Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For me, exploring the Holy Land wasn't just educational—it was actually fun, be-
cause I flew there knowing so little, and I find that being steep on the learning curve in
my travels is a joy. Old dogs can learn new tricks when traveling to complicated places
with an appetite to learn. And I've found that the best way to do that is to get out of my
comfort zone and simply talk to people. In this chapter, I'll share the lessons I brought
home. Equipped with open minds, we'll visit each side, in alphabetical order: first Israel,
then Palestine. Let's go.
Troubled regions like the Middle East often struggle with a “Who was here first?” debate.
And in the Holy Land, that question has no easy answer. The Arabs and Jews who call this
region home share a family tree that goes back nearly 4,000 years. That's when, according
to tradition, the prophet Abraham—called the patriarch—had two sons: From Isaac came
the Israelites, while Ismael spawned the Arabs. That means that today's Jews and Arabs
are cousins: They share similar DNA, speak closely related languages, and have a genuine
historical claim to this land.
This ancient ethnic mix is complicated by religions. Israelites were Jewish. Christians
worship Jesus, a Jew who brought his own message. And today, most Arabs here are
Muslim—a religion that arrived much later, in the seventh century, with their prophet,
Muhammad. Here in the Holy Land—where Muslims, Jews, and Christians celebrate their
Sabbath on different days—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are each holy days for some part
of the population.
Throughout the centuries, this region endured waves of conquerors—from pagan Ro-
man legions to Christian Crusaders to Muslim Ottomans. In
A.D.
70, the Romans des-
troyed the main Jewish temple in Jerusalem, laid siege to a valiant last stand of Jewish
rebels at the mountaintop fortress of Masada (which ended in mass suicide), and exported
Jews as slaves, beginning what's known as the Diaspora. The Jews dispersed throughout
the world, mostly settling in Europe, where they suffered centuries of oppression culmin-
ating in the Holocaust.
During those centuries, the Arabs (and a small minority of Jews) continued living in
this land as it was batted between various outside powers. Until the 20th century, the en-
tire area was called “Palestine,” as it had been in Roman times.
Meanwhile, beginning in the late 19th century, “Zionism”—a movement inspired by
visionaries such as Theodor Herzl in the Austro-Hungarian Empire—spurred Jews world-
wide to dream of creating a modern state in their ancestral homeland. During World War
I, when Palestine was ruled by British mandate, the Balfour Declaration set the stage to
make this a reality, and Jews began to return to Palestine to claim the land. After the Ho-
