Hebron and the Dead Sea

       If this blog, or this trip hasn't been depressing enough at times, visiting Hebron put the nail in the coffin. We were escorted by Christian Peace Makers, an organization that Bret has worked with in the past to help mediation between Israelis and Palestinians. Hebron is one of the poorest cities I have ever been in. Merchants, and children come up asking you to buy their bracelets for just a mere amount in shekels. For a second, it reminded me of Cambodia and my time at Angkor Wat. The poverty was the same, and I remember little Khmer kids, starting at the age of 3 or 4 coming up and asking me to buy from them. However, there is much more to the city besides the poverty. Hebron is actually a hub for tourist and religious activity. Biblical sites such as the burial of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs resides within Hebron. This makes Hebron a holy site to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. For Jews, it is considered the second holiest place, and for Muslims it is considered the fourth holiest place. Insane how all these religions share these sites and seeing how the people interact. Palestinian and Israeli relations here are probably some of the worse that I have seen. Palestinians easily get shooed away from going on certain streets for the "safety" of the settlers. Many more Israeli settlers have taken advantage of Hebron even though Hebron is more so populated by Palestinians, but more and more settlers keep moving in under the security of the IDF. There actually is a specific street that Palestinians are not allowed to walk on due to attacks from the past. More and more saftey regulations are being imposed by the IDF to push Palestinians away from living within Hebron. Four to five year old children even have been arrested and interrogated. How can a four year old be arrested? Tear gas is shot at these children near a school almost every single morning. Stones are thrown by the children due to the IDF initiating some kind of annoyance towards the children. There are maybe 5 checkpoints within the city itself to go from place to place. Insane.                           
            Masada and the Dead Sea have been huge highlights of this trip. Once at the Masada or the Dead Sea, one can see Jordanian mountains within the distance. It is incredible. The hike up Masada took me a while since 1. I don't hike often and 2. my little calves were tightening up. It isn't fun having short legs and trying to hike steep stones. No fair. Anyways, the views were amazing and I could not have asked for a better day. Google Masada if you have no idea what it is. Very important to Israel. The Dead Sea is something everyone must go to when in Israel. Everyone is just floating around and hanging out. There is so much salt in the water that if you get it in your eyes they will burn for a good ten minutes. It is forbidden from swimming on your stomach to avoid getting salt in your eyes. Also, one must put the black mud that can be found near the shore of the Dead Sea. It works as a great exfoliate for the skin! Today was good.