Jericho, The West Bank

Trip Start Jul 25, 2007
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Trip End Oct 16, 2007


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Thursday, August 30, 2007

I headed out yesterday morning to see if I could cross over into Jericho in the West Bank (currently occupied by Israel). I got down to the border at about 10am (about 2kms from the hotel), and the car was placed in a line of about 20 cars that were headed over the Prince Abdullah bridge. Only one car at a time can cross, because each car is carefully searched. I got as far as five from the front of the line when suddenly there were four tremdenous bangs, and the ground shook. After a moment, there were four big explosions about 1km in front of us, and the Jordanian border guards and army guys ran up to the front of the line and closed the gate. We were then told that the border was now closed and we had to turn around, because the Israeli tanks were shelling Jericho (reason why not given). So we (with my new friend Steve from Dublin) went back to the hotel, located on a hill overlooking Jericho and the dead sea, and watched the Israeli tanks shell Jericho for about four hours (off and on). By the end, there was smoke drifting over the dead sea from the fires. Then we went swimming.
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