Despite now being based back in Tel Aviv, we continued our ‘tour of Israel’ heading toward the South, which is much less vegetated and lush than the North of Israel…but where the ‘real’ baron desert is – the Negev. Today was not just us and Avi, but a driver named Nissan, who was hilarious. Rather then using sunscreen, he had two blue cut off ‘sleeves’ in his glove box that he would just pull on to stop the sun burning his arms as he was driving. It was his birthday today, so when he kept making wrong turns on our way to places, he would just say “It’s my birthday, so I’ll do what I want”.
First we visited Susya, situated in the southeastern fringes of Mt Hebron. This is an archaeologically excavated site of an old Jewish town built during the ‘Talmudic’ times, illustrating the way in which Jewish settlements would have lived 1500 years ago. It is an important site, because it holds impressive evidence that there was a complex Jewish community, that existed and thrived on the fringes of the desert, after the destruction of the Second Temple. You could see the remains of roadways, and walls of the houses that formed the wall to the city. There was an underground olive press, made out of stone, which the boys attempted to turn using a long wooden handle. They managed about one or two turns of it…reasonable considering it used to be moved by donkeys (despite how similar there dispositions may be).
In order to access this site, we needed to go through the West Bank border. Leaving the state is obviously no problem, but getting back in to Israeli territory took a while. They wanted to check all of our passports, and were sort of flicking and fiddling with the covers like they were counterfeit. Avi said it’s not always so strict, but that they were excited by getting to see passports on a slow day…
We then had clearance to enter the Air Force base situated centrally in Israel, one of the largest in the country. We can’t tell you exactly where the base is, as it is not marked on any maps, but its size is larger than the size of Tel Aviv. No photographs were allowed once we were inside, and hearing the sound of jets constantly taking off from the runways was exciting. We were escorted by 3 young members of the air force (who were actually younger than me [Bec]) to be introduced to the ‘second in command’ of the Air Force. He went through the different types of aircraft they use, as well as the educative nature of this particular base, with students training here graduating with a BA after 3 years of study. However, it was interesting to hear how high the drop out rate is. In the group that graduated last week, 600 started out, with only 100 graduating…zero of which were girls. He was also saying how the air force get’s ‘first pick’ out of all the young people of age to enter the army (it’s compulsory) once they finish school. It sounds like a seriously tough few years. We had lunch in the deck hall (the officers dining room) with heaps of other members of the air force eating around us. The kitchens need to feed around 3600 people per day, apparently using humungous pots to cook all the food in, with a cleaning rotation for all the ‘new recruits’. There was one girl sitting at a table on the ‘buffet’ just constantly cutting vegetables and refilling bowls because they went through so much food. Oh, and we should mention the type of food they had, a large buffet of fried chicken schnitzels, salads, rice, beetroot salad, fresh bread… Finally, we got to walk up the top of one of the control towers, where boys and girls , Henry and my age sitting and controlling all the aircraft, both in the air and on ground.
Finally, we drove through the town Sderot and visited a viewing platform on the Gaza Strip, looking directly at (i.e. within 3 km) Hamas controlled buildings. I asked Avi the last time a rocket was shot here, expecting him to say years ago, but he replied saying “last week…actually it was just over there” and pointed about 1km to the left. I then asked what it sounds like when a rocket goes off, and Avi said that if you hear it (a whistling sound…), apparently it is too late. A siren is meant to go off 30 seconds before they are released, and if you can’t reach a bomb shelter (there are bomb proof bus stops next to the regular ones along the road), you should lie flat on the ground.
Our last stop for the day was at Beer Sheba – the Pratt Foundation Garden – which was a really touching place to end the day. The garden and playground area is specially built for handicapped children of all nationalities, and children come to visit the park from all over Israel.
B & C
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