36 | SUNRAYS APRIL 2014
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The West Bank
Then, it was time to head for the West
Bank, changing driver, bus, and guide
for Palestinians who were authorized to
work there. Although the area, mostly
surrounded by a 20-foot high security
fence to deter terrorists, is largely self-
governed, Israel maintains checkpoints,
guard towers, and soldiers at major tour-
ist and religious sites such as Bethlehem
and Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs. In
Ramallah, we saw Yasser Arafat’s grave
and, in Jericho, the ruins of an ancient
city, perhaps brought down by Joshua’s
trumpets, as related in the Bible.
Beyond the sights and the history, we will
remember the people we met along the
way: the Bedouin women in the Negev
selling us their embroidery to create a
better tomorrow for themselves; the jour-
nalist who helped us understand what
it was like to be a Palestinian living in
Jerusalem; the Auschwitz survivor who
talked with us about her friend Anne
Frank; the former Chicago Jew who told
us about his 30 years in a West Bank
settlement, and many more. Before we
left home people asked us, “Is it safe?”
Yet, everywhere we went, despite radi-
cally divergent viewpoints in the people
we spoke with, we always felt we were
among friends.
Continued from the previous page
A view of the Dead Sea.
Israeli soldiers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron (West Bank).
