Is There Enough Milk and Honey for All?

So I got up early in the morning and my couchsurfing hosts in Israel dropped me off at a nearby bus stop where I was then able to take a bus to the central bus station in Jerusalem where I was then able to hop on an Egged bus to the Sheikh Hussein Bridge. The bus ride from Jerusalem to the Sheikh Hussein Bridge was 40.50NIS, same as last time, and the trek was about 2 hours or so.

The environs just north of Jerusalem and towards Bayt She'an are a stark contrast to the city of Jerusalem. In the city, you get the sense that water is not in short supply given the manicured lawns in some parts of town and grassy knolls south of the city, but as I moved north, I realized that much of what I had seen in Jerusalem was far from the norm.

The area north of Jerusalem resembled the dry desert wilderness that I had seen on my trek from Errachidia to Ouarzazate, Morocco. There were many dry river beds and plains scarred by precipitation and flash floods. However, unlike Morocco where the only patches of green could be found in the lush palmeries sprouting from the river beds, the north of Jerusalem had quite a large number of vegetable and fruit plots and an acre here and there of neatly lined palm trees in the middle of the pale, sun-scorched shrubbery landscape.  There were countless greenhouses and some plots even had black or clear plastic coverings for each row of whatever was growing underneath. The highway we were on was running parallel to the Jordan River Valley and you could see more green when you looked east, but it seemed like the farmers were trying to stretch out that green as far as possible and it looked like they were using the latest in irrigation know-how to make that happen.

Even with all the technological advancements though, it appears that all the countries relying on the Jordan River Valley and Sea of Galilee are headed to another standoff, not so much about the land, but about the lack of water.  Here's a brief excerpt from an Inventory of Conflict and Environment(ICE) study from American University titled Jordan River Dispute:

The consequences of unilateral action by each riparian [countries with water sources that feed the Jordan River] has been that both the aquifers and surface waters suffer from overuse use due to the large-scale diversion projects. The National Water Carrier and the East Ghor Canal almost dry out the Sea of Galilee year round. Diversion projects have also lowered the level of both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. This has caused aquifer levels to drop and has increased their salinity levels. Both Jordan and Israel have also over pumped their fossil (nonrenewable) aquifers. On top of these projects, the population growth in both countries is raising the demand for water. Israel has attempted water conservation in agriculture, where most water is wasted, through introducing the drip irrigation system and recycling of sewage water. This has helped save water in the area while at the same time irrigating more land with less water. It does not make much impact, though, without any joint conservation. Therefore, conflict under these circumstances is highly likely, and these depleting factors have in fact led to conflicts in the past.

 Source: http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/westbank.htm

Sea of Galilee or Lake Tiberias from Jordan

I also read that Israel has plans to begin building settlements in the Negev Desert (Here's a short article from Newsweek calling to question David Ben Gurion's dream to see the desert bloom: http://www.newsweek.com/2008/06/28/the-myth-of-water.html). While I sympathize with many Jews and their desire to move back to the land of their forefathers, after taking that drive up and down from Bayt She'an to Jerusalem and back, I wonder whether they're even considering the environmental impact of their decision.

Israel is a leading innovator in irrigation and water management and with good reason--nearly half the country is semi-arid desert.  (Here's an achievements-filled and rather optimistic outlook titled Israeli Agriculture: Coping with Growth) They're also leading the way in building state of the art desalination plants that will hopefully supplement their unreliable and dwindling supply.

I applaud their efficiency and I think many countries should adapt some of their techniques even those that have ample supplies, but I wonder how far technology can forestall what seems like an inevitable water war much like the ones we're already experiencing in Nevada and Colorado and to some extent in Morocco between the urban and rural farming and cattle ranching communities.  At least in Morocco and in our Western states, it appears that people can still gather at the negotiating table.  For Israel and its neighbors, setting a date to meet at a table requires an entire diplomatic corps, months of wrangling about preconditions, and then, even if it is set, not all stakeholders are present.

It is presumed that when Moses spoke of a land “flowing with milk and honey” that he was gazing out towards the Jordan River Valley, and that valley is certainly a beautiful fertile oasis in the midst of an arid wilderness, but I wonder how far can that milk and honey be stretched for everyone that wishes to live out their dream of living in the Promised Land.

