Online resources for travel writers summarized on one long blog post
My friend Josh Berman's The Tranquilo Traveler made the Graduate Degree Blog's post called "The Art of Travel Writing: Tips, Tools and to Get Paid and Get Published." Although Travel Babel sadly didn't made the unidentified blogger's list, it's really worth checking out for anyone who writes about travel or wants to. The categories are Advice for Travel Writers, Writing Tips, Tips for Breaking into the Business, Travel Writing Blogs, Travel Blogs (where Josh's was listed and I wish this one had been t00), Meet Travel Writers, Travel Websites, Groups and Organizations, Travel Made Easy and the all-important Find Writing Gigs.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
"Lifetime Trips" Reads Like a Tour Brochure Anthology
Travel anthology is a surprising yawner
I love to take anthologies on my own travels. If I put a book down and don't pick it up again for six months, I haven't lost my place. Houghton Mifflin's Best American Travel Writing of Fill-in-the-Year and its companion series, the now-suspended Best American Food Writing...., are my favorites. Travelers' Tales anthologies, each of which follows single destination or subject as seen by many writers, are a close runnerup. These collections are filled with gorgeous prose by some of the best writers in the land who make their topics spring from the pages.
Therefore, I was looking forward to Once in a Lifetime Trips, subtitled "The World's 50 Most Adventurous, Luxurious, and Memorable Travel Experiences." The author, Chris Santella, certainly comes with impressive credentials. His byline has appeared in top publications (including The New Yorker for which he wrote a "Talk of the Town" piece back in 1995). His numerous books include Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die (and also ...to Play Golf, ...to Dive and ... to Sail Before You Die) and spinoffs from several of them.
My hopes for a great travel read were dashed when I actually plowed through the review copy. Santella's writing is curiously devoid of passion or insight. In fact, the book reads like a compendium of 50 tour brochures. The opening sentences to many of these adventures are real snoozers. But he does know how to craft a run-on sentence.
I wouldn't travel to Cape Town, South Africa, to fly a fighter jet based on the lead for that chapter: "There are no exact figures that speak to the increase in the number of U.S. Air Force and Navy recruits after the 1986 release of the Hollywood blockbuster Top Gun, through the military acknowledges that there was a significant bump and even staffed recruiting booths in select theaters where the picture was showing." Yawn.
Nor would I feel motivated to spend $20 million, if I had $20 million, to visit the International Space Station based on this book. Santella starts his description this remarkable adventure with, "In 2001, American multimillionaire Dennis Tito became the first civilian to travel in orbital flight, thanks to the Russian Federal Space Agency and a U.S. Company called Space Adventures, which has a partnership to purchase a seat on the Soyuz spacecraft and a ten-day spot on the International Space Station (ISS) every six months." Yawn.
The occasional lead sentence reads like a term paper rather than a tour brochure. Consider, "While the number of Bengal tigers is dwindling worldwide, populations in north-central Nepal are stable." Yawn.
The occasional lead sentence reads like a term paper rather than a tour brochure. Consider, "While the number of Bengal tigers is dwindling worldwide, populations in north-central Nepal are stable." Yawn.
Have I bored you enough? The press release accompanying the review copy boasts that the "vacations...are so unusual that you can't just search for them on the web or find them in travel magazines," and that the author's "detective work" has unearthed them for us. In truth, most of the them on the web (no surprise), and Santella's own "If You Go" appendix lists outfitters, their phone numbers and/or websites. However, unless the list was fact-checked between the printing of the review copy and the May 12 publication date, there are errors. For example, the review copy gives Abercrombie & Kent Space Travel for the Capetown fighter jet flight, when in fact, A&K handles reservations the Soyuz. If you want to fly a jet in South Africa, contact Incredible Adventures. The hardcover book will cost $24.95. Save your money -- unless you're in need of a good sleep.
