As of today, I have been in the Holy Land for eight weeks. Of course, it has flown past, just like everything else in life (except my future homilies.) We just have two weeks left, but there is still more to see, so don’t tune out just yet.

Tuesday was a free day to work on homework. Wednesday we had classes, but we started with Mass at the Church of Gethsemane. Then Thursday we had a full day of adventure around the Old City. Today, we celebrated Mass in the Church of Ecce Homo. I’m sure you’re very excited, so let’s get started, shall we?

Church of Gethsemane

I know I talked about this a little in a previous posting, but there were a few more things to discuss. Gethsemane is on the lower part of the Mount of Olives, which is east of the Old City, facing the city from across the Kidron Valley. It is here, of course, that Jesus took His disciples to pray after the Last Supper.

The church is one of the many here in the Holy Land designed by Antonio Barluzzi (the newest addition to my list of favorite architects) back after World War I when the British had control The altar is situated behind the rock believed to be where Christ prayed and sweat blood. The church’s structure is composed in a 3×3 square, with a dome over each of the nine parts. The domes were each dedicated to a different country that helped to pay for the cost of the church. The church is also called by the name Church of the Nations. Instead of glass in the windows, Barluzzi used thin sheets of purple alabaster marble. This helps to keep the church darker, even during the day, in order to enhance the sense that Christ was in some of His darkest hours at this spot.

To the north of the church, there is a garden that has about 15 olive trees. I don’t know how old the oldest are, but some of them were massive. I could have a tea party inside some of them. They were at least several centuries old. Anyway, this was a great spot to try to prayerfully enter the interaction between Jesus and his tired disciples, who perhaps were just not aware of the urgency of the moment.

To the south of the church, as well as across the Kidron Valley, there are countless graves. The Jews believe that the messiah will come from the east, entering the old city through the Golden Gate (which is sealed now, waiting to be opened.) The Jews want to be there when it happens, so they have themselves buried in the area. Many Christians are buried here as well.

Tour of the Old City of Jerusalem

When I say “Old City,” I am referring to the historical city, which has a history from the Canaanites to the Turks. The new city is the ever expanding modern Jerusalem. There were no new buildings outside the walls until 1860. Now the city is quite large.

The classic city of Jerusalem slopes from north to south. To the west and east, meeting at the southeast corner of the city, are two valleys. The Kidron Valley is to the east and to the west is the Hinnon Valley (known in the Scriptures as Gehenna, where the city trash was constantly burning.) The city was easily defended along these edges, especially since they built massive walls above the valleys. Jerusalem’s weak side was in the north, where the terrain doesn’t drop off. Nearly all of the conquerors of Jerusalem came from the north.

The city was significant to Israel before it was conquered by David around 1000BC. Abraham had stopped here for the blessing and offering of Melchizedek. Abraham also was here when the angel stopped him from sacrificing Isaac. (The present Dome of the Rock, the golden domed Islamic structure in the center of the temple mount, is where the Muslims believe that Abraham almost sacrificed his other son, Ishmael, of whom they believe they are descendents.)

The city David found here was very small and just south of the temple mount. Joab, one of David’s generals, helped David conquer the Jebusite city of Jerusalem by sneaking into the city through the water supply tunnel. We walked through this tunnel. We also saw the tunnel that King Hezekiah built from the same Gihon spring, which was outside the walls, to a pool inside the city walls he had built. The king did this because he knew the Assyrians, who had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, were on their way to conquer Jerusalem and the southern kingdom. His new walls and water system worked and the city was saved.

Temple Mount

There were two temple periods in Jerusalem. The first temple, built by Solomon in the 900s BC, lasted until the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC. The second temple was built around 530 BC, but it was small and a huge disappointment to any who remembered the first temple. Herod the Great enlarged the temple and created a whole temple platform that could host the 100,000 Jewish pilgrims coming to Jerusalem every Passover. The Romans, when they put down the Jewish revolt in the late 60s AD, wanted to completely crush the spirit of the Jews. Therefore, they proceeded to destroy the temple, the upper walls, and the Roman stoa. The platform, though, still remains, along with the foundation walls. The temple mount area, this platform, is now under the charge of the Muslims. Their Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque are on the mount. Jews are forbidden to go up there for fear of possible conflict. No Bibles are allowed on the mount, because some have tried to read from the Bible there before in hopes of bringing on the Second (or first, if you’re a Jew) Coming. We actually got to go up on the mount, which was great, because it gave us a sense of just how enormous the complex was.

Wailing Wall

The Western Wall, or Wailing Wall as it is known, is the western foundation wall of the temple mount. The place of Jewish prayer is the central section of this wall, with both an interior and exterior area for prayer. This section is closest to what would have been the temple’s Holy of Holies 2000 years ago. They pray at the wall by orienting themselves toward the former location of the Holy of Holies, praying with the psalms, and bobbing their upper body back and forth, being moved by the Spirit. There are also groups that dance and sing. We happened to arrive on a day dedicated to Bar Mitzvahs. There were several young teenage men there, becoming “sons of God’s Law.” The women prayed and observed in a smaller section just south of the men’s section.

