Photography
These photos were created in the Summer of 2006, as a Media Fellow at the Jerusalem office of The Israel Project
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Summer 2006 |
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Northern Israel and the Golan Heights |
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Israel |
A week before hostilities broke out on the northern border, my company had a chance to travel to the north. Here are some photos:
The strategic Jordan Valley. On the left is a military patrol vehicle. The Jordanian territory of Gilad is in the background. In ancient times, two and a half Israeli tribes lived there.
This Jordanian fort occupies a bend in the river north of Beit Shean. When two Jewish girls were accidentally shot by a Jordanian guard near this fort in the 1990s, King Hussein personally visited the mourning families to assure that peace remains between the two nations.
The Kinneret supplies most of Israel's water supply. On the western shore is the town of Tiberias.
North of the Kinneret, we stopped to refuel and have a coffee break. That's 332.9 Shekels for 51.2 liters.
Mount Bental
Mount Bental is on the Golan Heights overlooking the Valley of Tears, where a deadly tank battle took place in 1973. From here looking east, you can see the UN-patrolled neutral zone and the plain of Bashan in Syria. From here, it less than 20 kilometers to Damascus.
The mountaintop coffee shop has a punny name.
Mount Avital on the right is still an active military base, known as the "eyes and ears of Israel," gathering intelligence on Syrian movements.
In the Yezreel Valley, Mount Tabor is famous for its battle scene involving Deborah and Barak.
Kfar Ara'ra
An Israeli Arab village near Umm El Fahm. The residents are supportive of Palestinian independence, but at the same time consider the village to be their true home. They resent the idea of a Jewish state, but refuse to live anywhere else.
In yellow is writer Smadar Bakovic, who brought us to Ara'ra. While some of my coworkers were surprised by the strong pro-Palestinian sentiments of these teenagers, I was not. It only reinforced my view that Israel needs to exercise more power in the village and remind the villagers that this is not their land. They must accept the Jews as brothers, get used to their presence, and start sharing and cooperating. By acting stubborn and resisting, they are only making their situation worse.
Mohammed Joulani is a pharmacy student. "You can give me a million dollars and I will still refuse to leave this land." I suppose Baruch Marzel shouldn't even try visiting Ara'ra, he doesn't even have the money needed to persuade Mohammed.
The oldest part of the village is a well dating back centuries.
A poster for an Israeli Arab party list. Strongly radicalized, MKs such as Azmi Bishara and Sheikh Ibrahim Sarzour use their seats as a platform to embarrass Israel and vocally support the enemy. How long will this abuse of free speech endure?
On my way form Ara'ra to Haifa, we passed the Hadera power plant near Caesaria. It claims to use "clean coal."
Haifa Victims of Terrorism
A poem in Russian shows how deep the loss of a loved one cuts into a family
The father of Asaf Tzur on the left and the father of Tali Kohrman on the right. Both of their children died in a suicide bus bombing.
These two fathers were at the front of a campaign against the movie Paradise Now, which was nominated for the Academy Award.
A cute cat family. Israel has stray cats everywhere.
Back at the hostel, one of the soldiers entertained me with Russian pop songs.
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