Hi, I'm Rick Steves, back with more travels.
This time we're exploring the Holy Land,
Israel and Palestine.
It's harvest time.
Our goal -- to understand and enjoy
the people who love this land and call it home.
Thanks for joining us.
The land Israelis and Palestinians occupy is,
for a third of humanity, Israel is, literally, holy land,
and Jerusalem marks its sacred center.
For Christians,
this is where Jesus was crucified and resurrected.
For Muslims, this is from where Muhammad journeyed to Heaven.
And for Jews, the Temple of Solomon stood right here.
The crossroads of three great religions,
the Holy Land has been coveted and fought over for centuries.
While Israelis and Palestinians
and struggle to share it peacefully,
this land has a rich and fascinating heritage.
We'll go beyond the sights,
opening our minds to both narratives
to better understand and empathize with the people.
In Israel, we'll explore Jerusalem
and learn some of the religious customs
and ideas that shape society here.
and we'll walk the Golan Heights,
where the importance of maintaining Israel's security
is an enduring lesson.
And now we have to make sure that we are on the high ground,
never to let it happen again.
In Palestine, by harvesting olives,
making a home visit, and popping into a university,
we'll get to know a land few travelers visit
and a point of view few people consider.
The whole of my whole country.
I don't know my country.
And along the way, we'll hear a few
of the many perspectives here.
We'll learn about security walls,
controversial settlements,
and the persistent challenges facing the region.
At the east end of the Mediterranean Sea,
the region west of the Jordan River
is split between Israel, predominately Jewish,
and Palestine, predominately Muslim and Arab,
which is made up of the West Bank and Gaza.
We'll start in Jerusalem, and in Israel,
we'll visit Tel Aviv,
the Sea of Galilee,
and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Then, in the West Bank,
we'll venture to Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus,
and finish in Ramallah.
The Muslims and Jews that call this region home
share a family tree that goes back nearly 4,000 years.
That's when the patriarch, or prophet,
Abraham had two sons.
From Isaac came the Israelites, and Ismael spawned the Arabs.
This ancient ethnic mix is complicated by religions.
Israelites were Jewish.
Christians worship Jesus,
a Jew who brought his own message.
And today, most Arabs here are Muslim,
a religion that arrived much later with their prophet,
Muhammad, in the 7th century.
Throughout the centuries,
this region endured waves of conquerors,
from ancient Romans to Christian Crusaders
to Muslim Ottomans.
Until the 20th century,
the entire area was called Palestine,
as it was in Roman times.
While Muslims generally outnumbered
Jews and Christians,
the various communities
In the 20th century, the Jewish population grew,
especially with the creation
of the state of Israel after World War II.
Today, the combined population of Israel and Palestine
is about 12 million,
roughly half Jews and half Muslim Arabs
and only a couple percent Christian.
In 2012, the United Nations recognized
Palestine as a state.
Okay, I know, this is complicated,
and it's contentious.
And I imagine some people on both sides
are already upset with me.
But I'm a travel writer, and the beauty for me
is to come here with an open mind and learn.
We'll visit each side, and we'll do it in alphabetical order --
first Israel then Palestine.
Let's go.
Israel is the size of New Jersey,
with 8 million people, twice the population of Palestine.
While the state of Israel is young,
the Jewish people have a history here
going back 4,000 years.
There's history everywhere,
and within a two-hour drive of Jerusalem,
you can take a sweeping tour of sights illustrating
its tumultuous past.
2,000 years ago, Caesarea was a mighty Roman seaport.
Further up the coast
is the 12th century Crusader town of Akko.
And in the 16th century,
after the return of Muslim dominance,
the Ottoman Turks surrounded Jerusalem
with this mighty wall.
And the 20th century has left reminders
of the determined struggle
that built today's Jewish state.
In 1947, after the Holocaust and the end of World War II,
the United Nations helped found the modern state of Israel,
and Jews, long dispersed across the world,
returned to their ancient homeland.
In the process, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
were displaced, and to this day,
both people struggle to find an equitable and peaceful way
to share what each consider their rightful homeland.
The dividing of the Holy Land hasn't been easy.
The 1947 United Nations plan of partition, creating
an independent Jewish state
and an independent Arab state,
was rejected by the Arabs.
Civil war broke out, which led
to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
After a year of fighting, with Israel mostly victorious,
a cease-fire was declared
and temporary borders,
known as the Green Line, were established.
In the 1960s, Arab-Israeli relations again deteriorated
to the point where war broke out in 1967.
