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Published: October 23rd 2009
Thursday, 9/17
Be'er Sheva Bedouin Market:
Naya was in school again today so we were off early to Be'er Sheva, a city in the north Negev. Once a week there is a large market mainly for the local Bedouin people. It is like a giant flea market with the Dollar Tree as part of it. So much junk (in our eyes), also lots of clothes, jeans, traditional pants, robes and dresses as well as modern clothes, jewelry, pots and pans, toys - lots of toy machine guns and handguns, etc. It was fascinating because most of the women were in traditional dress, I don't know what it it called, but the black gown or robe, richly embroidered. It has a hood and appears to be worn over jeans or other garments. Some had their faces covered with only their eyes showing, others just had their hair covered. I took some pictures of the people walking to the market and one of the crowds, but didn't take any others as it is considered very disrespectful. And I can completely understand that. This is their market where they buy things they need, they do not want to be the object of
Western documentation!
Some men were in traditional dress with the long robe-like garment. It's not black, however, more gray or white. It's very chaotic without any “lanes” or any separation of items - like clothes here, pots and pans there - the vendors come in the morning about dawn and just start setting up. Apparently, very early there is trading for goats and camels but we didn't see any of that.
I did buy a beautiful embroidered sleeve. What the women do when their robes wear out is to cut out the embroidered part and re use it. (or in this case sell it) I loved the embroidery and will make a pillow from it. The vendor was very very pushy, trying to sell us lots of other stuff - I am not a bargainer, so I leave it to Katy - I think it cost about $7.50.
After the market, we proceeded on our way to the Dead Sea and Negev Desert. Little by little, the vegetation becomes more sparse and the low rolling hills brown out. It's not like a sand desert with dunes, but more like dry scrub, no trees unless it's a little
oasis, but tumbleweed type of scrub and barren hills. Out of nowhere it appeared, Katy said - Look a herd of camels! And there they were on a side dirt road! Must have been a dozen or so and we didn't see the herders although I am sure they were there somewhere. Dori was able to pull over and turn into this dirt road and we got some great photos of the camels. There was one at the rear of the group, quite a ways behind and I was able to get almost next to him. It was great!!!
Our next stop was at Masada, the site of the final Jewish rebellion in the year 70 CE. It is a HUGE plateau about 1,000' high that rises out of the desert. Unbelievably, this was the stronghold and winter palace of King Herod, the Roman king who served from about 64 BCE to 4 BCE. After Herod's death, and the pogrom against the Jews by the Romans, it became the last defense of the Jewish rebels. The Romans built an enormous hill and ramparts to attack the Jews at Masada who held out for several years. Finally, the Romans were
successful in setting fire to the entry doors and rather than be taken prisoners, they killed themselves and when the Romans entered Masada the next morning, they found all the bodies, robbing them of any sense of victory.
We watched a short movie about this and then took the cable car to the top (you can hike up to the top but it was so hot and would have taken way too long!). We got the headsets for the audio tour and walked around the ruins. It is still amazing to me that something as large and complex could be built with the limited technology of the day - especially considering it's elevation. Although they had two quarries on site where the stones were cut. It's hard to do justice to such an amazing site with only photos!
The Dead Sea is approximately 17 miles long and maybe a mile wide. It's “dead” because it's a landlocked salt water sea and so salty nothing can live in it. However, it is very pretty and the waters are blue and blue/green, but the shores are very strange with large salt deposits built up at the edge making it very
hard and sharp. It is also rich in Magnesium and other minerals that are mined in the area. There is NOTHING but nothing around there as it is in the desert and the eastern side is in Jordan, so really the border runs through the sea. Only the very southern part is in the Negev desert and the rest is in the Judean desert, which is even more “desert-y” than the Negev. There are several resorts and spas along the sea as the general public cannot go into the waters just anywhere. We went to a public beach where there was hot mud as well as the sea. It was a truly unique experience!!
You need to wear water shoes or rubber sandals into the water because of the salt edges that can cut your feet. Once you get into the water up to your thighs, you literally sit down and your feet pop up to the surface. You are sitting in the water! It feels rather oily to the touch because of the huge salt content. The easiest thing to do is put your arms under your knees (so you don't have to use your abs too much
to hold yourself in a seated position) and then you just bob around in the water. If you turn over on your stomach, your feet pop up above the water and it is very uncomfortable for the back! What a funny experience!! Dori hates the Dead Sea so he sat on the beach and took photos.
After we got out we went to the side area that is a natural hot mud spring. The black mud is filled with salt and very hot! You rub it all over yourself and it is supposed to be very healthy and good for the skin - and it really is! It's like a mineral salt scrub and when you wash it off, your skin is as soft as a baby's! Katy and I really liked it - Dan hated it - it just made him hotter and stickier, and he really was not all that interested in soft skin! The signs are all printed in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Russian as there are lots of Russians who frequent the dead sea.
As we were turning west from the Dead Sea toward Jerusalem, we stopped at a roadside rest stop for something
to eat. How crazy was it that we saw two guys with their camels giving camel rides. Dan and I decided to have a camel ride and I think it cost us $7.50 for us both. It was a hoot! The camel's name was Rami and she seemed quite nice and used to this job. The only thing totally weird about it was the getting up and getting down as camels are very tall animals and when they get up, the back end comes up first and you pitch forward until the front end gets up! But the ride itself was extremely comfortable and actually much easier than riding on a horse. We both had a lot of fun with Rami! It was close to 5 PM and the herders were knocking off for the night, so after our rides, they got on their respective camels and literally took off into the desert - that was quite a sight! I asked Dori about the camel herders and he said they were probably either Palestinian or Bedouin, as there are many many Bedouin camps in the Judean desert. Seeing the Bedouin camps dispelled any “Lawrence of Arabia” fantasies of beautiful tents
- these days they are shacks made from wood poles, tarps and occasionally a tin roof. By our standards it looks pretty bad - for them, they still get to live for free in the desert and get by in more traditional ways - If the herders make $5 per camel ride, they could do OK financially, considering they have almost no overhead...
It is very very different here. Who owns the desert? Well, the State of Israel does, but basically if you want to erect a tent or shack and live there, help yourself. No one is going to stop you or try to charge you anything - it wouldn't work anyway! Co-existence is much more prevalent in Israel than Americans are led to believe by the media. Co-existence is the rule rather than the exception. This is no way justifies everything Israel does concerning the Palestinian territories - however, there is a much larger story to tell than most Americans know about.
The drive back to Jerusalem is very very interesting. There is a road to Ramallah and Jericho, both cities in the West Bank. As I previously mentioned, the West Bank is very very large,
and easily encompasses as much territory as Israel itself, not counting the Negev desert. We went through several security check points but did not have to show our identification - Katy jokingly said it was because Dori is so obviously an Israeli. We also saw lots of Palestinian taxis running from Jerusalem to West Bank cities.
What to say about this experience? As Americans, we have no mental container for much of what we have seen - I try to be an objective observer and notice how little I really know about the history of this incredible region - I also try to use eyes other than “American” eyes when judging or observing situations.
Back at the kibbutz, we spent some wonderful time playing with Naya and after she went to bed, sitting outdoors on a blanket drinking wine, eating Pitas and talking. What could be better???? Love, family, neighbors, …........... not bad!
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