Home » Israel » Go Golan! when did Israel start looking like Ireland?

Well, its finally come to the end. My 6 month internship program is officially over. I can’t believe it, I really can’t. As usual, 6 months has gone so fast. For the last week of our program, we had a 4 day trip to the north. It was full of emotions, especially me, only days after my cousin passed away, and just the overwhelming situation of the program ending, and friends leaving. But let me talk about the amazing trip we had before I get all mushy.

Go Golan! when did Israel start looking like Ireland?

Leah Schneier
2007-04-21 21:39:07

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not sure about who exactly was there. It is a very strategic site, since you can see everyone coming up around you, but also, because it was on the only road to Damascus. To get Damascus from the Mediterranean, you had to pass through this area. The whole fortress is really quite large, in several parts, and had so many different rooms and secret staircases and hidden rooms. Once again, we were walking amongst the fog and clouds. It felt like we were in this castle in the sky, it was really cool. We could see into Lebanon villages to the north, so yes, we were very close to the border.

The next place we went to was the Valley of Tears, or the "Bacha" Valley in Hebrew. This area was the site of one of the major battles with Syria in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. We stood at a memorial, overlooking the valley, and listened to our guide describe the battle, and talk about a specific hero named Yoav Blumen. Yoav was an arrogant young soldier, but he had the talent to back it up. He was an expert in tanks. During the 72 hour long battle in the Valley, Israel had about 200 tanks in total, and Syria had about 1500 tanks (not all were involved in this battle, but these were the numbers). Israel was highly outnumbered. During the fighting, Yoav was in a tank that was hit, and he got injured. He was taken to a military hospital, but ran away from the hospital and back into battle. He got back into a tank and kept fighting, and got injured a 2nd time. They tried to send him back to the hospital, but he wanted to keep fighting. Commanders that outranked him let him command their tank or battalion because he was just that good. Yoav's tank was hit a third time, and this time it was fatal blow. We then went to a nearby Kibbutz El-Rom, which was only 2 years old at the time of the war, and had to be evacuated. Although, since then, they have never left. At the kibbutz, we watched a documentary about the battle in the Valley of tears. It had interviews with many of the soldiers ...