With a quick and decisive victory in the Six-Days War,
Israel increased its territory substantially.
[Gunshot]
Later, Palestinians,
chafing at the loss of their land and freedom,
staged two uprisings, or intifadas.
[Shouting]
Approximately 1,000 Israeli civilians
were killed by Palestinian suicide bombers
as violence intensified during the Second Intifada,
from 2000 to 2005.
In response, Israel asserted itself more aggressively,
building a controversial fence or wall
around the West Bank
in the name of security from terrorism.
The epic stories of the world's
three great monotheistic religions
have played out on this tiny piece of real estate.
It's been a difficult mix, and Jerusalem's
the most contested city within this contested land.
Jerusalem is a sprawling and modern city
of about 800,000 people.
But its core, The Old City,
is home to just 35,000.
Its venerable walls corral a tangle
of many of this planet's holiest sites.
Within a 10-minute walk,
you can see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
so sacred to Christians...
the Dome of the Rock, revered by Muslims...
and the holiest place in Judaism,
the Western Wall.
For so many people,
Jerusalem is the closest place on earth
to heaven.
Much of Jerusalem's importance rests upon this holy site,
which is both an inspiration and a flash point
for the religions that share it.
Muslims believe Muhammad journeyed to heaven from here,
and they've worshipped on this spot for 1,300 years.
Jews teach that here Abraham, as a test of his faith,
was asked to sacrifice his son.
nGod intervened and saved Isaac.
They call this place Temple Mount,
believe it to be the center of the earth,
and have worshipped here for 3,000 years.
A thousand years before Christ,
King David united the 12 tribes of Israel
and captured Jerusalem.
His son, Solomon, built the First Temple right here.
It was later destroyed, and the Second Temple was built.
Then came the catastrophic year for the Jews -- 70 AD --
when the Romans destroyed their temple
and ushered in the Diaspora.
That's when the Jews became a people without a land
and dispersed throughout the world.
The western foundation
of this ancient temple complex survives.
Here at what's called the Western Wall,
Jews mourn a horrible past and pray for a better future.
The square operates as an open-air synagogue,
with men and women separated by a barrier.
The faithful believe prayers left in cracks
between the stones of the Western Wall
will be answered.
Bar mitzvahs and festivals enliven the scene.
Holding the Torah high, joyous families celebrate
at the most holy place in Judaism.
[Singing in Hebrew]
Radiating out from Temple Mount
It's divided into four quarters --
Jewish, Muslim, Armenian, and Christian.
Through the Christian quarter winds the Via Dolorosa,
the route it's believed Jesus
Pilgrims come from around Christendom
to retrace his steps.
Their journey culminates at
marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
on Calvary Hill, or Golgotha.
Today, the dark, sprawling church
is the most sacred site in Christendom.
Built on the site believed to be
where Jesus died and was resurrected,
pilgrims line up to pray at the place of the crucifixion.
And a few steps away, under a grand dome,
they gather to enter Jesus' tomb, or sepulchre
and place a candle where he was buried.
Exploring Jerusalem's Old City,
and religious passions, I was impressed by the diversity,
the feeling of community, and how, all in all,
things seem to work together.
The Jewish Quarter is more orderly
and modern than the other quarters.
Much of this area was destroyed
or under the ensuing period of Jordanian occupation.
After Israelis took control of Jerusalem in 1967,
they rebuilt this quarter.
While it's not convenient or economic
to live in this medieval tangle,
devout Jews find great joy
in living here and raising their families
so close to the Western Wall.
The Muslim Quarter,
with over half the Old City's population, is Arab.
Like the Jewish quarter,
it stretches out from Temple Mount,
which is crowned by that glittering Dome of the Rock.
Like the Jews worship at the base of Temple Mount,
Muslim's worship on its top, in the shadow of the dome,
with its intricate geometric designs in stone and tile
fitting regally within its pure
Holy as this spot is for Muslims,
it's controlled by Israel,
and residents of Palestine
are generally not allowed to worship here.
Most of those praying here are Israeli citizens,
part of Israel's Palestinian minority.
Here in the Muslim Quarter,
a bustling and labyrinthine marketplace
is popular with local Arabs.
Today, on the eve of a Muslim holiday,
the market is particularly busy.
While wandering the Muslim Quarter,
you may see houses fortified and festooned
with Israeli flags,
homes of Zionist families determined to stake out
this bit of the Old City for their Jewish community.
