Israel: A first-hand account

What were seven students and a professor from the College doing in one of the most dangerous areas of the world? Learning, that's what. During this year's winter break, while most students were recovering, working, or spending time with their families, seven lucky members of the Israel Travel Course, lead by Professor Roselle Chartock of the Education department, were spending eight days being tourists in Israel. I was one of the eight, who included Amanda Missel, Jessica Stern, Angela Atchue, Kate Bouckaert, Patrick Negrini and Natty Hussey, and I am remarkably fortunate to be able to say that we made it home safely, we had an incredible time, and we were amazed at what we saw and heard. That place is the Holy Land: home of the three largest and most influential religions in history, and home to thousands of people who claim it as their own. This, as you might imagine, is the source of frequent disagreement and argument, with no clear resolution in sight. The American news does not even tell half of the story. As media consumers, we are inundated with stories of suicide bombers, terrorists, war, walls and diplomatic stalemates. There is so much information coming to us that we do not have time to read them all and make sense of what is really going on. Unfortunately, all that information means nothing when we really do not see the bigger picture. "You hear about all these things going on 'over there,' and it really didn't hit me until I saw it," said Senior Nathaniel Hussey, a member of the travel course. And that was the point of the trip said Dr. Chartock. She wanted students to gain a first-hand account of the culture, history and current events that surround this tiny nation, not quite the size of New Jersey. Thankfully, we a terrific guide. Arie (pronounced är-ee-uh) Mizrachi-Shoham is a highly educated Israeli historian and a brilliant tour guide who is passionate about sharing its history with visitors. From our first session, we could tell that were going to learn a lot, that are brains would be filled to capacity, and that we would be experts on Israel by the end of the excursion. We started in Tel Aviv, the Mediterranean costal city famous for its nightlife, cultural attractions and Bauhaus architecture. Although places close early on Fridays in observance of the Sabbath, we were not hard-pressed to find a place to eat and a party down the street. As the first night in any new city goes, there is so much to see and so much to do that, when you find yourself stumbling back to the hotel at 4:00 a.m., you realize that, although you had a full night, it was just one street, a handful of bars, and only a few hundred Israelis; you've got a lot more to see. This realization was not only mine, but also that of Arie, who said that in ten years as a tour guide in the country, he has only seen "five percent of everything, the history and the attractions in Israel." After Tel Aviv, we embarked on a long road trip through the costal plains. We made a few stops to visit the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea, the northern costal city of Haifa, which still shows evidence of last year's war with Hezbollah, and Nazareth, the home of Jesus. That was all in one day! As we continued our journey in northern Israel, we were treated to a stay in a beautiful hotel near the coast of the Sea of Galilee, a well-known name for anyone who has read the New Testament. "We were actually there, looking at a spot where [a Biblical story] actually happened. It's sort of surreal," said Junior Patrick Negrini, an Italian Catholic who was part of the trip. Later, as we headed south toward our hotel at the Dead Sea, was crossed through the Green Line. The Green Line is a significant marker in the recent history of Israel. It not only marks the border between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, but also the separation between Arab and Jew. Along the more populated areas of this border, Israel has built a 30-foot separation wall in an effort to stop terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants. Israelis claim that this has worked, but at what cost? Since the wall was built, terrorism has decreased, but poverty has skyrocketed. The wall has cut off many Palestinians from their main sources of income, including their farmland. We saw both sides of this wall, a few days later when we visited the Palestinian town of Bethlehem, just a few miles from the Holy City of Jerusalem and the site of the birthplace of Jesus. Driving toward the wall, we were greeted by a sign that read, "Peace be with you"-a reminder that it is not always peaceful place to be, despite the best efforts of the government. As we left the economic fertility of the Israeli side of the wall, with its many shops, hotels, industry, and advanced agriculture, we saw the affect of the separation on the other side. Along the streets of boarded-up shop windows, poor and dirty children approached us with heartbreaking expressions on their faces, begging for change and tripping over the rubble of dilapidated houses that have fallen into disrepair because of the lack of funds to fix them. Everyone agreed, it was a depressing sight. For me, it confirmed a previously held fear: these people are mistreated and there is little being done to help them. It was seeing this poverty firsthand that has become a call to action. Knowing that these people can do very little to help their situation is one thing, seeing it is another. During the final days of our trip we visited Vad Yashem, the Israeli national Holocaust memorial and museum. The memorial serves as a poignant reminder that the policies of an atrocious society can cause the near destruction of another. Not only does it demand that the world not let this happen again, it is an indictment of those who stood idly by as it happened. It is ironic that this place is in within sight of the separation wall, which marginalizes some members of society because it commemorates the lives of those lost during another time of segregation. Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Arab-Jewish debate. This sprawling city that has gone through a great deal of turmoil in the past 3000 years--from the King David to the Babylonians, King Herod to the Romans, the Mamelukes, the Persians, Napoleon, the Turks and eventually the battle between the Jewish state of Israel and the Arabs during the six day war in 1967. It is a complicated and dense history that even history majors have a hard time understanding, and many spend their lives studying. We walked the streets as they did during the days before Jesus, and saw the same landscape that had inspired so many to a life of religious fervor. Sites like the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock are some of the holiest places on earth. In this city, they are neighbors, but in the religious climate during the last few centuries, these places represented the great chasm between religions. They divided neighbors and were the source of years of violence and bloodshed. "To see that many people, in the same place for the same reason, is truly an overwhelming experience," said Hussey. "Its one thing to have a strong opinion on an issue, but seeing the magnitude of people who feel the same, words can't really describe it correctly." But these places also represent the possibility that these neighbors can treat each other as neighbors. These eight days brought 'over there' to life, forcing us to confront our preconceptions and use all over our senses to digest the whole package. The sights, the smells, the sounds and the food were overwhelming and remarkable. And now that I've had time to think about everything I learned, I have come to this conclusion: I can't wait to go back.