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Other Reads

Timeline of Water Conflicts in the Levant: http://www.nad-plo.org/nego/permanent/water/related/Howb.pdf

Crossing the River Jordan and onto Jerusalem

Sometimes I regret not having researched my travel plans well, but then other times, I am glad that I don't. The moment I arrived in Jordan I began asking the locals, fellow travelers, PC volunteers, and anyone in the know about crossing over to Israel.  I read a few blogs prior to starting my trip and every single blog spoke of the tediousness associated with crossing into Israel also referred to as the Palestinian Occupied Territory.  It was interesting that when I speaking to Jordanians about crossing, most would refer to the land west of the River Jordan as Palestine (Filistin) and hardly ever as Israel.  When I asked Jordanians for details, they gave me a lot of contradictory information.  The volunteers I was with had heard of the various crossings, but most had not crossed personally so they weren't really sure which way was the best way to go.

Most of the blogs I read spoke of the King Hussein Bridge or Allenby Crossing west of Amman. Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide also had a lot more to say about the King Hussein Bridge than the Sheikh Hussein Bridge or the Wadi Araba crossings. They all said that crossing through the King Hussein Bridge normally is an entire day ordeal. I personally did not want to throw away an entire day crossing into Israel so I thought I'd go where others don't generally go. Plus, Irbid, where I was chilling at the time, was only about 15km from the Sheikh Hussein Bridge, so I figured I'd take that route and hopefully shed some light on the process.

Because it was still L3id Kbir/Al-Adha in Jordan, there were fewer buses running to Irbid so I woke up a little early in the hopes that I could catch an early morning transit. The transit dropped us off at the Moujemma Shamal Bus Station. The volunteer I was with was told that there were taxis that took off from the Moujemma Amman Bus Station to the border crossing so we headed over there only to find out that indeed there were taxis that would go there, but not legitimate/licensed ones and they were asking for 15JD to go there. We were told that it would be around that amount, but the illegal taxis looked more suspect than usual so we asked a policeman.  The policeman told us to head back to Moujemma Shammal and to take a legit taxi from there to the border.  He told us that the price would be from 12-15JD.  So we went back to the station, my PCV friend looked up a friend of his that worked at a cell phone boutique, and his friend pointed us to a taxi that was chilling next to a snack shop.  He inquired for us about going to the border and the taxi driver offered to take me for 12JD.

The taxi cab ride was rather interesting.  For the next 15 minutes or so, the driver went on to talk about all his sexual exploits and his disdain for Israel.  Of course, none of this was said in any sort of descriptive way.  When speaking of Israel, he would make a spitting sound and he said he prayed for the day when Israel would not exist.  When talking about all his sexual encounters, he would simply say how good or bad the sex was with different nationalities from a scale of bad/ugly, good, and to wonderful/beautiful fuck.  He had a lot to say about Russian girls, which struck me as odd, but later on I learned that many Russian girls travel to Jordan to work in strip clubs or to work as escorts.  A fellow couchsurfer also pointed out how it's usually Russian girls who are dancing in the disco video recordings that I would see on the street or at various cafes.  Supposedly there are other neighboring Arab nationalities that work at these clubs, but usually if they do, the girls are "Christian".  During a lull in his sexual expletives, I asked him about his family.  He said that he had 3 boys and one wife.  He said he wanted another wife, but could not afford it.  He did say that he was very happy with his family and his wife and that he no longer smoked marijuana or had sex with other women because he said that doing so would be haram(forbidden)--figures.

At one checkpoint, he handed over my passport to a guard.  The guard wanted to ask me something, but the taxi driver yelled at him that I was American and asked him, "what's the problem?"  The guard smiled and returned my passport and we were on our way.  After driving out for about 12km, the driver made a right turn towards another checkpoint.  The guards asked for my passport.  He handed it over and then they told the driver to pull over to the side of the road.  I thought there was an issue, but there wasn't.  That was simply as far as my taxi driver could go.

As he began unloading my baggage, another taxi pulled up with some tags on the sides that said Jordan Border Crossing.  I gave my taxi driver the 12JD we agreed upon, shook hands, and said our m3a slamas (Go in safety).  I hopped onto the other taxi and we headed towards the next checkpoint.  Once there, I had to take my luggage through a huge scanner.  This thing was massive.  My luggage went through without any problems.  I then picked up my backpack and got back on the Jordan Border Crossing taxi.  We went another kilometer before I was dropped off at the customs office.  I paid the taxi 1.10JD.

