Along the highway East out of Tel Aviv, the monochrome nature of the bare hills and Israeli towns is immediately striking. Buildings built entirely out of native stone seem to melt into one another as well as the surrounding muddled brownish tan hillsides. Stark, bauhaus styling abounds, with austere facades rising incongruously from the rocky slopes, an unusual juxtaposition of organic colors rising in artificial shapes. It makes one wonder how apartment blocks could be differentiated to a visitor.
if you're still with me after that sentence, congrats...
Upon crossing the Green Line, we reach our first checkpoint and officially enter the West Bank and the Palestinian territories.
Bethlehem is beautiful.
The city and it's people immediately exude a warmth and I feel much more at ease than I ever did in Tel Aviv. From the steep hills of the holy city I can look east into Jordan over the Dead Sea, north towards the walled city of Jerusalem, east to the sea and south over the once-sprawling olive groves of Palestine. Occupying the surrounding hilltops, walled enclaves of Israeli settlements dominate the landscape with their sheer density of buildings. The visual weight is reinforced by the homogeneity of color as well as the towering concrete barriers separating them from the Palestinian farmland from which they rise.
We will be staying in Beit Sahour throughout the next month, taking day trips on the weekends and working with various nonprofits in the area during the week. I will be working in concert with 7 other students for Holy Land Trust . More to come soon, I want to put a good amount of thought into these posts so they will come as regularly as possible.
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| This is the view from our home for the month in Beit Sahour. The block of tan buildings visible on the far hilltop is an excellent example of an Israeli settlement. |
Dude you were so right, that Sarah chick is totally not worth it. Oh ya I guess Bethlehem is pretty cool too.
ReplyDeleteAwesome view, Ez!
ReplyDelete