Day Ninety Six - April 11

Thank you to our friends, David and Gail from London, who referred us to our tour guide. When we arrived at our hotel on Sunday evening with Keith, Ilona, Ron and Diana the decision was made to start early.

We have a two day tour Monday and Tuesday with a private guide named Josh. He met us at our hotel, The Dan Panorama Hotel at 09:00 on the first day and will be spending the night with us at the hotel Monday night.

While leaving Jerusalem, you can see the wealth division with respect to housing between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There is a good article entitled "15 years of separation - The Palestinians cut off from Jerusalem by the Wall" written by Netta Ahituv which you can find on the internet.

The city is divided between the Jews and the Palestines by a wall which began construction in 2002 as a means to control terrorism witinh the city and throughout the country as well.

Feel free to explore the history of the wall at your leisure.

On our way to Masada, Josh explained that from the age of 18 every Israeli male and female is required to serve three and two years respectively of compulsory military service. Josh remains a reservist in the Israeli Army to this day.

Today is a trip to Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea.

Masada was the last rebel stronghold in Judea which the Roman Tenth Legion laid seige to in 73 or 74 CE. It is here that its 960 person community made the decision to take their own lives rather than becoming slaves to the Roman Empire.

Masada has become a National Park and excavation continues on the site. Again the history of Masada is too vast for me to give a proper explanation and again feel free to explore this on your own.

After a brief lunch, it is was off to the Dead Sea. It is a sea water lake border by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Both of us thought the other one was bringing our bathing suits when in fact we both forgot. Maybe another trip is necessary to try floating in the Dead Sea.