Comments on the West Bank
On the bus this morning on the way to our first stop, we learned a bit about the West Bank. in 1948, Israel took over 78% of Palestine and the remaining percentage was taken over by the country Jordan. They didn’t want to take it into Jordan, so they called it the West Bank.
In 1988, a first war erupted between the Palestinians and Israel and they signed the Oslo Agreement which breaks everything down into 3 areas:
Area A- everything is completely controlled by Palestine. This accounts for 12% of the West Bank.
Area B – because these areas are so close to Israeli settlements, Palestinians are responsible for security, but politically this is controlled by Israel.
Area C- remains under full control by Israel
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
It’s not just a figurative metaphor in Psalm 23!! It’s a real place with lots of mountains and desert surrounding it. See the video below for ore.
Bank of the Jordan River
We got to renew out baptismal vows on the site of the Jordan river where John the Baptizer might have stood at one point in time. The river is not very wide and one side encompasses Israel and the other side Jordan. The water was muddy and cool, but still nice to remember our baptisms in a really neat spot!
Qumran
This area was home to a group of people known as the Essenes in the Bible. They were a group that differed in some beliefs from regular Jews. A shepherd from this community discovered a cave filled with manuscripts of what we know as the Old Testament, and these are some of the earliest fragments scholars have been able to find.
Masada
Next was our stop in Masada which is a huge mountain filled with ruins of Herod the Great’s palace. He built this huge structure of which he never lived in, but there were bath houses, cisterns, a ramp from where the Romans built and eventually took over the city. It was really fascinating.
The Dead Sea
We ended our foray today with a dip in the Dead Sea. It’s water is really salty, and it was a little cold today. When you get in, you can’t sink because it is so filled with salt that you float. Getting in and out is a challenge because everything is so slippery, but the mud is said to be some of the best cleansing stuff on earth. Sorry I wasn’t able to get my own picture of the swimming.
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