Jericho: if only the walls could come a tumblin' down.

We begin our day in Jericho - a city that was frequented by Jesus both in person and in his parables . According to the most up to date scholarship, Jericho is likely to be one of the oldest places of inhabit life on the continent. Digs reveal successive buildings, destruction, rebuilding and renovation over a 10,000 year history. What is clear is that there was NO city of the Canaanites there when Joshua came into the promised land . Such detail in the story is likely to have been a later addition when the story was being told - an amalgamation of details as such . Driving around though, it is clear that this city is very old. It's in the midst of the dessert built beside an oasis spring . This water source is extremely valuable and is under guard 24/7. This city is in the "a"zone and therefore under Palestinian control. It is like a palm springs place for Palestinians and some Israelies who come for heat, sea air and a pleasant holiday place on weekends and winter holidays as its a sharp contrast to the weather in Jerusalem and yet is less than an hours drive away. The commerce in the area reflects such.

For most of the "holy stone kissers" ( the term used to describe Christians and others who come to the holy land to see the places Jesus was), they come to visit the "sycamore tree where Zacheaus saw Jesus". ( like this 400 yr old tree is the one! ha!) and just a bit outside, the mount of temptation , "the place Jesus was tempted in the dessert". It astounds me how utterly ridiculous and naive some visitors are about such things. Helena, Constantine's mother, ascribed many of these places as holy sites in order that those who had come on pilgrimages to this area of the world would have something to see. And while somewhere on these hills in this region likely contain the place where Jesus discerned his calling and fasted and prayed, there is certainly NO WAY we could ever know the exact spot of much of the stories in his ministry. Many of these religious tours completely miss the other critical elements of history and politics in their quest for the "holy stones to kiss"

From here we journey northward along the Jordan river route though you cannot see the river. It is not a large flowing river as I was often under the impression of, but rather more like a stream especially at this time of year. This would have been the route that Jews in Jesus day would have taken from Nazareth to avoid going through Samaritan territory. After a bit we veer off and head toward Jennin, a village that was a large hot spot during the second intifada and which has within it a refugee camp there since 1948. It is one of the places that the Israel government does not want us seeing and so access is challenging and we go there under the guise that we are visiting the church of the ten lepers ( an orthodox church that was built around a grotto/ cave where lepers where once known to gather around a specific well in the region - may actually have historical precedence) Most tourists do not come to this region as it is seen as dangerous. Here we visit a theatre company that has been working since the first intifada to give voice to the anger and other emotions of Palestinians in this region. Their work is very edgy, eye opening and was started by an Israeli woman who was part of the army in 1967 but later became a huge supporter of the Palestinians and an opponent of the occupation. We watched documentary footage from various period during her work here including footage of the Israeli army coming through this village and bulldozing streets, gun fights, interviews with families etc. You can still see the bullet holes in the houses and buildings along the streets. Some buildings have been rebuilt, others haven't. We stayed longer than we had intended as we are invited to watch a play that is being launched that day for the community. The founding director's son took over the work of this playhouse and was assassinated about a year ago.

We also visit a fair trade cooperative of palestinian olive oil and other related products. It is a very hopeful sign and a source of great pride for those involved. From here we leave and make our way to Nazareth for the night. Because we will be leaving zone A of the west bank occupied territory we have to cross the green line and the barrier wall. This check point is long (50 mins wait) and we are pulled aside and questioned for being in this area. We lie and say we are holy stone kissers who have just been to the leper church. We pass on and spend the night at a convent guest house in Nazareth.