Considering the rich historic heritage
of each of these communities,
it's understandable that both vie
for this sacred real estate.
This struggle over control of Jerusalem
is a huge political challenge.
While complete Muslim control of Jerusalem is unrealistic,
many Arabs envision an independent Palestinian State
with this part of Jerusalem --
East Jerusalem -- as their capital.
It's a very contentious issue, and Israel seems determined
to keep Jerusalem whole and in its control.
An icon of the tension
is the wall that Israel has
What Israelis call a "security fence,"
Palestinians consider an affront to their dignity
and a land grab, as it often reaches
over the internationally agreed upon border
nand into Palestinian territory.
Just five miles from the Dome of the Rock
is a checkpoint in the wall,
where I can walk from Jerusalem
Like at border towns between rich and poor lands
all over the world,
each day, workers with special passes
cross the wall on their commute
higher-paying jobs in the more affluent country
As long as times are calm,
the West Bank's wide open for the adventurous traveler.
You don't need a visa, the currency's
the same as Israel, good guidebooks lead the way,
and you certainly won't find any tourist crowds.
Bethlehem, a leading Palestinian city,
is the perfect first stop in the West Bank.
For me, no Holy Land visit is complete or balanced
without crossing the wall
and learning from both narratives --
Israeli and Palestinian.
Suddenly, there's not a yarmulke in sight.
Wandering Palestinian streets and markets,
I kept thinking how easy it is to get here,
how little I knew of it,
and how rarely visited this land is.
While beloved among Christians
as the place where Jesus was born,
Bethlehem is now a mostly Muslim town.
Its thriving market is a classic Arab souk.
The main square bustles with commerce,
and the main traffic circle comes with a memorial
to locals doing time in Israeli prisons.
Bethlehem's skyline is a commotion
of both crescents and crosses,
a reminder that the town, while now mostly Muslim,
still has many Christians.
While all Palestinians are Arabs,
not all Palestinians are Muslims.
In fact,
a small minority are Arab Christians.
Nativity Square marks the center of Bethlehem.
Here the Church of the Nativity
believed to be where Jesus was born.
Inside, you feel the history.
Emperor Constantine,
the first Christian Roman emperor,
had this church built in 326.
A steady stream of pilgrims and tourists come here
from all over Christendom
to remember that first Christmas
and to pray on the spot where tradition says
Jesus was born.
Many assume that Palestinian or Arab Christians
were converted in modern times,
but in fact, their Christian roots
go all the way back to the time of Christ.
By the way, a century ago, about 20%
of all Palestinians were Christian.
Today, that number's down to less than 2%,
and most of those live here in Bethlehem.
Along with Christians,
Muslims also consider this a holy site.
In fact, for over a thousand years,
a mosque has also stood on Nativity Square.
It's Friday, and Muslims have gathered to pray.
[Prayer]
Travel, especially here in Palestine,
is filled with opportunities to learn.
After prayer, I met a cleric
and enjoyed a conversation about Islam.
What do you hope for?
And what do you see in the future here in Palestine?
I hope, in whole of the world, to be one family.
-One family. -One family.
We need this for life.
No fightings, no killings, no explosions, no violence,
to be good people.
Every Friday,
I say this message for everybody.
So I hope for everybody,
and I say to you, I like to come to take you,
your hand from here to go with each other to heavens,
not alone.
-I'm not selfish man. -Right.
I love you, I love him, I love everybody.
I like -- This is my religion.
When on the road,
the more people I can talk to, the better.
To get the most out of this opportunity
to better understand Palestine,
we're joined by local guide Kamal Mukarkar.
So there's churches but there's mosques also in Bethlehem.
KAMAL: Bethlehem is a very holy city for the Muslims
as well as the Christians.
For the Muslims,
Jesus is the second important prophet.
They also believe in Mary, they worship her.
She has a whole section in the Koran just named after her.
A whole book in the Koran named after Mary?
Yes, exactly,
and that's why she's very important for them.
nWe're dropping by Kamal's place
to meet his family and enjoy an evening together.
It's typical in Palestinian culture
that many generations live under the same roof.
We're meeting Kamal's mother, fiancée,
his sister, and her children.
After some good conversation in the living room,
Kamal's mother calls us to the dinner table.
She's cooked up a classic tajine.
I think it's impossible
for a traveler to be hungry in Palestine.
The food just keeps on coming.
And you have to keep something on your plate,
'cause if you don't keep something on your plate, food,
you'll get another time food.
