I just came back from a trip to Israel, it was really incredible. Figured some of you might be interested in seeing the photos. I was really lucky and got a completely FREE trip to go there on a program called Birthright. (The program believes it is every Jew's right (by blood) to see their homeland -- a really incredible program).
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Beginning of my trip. An Israeli shopkeeper who sold a variety of sunflower seeds and nuts asked me to take a picture of him. It made him really happy.
Northern Israel, an area notorious for being bombed. Many of the buildings lie in ruins. I was mostly on a bus for this, so I was unable to capture a lot of the abandoned schools and buildings full of graffiti.
The Golan Heights, located in Northern Israel.
Golan Heights.
Mount Bental, an ancient extinct volcano located in the Golan Heights, now used as an Israeli bunker. Used to be a Syrian bunker until Israel captured it in the 6 day war after Syria invaded. A key strategic point as it overlooks Syria, located only 60 km away.
Syria. The right half of the snow-peaked mountain is Syria, the left (with less snow) is the Israeli border.
scenic view
A little hike I enjoyed early in the morning at the Kibbutzim I was staying at.
A bunker in one of the houses at the Kibbutz where I stayed. We were given a tour by one of the locals, a very typical Israeli man who would every so often mutter under his breath, "and every so often we have to get into the bunkers when rockets come down," ever so casually and continue on with another subject.
The Kibbutz itself is a very interesting small society. There are still a few scattered over the North of Israel. A perfectly socialist community in which all property and food is communally owned. If an individual possesses a piece of property that another does not (and is thus "richer" than the other) they must give it up to the community, where it would be placed where all may use it (an example of this is a piano).
All decisions are thoroughly democratic (for example, say someone wanted to increase their property and build another room it would have to go through a community panel).
Kibbutz were very popular near the time when Israel was created, as the whole country was poor and these communities allowed individuals to pool their resources and wealth together. Today, a very small minority lives in them as the country has become far richer.
(Also, I don't know how but the grass is SO GREEN EVERYWHERE)
There is no piece of land unused in Israel. The North is littered with farm fields all around. With such little land to use, it's imperative to use every piece of viable land possible.
Lebanese border, only a few hundred meters away from the location of where the Second Lebanese War broke out. Small sticks used to mark the border. Today, an electric fence followed by another fence protect the border.
A completely surreal experience sitting atop this mountain in complete silence and hearing dozens of Lebanese minorettes blasting early morning prayer in the distance.
A synagogue in the ancient city of Tzfat.
Tzfat.
Tzfat.
Tzfat.
Tzfat.
A nature conservatory in Northern Israel where hundreds of thousands of birds migrate through every year. Here, they are tagged. In this photo, a popular spot for cranes to amass (there were literally tens of thousands of them in this field).
A bench in the ancient city of Caesarea, once a huge port city controlled by the Romans.
one of the few pictures I have of myself
Caesarea (what I believe may be oil rigs in the distance).
An apartment building in a small suburb in Tel Aviv.
A Chinese mother and daughter, waiting for an operation by a humanitarian organization Save a Child's Heart. Run by several heart surgeons, they voluntarily operate and save many children who are in critical condition and do not have the money for heart surgery in their home country.
Since the mother could only speak around 10 words of English and my Chinese is very elementary, it was really difficult to communicate, so I cannot say where exactly they are from. The most I got was a rural village/city in Eastern China. Taking this photo made them unbelievably happy, I'm going to e-mail it to them soon.
If I recall correctly, over 40% of the patients from SACH are Palestinian children.
An old man in Tel Aviv
Israel is littered with interesting graffiti (for example I remember one saying "Know Hope").
This one refers to a very touristy street just a few meters away (this is located in an alley nearby), where a large marketplace boasts hundreds of small shops selling souvenirs.
My tour guide, a very interesting character and an excellent teacher. In this picture, he is pointing to his grandmother's name on a monument commemorating the Jewish families who founded Tel Aviv more than a hundred years ago.
Where Tel Aviv lies now used to be large sand dunes, and these early pioneers envisioned a great city for where Jews and Arabs could co-exist as Jaffa's streets (where most people at the time were living) were very narrow and cramped.
Formerly known as Kings of Israel Square (every surrounding street is named after a king), Rabin Square is a large public square which today is the most popular protest area in Tel Aviv.
Today it is named after Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in the square in 1995 (I still remember it to this day, this was when I still lived in Tel Aviv) for attempting peace talks with the Palestinians, which the ultra-orthodox were extremely against. The rally was a sign of massive support for the talks (the Oslo peace process).
A fellow russian jew I met on the trip
Ceremony celebrating Israeli soldiers end of 3 weeks of training. After a speech they are handed their guns back as well as a Tanakh. We were very lucky to stumble upon it by chance.
lacoste pizza? wha?
Aroma, a great coffee shop that can be found all over Israel (also the reason for why Starbucks failed in Israel).
They opened two stores in Toronto (I've been to them before, but never knew they were Israeli!), highly recommend it.
The Negev Desert, picture taken from atop a camel.
A Bedouin roasting coffee beans in a tent in the Negev Desert.
The Bedouins are an interesting nomadic Arab minority that can still be found in Israel. They hold good relations with the government, some even serving in the IDF.
Bedouin tent where I slept for a night. Not a very comfortable place especially with the harsh winter desert nights (though nowhere nearly as bad as Canada).
A Bedouin in the Negev desert, watching over his camels.
A wall in the ancient mountaintop city and fortress Masada. A famous historical site of the Jewish revolt against the Roman empire in the 1st century CE. Some 960 or so Jews committed suicide (rather than being taken captive) once the Romans built a giant ramp (still seen today) and began to lay siege.
The Dead Sea
A bike that was left behind on the Dead Sea, now encrusted with salt.
The Dead Sea shrinks a large amount every year. Today lies barren rock where once was a beautiful sea.
A cat gazes over Jerusalem.
Arab quarter of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem.
Jerusalem.
The Western Wall (Wailing Wall), located in the Old City, Judaism's holiest site.
Visitors to the wall are divded by gender, the left (a much larger area) is dedicated to men, and on the right (not seen in the photo) the women are able to pray.
Mount Herzl, named for Theodor Herzl, father of Zionism. Fallen IDF soldiers are buried here, as well as several Israeli leaders (such as Rabin)
Shlomi, an Israeli soldier that I was fortunate enough to have as my roomate for 5 nights. Commander of a unit currently deployed in the Gaza strip that specializes in disarming IEDs.
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so i just went to israel