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June 2005 · Middle East Trip

David & Noel Coory's Journey to Israel and Jordan

A travel diary documenting the first leg of an epic Middle East adventure —Lebanon to Israel and Jordan 

Today Friday 1 July

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Tomorrow Saturday 2nd July

First Look

Overall Impressions of Jordan

  • Head-covered women.
  • Old traditional families and customs.
  • Very cheap shopping and hundreds of small shops.
  • High value currency, their Dinar is worth more than the US dollar.
  • Mosques everywhere.
  • Jordan Valley border very hot.
  • Arranged marriages.

First Look

Overall Impressions of Israel

  • Palestinian Arabs mostly warm and friendly.
  • Jews paler skinned, mostly arrogant and unfriendly.
  • Hasidim Jews in black suits and top hats, curly locks.
  • Palestinian Arabs oppressed by Jews.
  • Palestinian Arabs forbidden to enter parts of Israel.
  • Giant 12 metre high, 200 km long concrete wall being built by Jews to divide off Arabs.
  • Heaps of garbage and old cars in Palestinian areas.
  • Whole of Jordan Valley hot.
  • Nice fruit in Jericho.

First Look

Overall Impressions of Jerusalem

  • Unsightly black tents and shacks in Bedouin camps on outskirts of Jerusalem.
  • Same junk jewellery sold everywhere.
  • Arab Souk markets everywhere (if you’ve seen ten shops you’ve seen them all).
  • Churches everywhere.
  • Constant mosque calls to prayer and ringing church bells in Jerusalem.
  • Skull caps (kepars) always worn by practising Jews.
  • The sometimes funny, tummy-forward walk of , with their hands behind their backs.
  • Hasidim Jews more cheerful than non-Hasidim Jews.
  • Thistles growing everywhere.
  • Thousands of tomb stones on the sides of the Mount of Olives.
  • Hills and more hills.
  • Impressive night views of city lights.
  • Heavy young military police presence, armed with AK47 type sub-machine guns.
Saturday 2nd July

EIN KAREM AND THE BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

A Green Oasis Near Jerusalem

Friday is the Moslem Holy Day, like the Christian Sunday or the Jewish Shabbat (Saturday). So we will have three holy days in a row.

We both awake refreshed this morning. I discovered the reason for our poor sleep the first night. It was a thick 100% nylon blanket on both our beds, We took them off last night and both slept very well.

I decide to wash some underwear and a shirt in the bathroom this morning and hope they will dry during the day. We have a nice fruit, yoghurt and muesli breakfast, plus a little more food, eggs, etc, to see us through lunch as well.

For safety we put our airline tickets and the Ipod in one of the hotel safety deposit boxes. These require two keys to open, our own key plus the duty clerk’s key. We are picked up at 9.15 am for today’s tour by a small Arab driver called Lutri. He has a Jerusalem ID card which allows him unrestricted access to any part of the city, unlike other Palestinian Arabs.
Like our van driver yesterday, Lutri is a bus driver rather than a tour guide. He is a little difficult to understand with his strong Arab accent, especially for Noel sitting in the back seat of the van.

He takes us first, at our request, to the BYU Mormon university so we can find it. I want to have a closer look at it later on, and they have a free concert every Sunday evening which we plan to attend. It is not too far from the hotel.

Then he drives us to Ein Karem, just north of Jerusalem which is the birth place of John the Baptist. There are many large trees in this Christian town and it is the most attractive place we have seen so far in Israel.

We are taken to a tourist shop but are not interested. We do however look through a nearby church with an interior of beautifully decorated blue and white marble. It also has an impressive christening font.

We then walk up a steep road to a monastery, but find it closed. However we do get a nice view of Ein Karem which is surprisingly green and well wooded for this dry part of Israel.

“There are many large trees in this Christian town and it is the most attractive place we have seen so far in Israel.”
Interior of the marble church.
The christening font.
View of Ein Karem.

BETHANY AND THE SEPARATION WALL

Among The Ancient Olive Trees

We walk back down to Lutri our driver who is waiting patiently in the van for us.

He then drives us back to Jerusalem, and then out the other side, through the filthiest Arab township that we have ever seen, called Bethany. This is the small town on the outskirts of the city where Jesus stayed with Lazarus and his two sisters whenever he visited Jerusalem.

