Bright eyed, relaxed, and soft as a baby’s butt, we left the Dead Sea and made our way to the King Hussein / Allenby border. This is a much more intense border crossing as it’s the main route from Amman to Jerusalem and is essentially in the West Bank – a hotbed of activity for the past thousands of years.
At the border crossing we are placed on a bus which takes us to a bag check and passport control warehouse – I would say office or depot but it is much bigger than that. We’re mostly joined by Palestinians making their way from Jordan to homes in the West Bank and north to the Golan Heights. You can smell the tension here. As you make your way through the bag check and onto the Israeli border guards, you pass scores of Palestinians being questioned, sitting in waiting areas, etc. The guard certainly asked more questions to us than I’ve ever witnessed – why, when, where, how, who, etc. We made it through the entire ordeal after about half an hour and on the other side hopped on a sherut, a shared shuttle bus type vehicle with 8 others, for our trip into Jerusalem. Our entire sherut were Palestinians. There were two young kids sitting near us which through our guide book Arabic and their broken English were able to communicate our names, where we were going, and whether we loved Mohammed and Muslims!
Looking out the window at the West Bank was an eerie experience. I couldn’t imagine the lives which the people in the Palestinian villages we passed by had been like. Not only on the Palestinian side but also the Jewish side – the West Bank was full of Jewish settlers which through dozens of years of “peace plans” and “roadmaps” had lost homes and forced to move. Obviously a sensitive topic, and certainly one which is not the crux of my writing, is to think about what is considered “fair and just” for both Palestinians and Jewish people.
Near Jerusalem we passed a checkpoint where a heavily armed Israeli soldier hopped on our sherut and checked identification – finding our visas, checking Palestinian identity cards, and letting us go ahead. Fifteen minutes later as we rode around a bend we were blessed with our first glimpse of Jerusalem – the gilded Dome of the Rock in the distance showing us the location of Temple Mount in the Old City. Dome of the Rock! We couldn’t believe we were seeing this with our own eyes…
By way of background, Jerusalem has been a city raised, razed, and raised over and over for the past three thousand years. The holiest site for the Jewish people is the Western (or “Wailing”) Wall, which is the only remaining foundation of The First and Second Temples which were destroyed by invaders in the early first century. Directly above the Western Wall is Temple Mount, or in Arabic, Haram-es-Sharif, which is the location of the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. On Temple Mount is Dome of the Rock – a brilliantly gilded structure covering a revered set of rocks (these rocks is where Mohammed ascended to heaven, and is also the sale location where Abraham prepared Isaac for sacrifice to God, making it a revered site for Jews). Across Dome of the Rock is Al Aqsa mosque, together these two Muslim places of worship make up Temple Mount. If my history is correct, before the Six Day War in 1967, Jerusalem was divided into East Jerusalem for Palestinians and West Jerusalem for Jews. After the war, Jews took control of all Jerusalem, and in an effort to pacify Palestinians, offered the Temple Mount back to Muslims to control (this still remains a point of contention amongst the Jewish). Temple Mount is now controlled by Jordan, and requires a completely separate security check to enter. The area is controlled by Muslim law, including dress, who can enter the Dome and the Mosque, and what time non-Muslims are to leave the area during prayer. This is completely separate from the Wailing Wall, which is directly below Temple Mount and is controlled by the Israeli state. Confusing, yes - fascinating, even more.
Not only is there an East and West Jerusalem, roughly, the entire Old City (within the ancient walls) there are Jewish, Muslim, Armenian, and Christian Quarters – where you will find shops, restaurants, markets, souks, and religious buildings catering towards their respective people. It’s one of the most incredible places in the world.
Our bus stopped off in East Jerusalem, close to the Damascus Gate, in the Palestinian / Arab area of Jerusalem. As we were staying in West Jerusalem, the “New City” with modern hotels and restaurants, we asked a few cabs in the area if they would take us, and were denied a few times until one agreed. I think it had to do with the fact that East Jerusalem drivers just did not want to travel to West Jerusalem.
We settled into our hotel and hit the streets of the New City for a meal – famous and bustling Jaffa Road. It was hoppin’! There were thousands of people out and some sort of propaganda van which was blaring what seemed to be religious songs with Hassidic Jews dancing along – quite a spectacular scene. We wolfed down a street falafel and a Gold Star, delicious, and walked around for a bit before crashing for our big day tomorrow.
Our entire vacation’s itinerary revolved around Thursday because Temple Mount was only open to visitors from Monday – Thursday. We woke up early and made the 15 minute walk to the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, and walked right in – after taking a few snaps of Mt. Zion which is directly west of Jaffa Gate. Instantly you are transported to an ancient city. Walking through the souks on our way to Temple Mount was a past time we never got tired of that day. Vans and her scarves shopping, me hopping into spice stores, eating fresh baklava – these were just several of the millions of things to do in the souks. We reached the Western Wall first after passing security and were blown away by the number of people there, but planned on saving it for the next day, so continued onto the security checkpoint for Temple Mount. From the checkpoint there is a wooden ramp which climbs up to Temple Mount and provides a great vantage point looking over the Western Wall. Upon reaching the top of Temple Mount, you’re really transported to another world. Finally seeing Dome of the Rock up close and personal, its magical blue color and beautiful gold, and the sanctity of Al Aqsa mosque, combined with what we just saw in the Western Wall, is truly a once in a lifetime experience. Although we weren’t let into the Muslim structures, we did get to spend a few hours walking around Temple Mount and taking in the sites, overlooking Mt. of Olives and the several Christian churches which are there.
We were kicked out of Temple Mount at around 11:30AM for afternoon prayers and made our way walking around the Muslim Quarter, walking back east to the Damascus Gate and the Palestinian hub where we munched on an unreal lunch shwarma. From there we made our way through the Christian Quarter, following the 12 places Jesus supposedly stopped on his way from condemnation to death, and finally to resurrection at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It’s an incredible church with various Christian sects and factions claiming their areas in the church and building various shrines respective to their faiths – Holy Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, even Ethiopian, to name a few. Many Christian pilgrims carry a large cross through the streets of the Christian Quarter following the footsteps of Jesus.
It was late afternoon and the sun was getting to us, so we decided to head back to the hotel and rest up – we did have one more full day in Jerusalem where we planned to visit the Jewish quarter and attend Shabbat on Friday evening, another crux of our trip. But then…
Something hit us! Not sure if it was the afternoon shwarma or the Moroccan dinner that night, but we woke up in the morning with severe gastro issues. Medicines and 5 hours later, we tried our best to wake up and make it to the Old City for Shabbat, but as soon as we walked to Jaffa Road I turned around, ran back to the hotel, and vamsied. There went Friday – down the toilet. At least we got a few Netflix movies in!
I found Jerusalem to be one of the most fascinating places I’ve ever been to. The amount of religious convergence, history, and different people in one place is awesome to witness. Vans and I found ourselves scouring Wikipedia and our guidebooks trying to learn as much as we could about Islam and Judaism crossroads and beliefs, two religions with such large similarities and differences. What amazes me about the city is that 3 of the world’s most influential religions all have a claim inside the walls of a 3,000 year old city which all in all is a few square miles in area. As an outsider, I feel the best way to experience it is to read as much as possible into the history of both religions with regards to the city and go with an open mind.
A few of the pictures below, more to come...
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