Mon, Nov 1st

This is actually a picture from breakfast. After breakfast we set out in an armored bus with double paned shatter proof windows-good thing too because a rock hit the bus pretty hard. We were heading off into what is currently called the West Bank. The historically biblical lands of the Jews included what is now Jordan and Israel. There are hundreds remains of cities and archaeological sites all over both countries dating back thousands of years bc. Of the ancient indigenous groups of Israel/Jordan only the Jewish people remain.

With the break up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI, came the British Mandate of Palestine and the Transjordan which encompassed the ancient Jewish lands. At the end of the second WW, Britain asked the UN to dissolve the British Mandate. December 13, 1948 King Abdulla was proclaimed king of the lands trans the Jordan River dividing Israel into two countries and giving rise to what Jews consider to be the 1st Palestinian Nation called Jordan.

If the Jews are the only remaining ancient peoples of this land who then are the Palestinians? Palestine is the Greek pronunciation for the ancient Philistines (in English and Arabic). The Philistines were sea people coming from Cyprus, invaded Egypt during the time of Rames III and settled in what is now Gaza. Though the people have been long gone (604 bc by the Assyrian), the name Palestine, for that area, has stuck. The European Christians have historically referred to Israel as the Holy Land. The Ottoman Turks, who were Muslims, did not use the name Palestine during their 400 years of occupation. The use of Palestine was officially revived and applied to the territory during the British Mandate.

So then who were the people living in the territories west of the Jordan River during the British Mandate? According to official records 427,845 Jews and 33,304 non-Jews who were Arab Muslims and Arab Christians came to be known as Palestinians. There has always been a continual occupation of Jews in their ancestral lands. They are the indigenous people. Attacks and massacres on the Jews by Muslims started after the British Mandate took effect. There was fighting against the British as well. During WWII Britain sought to limit the number of Jewish "refugees" coming in from Europe in order to prevent an Arab up rising.

The UN drew up the 1947 Partition of the Mandate of Palestine outlining a 2 state nation. This was rejected by Arab Palestinians and the Arab League. With the British intent to terminate the Mandate The Jewish Leadership led by David Ben-Gurion declared independence on May 14th 1948. This was immediately recognized by the US, Soviet Union, and many other countries.
Within days 9,400 Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, and Iraqi troops amassed to invade...to be continued...

We've been traveling through the West Bank, a term coined by the Jordanians but in more modern terms refers to an area of Palestinians. The English names for this region are Judea and Samaria. The West Bank has 3 Administrative Divisions known as Area A, B, and C. Area A is completely under the Palestinian Authority. Area B is administered by the PA but patrolled by the Israeli military to keep the roads safe. Area C is administered and controlled by Israeli's and has Israeli settlements...more on the settlements later.

Our destination in the West Bank is Shechem. I am standing on Elon Moreh, where God told Abraham, “To your descendants will I give this land” (Genesis 12:6). Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham purchased land near Elon Moreh and Shechem (Genesis 33:19). The view looks to the north east. Jesus would have traveled from this valley going toward the left to enter the town of Samaria on His way to Jerusalem. It was dangerous for Jews to travel this way so they would take the longer route to the east and enter Jerusalem that way.

While we were up here we could hear the call to prayer in the towns all around us. Occasionally these birds would fly over head as well as the Israeli fighter jets.

The view east.

The view south east.

The top of Elon Moreh where the Muslims-in their quest to claim all Jewish and Christian sites as their own built this structure. Islam makes their claim by religion, NOT with history or archeology. The teachings of Islam say once they conquer a land it then becomes theirs. There is enough archaeological evidence to confirm scriptures but none to confirm claims of Islam.

A lone flower.

Lots of thorny ground cover and bushes. I've never seen thorns grow like this before.

The view west. Located here is the tomb of Joseph, Jacob's well, the story where Jesus meets the woman at the well takes place here also. The ceremony of Blessings on Mt. Gerizim (left) and Cursings on Mt. Ebal (right) took place here (Deuteronomy 11:29-30). The Roman town of Neapolis, currently the Muslim town of Nablus sits in the valley. There are about 300 Samaritans living in Nablus today. It is one of the largest Palestinian cities.

The view south west.

This is an Israeli base of Combat Engineers-the equivalent of our special forces.

Heading to lunch.

We stopped for lunch at a small "local" hang out for the troops. The lunch menu pretty much everywhere was schwarma, strudel, and falafel with various salads, pocket bread, and hummus of course. The official pronunciation is hoo-moose.

Snacks.

Israel has a 3 year compulsory military service. Pretty much everywhere-are 17-20 year olds armed with automatic weapons. Can you imagine American 17-20 years armed like that?

Their weapons go everywhere they go.

We traveled through areas under the Palestinian Authority.

It's apparent they live very differently than in the western world.

It very much has a Middle Eastern feel, hostile and like the wild wild west.

This is a Jewish settlement. How do you tell? The red roofs plus the houses have a more western look-not the block shape with flat roofs that marks construction in the Arab areas. Plus trash isn't thrown everywhere. So what about these settlements-occupations? In the 1920-30's during a time of Jewish persecution by Arabs, Jews had to flee especially hostile areas. Much of the areas in question are re-settlements on property Jews hold deeds to. They are near ancient historical sites and on tops of hills. Jews historically built on hills, Arabs stayed in the valleys.

Our next stop was ancient Shiloh, a city in the Ephraim hill country and the capital of Israel at the time of Judges. Shiloh was an assembly place for the Israelites where the Ark of the Covenant rested until taken by the Philistines.

Here is a model of what the Tabernacle would have looked like.

In 2006 a beautiful mosaic floor was discovered.

It is part of this large Byzantine church constructed about 380 ad.

Under the direction of Moses a tent was built to house the ark. The tabernacle rested in Shiloh for 369 years.

Shiloh is a place of redemption for the tribe of Benjamin after a costly and bloody civil war.

The road above is the ancient caravan route and the vineyards make it look much the way it would have at the time of Judges.

An interesting find at the tel (an ancient archeological site where city was built upon city forming a pretty big hill) were huge amounts of pottery shards.

The rectangle is where the tabernacle sat and Hannah gave Samuel to God. Shiloh is also home to Ely (pronounced Ellie).

The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the scepter from between His feet, until Shiloh comes and His shall be an obedience of nations Genesis 49:10. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled at Shiloh and erected the Tent of Meeting there Joshua 18:1.

This is an old synagogue. Synagogue is a Greek word meening gathering place. The logos (word in Greek) became flesh and tabernacled among us. Ichabod means the glory departs. The synagogue is just a replica of what they used to have. God tabernacled with the Jews, Jesus tabernacled among the people, the Holy Spirit tabernacles in believers.

We were hit on the side of the bus by a rock. It was startling. Rock throwing is a common story. Groups of masked Muslim Arab boys converge on a car driven by a Jew and throw rocks at it. A month before we were there it happened in Jerusalem, the car swerved to avoid hitting one child but struck another-mean while it all just happened to be caught on camera. The driver also just happened to be a pro settlement leader. Coincidence, set-up, politics? More on this later too.

We traveled in and out of the West Bank today and never saw a wall. The days ahead we never see a wall either. I know the media depicts this huge wall cutting off the West Bank from the Jewish areas. The wall is actually in Bethlehem-a very populated area, and was built to replace a portion of fence because Muslim Arabs were sniping into the Jewish areas. After leaving the West Bank, on the way back to the hotel a bus full of Muslim women stopped and blocked our bus for a few minutes. We were stunned-it was a pretty confrontational situation, their glaring expressions said it all-they were definitely not waving and saying "hi" nor looking away.