Whose side are you on?

Jerusalem, Israel

When the Palestinian security guy with the snub nosed AK-47 asks you which side your on, there is only one answer. The answer made even easier when you’re chatting with him by the entrance to the tomb of Yasser Arafat.

The town of Ramallah sits in the West Bank, surrounded by the Israeli security wall. It serves as the capital of the Palestinian Authority. Despite the strife a few hundred kilometers away in Gaza, the West Bank is pretty quiet.

The downtown area is not unlike Amman or even parts of Lebanon, and apart from the occasional bit of graffiti, you’d have know idea about the tension that has existed here. On the surface it seems like any normal town; the people are warm, the falafel is delicious and coffee is strong.

Perhaps the most obvious sign of conflict is the wall. From the window of the bus that takes you from Jerusalem to Ramallah, you can see it extend over the hills and into the distance. You can also see Jewish settlers compounds.

Being in a place that you hear about on the news all the time is a strange feeling. 

Having spent a total of 6 hours in the West Bank, I’m far from an expert on the politics of the area. It seems like a nice place is all. 

After paying respects to Yasser Arafat, we headed to Bethlehem to check out the Church of the Nativity. Unlike Ramallah, this West Bank town was crawling with tourists.

The church was built on the site where Jesus is said to have been borne. Despite is huge religious significance, the tourists here are almost the main attraction. There is a steady stream of pilgrims into the church, singing Christmas carols and hymns.

It’s a remarkable place. 

Downtown Ramallah

A young dude in downtown Ramallah.

This amazing guy sells tea from the big silver kettle.

Yasser Arafat's tomb.

The honour guard at the tomb.

The security wall.

A guard tower at the corner of the security wall.

Pilgrims photograph the site where Jesus was born.

It was freezing in Bethlehem so this nice bloke called Sammy made us Turkish coffee.

The Holy Land.

Jerusalem, Israel

After landing at Amman airport from Beirut, the aim of the game was to get to the Israeli border with the minimum of fuss, and with any luck the minimum of cash.

I failed on both accounts. So begins the battle of the cab drivers.

At this point I’m traveling with Caroline from the US of A. So after I pump myself full of coffee, and we collect our bags we stick out thumbs out for a cab.

The first guy who pulls up quotes us 60 Jordanian Dinars (US$84) to get us to the border. No way. Too much.

The next guy tells us he can get us there for 20 JDs , but he’s not an official “Airport Taxi” so he’ll pick us up from a hotel down the road.

So we jump in an official cab, and direct the driver to the hotel. Our man is no fool. He knows exactly what is going on, strait away; he is on the phone yelling in Arabic.

The only words I can pick out are “Transit” “Hotel” and “Border”. There is some trouble ahead, we have bent the rules.

As it turns out, there are two kinds of taxi ; Airport and Amman. The Airport guys take you from the airport to where ever you need to go. The Amman guys, on the other hand, can only take you from the city.

We end up at the hotel, five minutes from the Airport with the two cab drivers yelling at each other. A cop arrives tries to calm them down. Great.

Eventually we offer the official cab 30Jd to take us to the border. All is well, but we should have just taken the bloody bus.

After a 40-minute drive, we are there.

The border is unassuming. There is the occasional guard tower with a .50 cal machine gun, some barbed wire but otherwise it’s noting too special.

Our bags are x-rayed to within an inch of their life, passports are stamped, forms are filled out and that’s it.

Welcome to Israel.

You wouldn’t know it, but you drive through the West Bank on your way to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is great; once you get past the tourist kitsch of the old city there is heaps to see. After getting lost in the maze of old narrow streets and alleys I stumbled upon the Jew’s holiest site, the Western Wall.

It’s a great place to people watch. Filled with soldiers, Hassidic Jews and crawling with tourists; it’s quite a site.

The Jaffa Gate to the Old City.

A soldier with his family.

The wall of the Old City.

Tourists at the Western Wall.

There is a pile of kippahs for tourists who want to approach the wall.

Tourists.

The Jewish quarter of the Old City.

The Islamic Quarter. 

Young Israeli soldiers pose for a photo by the Western Wall.