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Published: December 27th 2006
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Hi!It's Sarah Paster. Today was so much fun! We woke up a lot later, which was nice, and then we went on this awesome Jeep tour of the Golan hights. It was a bit cold outside, but since my Jeep (my family and Stamberg family) brought 3 blankets and 1 comforter, we were good. We drove through a Kibbutz, and then followed the path of the IDF during the 6-day war. Cool things we saw were a hot-spring, a bunker, and lots of cows.
Hi! Now it's Sarah's sister, Becky. After the Jeep tour was over, we walked through a nature reserve and saw the Dan Springs. My favorite part was when everyone took a short rest at a lookout and all of the kids climbed a giant tree. The view was amazing! Then after a short lunch, we went to an Israeli bunker. That was a lot of fun, but what got us really excited was when it started snowing during lunch. It was really cold, but it was great to see snow again. Bye for now!
David here now. As Sarah described we had a full day here in the Golan. For me it was another reality
check. Part of the day we learned a lot of the history of the Yom Kippur War but mostly the Six Day War in 1967 when Israel took the Golan Heights. As we drove in the jeeps into the hills we saw barbed wire, mine fields left by the Syrians and old bunkers. These were bunkers where Syrian soldiers, before the Six Day War, shot at Israeli farmers while they were working in the valley. We saw the trees that were planted around the Syrian bunkers (suggested by an Israeli spy in Syria before the war in order to "shade" the soldiers) that ended up pointing out troop positions. We took a bus to the highest point of the Golan Heights for a great lunch (and yes it was snowing to the point where we had to get down before it got worse). We saw Kiryat Shemona a development town underneath the Lebanese border which was hit with rockets by Hezbollah last summer and we saw a Syrian City, Kuneitra, caputured by Israel in 67 and after the war given back to Syria to repopulate but Syria never did as they wanted to use it for propaganda - to show visitors a "ruined" city (though much of the ruin was neglect after the war.) Religion aside, the history here is amazing. And in 1967 the ramifications of Arab countries supported by the Soviets could have been disaster for the Israelis, especially when the US was involved with Viet Nam. I learned today how the Israelis won and how the Golan Heights, despite the advent of missiles, is such a strategic position over Syria. (Debby: David wants you to also know he felt completely safe up on the Golan -- and remind you this is not where they are any current problems, and not last summer either. The problems were on the other side of this valley. And even there we would feel very safe right now. At dinner we discussed how safe people felt -- just as safe or moreso than in the States. Beth El people -- ask Nina about that when we get back. )
Debby here: the group really had a fine day -- good pace; long hike in Dan nature reserve. The sun really stayed out today until 1:30 pm when we went high up to Ben Tal at top of the Golan. Many groups changed their itineraries and skipped the outdoors today because of predicted bad weather -- so we had many places to ourselves! Awesome, as this is one of the most crowded weeks for tourists.
Tonight after all the touring many of us enjoyed the gym and spa at the hotel. This is new since my last visit (2005). Before dinner I had a little wine and cheese party in the room. Fun! Then after dinner we had a great talk on the changes in kibbutz philosophy and structure since its inception. Tomorrow morning we are leaving to head across to the Mediterranean to Caesarea and then down to Tel Aviv. Nighty-night!
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