Nativity

Slept for 14 hours. We needed it.

We walk down towards the wailing wall again and try to get into the Dome of the Rock. It's Friday and only Muslims are allowed in. I try to convince them that I'm an American Muslim. He looks very annoyed and asks me for my passport. He starts reciting the Muslim call to prayers and tells me to continue. I can recognize that is is the Muslim call to prayers, but I'm unable to continue the cant. I fail the test. Luckily for me he returns my passport.

We walk down the hill to the church of Gethsemane. Gethsemane is the olive garden where Jesus was arrested by the Roman soldiers, where Peter cut off the soldier's ear. They have old olive trees here that supposedly date from 2000 years ago, and the church is nicely done.

We're getting tired of walking, so we decide to take a taxi to the top of the hill, the mount of olives, and then walk and see the churches on the way down. The taxi driver, Adam, has a different suggestion.

We can never stick to a plan. But each time we divert from plan we have a great adventure.

Adam drives us to Bethlehem, which is inside a Palestinian zone. He gives us a tour of Bethlehem, then brings us to a guide named Nida. Nida takes us to lunch: great food, fresh squeezed lemonade with mint. Then he takes us for a walk around the main square in Bethlehem and to the Church of the Nativity. You know, where Jesus was born.

Before 2000 Bethlehem was bustling, Nida tells us: Tourism, hotels, restaurants. At the Church of the Nativity there used to be a 3 hour line to get in. Now there's no line for the church, and even for the sacred grotto underneath there's only a few minutes wait, and that's only because a group of German have stopped inside to sing songs. Right now they're singing "Holy Night", in German of course.

Down in the grotto there is a star where Jesus was born. Candles where Mary wrapped Jesus in clothes, and the area where the three kings gave him gifts, all within 15 feet of each other. The Church of the Nativity is Greek Orthodox, but the grotto underneath is shared. There's an Armenian orthodox church in the same building right along side, and a catholic church on a chapel a little further to the side. Below is St Jerome's cave where they say that St Jerome did the first main translation of the bible into Latin.

Priests have different habits: a tour group of 50 people squeezing into St Jerome's cave, while a priest inside from a different sect is trying to do a mass there. Nida is annoyed at their bad manners.

Nida and I talk as we leave the church. He has anger, honest anger about the situation in Palestine. "I don't care which flag flies above the building. I just want investment, I want freedom. I want a chance for a good life for my kids." Ten years ago, before the first Intifada, life was good for him. He could make $50 for each tour, and groups were lined up for him to guide them through. Now he rarely has work, and when he does he works for tips, usually 50 sheckles each, about $10.

Adam picks us back up and we head back towards Jerusalem. He drives us by one of the walls which separate Palestinian and Jewish west bank. It reminds me of the movie "Escape from New York". In the news and on maps they talk about the wall separating the west bank from Israel proper, but here on the ground the situation seems different. From what I can see the walls just wrap around the Palestinian towns. For the main area of the west bank it looks free for Jewish movement but not Palestinian. The maps from the rental car company seem to reinforce that fact: most areas of the west bank are fine, but some areas such as Bethlehem, Jericho, Nablus and a few others are marked in orange, and you're not allowed to take the rental car there.

On the way back towards Jerusalem we see a few cars that have armored steel mesh protecting the windshield and back window. It reminds me of the movie "Mad Max". Adam says they are cars of some of the settlers, Jewish people that live in the west bank. They do that to protect the cars from Palestinians who throw rocks at the cars.

Traffic isn't too bad because it's Friday, the Palestinian holy day. Adam says, "The Palestinian sabbath is Friday, Jewish is Saturday, and Christian is Sunday. It's a good thing we only have three religions here, otherwise we'd never leave home."