Thursday - our last day together - in Northern Negev Desert, past the Gaza Strip, and back to Tel Aviv

On Thursday morning, we left Mizpeh Ramon to begin our last day together.  It began with a drive to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev which was home to David Ben-Gurion for the latter part of his life.  Although the great leader in the War of Independence and Israel's first Prime Minister could have chosen an easy retirement in Jerusalem, he held the dream of taming the desert and chose to live in this kibbutz in the desert, and was buried there next to his wife.  His gravestone is simple, giving his name, his years of birth and death, and the year he moved to Israel.


Our next stop was a village about an hour north of Sde Boker.  Its Police Station holds an interesting collection - dozens or hundreds of rocket shells which exploded nearby.  As it is well known, when Israel pulled its military and its settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, it was not long before the terrorist group Hamas won an election to take charge of the area.   Since then, they have often shot rockets loaded with explosives into Israel.  Here are some of them:

 

Our next stop was more low-key.  We went into an area with old pottery shards scattered everywhere.  It was also the scene of significant military action in World War II.   Here are some signs describing the area.  

  

 

As we continued along, we saw some beautiful plant life:

  

At the beginning of the hike, we met a group of teenagers who were doing the same hike that we were.  They were all from the same village and have known each other for most of their  lives.  With the Passover break coming up, they were given permission to do something special today - and their choice was a hike to honor fallen Israeli soldiers.  Most of them spoke English very well, and they were an absolutely delightful group.  After a while, we gave one of the friendliest of them an extra Cleveland Hiking Club shirt.  He quickly noticed that the shirt was several sizes too big for him, and immediately gave it to a larger friend.  It was interesting to note that these young people had a strong religious background - all of the girls wore skirts, and some of the boys wore tzitzit (the fringes that are commanded by God to be worn to remind us of His commandments).  I wish I had more and better pictures of them - here are a few:
 

We continued north and west.  At several points, we were able to see Gaza City and the border.  There were bomb shelters everywhere - near every bus stop, near most playgrounds, and in most neighborhoods.  The sirens go off when a rocket has been detected (probably by radar), and residents have between 15 and 30 seconds to reach a bomb shelter.  Fortunately, the rockets are not aimed well, but none can be sure that the next one will not hit them.  It is a sobering thought to see people living that way.

We returned to Tel Aviv, and stayed in the same hotel in adjacent Jaffa that we stayed in two weeks ago.   What a busy two weeks it has been!

We all had dinner together in an excellent restaurant.   We ate well during the whole trip, but for the final evening, our good food came in a more elegant restaurant!

After being driven back to the hotel, we bade goodbye to Asaf, our guide, and Hani, our driver.  One Jewish, one Moslem, both wonderful people who took the best of care of us for two weeks.