The violence in the West Bank and Gaza seems to be unending. Some TravelPod bloggers have recently blogged about their time in the area (before the violence escalated).
Bunnyluv1969 got a seat on the last plane out of Israel, just in time.
Bunnyluv1969 in Tel Aviv
The news reports show images of Israel bombing the Gaza strip and the reservists being called out for a possible ground strike. The news reports show images of Israel bombing the Gaza strip and the reservists being called out for a possible ground strike. Aside from the helicopters in the sky and the large number of Israeli soldiers around the bus station, there are no signs of war in Tel Aviv…just a bunch of tourists hanging out on the beach. I asked the lady at the desk if I could change my ticket to leave from Israel and hopefully make it home in the next few days. She checked her computer and informed me that all the flights were booked right up to the 12th of January. She tried a number of different options but things were not looking good for me. I started contemplating perhaps going to Egypt for a few weeks and fly home from there when suddenly the lady told me she found me a flight home on New Year’s Eve. There was one seat left on the plane – it must have been waiting for me.
-from “Last Ticket out of Israel“, Tel Aviv, Israel
The family known as Kgraney aka Kate, Sean, Ronan and Mimi also decided to head home, not long after hearing their first air raid sirens.
Well, Beersheba is famous now, but for all the wrong reasons. It has been a pretty tense couple of days. Last night the sirens went off and we heard our first rocket — this morning they went off again and we saw a rocket right near the University. Luckily, we have a good shelter on our floor (with a flat screen TV even !) and we never lost power or anything. But wow, it is a very scary feeling. After teaching about war and ethnic conflict for years, I have never felt anything like being in the middle of one. I guess it will enhance my teaching, but come on!
We were able to get seats on a flight from Tel Aviv to Newark for tonight, so we will greet the New Year somewhere over the Atlantic. We are so sorry to have to cut our trip short, and especially to leave all of our new friends here.
-from “A Bit Too Much Adventure: See You all Soon!“, Beersheba, Israel
Corey_b came face to face with anti-Palestinian racism when he was denied entry onto the beach in Jericho
Corey_b and his friend from a refugee camp
“Four tickets for the beach please.”
“No” answered the young Jewish-Israeli girl at the ticket desk bluntly. “This beach is reserved for families.”
“For families?” we answered. “Is it always like this?”
“Yes.”
“Okay” we said. “We’ll go to the next beach.”
As we walked away, we (3 internationals and 3 Palestinians) looked beyond the gate at what we were missing.
Nice place, but wait… there were no families there. Just middle-aged Israelis and tourists.
-from “Resilience” – Jericho, Palestinian Territory
Tags: Beersheba, Gaza, Israel, Jericho, Palestine, Tel Aviv, West Bank
