Palestine: Day 6: Wadi Qilt and Jerusalem

Wadi Qilt, a final desert drive and the last checkpoint into Jerusalem

At a Society of American Travel Writers' conference in Israel a quarter of a century ago, Wadi Qlt (or Wadi Qelt) was the first stop out of Jerusalem en route to several days of hiking and camping in the Judean and Negev Deserts. Back then, we drove to spot a spot directly below St. George's Monastery -- it might have been by van or by US Army surplus personnel carriers that made their way through the Israeli Army to an outfitter called Desert Safari that might no longer exist. 

I can't rememver how we reached the inner Wadi Qilt canyon to visit the Monastery of St. George of Koziba, a 5th-century Greek Orthodox structure built against the canyon walls -- much like Jericho's Mt. Temptation Monastery, but it was the first I had ever seen other than in a book or travelogue. Wadi Qilt is also the site of an ancient synagogue dating from the first century B.C. and part of a Maccabean winter palace. I don't recall the synagogue (I'm not even sure whether it had been excavated then), but we visited the monastery and took a short hike along a shaded trail. I was still living back East and was unfamiliar with deserts, deep canyons and oases where there is a source of water, so this was all new climatic territory for me.

Flickr photo

Wadi Qilt

Since then, there has been considerable road damage to the route into the canyon, and it is impassable by bus. The Israeli government, which enthusiastically builds fine highways to its settlements, hasn't repaired the road leading to this landmark monastery on land that is still in Palestinian hands -- and neither has the Palestinian Authority. This time, the bus could reach a pullout with a short trail leading to a Wadi Qlt overlook. A few Bedouins were selling jewelry (lots of camel bone), scarves and miscellaneous souvenirs. Business isn't too good these days. I bought camel-bone earrings and a white scarp, which our guide Wasim (below, bottom image) said that, judging by the label, probably came from Iran.

Jerusalem
As we approached Jerusalem, traffic built up and finally crawled on the apporach to the city. We stopped at an overlook on the Mount of Olives for a view over the Old City of Jerusalem, which from a distance looks peaceful and harmonious. We then walked down a steep paved route. Partway down, we passed  through a tranquil garden to Dominus Flevit, a small, tear-drop-shaped church that represents Jesus' tears as he looked over the Kidron Valley toward the city and wept for the destroyed Second Temple. In the church, a nun was reading for a small group of worshippers, who than sang a gentle Hallelujah!

The lower slopes of the Mount of Olives is covered with shoulder-to-shoulder graves, because in Christian belief that Jesus will return to Jerusalem, and in Jewish belief when the Messiah comes, it will be to Jerusalem and the Kidron Valley. It seems that everyone wants a prime spot for event. While a sister conducted a service at Dominus Flevis, the only people at the nearby Jewish cemetery where black-clad men, praying at graves. There is also a Moslem cemetery on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives.

We continued down to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed following the Last Supper and where Judas betrayed him. Ancient olive trees and lovely flowers make this a tranquil spot. The Church of All Nations stands beside the garden. One can only wish that the reality of Jerusalem mirrored the implication of that church's name, but it is a city full of religious and political contention.

We entered the old city via the Arab Quarter and walked its narrow lanes, following the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, that today encompass the sites of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. Writing in hindsight, this section of Arab Quarter is less congested than the Christian Quarter, and there appear to be proportionally more residents and fewer souvenir shops.

The original church that dates back to the fourth century was damaged in the seventh century, destroyed in the 11th century and soon reconstructed. The cavernous basilica was seriously damaged by fire in the early 19th century, though considering the amount of stone, it is difficult to understand how. It is a complicated place -- a church within a church built over other, older churches and small churches and chapels annexed to the main. Every one is presided over by a different denominations, and despite the obvious devotion shown by hordes of pilgrims from the world over, it is a contentious place rather than a place of peace.

  

In truth, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the focal point for unholy tussles among a number of Christian denominations. The Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic churches each control large parts of the complex, and one order of Eastern Rite monks has been living on the roof for centuries. Competing denominations have even come to blows. In 2002, a Coptic monk assigned to a spot on roof to maintain some kind of ancient claim on Ethiopian place moved his chair from its official position into the shade, which the Ethiopians took as an affront. A monastic brawl broke out, and 11 were monks hospitalized.

As recently as 2008, there were two clashes that sank into violence. On Palm Sunday, a brawl erupted  when a Greek monk was kicked out of the building by religious rivals and the police called to control the disturbance were attacked by the brawlers. In November, Armenian and Greek monks fought over something during the Feast of the Holy Cross. If Jesus did return, I believe he'd send them all to bed without supper.

The Jews don't behave any better toward one another. On June 17, two days before our group's depature for this trip, literally thousands of Israeli police were deployed in Jerusalem in an ugly dispute about court-ordered "integration" of the Beit Yaakov girls’ school in a West Bank settlement. Ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi (Jews of European origin) parents defied the ruling forcing them to send their daughters to school with ultra-orthodox Sephardic girls (Middle East origin). The day we were traveling to Israel/Palestine, what was reported as hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews battled riot police, again in Jerusalem, to protest against the city's decision to open a municipal parking lot on the Jewish Sabbath, which they view as desecration of the day.

Discord aside, of course, there was food in Jerusalem. We enjoyed another abundant lunch buffet at the Golden Walls Hotel in East Jerusalem and a talk by Father Attala Hannah aarchbishop of the of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, and after checking in to the Ritz Hotel, walked over to the Jerusalem Hotel Garden Restaurant for dinner to the sounds traditional, though over-amplified, Middle Eastern music. It was our last night in the Holy Land, and thoughout the trip, I felt personally safe, even walking through the dimly lit streets of East Jersusalem to and from dinner. centuries of contention, conflict and violence continue to this day.