Security Tiyul - Caleb Ernst

 Last Wednesday, Kitat Keshet had it's final real tiyul which focused on three main things, Second Intifada, The Israeli Supreme Court, and the separation fence. Leading up to this in class we were learning about the wars that Israel went through to insure its freedom. Following that we learned about the rising tensions  between Israelis and Palestinians including the First Intifada which was a series of terror attacks on Israelis by Palestinians. 

We started out with a quick stop at a memorial of fallen soldiers who helped to capture Har Adar during the Six day War. It was surrounded by a Jewish village that was over the 1948 borders but is now very clearly Israeli territories ans is on the Israeli side of the Separation fence. Here we learned about the supreme court which we went to visit later.




After that we went to the site of a bus bombing that took place

during the Second Intifada. 8 people died in this attack and 52 were injured. Then we sat down at the Liberty Bell Park and learned about the Second Intifada. In it there were 1064 Israelis died, 319 were security personnel. In response to this Israel launched operation defensive Shield which involved building a wall around Jerusalem and a fence separating the rest of the west bank and Israel. 

One short Bus ride later we saw the Israeli Supreme court. It was a beautiful building that had a lot of strait edges because law is supposed to strait and defined. in front of it there is a big open space that allows for people to protest if they want to. We learned that there are two parts to the supreme court, a appeals court and the B'gats which deals with decisions based on morality and justice.

Our final stop was just outside of Jerusalem, here we had an

excellent view of the Separation Barrier. We were told about the good and bad aspects of it. For one thing, after its construction following the Second Intifada, when there was hundreds of terror attacks,  there has been only one terror attack. One the other hand it makes it hard for Palestinians to go from their homes on one side to work or family on the other side, trips that used to take 20 minutes could take hours after its construction. so like most things in Israel, the wall is a very grey issue which means there is lots of room for discussion and opinions. To end this I'd like to ask just that, what is your opinion about the wall? is it moral? is safety worth the suffering of others? is the wall even the reason for our safety in the first place? 

Ammunition Hill

                                 
Ammunition Hill & Hebrew University

                Ammunition hill was located on a former police accademy used by the Jordanians. This was a spot at which Israel defended our country from during the six day war.  We began the war by attacking the Egyptian airfoce and destorying their planes from the gorund. This was a huge succsess so we continued to use this strategy against other parties involved in the war. Finally, on the eve of June 5, 1967 we took control of ammunition hill. This was an important battle in establishing dominance toward all of our neighbors. When we ended up winning, arguably within the first four hours we took control of the West Bank, Sinai, the Suez Canal and ended up uniting jerusalem which was the goal all along. My question to you is: If you were apart of this war do you think you would of ben as brave as the people who fought in this war? Why or why not?
                 After visiting Ammunition Hill we toured Hebrew University. Not only did we get to see the beautiful campus but we also got to hear about the many options we will have in the future.