At customs, I told an officer that I was coming back to Jordan after a few days.  He said, "Good," that I needed to pay an 8JD exit tax, that my Jordanian visa would be "no good", and that I would have to pay for a new one to get back in.  I didn't ask about the exit stamp, but a tour group on a pilgrimage through the Holy Land that was ahead of me told me that they were going to have their exit stamp on a separate sheet of paper.  They had some cards filled out with their name and other information.  As soon as my passport was stamped, I was ready to cross over.

Due to the tight security, I couldn't just walk over to the border.  I had to exit the customs building and walk back out to the Trust Intl. Transpo kiosk right behind the Duty Free store and purchase a bus fare for 1.30JD.  The distance from the customs building to the border was no more than a couple hundred meters, but it was forbidden to walk to it.  The only way to approach it was taking the Trust Intl. bus and the buses only left at certain times, which for me meant waiting over an hour for the next bus to go out.

Right around 1:30PM, I and a whole bunch of Chinese tourists hopped on the bus.  It took no more than a minute to get to the final gate on the east bank of the River Jordan.  Once there, a guard came through to make sure all taxes were paid and everyone was stamped out.  He then gave the okay to the driver.  We crossed the once mighty River Jordan and then proceeded to the Israeli side.

We were dropped off at the Israeli customs entrance.  It was interesting to see such a stark difference in administration.  On the Jordanian side, I dealt entirely with older mustachioed gentlemen, some in formal military or police uniforms, and everyone appeared to be disgruntled about something.  On the Israeli side, I was greeted by a bunch of twenty-something-year-olds, male and female, in polo shirts and khaki cargo pants and with a more relaxed vibe to it.  I walked over to the scanners, handed over my bags, and gave an attractive female guard my passport.  That guard called over another attractive female guard.  I was hoping for a frisking, but unfortunately they just tagged-team on the questioning.  I was asked what was the purpose for my visit to Israel, info on my passport, who my parents and grandparents were, and if I had been to any other Arab country besides Jordan.  After the quick interview, they smiled and said, "Welcome to Israel."

I picked up my bags from the scanners and then walked over to a customs window.  I gave my passport to another female guard who was being supervised by another young men.  She asked me a similar round of questions and then asked if it was okay to stamp my passport.  The same group on the Holy Land tour was also in the customs lines in the process of getting their entry stamps on a separate sheet of paper.  After taking care of the stamps, I was given another nice cordial "Welcome to Israel" and just like that I was through.

Now, the challenge was how to get to Jerusalem from there.  I asked a couple of customs reps if there were any transportation options from this crossing and they said that maybe, just maybe there would be some taxis waiting outside that would go the nearest town called Bayt She'an about 6km away.  They also said to ask the tour buses if I could hitchhike with them.  I thought I'd give it a try so I went out and asked a number of them if they had room for one more.  I asked one driver who said "no" rather frankly.  I asked some people who were awaiting to board another bus and their driver gave me the "I'm not in charge" line.  Another driver said he could get in trouble.  I got tired of the rejections so I decided to get a taxi.

Outside of the gates, there were a number of cars waiting to get through and a couple of taxi cabs on the curb.  I went up to one who told me that there was no transportation available from Bayt She'an to Jerusalem so he offered to take me to Tiberias for 200 shekels(NIS) (about $60) where transportation would be available for sure.  Tiberias was a good 40 kilometers away going northwest.  I only had about 60NIS, which I had gotten from the last $20 I had on me so paying out 200 something shekels was out of the question.  I walked over to the next taxi, I asked him about Bayt She'an and if there was transportation and he said there was and that he would drop me off at the bus stop.  When I asked him how much, he told me he would go for 60NIS.  I liked that this guy was at least willing to take me to Bayt She'an, but 60NIS seemed outrageous.  After some light negotiating, we finally settled on 50.  With not a lot of other options and with the sun setting, I still felt I was getting hosed, but I had little choice.  I shelled out the 50NIS and we drove off to Bayt She'an.