The wall is called the Wailing Wall because of the mourning for the loss of the temple. In the daily prayers of a Jew they say: “May the temple be built speedily and in our time.”

It was incredible to actually be there. I hope to go back with more time to pray some more. I’m told that at sundown on Friday nights, there are tons of people there, beginning the Sabbath with prayer.

South Wall

We went through temple mount ruins at the southwest corner and along the south wall. They have uncovered the first century paved road that runs along the western wall. One did not enter the temple complex at this level, but rather through bridges and elevated walkways twenty five feet above this level. It was neat to be walking on stones that Jesus and His disciples certainly walked on 2000 years ago. At this corner, way up above on the walls that were pushed off the temple mount by the Romans, there was the pinnacle. This was where the high priest would blow the horn. It is thought that this is the pinnacle referred to when the devil tempts Jesus in the desert.

We also went to sit on the south wall steps. Inside the mount, on the other side of these steps, there was the Roman stoa. Below this stoa was the area of the Sanhedrin. Surrounding the steps were excavations from first century and Byzantine ruins.

Pool of Siloam

I was talking before about the tunnels of Hezekiah. The water would empty into a pool, which was known as the pool of Siloam. It was rather simple until Herod developed it. This is where Jesus told the blind man to go bath after He healed him. It has just been uncovered in the last twenty years or so.

Ecce Homo

Jesus was probably condemned by Pilate in the Antonio Fortress. This fortress, which overlooked the northwestern edge of the temple complex, was where the procurator would stay during feast days. Its location gave him and his soldiers the best view of the crowds in order to maintain order (now the Israelis use small blimps to oversee the Muslims during prayers on Fridays.)

There really aren’t any ruins of the fortress to speak of, at least not ones that have been uncovered, except under the Ecce Homo church. Down below the church, where we had Mass today, are the temple mount cistern pools, which were adjacent to the fortress. There is also a first century road which Jesus possibly took once He accepted His cross. There are also the remnants of a game board etched in pavement. They have found this game at several Roman barracks throughout the land. The game, they think, has a theme of one person becoming a king for awhile and then being killed at the end of his reign. Could they have been playing this when Jesus was robed and mocked? Who knows?

Well, this ride was intense, but it is finally over. I hope you learned some things. I sure did.

Tonight we have a reception with entertainment for the donors who have helped to make this pilgrimage happen. It should be fun. Till next time, God bless y’all.

Israel has obviously been very much in the news lately, given the air strikes in Gaza. It sounds like a broken record, until you start looking at the numbers. Gazans have died in the hundreds, and casualties are into the thousands. It is the greatest bloodshed in the area since the Six Day War in 1967, and given the new ground offensive, the “numbers” are only going to soar.

So for those of you who wonder about my safety (those who haven’t wondered should start feeling guilty right…now), I want to assure you that we are safe where we are. Bethlehem in is the West Bank, the border of which is 50 miles from Gaza. So, neither the actions of the Israelis nor the rockets of the Gazans pose a threat to us.

This doesn’t mean that it isn’t on our mind. It is greatly on our mind, because it is greatly on the mind of the Palestinians. In fact, since the first day we got here, we have heard over and over from the locals about the present political situation. Since much of this was foreign to me up until a year or so ago, I thought it might be helpful to give you an intro into the recent historical and political situation here. Since you are smarter than I, you may know all this, but I’ll lay out what I know anyway.

It has been stressed to us over and over again not to take sides. This has been hard, given the Palestinian perspective is essentially the only one we’ve heard for the last four weeks, but I will do my best. I will say that western media has not really done a very good job of giving us the whole story here. Please know that this is not exhaustive. I’m just laying out as much as I now know.

Intro to the Recent Historical and Political Situation in Palestine (long)

So here is a primer on Bethlehem, Palestine, and Israel. Bethlehem is six miles southwest of Jerusalem, at the edge of Palestinian territory. Unfortunately the two cities can be light years apart.

As we are all aware, Jewish settlers began arriving around the First World War while the area was under British control. There really hadn’t been a significant Jewish population in the area for 1800 years. The British gave 50% of the land to the Jews, but in 1948, the Jewish Israelis fought the Palestinians for control of the land, and the Israelis ended up with 78%. What was left was the Golan Heights in the northeast, the Gaza Strip in the southwest, and the West Bank, which is a large area between Israel and Jordan. Jordan had control over the West Bank, Egypt had control over the Gaza Strip, and Syria had control over the Golan Heights. Many of the Palestinians living in the area now occupied by the Jews moved to one of these three areas.

