The West Bank Trip

This day, our second full day of being in Palestine, we hired a driver to take us to the West Bank to the cities of Khalil (Hebron) and Bait Lahem (Bethelem). We left around 10 am and were in the West Bank by about 10:45 or so. Again, it is not very far, but I think the driver took us through some roads he knew that there wouldn’t be any check points. The entire day, we only came across one check point, and that was on our return into Israel. The West Bank is a beautiful place and each town is perched on hill. One clearly sees the Jewish settlements as different from the Palestinian areas because of the age of the houses. I was always told that the settlements were next to the Palestinian towns in the West Bank, which is true, but I learned that one needs to visit or be explained the topography to know what “next to” really means. The entire areas we visited were rolling hills and each town and settlement was on a hill. So if one settlement was next to a town, then it meant that it was on a separate hill and to get to it, you would have to go down your hill, and then up to the other, I would assume that each hill is about 1000 ft above see level.

Khalil, however, is different. It is a town that is truly divided in half between Jews and Palestinians. The city is named after the Prophet Ibrahim as he was referred to by Allah as Khalilullah, or Friend of Allah. The actual masjid where he is buried along with his first wife, Sara, is in Khalil, albeit on the Jewish side, bordering the Palestinian quarters. It is a beautiful masjid as well, but quite small. Also buried in this mosque are the Prophet Ishaq and his wife Rifqah, the Prophet Jacob and the Prophet Yusuf. The minbar that Salahuddin used was moved from Jerusalem to this Masjid and stands in the front. We were unable to visit the graves of the Prophets Jacob and Yusuf as they were closed off for security reasons. Also, there is a foot print that the guide told us was that of the Prophet Muhammed. It was very small, so I have my doubts as to its authenticity. I also have my doubts cause the Prophet did not visit Khalil. If one argues that it was when he was a child, then since he was not a Prophet then, why would anyone choose to make a footprint out of it. We made it in time for Dhuhr prayer, and then left for Bethlehem after walking through the market of Khalil where they say things our much cheaper than in other cities.

On our way to Bethlehem, we past many small villages that were perched on the hillside, but the highest one in the area is that of Bethlehem. And the highest point in the town is the Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem is an interesting town with a mixture of Muslims and Christians living together side by side with no animosity to speak of, and they have been doing this for hundreds of years. They even have some joint festivals they hold every year. The Church itself is quite old and some parts of it are falling apart with no money to fix them. It had a huge gate that one could enter through but during the Ottoman empire, they cemented it in because people were riding their horses into it from there and it was destroying the church. There is a small entrance to the left that you have to hunch a bit to get in. It reminding me of the “eye of the needle” saying one always hears about, since if this was a fortress and not a church, this would be the eye of the needle. In the church, besides the main hall for worship, there are endless hallways and caves down below that were used as monasteries and we also got to see they spot were Jesus, peach be upon him, was born. In the church, while we were viewing, there were quite a few tour groups that had come and two in particular we saw were from El Salvadore and Italy. Looks the Church does get international visitors as I mentioned the Aqsa should get by the Muslims.

On our ride home, we again saw beautiful rolling hills and small towns, and we also saw a town called Khidr, named after the prophet/wise man that taught Musa, peace be on him, wisdom of things unknown. Throughout our entire ride going from Israel to West Bank and back, there was only one point where we were stopped for a check. This could be due to the driver knowing his way around so well that he could avoid them, but it could also mean that the borders between the two areas are very porous with checkpoints on the road, but the hillsides being free of any borders. However, with the wall coming up everywhere, that will soon change, or at least that is what people say…..