Nick's Rotary Year: Yom Kippur, the Golan Heights and the Galilee

The International School here at the University of Haifa organizes trips throughout the school year. Most of the tiyules revolve around the natural environment. There are trips to the Golan Heights, the Dead Sea and the Negev desert. Haifa is located in the northwest of Israel and following from Haifa a valley extends eastwards, which for ancient tribes, Bedouins, Arabs, Christians and Jews was part of the natural division to the land. Ancient trade routes extended from the Mediterranean in latitudinal lines. Thus, when the colonial powers divided the Middle East, combining several of these trade routes into one country, they corresponded to no previously existing demographic divisions. We started our trip early in the morning, destined for the Golan Heights, a plateau that Israel captured from Syria in 1967 in the Six Day’s War. We drove East through one the valleys stretching from the sea, seeing many olive orchards which are overlooked by little hamlets on each hill or mountain. The Galilee, the area West of the Golan Heights is the most heavily Arab populated area in Israel Proper. Israel attempted to populate the area with Jews so that the communities would further integrate, however, this initiative largely failed. Gradually, we climbed towards the plateau and away from the coast. Along the previous border of Israel and Syria, the Jordan River flows and is lined with fields of Syrian landmines where cattle now roam. Large yellow signs mark off these areas. They continue to exist because the Israeli Defense Forces have no idea where the mines are and it would cost many lives and resources to find them all. We were told that once in awhile a cow will be grazing in such an area and suddenly blow up. Our guide thought this was rather funny. Once up on the plateau, the scenery reminded me of the western part of Montana or Wyoming: rather arid, sometimes rocky, with rolling hills for grazing and agriculture, and the big blue sky. We stopped at an old Syrian military outpost with abandoned one story cement buildings surrounded by Eucalyptus trees, which they planted for shade (which allowed the Israeli military to easily identify outposts and part of the reason for their swift victory). These buildings not only housed the soldiers but their families as well. We descended into a narrow canyon and hiked along a small stream with waterfalls and cold and clear pools that we stopped to swim in.

That night we stopped at a Kibbutz and slept in Bedouin-style tents that fit around 60 people. In one giant room there are rugs and mats for everyone. Thankfully, I fell asleep quickly before, I was later told, several snorers began their music. The next day was another longer hike through a different canyon with waterfalls and scenic views. The last stop on the tour was a military lookout over Syria, on top of a dormant volcano. Our tour guide, a native of Britain had made aliya (Jewish immigration) twenty years before and has been in the army ever since, though on reserve for much of it. Having been on several tours already, I was not surprised by the biased and exaggerated Pro-Israeli perspective that we received from him. There are many tour guides in Israel and most are preaching to Jewish Zionist groups so such rhetoric is probably more easily swallowed. But I had a hard time biting my tongue, especially when he painted a portrait of Israeli Jews as modern, progressive and peace-loving while Arabs were backwards, violent and misogynistic. This is not an uncommon opinion here though not the majority. Even in some of my classes I have heard similar points of view from professors. It is a racialized perspective that can be compared to some older trends in the US for blacks and Hispanics, as well as in Europe for Jews, Romas, and even Irish. It is this perspective that I find most frustrating and which, I think, will prove the largest obstacle to finding lasting peace in the region. But Israel continues to surprise me in unexpected ways. The Golan is one of the most beautiful (and disputed) parts of this country. I had imagined this place as only desert and coast but it is much more. As are the people.

-N