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Alleluhia! I made it to Israel... and back!<br/>
Actually, the Holy Land was a bit of a let down and far as excitement goes. Indeed, God, Yahve and Allah be my witnesses, I swear I honestly did my best to get in trouble and have some interesting stories to tell, but to no avail.

Verbal Warfare in the Holy Land

Xtinemichaud
2005-12-23 16:47:32

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Alleluhia! I made it to Israel... and back!

Actually, the Holy Land was a bit of a let down and far as excitement goes. Indeed, God, Yahve and Allah be my witnesses, I swear I honestly did my best to get in trouble and have some interesting stories to tell, but to no avail.

My guidebook said: "Avoid crossing the King Hussein-Allenby Bridge between 11am and 3pm". I got there at 11:05 and went right through, with welcomes and smiles.

"Don't go to Palestine, it's dangerous now," the tourist office people in Jerusalem told me. The next morning I headed for Bethlehem, really excited about having to cross the Palestinian army check point. I caught a Palestinian minibus driven by a local who took a side road to avoid the military barricades, dropping me in downtown Bethlehem without me ever having seen a soldier.

I peacefully visited the Church of the Nativity, all alone, with guides fighting among themselves to give me a free tour (the poor chaps are bored out of their minds as other tourists tend to listen to the advice they get in Jerusalem and never venture out in the Palestinian territories). A few hours later, Bethlehem was shelled while I slept safely within the walls of old Jerusalem.

So the only hostilities I was exposed to were the verbal abuse of the vendors/guides/touts of old Jerusalem's Islamic quarter. I had had a pretty bad week so my patience was not much short of non-existent with these vultures. Which is why I insisted on ignoring or keeping my answers short with this guy at Jaffa gates:

"Hello girl! Good morning!"

"Hello." (don't look at him and keep on walking)

"Hello! Excuse me! Please? Yes, you! Hello! Where are you from? Bus tour? Walking tour madam? Madam! Taxi? Dead sea? Tel Aviv? Hello! Are you going shopping? Deusch? American?"

(ignore him and keep ...