Palestine: Day 3, Part 2: Taybeh, Mt. Gerizim and Nablus
Visits with two priests who loom large in their small West Bank towns
Taybeh
Tiny Taybeh is so much more than beer and antiquity. It is the location of St. George Church (below, top photo) and its remarkable, admirable, energetic parish priest, Father Raed Abu Sahlieh (bottom photo). He exemplifies the best of Christ's teachings, walking the walk but also talking the talk to explain to anyone who will listen why peace, social justice and the brotherhood of man are so important to humankind. He runs the church of course, but also a school for area children of all faiths, a 50-voice children's choir, the only care facility around for the elderly and the inspiring Peace Lamp project. His fund-raising idea was to put olive-oil-burning dove-shaped Peace Lamps in all the world's churches. Ambitious and admirable. The church grounds also feature the recreation of a Holy Land dwelling from the time of Christ.
Photos: Mac Lacy, Group Travel Leader
They say if you can't say something good, say nothing at all, so I'm not cyber-saying anything about lunch at the Asffoura Restaurant in Nablus.
Mt. Gerizim and the Last of the Samaritans
We drove to the top of Mt. Gerizim overlooking Nablus. On the windy summit is a small Samaritan village presided over by Kahen Husni, the priest of this tiny, ancient sect that in Biblical times counted millions of believers and now has fewer than 1,000. The Samaritans, who trace their unbroken lineage back to the ancient Israeli tribe of Levi, maintain practices from two millennia ago, including ritual sheep sacrifice that is so authentic that several thousand Israeli Jews visit annually to see how it was done in the really old days. The Samaritans' practices are similar the Jewish rituals (Saturday sabbath, reading from the Torah in Hebrew, etc.) but Arabic is their everyday language. They don't eschew modern life. They have televisions and cell phones, and a group of boys was energetically kick a soccer ball around on the area used for the sacrifice. Perhaps some of the children harbored dreams of some day playing on a Palestinian team in the World Cup.
Nablus
Back down the mountain to Nablus and a quick run through the ancient market, which is not under threat from Jewish settlers as Hebron is. I could have spent hours there, but we were directed to be on the fast track. Our only detour was to an olive factory that still has traditional hand-operated soap-making apparatus on display but now makes the soap elsewhere.
The simple, well-worn Yasmeen Hotel is our lodging for the night. The location on the fringes of the souk is fantastic, especially for those with time to meander through the market. Sadly, the exterior still bears the scars of bullet hits. My room resembles a monastic cell, but there is free WiFi, without which I'd be even father along than I am. Dinner at the nearby Saraya Restaurant is a traditional progression of small salads, spreads, dips, condiments and of course, pita, followed by roasted lamb and fragrant rice and then knafa, a local dessert made of sweet melted goat cheese, honey and a crunchy topping that might have been small piece of crumbled dough or something else that I couldn't identify.
Most of my traveling companions went to a Turkish bath, but I opted to return to the hotel and check on E-mail, write a blog post and get some sleep. I was still at it when they returned from the Turkish bath.
Taybeh
Tiny Taybeh is so much more than beer and antiquity. It is the location of St. George Church (below, top photo) and its remarkable, admirable, energetic parish priest, Father Raed Abu Sahlieh (bottom photo). He exemplifies the best of Christ's teachings, walking the walk but also talking the talk to explain to anyone who will listen why peace, social justice and the brotherhood of man are so important to humankind. He runs the church of course, but also a school for area children of all faiths, a 50-voice children's choir, the only care facility around for the elderly and the inspiring Peace Lamp project. His fund-raising idea was to put olive-oil-burning dove-shaped Peace Lamps in all the world's churches. Ambitious and admirable. The church grounds also feature the recreation of a Holy Land dwelling from the time of Christ.
They say if you can't say something good, say nothing at all, so I'm not cyber-saying anything about lunch at the Asffoura Restaurant in Nablus.
