At School and on the Road

This weekend I traveled with the SFP and the World Peace College into the West Bank to conduct a training workshop with the "Young and up-and-coming politicians" group. This workshop group is made up of young parliamentary assistance and mid-level political staffers and advisers to political parties like Likud and Kadima on the Israeli side and Fatah on the Palestinian side. In addition there were several NGO organizers and members of other civil society groups.


The workshop was very interesting to take part in. The complexity and scope of the conflict and the peace process seems to expand exponentially with each meeting. I'm not going to go into to many details on the blog. There a few sensitive issues that are best kept offline, but you should feel free to ask me when I come back. 


Our meetings took place at a small Ultra-Orthodox monastery near the ancient city of Jericho, so after our section of the workshop was over, the director of the SFP was kind enough to take us to Jericho to explore. 


Jericho is one of the oldest, continually lived in, cities in the world and the lowest human settlement on Earth, located well under sea level. Descending from the desert towards Jericho and the Dead Sea, you can feel the added pressure in your ears and body. It was a very strange experience the first time I visited the region.


This time around I was able to explore a few more of the less touristy and more "real" locations around Jericho. As far as West Bank cities go, Jericho is relatively modern. Basic infrastructure is still a major problem. The Israelis restrict the building of sanitation facilities and the allowance of building materials into Palestinian areas is heavily regulated. 

There are many archaeological sites around Jericho as well. This time around we visited the ruins of the Caliphate palace and the Orthodox Christian monastery which is built directly into the cliff face of the "Mount of Temptation" where it is said that Jesus fasted and was tempted by Satan and several other demons. The location was featured in the Exorcist novels, and while I don't 100% believe in pure evil in the terms of hell, or demons, I have to admit that I was a little freaked out when I was wondering around some of the mountain on my own. Creepy.


Enjoy the photos!

One of the symbols of Palestinian nationalism is the key. Inscribed on this key in Jericho are the words "we will return"

Each different city within the Palestinian Authority has its own unique way of making sweets. The national sweet of Palestine is a pasty, with a base layer of cheese, topped with thin pastry and a custard/sugar (sort of creme-brullee) topping. Sooo good.

This is one of the ruins on the outskirts of Jericho. These are the ruins of Hisham's Palace from the Caliphate era.

This rose motif was original decorating a gate area. The walls and upper half the structure were destroyed in an earth quake hundreds of years ago.

The remains of the central palace

One of the interesting things about the palace is the mosaic work. When the site was original discovered it was wrongly attributed to the Byzantine era. This is one of the oldest examples of Islamic mosaic work and one the oldest original mosaic pieces in the world. The pieces from this scene are so small that from a distance it appears to be a tapestry and not millions of shards.

One of the cliffs near in the desert. Note the IDF military base looking towards Jordan on the top.

Jericho from the top of the Mount of Temptation. To the right you can just make out the edge of the Dead Sea and the mountains in the distance are on the Jordanian side.

Some of the caves in the cliff side. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves like these.

This is the tree that Zacchaeus the tax collector climbed to see over the crowd towards Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.

The central Mosque in Jericho. While the mega-phones are primarily used for the call to prayer at for sermons, they are sometimes used for public service announcements and proclamations from the Palestinian Authority.  

Some of the desert. The desert in this area isn't sand, it's mostly rock. Very, very hot.