West Bank, Israel
Israel facts & history
in brief
The State of Israel, a republic
was declared 1948 and occupies more
or less the Promised Land, the
Bible Lands, the Holy Land and many
other names to many people.
Bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
the Red Sea, Egypt the Mediterranean
Sea.
Now includes East Jerusalem, part
of the West Bank, the Golan Heights
and the Gaza Strip, since Israel
captured them in the Six-Day War
in 1967.
Israel also captured the Sinai Peninsula
from Egypt, but returned it since
in 1982, and granted Palestinian
self-rule in the Gaza Strip and
parts of the West Bank in 1994,
after a peace agreement between
Israel and Palestinian Liberation
Organisation.
Geographically it can be divided
into the areas of the hills of Galilee,
the Plain of Esdraelon, the Judaean
and Samarian hills, the coastal
plains, and the Negev.
Israel has a population of over
5 million.
The capital is Jerusalem.
The history, tradition and the struggle
of the land and its people is the
Bible for many people.
The "Promised Land" "of milk and
honey", was more recently discovered
to be barren and infertile, that
has many mineral, agricultural and
human resources.
As in the Bible and in the middle
ages during the crusades the 'Land
of Peace' is in a bit of a turmoil.
Hui Chin, Endre and I crossed
over from Jordan by the Allenby
Bridge.
We begin our explorations with Jericho
before we visited Jerusalem, New
Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives,
Bethlehem, Tiberias, Nazareth, Tabigha,
Qumran, Masada, Beit Haarava and
Eilat.
Jerusalem
is a holy city of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
It is the capital of Israel.
In 1948 Jerusalem was divided between
Israel and Jordan, in the Israel Arab War.
Israel held West Jerusalem, and Jordan
had East Jerusalem.
East Jerusalem is the 'Old City' and the
'Holy City'.
In 1967, in the Six Day War Israel occupied
the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
West Jerusalem is the modern part of the city.
East Jerusalem includes the walled Old City,
the site of many ancient holy places.
The Western wall is the only remains of
the Jews' holy Temple of Biblical times.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands
on the hill of Calvary, or Golgotha,
where Jesus was crucified and buried.
The Dome of the Rock is the rock,
according to Muslim belief, where Muhammad
rose to heaven with Gabriel and spoke with God.
It isn't easy to find the Holy Sepulchre and many
other sites, that means so much to Catholics, like us.
Two thousand years passed by and the 'Old City'
is made up of many little alleys and is a
permanent market place, so to speak.
But we couldn't get a way from the fact, that
we were walking in the streets Jesus walked,
especially on his last journey.
The history of the city is in the
bible and we were awestruck.
A 'once in a life time experience', unless
you are lucky enough to visit the place
more than once.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
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