As anywhere, actually making friends
and getting into a home gives an intimate insight
into the everyday worlds of the people you meet.
I think this is a beautiful, beautiful welcome here.
-Sahtein.
Bon appetite.
-Sahtein. -Sahtein.
KAMAL: Translated, it's "cheers to your health twice,"
like two times for your health.
STEVES: Two times for your health,
Heading back across the wall to Jerusalem,
the contrasts between the West Bank
and Israel are immediately obvious.
Outside the Old City,
we're immersed in modern Jerusalem.
Joining locals in an afternoon stroll
down Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem's New City,
we appreciate this culture's compelling mix
of east and west, secular and sacred,
modern and traditional.
About three quarters of all Israelis are Jewish.
But most of these are secular Jews -- non-practicing.
About 15% of Israeli Jews are Orthodox,
very religious and living conservative lifestyles
that require them to be apart in many ways.
Entire districts of Jerusalem are known as ultra-Orthodox.
About 20% of the population are Arab citizens of Israel,
generally Palestinians who never left
after the formation of Israel.
Christians, who are mostly Arabs,
make up a small and shrinking minority.
Israel is a melting pot nation like none other.
Nearly half the country
evident in the cultural makeup of the soldiers
who seem to be everywhere.
Nearly all 18 year olds do time
This service is a kind of cultural boot camp,
as even fresh-off-the-boat immigrants emerge
as good Hebrew-speaking Israelis.
While I found most Israelis look and live
as contemporary as any modern American,
there are corners where traditions are very strong.
This is especially evident in places of worship
and in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.
With the help of my Jewish guide, Abie Bresler,
observing the way people dress comes with cultural insights.
Walking down the street, there are so many different fashions,
different ways people dress.
BRESLER: Well, that's because they express
their belonging to a certain group
and following a certain rabbi.
Different rabbis set standards
of how their followers should be dressed.
STEVES: What does the block on the forehead indicate?
BRESLER: Well, in the Scripture,
it says you should always have the love of God on your mind,
so in that capsule,
they have a parchment with that Scripture.
STEVES: What's the significance of the yarmulke?
BRESLER: Jews wear yarmulkes
because they are constantly reminding themselves
that God is above them.
STEVES: Ah, so everybody who's wearing a yarmulke,
it's a constant reminder their Maker is up above.
BRESLER: Definitely.
STEVES: Now, you see a lot of Orthodox,
even the little boys, with long earlocks.
BRESLER: Regarding the earlocks, the Torah is very specific --
"Thou shalt not shave the sides of your face."
And these people take those words as it is written.
STEVES: You notice women are dressed quite modestly.
BRESLER: The Orthodox women are always dressed modestly.
But when they get married,
they take it one step upwards,
and they cover their hair in public.
Regarding the hats, it's part of, actually,
the uniform defining which movement you belong to.
So, by looking at somebody,
you can tell if he's Ashkenazi
and which movement amongst the Ashkenazi.
Or Sephardi or Lithuanian, and so on and so forth.
STEVES: So there are many different stripes
of Orthodoxy in the Jewish faith.
BRESLER: Definitely.
In Jerusalem, 19 amongst the ultra-Orthodox.
STEVES: And it's like the rabbis are almost like pop stars.
They have their own following. These are the great teachers.
BRESLER: More than pop stars.
-More than? -More than pop stars, sure.
Put it this way, they're spiritual stars,
without the pop.
The state of Israel was born, in part, out of the Holocaust,
a defining event in the long history of the Jews.
To appreciate the impact of the Holocaust,
critical in understanding the psyche of today's Israel,
visit Yad Vashem.
This powerful museum and memorial
chronicles the systematic slaughter
of six million Jews by Nazi Germany.
Its Hall of Names is a project designed
to give every victim the dignity
of simply being named and recorded.
This archive aspires to catalog
each of the six million victims.
Yad Vashem also celebrates
the creation of modern Israel.
nIt shows the spirit of Zionism,
that determination of those who came
both as concentration camp survivors
and refugees from Europe
to forge for themselves a state
Photographs of the first settlers show early Zionists
returning to their ancestral homeland,
starting as a trickle in the 19th century
and becoming a flood after World War II.
Today, just a couple generations later,
the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv stand like exclamation points,
declaring, "We've come a long way."
There was a popular slogan back then --
"A land without a people for a people without a land."
That was inspirational, but it ignored the reality
of the Palestinians who actually lived here
and were displaced with the creation of Israel.
Still, it's impressive how the true grit
of those early Jewish settlers
turned sand dunes into Tel Aviv and built modern Israel.