In 1967, during the Six Days War, the Gaza Strip was taken from Egypt and the West Bank was taken from Jordan. I’m not sure when the Golan Heights were taken. Israel has occupied all of this land since then. This occupation, as we see on the news, has caused no little tension between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

In 1984, the tension overflowed into the First Intifada, where the Palestinians fought for their independence, though it often developed no further than rallies and rock throwing, followed by police action of the Israelis. The fighting, though, was heavy enough to make it a big deal that eventually had to get settled in the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. This essentially broke Palestine, especially the West Bank, into three segments. The inner ring is governed and policed by the Palestinians (this includes Bethlehem). The middle ring is governed by the Palestinians and policed by the Israelis. The outer ring is governed and policed by the Israelis.

In 2000, the Second Intifada began. This one was a little more sophisticated, with rockets and suicide bombings. After this Intifada was quelled in 2003, the Israelis were able to start building the wall around Palestine that they had been planning for years. It seemed to be justified based on security, but it has had very severe repercussions. The first issue is the limited ability for most Palestinians to pass through the wall checkpoints. Palestinians used to be able to get Israeli work visas relatively easily, but now it is very restricted, which has increased the unemployment in Palestine. The second issue is the location of the wall. It cuts into Palestinian territory in several places, especially when the Israelis could pick up desired plots of land. It has divided some towns in two.

There is a third issue not directly related to the wall, namely the issue of settlements. For a few years now, the Israelis have been building settlements on undeveloped Palestinian territory. The land is almost always advantageous for some reason, like a fresh water source. The settlers are often Jewish immigrants from other countries like Russia. They are usually given a firearm, usually semi-automatic, to defend themselves. The settlements have dedicated roads to get the settlers into the rest of Israeli, roads that are inaccessible to other Palestinian dwellers. These settlements have essentially created peninsulas of Israel into Palestinian territory, some that nearly stretch all the way across Palestine.

Although the wall and settlements (and Israeli checkpoints within Palestine) are issues in and of themselves, they will be even bigger if a “two-state solution” is ever made. The 22% of the land that has been Palestinian since 1948 now has been cut up by the settlements. If the borders of the Palestinian state were to be established, Israel would logically push to have them drawn where the wall is, giving Israel permanent ownership of the Palestinian territory on the outside of the wall. And then what would become of settlements? The Israelis would probably try to keep them as well. These are probably the biggest obstacles to a two-state solution.

There is also the issue of the Gaza Strip, a very small area that is home to over a million and a half, which is separated from the West Bank by 50 miles. According to the Oslo Accords, there was supposed to be a secure path between the two. This has never been created, effectively isolating the two populations from each other.

As you may be aware, there are two major parties in Palestine. Hamas is the more radical, and Fatah is more diplomatic. In the Gaza Strip, where things are more difficult than in the West Bank, Hamas took advantage of the situation to gain control of the government a year-and-a-half ago. The Israeli response has been to impose a debilitating embargo (only a handful of supply trucks a day as opposed to 200 a day before the embargo), but they are legitimately concerned about the militant Hamas getting their hands on weapons.

The ceasefire between Israel and Gaza ended two weeks ago. Near the end of the ceasefire, Hamas started lobbing rockets into southern Israel, a few per day. Eventually Israel used the end of the ceasefire to try to eliminate the threats posed by the Hamas rockets, and thus we get our present situation. Now, has their response been proportionate to the threat? Guess it depends on who you talk to. All I know are these facts: over 500 dead in Gaza, including many innocents that Hamas uses as shields, compared to 5 dead in Israel. The Israelis don’t want the land. They just want to live without fear. The Gazans want a human standard of living. Can both sides get what they want? Only when true peace can be established, so let us pray to the Prince of Peace.

(I should add this one piece. The benefits of the wall were made evident right after the recent strikes in Gaza. That evening, several Palestinian young men angrily took stones to the wall and began throwing them at a guard tower. They were quickly and easily dispersed. Because of the wall, that was the extent of the upheaval. The wall indeed helped to keep the situation from escalating, so it is more understandable now why the Israelis built it. But is it a permanent, positive solution?)

Let’s see. Anymore basics? The primary language is Arabic in Palestine, though shop owners and youth know some English, though it’s nothing like Europe in terms of English fluency. Also, Israel and Palestine used to have 20% Christians. A lot of emigration has caused this to drop to 1.5%, most of whom are in Bethlehem, Galilee, and a few small towns. We have been told that they are leaving because of economic issues, namely that there aren’t enough jobs and there is little foreign capital entering Palestine. We thought that Muslim-Christian relations would be the cause, but for the most part the two groups coexist pretty well here. Sharing the “burden of occupation” has kept them together. I don’t know if that would continue if Palestine were given independence, but the Christians here seem to continue to put their efforts behind a sovereign Palestine. If the state that was created was secular, like some other countries in the Middle East, the two groups might be able to coexist peacefully. We have also been told a lot that the disputes we hear about in the West are usually familial and tribal and not religious.

Alright, I’ve written way more than you wanted, so I’ll stop with the section. Thanks for reading all of this. I hope it was helpful (and that my typing fingers haven’t bled in vain.) Feel free to ask any questions. I’m sure there’s plenty I haven’t included.