Mt. Gerizim and the Last of the Samaritans
We drove to the top of Mt. Gerizim overlooking Nablus. On the windy summit is a small Samaritan village presided over by Kahen Husni, the priest of this tiny, ancient sect that in Biblical times counted millions of believers and now has fewer than 1,000. The Samaritans, who trace their unbroken lineage back to the ancient Israeli tribe of Levi, maintain practices from two millennia ago, including ritual sheep sacrifice that is so authentic that several thousand Israeli Jews visit annually to see how it was done in the really old days. The Samaritans' practices are similar the Jewish rituals (Saturday sabbath, reading from the Torah in Hebrew, etc.) but Arabic is their everyday language. They don't eschew modern life. They have televisions and cell phones, and a group of boys was energetically kick a soccer ball around on the area used for the sacrifice. Perhaps some of the children harbored dreams of some day playing on a Palestinian team in the World Cup.
Nablus
Back down the mountain to Nablus and a quick run through the ancient market, which is not under threat from Jewish settlers as Hebron is. I could have spent hours there, but we were directed to be on the fast track. Our only detour was to an olive factory that still has traditional hand-operated soap-making apparatus on display but now makes the soap elsewhere.
The simple, well-worn Yasmeen Hotel is our lodging for the night. The location on the fringes of the souk is fantastic, especially for those with time to meander through the market. Sadly, the exterior still bears the scars of bullet hits. My room resembles a monastic cell, but there is free WiFi, without which I'd be even father along than I am. Dinner at the nearby Saraya Restaurant is a traditional progression of small salads, spreads, dips, condiments and of course, pita, followed by roasted lamb and fragrant rice and then knafa, a local dessert made of sweet melted goat cheese, honey and a crunchy topping that might have been small piece of crumbled dough or something else that I couldn't identify.
Most of my traveling companions went to a Turkish bath, but I opted to return to the hotel and check on E-mail, write a blog post and get some sleep. I was still at it when they returned from the Turkish bath.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Palestine: Day 3, Part 1: On the Road to Taybeh
In Taybeh and Nablus, rough history but non-violent peace activists
We left Bethlehem after breakfast, passing through the main security checkpoint in what is now a walled city -- not a pictursque medieval wall but an ugly concrete scar across the ancient landscape. We passed the outskirts of Jerusalem, the troubled holy city for three faiths that is a political pawn in an ongoing political tussle between the Palestinians who want their own state and the Israeli government which doesn't want to give up anything. The implementation of the two-state solution -- one Jewish and one Palestinian nation -- that came out of the 2007 Annapolis Conference remains stalemated, and meanwhile, Israel continues building settlements, maintaining checkpoints and extended the walls that in many places are higher than East Germany's Berlin Wall during the Cold War.
Photo: Odyssei Travel Community
The landscape noth of the city reminded me somewhat of the Southwest: golden hills with stone outcroppings (limestone here), bushes that from a distance resemble but darker, arroyos, deep valleys and occasional dirt tracks leading somewhere. Instead of grazing cattle, however,there are occasional flocks of sheep or goats watched over by a shepherd or goatherder, and here and there camels. The scene has existed since the land was settled and humans began domesticating animals. Also, the US Southwest has no olive trees or small villages on hillsides and hilltops, and thankfully no walls or military watchtowers every few miles to control civilians. The closest we get is the occasional penetentiary or prison where convicts are incarcerated.
The main West Bank roads built are well-constructed, immaculately paved highways that are very much of the 21st century -- built by the Israeli government to provide quick, smooth access to and from settlements plunked here and there on the Palestinian landscape, often in places where they can control the water to old Palestinian communities. It is yet another affront.
TaybehOn the outskirts of tiny Taybeh, said to be the only all-Christian village in this Arab country, the Taybeh Brewing Company is practicing peace through beer. Established by Nadeem Khoury, a Palestinian homebrewer, in 1994 when the Oslo Peace Accords had brought optimism to Palestine, it is the only microbrewery in the Middle East and the only Palestinian-owned brewery anywhere. It turns spring water, barley from France and Belgium, hops from Bavaria and the Czech Republic and yeast into four beers. They have won awards, are the first Middle Eastern brwery to license in Germany and export to France. The brewery also started bottling olive oil for St George's Church school and began developing an alcohol-free beer in case a more Islamist fundamentalist party wins a Palestinian election and alcohol is banned. The brewery owners are nothing if not practical.