It is now in the Palestine area and has 70% unemployment. It is one of the areas being walled off from Jewish Jerusalem. In fact the wall runs right across the main shopping street. So traffic going down the main street can no longer pass through. This has been disastrous for the local shop keepers.

(Actually, this area is only a few minutes away from our hotel, in a straight line, over the Mount of Olives, but our driver says that he has to make a twenty minute detour by road, because of the wall.)
There is garbage everywhere, heaped up on the sides of the roads. Old and abandoned cars litter the streets. There are young men sitting, talking and doing nothing everywhere.

Noel and I are astounded at the poverty we are seeing. Our driver wisely points out that busy people making money don’t fight, only down-trodden people living in poverty. I looked into the wall a little further when I got home. Below is some background:

Israel’s Segregation Wall is currently under construction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. When completed the wall will stretch approximately 685 km and enclose approximately 50% of the occupied Palestinian Territories
Many Palestinian homes and many kilometres of agricultural land have been destroyed to construct the wall. Palestinian communities have seen the wall cut between them and their village lands. Other communities have been totally isolated and cut-off from neighbouring towns and villages and the interior of the West Bank. Most disheartening, however, is the way that the Segregation Wall cuts through Palestinian communities, leaving families stranded on opposite sides. A total of 79 villages with 87,589 Palestinian residents will be isolated on the Western side of the main wall. 12 Palestinian villages will be almost totally surrounded by the Main Segregation Wall in enclaves, connected to the West Bank with only one entrance or gate.
“Our driver wisely points out that busy people making money don’t fight, only down-trodden people living in poverty.”
The run down Arab township of Bethany.
The Jewish wall blocking the main street.

THE TOMB OF LAZARUS

Descending Into The Ancient Tomb

We then drive further on to see the Tomb of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead by Jesus. This miracle was what finally lead to the death of Jesus on the cross. He was becoming far too powerful and influential and the jealous Jewish religious leaders took action.

However Lutri first takes us into a very old house, thousands of years old, made of stone.
Then we walk further up the street to the tomb of Lazarus, with the crippled caretaker. Noel and I enter the tomb which goes surprisingly deep into the ground and walk down many steps. If this is the right tomb, Lazarus would have had a difficult job climbing all these steps, wrapped in burial bandages.
“If this is the right tomb, Lazarus would have had a difficult job climbing all these steps, wrapped in burial bandages.”
The very old stone house, dating back further than Jesus. (That's Lutri our driver blowing smoke.)
Walking up to the Tomb of Lazarus.
Outside the tomb.
At the bottom.
Inside the tomb.

THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY

A Lesson In Faith

When we come out we are next taken to a nearby church, which has beautiful grounds and lots of trees. There is an old man outside on the street selling mustard seeds, so I buy some for US$1. The old man is delighted.
The mustard seed is a very tiny seed, about as small as a full stop, but grows into a reasonable sized tree. Jesus liken it to faith. He said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20.
As we drive off, Lutri our driver says that I am probably the only tourist he has sold any seeds to this week.
Tourist numbers are way down on past years in Israel, and are only now are beginning to pick up again. The downturn is because of fear of suicide bombers and political unrest. This is fortunate for us, as we do not have to queue at any of the sites.
Actually the whole Middle East feels far safer to me than down-town Tauranga, late at night, with the violent drunks and psychotic P users.
I ask the driver to show me a real mustard tree. He sees some growing along the roadway, so we stop the van and Noel takes a picture of me standing by a full grown (according to our driver) specimen. I find stacks of seeds growing on the tree in pods, so I could have got some for free, but the old man’s huge grin was well worth the dollar I paid.
As we drive back to the city, Lutri tells us that if a local Palestinian man from Bethany where we came from, should try and drive his car with the red Palestinian number plates into a Jewish controlled part of Jerusalem, or any other Jewish part of Israel, he would be promptly arrested and probably spend a month in jail.
“The old man’s huge grin was well worth the dollar I paid.”
Lutri showing us around the gardens of the church.
A (fully grown?) mustard tree – I'm opening one of the little seed pods growing on it.

