Jerusalem

Finally Jerusalem! We left early to the college to say goodbye to the studentes there and the staff. There was a meeting with the head of the college and we talked about what we learned in our month in Israel. The head thanked us for our contribution to the college and the elementary school in Ein Mahel. Hereafter we left for Jerusalem, it was a long drive and we climbed till 1000 meters. We parked the car very close to the Damascus Gate and went into the old city, it was very crowded and all narrow streets. I asked doctor Taha if it would be the whole time like this and he said yes. The streets are not  more than 3 meters wide and everywhere shops and little restaurants. There is a lot of activity and security in the old city because of the tension. We ate some hummus and Taha told us he studied here in the seventies and they came all the time to this restaurant for the best hummus. On a map the old city is divided in four quarters but the people live pell-mell. There is a Jewish, Moslim, Christian and Armenian quarter but you can't tell the difference sometimes. We walked on the road where Jesus walked with his cross, the Via Dolorosa. We arrived at the Holy Sepulchre, it's the place were Jesus was buried and crusified and the most important place for christains except the protestants. The final church was built during the crusaders in 1149.

We walked through the narrow streets and arrived at the Wailing Wall. It's an important place for the Jews, they come here and pray and stick the papers in the wall. The wall is actually a remain of the Jewish Temple built by the Romans on mount temple and on the other side there is the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of Rock. The Al Aqsa Mosque was built by Omar in +/- 650 AD. The Dome of Rock isn't a mosque but a place for memory. It was built by Abd al -Malik and is since the seventies only allowed for moslims. We were to late for the visit for foreigners, it's from 10 till 13 so we weren't allowed to go in. They asked us a sentence from the  Koran but obviously I couldn't answer. In both the Wailing Wall and the Dome of Rock there is tight security. On the way back we drove through the West Bank and saw some Jewish settlements, it's very strange to see them. They are like resorts in the desert with beautiful houses and fences arround. The biggest problem in the peace talks are the settlements because the Jews that live there are very extreme so it's not easy to move almost 200 000 Jewish people out of the West Bank. Leaving the West Bank we weren't checked, it was different when we came back from the Dead Sea. Doctor Taha told me it was because he turned on the radio with a Hebrew radio station.

Tonight i'm leaving after one month, I had the time of my life, experienced lot's of new things and met a lot of wonderfull people. I think i'll never can give them back what they gave to my.

Jalla bye!