We visited the ruins of a Byzantine church called El Khader/St. George. It is the site of baptisms in an ancient font, and townsfolk still come there to sacrifice a sheep for various festivals. The church dates from the fourth century and was destroyed by the Samarians in the sixth century. It is one of manymanifestations of the violence and religious conflict that tragically are nothing new to the Holy Land, but you'd think that humankind would have learned something in 15 centuries.
More to come. Stay tuned.
We left Bethlehem after breakfast, passing through the main security checkpoint in what is now a walled city -- not a pictursque medieval wall but an ugly concrete scar across the ancient landscape. We passed the outskirts of Jerusalem, the troubled holy city for three faiths that is a political pawn in an ongoing political tussle between the Palestinians who want their own state and the Israeli government which doesn't want to give up anything. The implementation of the two-state solution -- one Jewish and one Palestinian nation -- that came out of the 2007 Annapolis Conference remains stalemated, and meanwhile, Israel continues building settlements, maintaining checkpoints and extended the walls that in many places are higher than East Germany's Berlin Wall during the Cold War.
The landscape noth of the city reminded me somewhat of the Southwest: golden hills with stone outcroppings (limestone here), bushes that from a distance resemble but darker, arroyos, deep valleys and occasional dirt tracks leading somewhere. Instead of grazing cattle, however,there are occasional flocks of sheep or goats watched over by a shepherd or goatherder, and here and there camels. The scene has existed since the land was settled and humans began domesticating animals. Also, the US Southwest has no olive trees or small villages on hillsides and hilltops, and thankfully no walls or military watchtowers every few miles to control civilians. The closest we get is the occasional penetentiary or prison where convicts are incarcerated.
The main West Bank roads built are well-constructed, immaculately paved highways that are very much of the 21st century -- built by the Israeli government to provide quick, smooth access to and from settlements plunked here and there on the Palestinian landscape, often in places where they can control the water to old Palestinian communities. It is yet another affront.
TaybehOn the outskirts of tiny Taybeh, said to be the only all-Christian village in this Arab country, the Taybeh Brewing Company is practicing peace through beer. Established by Nadeem Khoury, a Palestinian homebrewer, in 1994 when the Oslo Peace Accords had brought optimism to Palestine, it is the only microbrewery in the Middle East and the only Palestinian-owned brewery anywhere. It turns spring water, barley from France and Belgium, hops from Bavaria and the Czech Republic and yeast into four beers. They have won awards, are the first Middle Eastern brwery to license in Germany and export to France. The brewery also started bottling olive oil for St George's Church school and began developing an alcohol-free beer in case a more Islamist fundamentalist party wins a Palestinian election and alcohol is banned. The brewery owners are nothing if not practical.
We visited the ruins of a Byzantine church called El Khader/St. George. It is the site of baptisms in an ancient font, and townsfolk still come there to sacrifice a sheep for various festivals. The church dates from the fourth century and was destroyed by the Samarians in the sixth century. It is one of manymanifestations of the violence and religious conflict that tragically are nothing new to the Holy Land, but you'd think that humankind would have learned something in 15 centuries.
More to come. Stay tuned.
Airlines Reinvent International Travel -- Again
Fewer transoceanic flights, but improved front-cabin amenities
In the heady years that are now over, profit jets and, of course, first and business class cabins on commercial airliners were cash cows for carriers. Then fuel prices sored, air fares went through the roof and the whole airline picture changed. Fuel prices are down now, but so is the global economy, and airlines are still trying to tinker their way to profitability.
According to Associated Press and other reports, US carriers are cutting flights on their transatlantic and transpacific routes but some are upgrading seats and other amenities. Delta is cutting its international service by 10 percent, restructuring some routes to seasonal service and upping flights to Latin America while eliminating unprofitable routes across the Atlantic and Pacific. United has already shaved its international schedule by 15 percent -- but happily is reviving its Denver-London nonstop for spring and summer tourist season. American is cutting international services by 2 1/2 percent, and Continental is decreasing its international capacity by 7 percent.