EXPLORING THE OLD CITY AGAIN

From Zion Gate To David's Tomb

This is the end of our tour for today, so we ask Lutri to drop us off at the Zion Gate. We want to go inside and have another look at Jerusalem’s fascinating Old City. We also want to visit David’s tomb.
He tells us that if we walk to the Sinbad depot afterward, we can probably get a ride home to our hotel. We walk through the gate and come across a boy with a camel giving rides. We stop and watch a tourist have a go.
We walk along some narrow alleys and eventually find David’s tomb. Inside the tomb are many Hasidim Jews, studying and talking. Unfortunately the little museum near the tomb was closed.
Next we walk along more numerous narrow alleyways, and then up onto the rooftops to the Arab Souk markets we saw yesterday.
“We walk along some narrow alleys and eventually find David’s tomb.”
Outside the Old City walls.
Tourist on the camel.
Close up of the camel’s mug – a camel can spit a wad of saliva at you.
Path leading to King David's Tomb.
King David’s Tomb.
Tomb visiting hours.
ChatGPT Image Jun 3, 2026, 09_53_58 PM
Up on the rooftops of Jerusalem.

FRIDAY PRAYERS IN THE OLD CITY

Crowds At The Dome Of The Rock

There is still a noisy festive atmosphere here, even though it is the Moslem holy day of Friday. We are now near the eastern part of the Old City where the famous, gold-domed Moslem mosque, ‘Dome of the Rock’ stands. We can see it clearly from our hotel room.

This mosque is located on the site, or very close to it, of the Jerusalem Temple that was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans. This is an immense irritation to the Jews, who would like to rebuild the Temple.
Then the loud wail of the noon Moslem call to prayer sounds. Suddenly, hundreds of Arab men, most with prayer mats over their arms or shoulders, begin to stream past us heading for the mosque. There are probably so many because of it being the Moslem holy day.
I think that this might be a good opportunity for us to enter the mosque area, amid the crowds, as non-Moslems are not normally allowed free access to the central area. So we join some of the Moslem men, but unfortunately they had thinned out by now and we are detected by two elderly, white garmented Moslems guarding the gateway.
Probably my belt camera pouch and Noel’s European features and six foot height are an instant giveaway. We are politely turned back with a, “Very sorry, you cannot come in here.”
So we return to the markets. These markets are quite colourful, huge and noisy, with jostling, talking, shouting and buying and the smell of cigarettes in the air.

I manage to buy a black gym singlet printed in Arabic letters for Alec. I also buy some jewellery for my daughters. Noel buys some nectarines, but this time of the year, early summer, none of the fruit seems to taste very nice. We have been subjected to much begging and hassling by Arab men, women and boys this afternoon. It’s becoming a nuisance

“We are politely turned back with a, ‘Very sorry, you cannot come in here.'”
The Arab Souk market and the gateway to the Dome of the Rock mosque.
I sneaked this picture through the gate.

BOOKING A TOUR TO GALILEE

An Evening Back At The Hotel

We come across the office of David Tours, a Jewish travel organisation, so before we go home we book a Sunday tour to Tiberius, through a most pleasant girl named Gillian.

Tiberius is several hours drive northward, in the Lake of Galilee region. This is where Jesus walked on the waters of the Lake, or the Sea of Galilee as the Bible calls it. This Jewish tour is to visit Rabbi’s Tombs of all things. However Noel and I would like to experience some Jewish culture. It has mostly been Palestinian Arab so far.

We find our way back to the Sinbad tourist depot and are driven back to the hotel in a van.

I order tuna salad for tea, through room service. It turns out to be more than I can eat. Noel tries the Schwarma. We also have ice cream and thick yoghurt brought to our room. All the yoghurt in the Middle East is thick and nice.

“This Jewish tour is to visit Rabbi’s Tombs of all things. However Noel and I would like to experience some Jewish culture.”

A QUIET EVENING OF PLANNING

Preparing For A Day Of Walking

The underwear and two shirts I washed this morning are bone dry tonight. This low humidity climate is great. You never feel clammy hot like in Singapore, as any sweat evaporates. You do need to drink a lot of water however.

We spend some time tonight planning tomorrow which is our free day. We will do a lot of walking.
“We spend some time tonight planning tomorrow which is our free day. We will do a lot of walking.”
The long corridor outside our hotel room – we are the last room.
Map of the Old City of Jerusalem showing the different quarters.

David & Noel Coory · Middle East Trip

June 2005  ·  Tauranga, New Zealand to Singapore and beyond Redesigned with care · Original travel diary preserved