The winding road to Bayt She'an was quite refreshing as we passed farm upon farm in this stretch of fertile land.  When I told him that the other taxi driver wanted to charge me 200 shekels to go to Tiberias because transportation was not available in Bayt She'an, he made the same spitting gesture that the Jordanian taxi driver had made and said, "Arabi".  He said in a choppy English, "Those Arabs all they want is money; they don't care about people."  The whole time I was thinking, "...and this is from a guy that wanted to charge me about $17 for a 6km ride.  He asked me where I was from and I told him I was from the U.S., but had lived in Venezuela.  As soon as I told him Venezuela, he switched to a rough, but less choppy Spanish.  We spoke in Spanish for the rest of the trip.  He mainly went off about how much he hated Arabs.  The taxi driver took me to an ATM to get some cash and then he dropped me off at a bus stop on the side of a four-lane road that ran north to south close to a McDonald's.

At the bus stop, I asked a few young guys in military garb in English if they knew which bus was going to Jerusalem and they said that the 966 Egged makes the north to south journey everyday.  I went over to the 966 bus stand and put my bag down and finally took a look at my surroundings.  The infrastructure difference from Jordan to Israel was night and day.  The roads, the signposts, the paint on the roads, traffic lights, and the buildings were in order and well maintained.  Just across the river, there was significantly less trash on the street and more trash cans available.  Not to say that Jordan does not have things in order; it's just more chaotic and spaces that are well maintained and free of trash are like little oases in the midst of the disorder.  Like Morocco, the fancy esplanades and promenades that are meticulously maintained for tourist traffic are the exception and not the norm.  

It felt a little unsettling to be hopping on a bus to Jerusalem with about 20 uniformed young men carrying automatic rifles, but after a while I got used to it and found it odd when I didn't see some young person with a gun slinging from their neck.  They were probably wondering why I wasn't carrying one.  As I got on the dark green 966 Egged bus, I told the driver, "Jerusalem," and he said, "40.50NIS".  I handed him a huge bill and he didn't even flinch; he gladly took my money and gave me the exact change.  Even just an instance like this would have caused a heap of drama on most buses on the other side who always seem to be out of change.  I thought the 40.50NIS was a little steep, but perhaps that's exactly why the same ride is cheaper on the other side of the river; perhaps the convenience or the more efficient management hasn't been priced into the ticket.

It was a breath of fresh air to be in Israel and here I was on my way to the city that all three Abrahamic faiths call their own.  Soon I would be walking the streets and on my way to witnessing the grandeur and the mystery of this old city.  All in all, it was an easy and somewhat entertaining crossing.  In the end, all I could say is gracias a Dios, hamdullah, and thanks be to God and/or the cosmic forces of the universe for allowing me to be where I was.

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Please note that if you exit through the Sheikh Hussein Bridge and you wish to come back to Jordan from Israel, you will need to come back through either the Sheikh Hussein or the Wadi Araba crossings.  Likewise, if you cross through the King Hussein Bridge, you will need to return through there as well.  Reason being that Jordanian visas cannot be issued out from the King Hussein Bridge, but the Jordanian authorities are able to at the other two crossings.  Basically, according to Jordanian border policy, you are not leaving the country when you cross into the West Bank (formerly part of the Transjordan territory and currently in geopolitical limbo) and as such they do not ask people to pay an exit tax and do not issue exit stamps.  The con is that the King Hussein Bridge is perhaps the busiest crossing of them all, and from what I've read or heard, it can take an inordinate amount of time to get through.

If you're crossing back through Sheikh Hussein, please note that there are few transportation options available on both sides of the crossing.  Only private taxis run by the Jordan Border Crossing Company are available, which can take you to almost any major destination in Jordan, but for a pretty hefty price.  I paid 19JD to make it back to Irbid.  Knowing I had made the same journey for 13JD, I tried to bargain, but the dispatcher would not budge from the posted prices.  A taxi to Amman was around 35JD.  I don't think it is a matter of not enough demand because it appears that there are plenty of people crossing on a regular basis, but perhaps it's a tolerated monopoly.

So as far as convenience and less stress, I would cross through Sheikh Hussein again, but if I did not want an exit stamp from Jordan and/or to pay the 8JD ($12) tax, then King Hussein is the way to go.

For more info, visit the following links: http://www.visitjordan.com/default.aspx?tabid=105
The exit tax info on the website says 5JD, but it is 8JD now.
http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/facts2.html

Also, visit the Israeli side of the web at: www.goisrael.com

Bon voyage everyone!