Some airlines including United and Air France are among the carriers that are trying to retain what premium business there is by installing more comfortable seats, better inflight entertainment and sometimes enhanced ground services. Air France, especially, has raised the bar. It introduced curb-to-plane airport concierge service to ease the first-class passengers' departure. Its phenomenal inflight entertainment choices include 55 films, on-demand television and 116 hours of recorded music. The reopened Terminal 2E at Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) is dedicated to all US flights. In all classes of service, the carrier has introduced flexible business/leisure fares ("bleisure," the call it) with no Paris stopover penalties and enhanced what it calls "the French touch" in food and beverage service. Et finalement, Air France has introduced a premium-economy-style class that combines the comfortable seating of business class and the service found in economy -- which of course, includes complimentary French champagne and wine.
In the heady years that are now over, profit jets and, of course, first and business class cabins on commercial airliners were cash cows for carriers. Then fuel prices sored, air fares went through the roof and the whole airline picture changed. Fuel prices are down now, but so is the global economy, and airlines are still trying to tinker their way to profitability.
According to Associated Press and other reports, US carriers are cutting flights on their transatlantic and transpacific routes but some are upgrading seats and other amenities. Delta is cutting its international service by 10 percent, restructuring some routes to seasonal service and upping flights to Latin America while eliminating unprofitable routes across the Atlantic and Pacific. United has already shaved its international schedule by 15 percent -- but happily is reviving its Denver-London nonstop for spring and summer tourist season. American is cutting international services by 2 1/2 percent, and Continental is decreasing its international capacity by 7 percent.
Some airlines including United and Air France are among the carriers that are trying to retain what premium business there is by installing more comfortable seats, better inflight entertainment and sometimes enhanced ground services. Air France, especially, has raised the bar. It introduced curb-to-plane airport concierge service to ease the first-class passengers' departure. Its phenomenal inflight entertainment choices include 55 films, on-demand television and 116 hours of recorded music. The reopened Terminal 2E at Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) is dedicated to all US flights. In all classes of service, the carrier has introduced flexible business/leisure fares ("bleisure," the call it) with no Paris stopover penalties and enhanced what it calls "the French touch" in food and beverage service. Et finalement, Air France has introduced a premium-economy-style class that combines the comfortable seating of business class and the service found in economy -- which of course, includes complimentary French champagne and wine.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Best Craft Brews at US Airports
CheapFlights.com compiles its top 20 list of US airports for beer drinkers
Being a wine drinker, I was cheered sometime ago when Vino Volo, a chain of upscale wine bars, was rumored to be considering an outlet at Denver International Airport. It hasn't happened yet, and the little chain has only established outposts at nine US airports (Sacramento, Seattle/Tacoma, San Antonio, Detroit and five in the Middle Atlantic). One is in the American Airlines Terminal at New York's JFK, but I sure wish there were one in the airport's main international terminal. I flew to Cairo recently on Egyptair, an alcohol-free carrier, and I certainly wish I had been able to sip a glass of wine better than what the sports bar nearest to my gate poured.
Not being a beer drinker, the new Beer Lover's Airport Guide on cheapflights.com is only a matter of passing curiosity to me personally, but it's an invaluable resource for thirsty flyers who appreciate quality beer and ale. The airports where writer Jerome Greer Chandler found good craft beers are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York/JFK, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington National and Washington Dulles. You'll have to click on the link to learn which brews are available at what part of those airports.
Being a wine drinker, I was cheered sometime ago when Vino Volo, a chain of upscale wine bars, was rumored to be considering an outlet at Denver International Airport. It hasn't happened yet, and the little chain has only established outposts at nine US airports (Sacramento, Seattle/Tacoma, San Antonio, Detroit and five in the Middle Atlantic). One is in the American Airlines Terminal at New York's JFK, but I sure wish there were one in the airport's main international terminal. I flew to Cairo recently on Egyptair, an alcohol-free carrier, and I certainly wish I had been able to sip a glass of wine better than what the sports bar nearest to my gate poured.
