Sunday, March 1, 2009

Day 2 Friday February 20, 2009

It’s raining, it’s pouring…. Today we were suppose to be gong on a hike but due to the crappy weather plans got changed. It was a fairly inactive day but very educational. It gave me a better understanding of Israel and war then I had before.

We are staying in the Golan Heights which is a pretty controversial area. It’s the North East corner of Israel that extends out like a finger between the border of Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Until 1967 it was a part of Syria but Israel won the land in the 6 day war. Yes, yes… I thought it was bad to start wars to claim land from other countries too… but I also didn’t grow up in a country surrounded by hostel countries living in fear of being attacked. The Golan is a war strategic area.. From the top of Mt Bental you can see all the way to Jerusalem and into Syria on a clear day. We went to the top but of course all we saw was white clouds and fog due to the ‘beautiful‘ weather. Besides being a lookout its also is a terrain obstacle for war. Before the 6 day war the border of Israel and Syria was just a tree lined road. Israelis living along that road were having problems with sniper attacks and told Israel if they didn’t do something they were going to move. If they moved there was no one holding down the border and Israel would lose that. So in June.. I think it was June… of 1967 Israel attacked and won the Golan heights in 6 days.

We saw a short documentary on the Yom Kippur war that took place in 1973. It was testomonial and footage from three soldiers that fought there. Really intense! They were fighting in tanks at night and weren’t equipped with night vision or inferred against the Syrians who were properly equipped., and were completely outnumbered. I think its pretty miraculous that they won. For those of you that don’t know the Yom kippur war was when Syria and Egypt planned a surprise simultaneous attack on Israel so that Isreal would have to divide their defenses and fight in the north and south borders. My mom was living in Israel during that time and has told me about it but I never really quite got the intensity of it till now.

Tonight Shabbot starts which means we are doing pretty much nothing till tomorrow night but hanging out at the hotel in the rain….

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