Israel for Ida

For the next couple of days we will be in and around Jerusalem.  We start the day today going east of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is a ridge situated just East of Jerusalem’s old town, very close to the site of the Temple. It was once covered in Olive trees so that's where the name comes from.  In the Old Testament, the Mount of Olives is explicitly associated with King David and Solomon. In the New Testament the Mount is significant because Jesus visits it several times: visiting Lazarus, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, praying before his arrest, and his ascension. Jesus would have walked over the mount when traveling from Jerusalem to Bethany, a trip he made often.   According to the Bible, Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives when he returns in glory.  Jews have long believed that the Messiah will descend from the Mount of Olives in returning to Jerusalem so the area has long been a popular Jewish burial place with graves ...

Jerusalem is situated in between the main part of Israel and the West Bank.  It is one of the oldest cities in the world and considered holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, recaptured 44 times and is currently considered the capital of both Israel and Palestine.    During the 1948 war, West Jerusalem was captured and annexed to Israel and East Jerusalem was captured and annexed to Jordan.  The city was divided with Jordan controlling the old city with its holy sites.  Jews were not allowed to visit and there was limited access to Christian holy sites. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.   The city has grown from its early days and now has about 850,000 people, with more than 500,000 Jewish, 300,000 Palestinian, and a smattering of Christians.  The oldest part of the city is surrounded by walls built by the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (great name).   The walls...

Our first stop of the day is in one of the oldest cities in the world, the city of  Jericho , 22 miles east of Jerusalem and 3,700 feet lower. Jericho is administered by the Palestinian Territories just like Bethlehem, and it currently has a population of about 18,000. The first traces of civilization here date from about 9,000 B.C. with archeologists finding evidence of some 20 different civilizations residing in the area. The area has natural springs so in the largely arid area of the Middle East, water was an important resource. Ancient Jericho was known as Tell as-Sultan. The remains of the early Neolithic settlement have round houses built of mud brick and surrounded by a wall and a round tower, representing the earliest preserved piece of a fortification system. Herod's Palace The oasis of Jericho is below sea level and has warm and pleasant winters. It was, therefore, chosen as the site for the winter palaces of the kings of the Hasmonean dynasty, and of King Herod...