Not being a beer drinker, the new Beer Lover's Airport Guide on cheapflights.com is only a matter of passing curiosity to me personally, but it's an invaluable resource for thirsty flyers who appreciate quality beer and ale. The airports where writer Jerome Greer Chandler found good craft beers are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York/JFK, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Raleigh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington National and Washington Dulles. You'll have to click on the link to learn which brews are available at what part of those airports.
Palestine: Day 2, Part 2: Bethlehem and Hebron
Great lunch in Bethlehem followed by a visit to Hebron, an experience in sorrow
Bethlehem
We visited the International Cultural Center, a youth and cultural center offereing education, enrichment, opportunities to build skills the arts, community support and health services to young people, plus a small guesthouse. The complex is one of the hopeful signs of better, more tranquil times to come.
Then we made our way through the old city for lunch at Afeem, down a little street near Manger Square in Bethlehem. Under vaulted stone ceilings, the staff brought out wonderful renditions of Middle Eastern specialties that we'd had before and would have again. Everything came out family-style, so the narrow table was packed with plates and bowls. The hummus was the best I've ever eaten. But the real discovery was lemonade mixed with finely chopped mint. A champion in the thirst-quencher competition.
Hebron
From Bethlehem, we drove to Hebron, a city that was an early hotbed of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation to their territory and unprecedented retaliation on the part of the Israeli government, whose army has the big guns in this conflict. The city center is busy and lively, but pairs of armed soldiers stand around, and scores of checkpoints require Palestinians to show identification on demand when traveling around their own city.
Most controversial and provocative are the Jewish settlements plunked in the middle of old city, not on the outskirts as elswhere. Palestinians have been displaced to make way for these settlements, each protected by a high fence or wall and armed soldiers. The population of the three settlements is reportedly somewhere between 300 and 500, with something like 1,000 soldiers to protect them. Streets and alleyways that used to go through are now blocked off, and hundreds of shops in the old souk have closed, either their metal doors welded shut by the Israelis or abandoned by shopkeepers who no longer had business in this tense place.
One of the settlements looms above the centuries-old market. The settlers, fanatics by anyone's standards, took to throwing shows and trash down on the narrow market paths below. Nets and fencing suspended over the streets (below) now prevent this detritus from hitting passersby. Hebron authorities are so eager to repopulate the old city that they are offering free housing, free schooling and free medical care as incentives to Palestinian families to return to the heart of the city. It would take that for people to be willing to endure the inconvenience and even humiliation literally and figured heaped up them by the small minority of settlers in their midst.
Visitors get an eyeful if they walk through the market, passing many forever-closed shops, en route to Harem el-Kahlil Mosque, which should be sacred to all three major mono-theistic religions. It holds the red and white striped Tombs osf the Patriarchs -- where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and other members of the family are buried. They are revered by Arabs, Christians and Jews and should be sacred to all. But it was the site of one of the West Bank's worst incidents -- and there have been a lot of incidents. In 1994, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli physician with undisputed credentials as a fanatic, donned his Army reserve uniform, entered to mosque and threw a grenade, killing 29 people and wounding 125.
When we left the mosque and again passed through a floor-to-ceiling metal turnstile watched by an armed soldier and walked down the net-covered byways and shuttered market stalls, I bought a beaded bracelet in the colors of the Palestinian flag from one of the young vendors. It was a sad and sobering afternoon. There are many Israelis and non-Israeli Jews who favor peace talks and peace. But the government, with its many travel restrictions, makes such talks difficult. I hope something clicks in, that the conservatives and fnatics on both sides lose power and influence, and that future generations will live in harmony and peace.
