. Some of them are really very disturbing. They were, to me, at least, when I looked up and saw the faces of hundreds of the victims, their photos and the moments of happiness on display, before they fell victim to the Nazi regime. Horrendous things. What it must have been like to be treated like animals, herded into the ghettos, then onto the trains bound for the concentration camps, and finally herded into the long fenced-in pathway leading to the gas chambers?. 

Then there was a video clip of a Hitler’s speech, not very different from the ones made by our Saffron brigade. Modern India doesn’t seem to have learned the lessons from Holocaust. As Yuval Noah Harari put it out, the purpose of history is to liberate from it. We are becoming slaves of medieval history in India. 

The Hall of Names is the memorial for the victims whose names will never be known because they, their entire families, all their friends and everyone who had known them had been killed, leaving no one to testify.

Inside the museum complex

Eternal Flame

There is also a Museum of Holocaust Art, a Synagogue, A Hall of Remembrance (an eternal flame burns behind a crypt containing ashes from all the 22 death camps), the Garden of the Righteous among the Nations, (honoring the many non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust). All built to a somber, poignant style.

There was this Pillar of Heroism, a 21 meter obelisk, dedicated to the Jews who rebelled at the Concentration camps. The stone structure resembles a chimney, denoting the chimneys of the concentration camps, in which the bodies of the murdered victims were burnt. The Pillar of Heroism erected after the Six-Day War, when Israel enjoyed its victory. 

Pillar of Heroism

But what moved me the most was the solemn, but beautiful Children’s Memorial, dedicated to the 1.5 million Jewish children who had been killed in the Holocaust. It is an underground museum, dug into the bedrock. You enter and it takes some time to get adjusted to the darkness inside. There is a single flame in the center, reflected infinitely by hundreds of mirrors. Somber, recorded voices read out the names of perished children. Tears would well up. I was particularly moved by the plaque thanking the couple from California who had donated to build this memorial in memory of their two and a half years old son, Uziel, who was killed in Auschwitz in 1944. I was overwhelmed as I thought about the pain that his parents must have carried for so many decades afterwards. 

Children's Memorial

Inside the Memorial

Museum Visitor center, on our return

It had become dark when we realized that were late. Tired of the inadvertent walks in the museum, we came out and boarded the free shuttle back to the train station and waited there for 15 minutes to catch our train. On our return journey, the train was crowded with people returning from works. 

Twilight Jerusalem, from Mt Herzl

We got down near the David Square in the new city and took a (cheating) taxi to the Eldan car rental office. Actually, one benevolent Israeli young man came forward and got this taxi negotiated for us, but the driver cheated us later. In the El Dan car rental office, which I had chosen over the multinational companies, I had booked for a midsize car with GPS and they had agreed to issue me a Peugeot 301. Fortunately, the GPS in that car was not working and a new model MG 6 was given, which was an impressing one. ( After returning to India, I learned that, though made in Britain, it was actually a Chinese car company and immediately thanked God).

It must be mentioned here that it was a pain to deal with the rental company’s young lads who did not speak English beyond a ‘Hi!’.  After checking the car’s condition, we started off to Tel Aviv, collecting our bags en route from the hotel.

The drive from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv through the Highway 1, took an hour or so. Multiple lanes and all sorts of cars whizzing past reminded a typical US expressway. The only differentiating aspect was here in Israel, people are obviously impatient, and are disregarding the speed limits.  Generally Israeli drivers are rude, second only to those travelling between Coimbatore and Thiruppur in their rudeness. It was dark and the traffic was heavy, I could not watch sideways and raced past dutifully like my co racers.

As we go from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, there hangs a story. Theodor Herzl, was an Austrian writer and Zionist activist. He collected all the grassroots movements and formed the World Zionist Organization to promote the migration of Jews to Palestine in an effort to form Israel. Though he died long before its establishment, he is generally considered a father of the State of Israel, formed in 1948. 

Theodor Herzl wrote a utopian novel in German, titled ‘Altneuland’ (‘Old, new land’).  The novel tells the story of two Jewish men, who after getting frustrated with the European culture, travel to a remote Pacific island in 1902. On their way, they stop at Jaffa (outskirts of the present day Tel Aviv), a poor Palestinian village on the Mediterranean shore. Palestine, at that time, was a backward, destitute scarcely inhabited land. The guys return after spending two decades in the remote Pacific Island, cut off from the civilization. On their way back to Europe in 1923, they again make a stopover in Palestine. But this time, they are surprised to find a new country that has been formed by the immigrant Eastern European Jews.

They find this “New Society” to be a prosperous modern country, technologically and industrially advanced, with socialist leanings and a free, just, cosmopolitan society. There the Arabs and Jews live with equal rights, as do other ethnic groups like Armenians and Greeks. It goes like this, the two guys happen to be there at the time of a general election and they witness a fanatic rabbi who campaigns for an exclusive Jewish country and demands non-Jewish citizens be stripped of their voting rights, but the rabbi is ultimately defeated. 

The title of the Hebrew translation of Herzl’s novel is ‘Tel Aviv’, which means Spring Mound. Aviv is Hebrew for "spring", denoting ‘renewal’, and Tel is a Mound, meaning, layers of civilization built one over the other. Thus came this inspired name to Israel’s modern city. It reminded me of the word 'palimpsest'. (Jawaharlal Nehru, who, in the “The Discovery of India” sees our country as “an ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously”).

Though Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Tel Aviv is its financial and Technology hub. (Though the Jewish nation considers Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital, practically all other countries do not accept that. They want Jerusalem's status should be resolved by talks with Palestine. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. But no country has its embassy in Jerusalem. The UN wants Jerusalem to be an International City. 

Tel Aviv is just one fourth, both in size and population, of Coimbatore city. But ten times more good looking and clean. It is rapidly extending and they have included Jaffa, the old Arab fortress city (the Palestinian village in Altneuland novel), also in the city limits. Now, the combined urban sprawl is called Tel Aviv-Yafo. 

In Tel Aviv, we had booked a room in Ritz Carlton, a luxury hotel located in a wealthy suburb named Herzliya. (Again, named after Theodor Herzl). The Ritz Carlton is a luxury brand of Marriott. Thanks to Kavin, who had booked this and our next stay, Renaissance Tel Aviv for us.

It was twilight when we reached Tel Aviv, and there was gross discrepancy between the car’s GPS and the actual street line up in the city. Added to the confusion is the misspelt English versions of the Hebrew or Arabic proper nouns. Add to this the average Israeli’s inability to deduce some meaningful English from my heavy accent, and their guiding skills. Thus we had to go round and round the hotel three times before realizing we had arrived.

The Ritz Carlton is located on the marina of the Herzliya Pituvach (Pituvach means development), offering the guests staying in the seaside rooms a beautiful view of the harbor. Room, allotted to us by accident, was the best in the hotel. It came with two levels, a kitchen, dining room, a seaside deck and a very comfortable bed.

view from the room's deck

The hotel also boasted of Herbert Samuel, a well-reviewed, fine dining restaurant in their lobby. But as there were no seats available for the dinner there, we ordered room service. After a hot shower and good comforting food, we rested sometime in the deck and retired to bed.