The Golan Heights

Most of Thursday was spent at the Golan Heights.

The past hundred years has been very interesting for the Golan Heights.  At the end of World War 1, Britain and France divided the Ottoman Empire into British and French Mandate areas.  Britain got the all-important water sources, and France got the equally-important high ground.  This did not take into account the needs of the long-time residents, which included Jews, Arabs, Druze, and others.  But it did all of Lake Kinneret in British hands, and the adjacent Golan Heights with the French.

The UN Partition Plan of 1948 followed these borders, so that all of Lake Kinneret was with the new Jewish State and the Golan Heights were with Syria.  That made the communities on the east shore of the lake sitting ducks for snipers or artillery from up above.  This was a dangerous situation from 1948 until the 1967 6-Day War.   During the 6-Day War, the Israeli forces took control of the Golan Heights.  There was fierce fighting there during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but the Israeli Defense forces held, and this has been Israeli-held territory ever since.

On Thursday morning, we climbed up Mount Ben Tal, a dormant volcano in the Golan Heights.  This was a difficult climb of several hundred meters up a rocky trail.   However, it was much easier for us than for a bicyclist we met on the trail - he was participating in a race from the far North of Israel to the Southern tip, and it included this path.   He passed us partway up the mountain, and then we passed him on a more difficult part where the path was steep and narrow.   He was not allowed (by race rules) to solicit or accept help - and we never saw him after that.  Carrying a bicycle up that mountain must have been a brutal task.

There are bunkers everywhere!

Rose, Asaf, Ron, Mike, Debbie, and Rita get ready to climb

Here comes our new friend

The brave rider poses with
 Debbie, Mike, Rita, Ron, and Bob 

 
At the top of Mount Ben Tal is an eatery named Coffee Annan.   Yes - they do sell coffee there.  And yes, they made the joke intentional.   If you do not understand who this eatery is named after, please consult the recent history of the United Nations.

The Hebrew word at the bottom is "Annan"

Adjacent to Coffee Annan is a United Nations outpost.   At one time, they monitored the Israel/Syria border from Syria.   However, no place in Syria is safe today, so they moved to Israel where they could sleep comfortably at night.  That's right - there is no monitoring at night; and also no monitoring when they are talking with tourists.   The people seemed nice enough, but it is hard to imagine that they are doing anything to maintain peace!

Our driver Hani with two UN observers

An unfortunately casualty of Coffee Annan was my cell phone battery, which died and took the camera with it.   My regular camera's battery charger failed several days ago, so pictures of the rest of the day are harder to come by.

Lunch was at a delightful winery where we sampled many kinds of wine, and also were served an excellent pizza lunch.   I told the owner that while I am not a lover of or expert on fine wine, I am a lover of pizza and enjoyed his very much!

We left the winery and drove to a park with a trail which is widely used by Israeli hikers and families.   It included two waterfalls, including one of about 100 feet which had a swimming hole at the bottom.  A sign at the top of the waterfall was in memory of an adventurous young man who decided to jump, and died pursuing his adventure.

We all (except Asaf, our guide) found this hike to be rather challenging - lots up short up-hills and down-hills while going along a stream bed, on a very rocky trail where the soil was loose and some of the rocks were slippery.   However, Asaf's tour book guide listed the trail as "family friendly, moderate".   I guess we have some work to do to catch up with the rest of the world!

As we left the stream bed and walked out of the park, our adventures continued.   We encountered a policeman and an army officer who showed us a bomb left over from the 6-Day war that was recently discovered.   They were there to detonate it.   There were five vehicles, including an ambulance, a few hundred feet away.  We quickly left the area, and about fifteen minutes later, we heard a loud explosion.

Not long after that, we went on a trail that went along a stream bed.  We tried walking on rocks in the shallow stream to keep dry.   It wasn't always easy.   At one point, the vegetation closed over our heads and the very prickly plants above us tried to rip off my hat.  Only a hundred or so yards later, we found ourselves with barbed wire on the left and very prickly plants on the right - and difficult footing the the stream with no place to hang on!  In a short time we saw a sign on the barbed wire warning us of "Danger - unexploded mines past this fence".

We finally reached our van and Hani, our driver who was patiently waiting for us with hot coffee.  The van was parked only a few dozen feet from the Jordan River.  For those who are familiar with the song "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore", and remember the line "Jordan River is wide and deep" - the songwriter must have never been there.   It is not as wide as Cleveland's Chagrin River; it is perhaps 20 feet across.

We left there for the three-hour trip to Jerusalem - where we arrived at about 10:30 PM.   It is now a half hour past midnight, and I bid you all good night!