En route out of town, we stopped at a glass and ceramics shop (three photosjust below) with one traditional glass-blower showing off his craft for visitors' camera. Then we briefly visited the pools of Solomon, an ingenious water storage and delivery system from antiquity. The pools are located in a shaded area that is currently roped off (bottom) while workmen do some restoration or repairs. Across the street is is a newer resort amnd conference center.
In the evening, we had dinner with Palestinian tourism VIPs at the Tent Restaurant back in Bethlehem. I had to make myself chat and socials, enjoy the group of young dancers and tasty food. Everything was good, but in truth, I continud to be haunted by Hebron and had trouble focusing on the feast.
Bethlehem
We visited the International Cultural Center, a youth and cultural center offereing education, enrichment, opportunities to build skills the arts, community support and health services to young people, plus a small guesthouse. The complex is one of the hopeful signs of better, more tranquil times to come.
Then we made our way through the old city for lunch at Afeem, down a little street near Manger Square in Bethlehem. Under vaulted stone ceilings, the staff brought out wonderful renditions of Middle Eastern specialties that we'd had before and would have again. Everything came out family-style, so the narrow table was packed with plates and bowls. The hummus was the best I've ever eaten. But the real discovery was lemonade mixed with finely chopped mint. A champion in the thirst-quencher competition.
Hebron
From Bethlehem, we drove to Hebron, a city that was an early hotbed of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation to their territory and unprecedented retaliation on the part of the Israeli government, whose army has the big guns in this conflict. The city center is busy and lively, but pairs of armed soldiers stand around, and scores of checkpoints require Palestinians to show identification on demand when traveling around their own city.
Most controversial and provocative are the Jewish settlements plunked in the middle of old city, not on the outskirts as elswhere. Palestinians have been displaced to make way for these settlements, each protected by a high fence or wall and armed soldiers. The population of the three settlements is reportedly somewhere between 300 and 500, with something like 1,000 soldiers to protect them. Streets and alleyways that used to go through are now blocked off, and hundreds of shops in the old souk have closed, either their metal doors welded shut by the Israelis or abandoned by shopkeepers who no longer had business in this tense place.
One of the settlements looms above the centuries-old market. The settlers, fanatics by anyone's standards, took to throwing shows and trash down on the narrow market paths below. Nets and fencing suspended over the streets (below) now prevent this detritus from hitting passersby. Hebron authorities are so eager to repopulate the old city that they are offering free housing, free schooling and free medical care as incentives to Palestinian families to return to the heart of the city. It would take that for people to be willing to endure the inconvenience and even humiliation literally and figured heaped up them by the small minority of settlers in their midst.
Visitors get an eyeful if they walk through the market, passing many forever-closed shops, en route to Harem el-Kahlil Mosque, which should be sacred to all three major mono-theistic religions. It holds the red and white striped Tombs osf the Patriarchs -- where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and other members of the family are buried. They are revered by Arabs, Christians and Jews and should be sacred to all. But it was the site of one of the West Bank's worst incidents -- and there have been a lot of incidents. In 1994, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli physician with undisputed credentials as a fanatic, donned his Army reserve uniform, entered to mosque and threw a grenade, killing 29 people and wounding 125.
When we left the mosque and again passed through a floor-to-ceiling metal turnstile watched by an armed soldier and walked down the net-covered byways and shuttered market stalls, I bought a beaded bracelet in the colors of the Palestinian flag from one of the young vendors. It was a sad and sobering afternoon. There are many Israelis and non-Israeli Jews who favor peace talks and peace. But the government, with its many travel restrictions, makes such talks difficult. I hope something clicks in, that the conservatives and fnatics on both sides lose power and influence, and that future generations will live in harmony and peace.
En route out of town, we stopped at a glass and ceramics shop (three photosjust below) with one traditional glass-blower showing off his craft for visitors' camera. Then we briefly visited the pools of Solomon, an ingenious water storage and delivery system from antiquity. The pools are located in a shaded area that is currently roped off (bottom) while workmen do some restoration or repairs. Across the street is is a newer resort amnd conference center.
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