Once again the Media is doing us no favors but I guess that sells ads

Young women from Nablus at Mount of Temptations

 The media is doing us no favors again.  Before we went on our trip and for years before when I mentioned I was going to Israel almost everyone said "This is not a great time to travel there" or "Do you feel safe traveling there?"

Mostly in Palestine and Jordan, and to a slight degree less in Israel, everyone we met treated us so well.  In Palestine, everyone we talked to thanked us for coming and asked us to convey to the folks back home that it is not a dangerous place.  I am not so naive to think that there is not tension in this area, or that people are NOT being killed because of political tensions.  People are being killed every day there.

I was in despair the lunch we had in Samaria when the owner said that tour groups are cancelling at the rate of 5-6 busses a day.  I think this is mostly because the media is conveying to US viewers that the area is not safe.  The company we travel with would never put us in danger and I suspect that we spent a bit more time on the bus rather than getting out to enter another house of worship, or make our way around another set of ruins, or shop in another souk.  

In Jericho, as we waited in line to go up the cable car, some young women from Nablus were taking pictures of us secretly and giggling.  We gestured that it was OK to take our picture and in fact a few of us did selfies with them.  The teacher said they don't see that many Americans.  I stopped to engage them in conversation as we made our way up to the Monastery on Mount of Temptations.  I spent so much time with them that my group was pretty far ahead of me.  I was not nervous at all to be separated from the group.  At the entrance to the Monastery were piles of shoes, so I took my shoes off.  I was pretty used to removing them by then.  When I caught up to my group the guide said "Where are your shoes?"  "I took them off as everyone else was doing" I said as I looked at the rest of our group who all had their shoes on.  He was genuinely worried for my shoes I think.  I was not worried at all and was actually glad I removed them.  Most of the other visitors were Ethiopians on their sabbath making a pilgrimage.  We saw the rock that Jesus allegedly sat on and fasted for 40 days.

He walked around to shake all our hands

All this to say that the media is doing a disservice by conveying that traveling to Israel and Palestine is dangerous.  We are hurting businesses in Palestine who depend on tourism.  They are being pushed and constrained in so many ways that this is just adding to their plight.

He is having 5-6 busses a day cancel

I am so glad I went on this trip and interacted with the local people and learned so much.  I never felt unsafe, in fact I feel less safe sometimes walking through City Hall Park, a block from my condo.