The historic town of Jaffa,
now consumed by the sprawl of Tel Aviv,
was the Ellis Island of the new state.
This was where new arrivals first set foot in Israel.
Much of Jaffa, historically an important Arab town,
was destroyed in 1948 in what Israelis call
their "War of Independence."
As in any war, there are winners
and there are losers.
And while Israelis celebrate
the birth of their nation, Palestinians call
Israel's Independence Day "The Day of Catastrophe."
They remember their loss --
the destruction of many Arab
and how hundreds of thousands of those who fled
ended up in refugee camps over a newly drawn border.
Just a 10-minute drive north
of the old stone buildings of Jaffa
are the new glass and steel buildings of modern Tel Aviv.
Gleaming Tel Aviv feels as modern and busy
as any American city its size.
While its history only goes back a century,
the original main drag, Rothschild Boulevard,
is lined with venerable buildings.
And Tel Aviv's beach scene is filled with
a live-for-today vibrancy.
In this culture, food is love,
and seems to celebrate the bounty of the land.
We sat down with our Israeli
to get an edible lesson in this
Hey, cheers.
L'chaim.
So, Benny, could you say this is typical Israeli?
Yeah, you can say this is typical Israeli.
Everything that you see here is grown here locally.
STEVES: Now, you could say this is Israeli,
but it's also Arab cuisine.
BENNY: Yes. We call it now Israeli food,
but you can find it in the Arab countries,
you can find it in Lebanon, you can find it all over the place.
Here we have eggplants with olive oil and tahini.
Here we have the tahini itself.
Here we have another eggplant salad with vegetables.
That's the hummus.
Very famous hummus made from chickpeas.
This is something special. This we call tabbouleh.
It's made of burghul and parsley and cucumbers.
Very special, very tasty.
It's okay to reach and dip your pita bread into it.
You dip it in each of the salads,
and that's the way to do it, no need of a fork or a knife.
And, Kobi, how do you say
-Beteavon. -Bete...
-Beteavon. -Beteavon.
Thank you.
-L'chaim. -L'chaim. L'chaim.
STEVES: Israel is small and laced by modern freeways.
Getting around is easy.
Road signs are in three languages and three scripts.
Hebrew and Arabic for Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel
and English for visitors.
A short drive up the coastline takes us to Haifa,
a prosperous and open city famous for its tolerance.
Many people here are part of Israel's Arab minority.
I was impressed at the youthful
It feels like young Israelis here,
whether from Muslim or Jewish families,
are most interested
in living free from the religious
and ethnic baggage of their parents.
In a trendy café, it was hard to tell who's who.
Talking with a local Arab-Israeli family,
we learned that, while problems persist,
they consider this land their home.
Now, what is it like socially in Haifa,
if you're an Arab-Israeli with Jewish-Israelis?
Is it separate, or can you mix?
Well, we mix in restaurants, at work,
we socialize here and there.
But...
Some neighborhoods, some streets are mixed.
Some streets. Not a lot.
I used to hear from her that, once, they were more together.
Yeah.
Like she had neighbors that used to...
-Really? -Yeah.
To do everything together. Now, no.
STEVES: And what do you see for the future?
For Israeli Arabs
and Israeli Jews together, your children,
what do you hope for?
Everybody hopes for peace
and a better life, but I doubt it.
-I doubt it. -The reality is?
The reality is not like that.
Even with all the problems that there is here,
this is our roots, you know?
We'll never, never give it up.
With everything that happens around us.
STEVES: That's beautiful. I like to hear that.
Yes. We love it here.
Heading into the interior takes us down,
700 feet below sea level, to the Sea of Galilee.
Israel's primary source of water,
it's both fed and drained by the Jordan River.
Galilee is popular among Christian pilgrims.
It's famous as the place
where Jesus did his three years of ministry
and where so many Bible stories
from loaves and fishes
and Sermon on the Mount, to Christ walking on water.
When exploring the Holy Land, your sight-seeing careens
from ancient holy sites to reminders
of 20th century strife and wars.
Overlooking the Sea of Galilee
stands the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Taken from Syria in the 1967 war,
and now firmly under Israeli control,
a visit here helps explain Israel's commitment
to holding the high ground.
See, now, a former Syrian position...
Our guide, Benny, show us the strategic significance
of this area from an old Syrian pillbox.
Standing here on a former Syrian position,
one can understand how vulnerable was
the settlements, the villages
and the kibbutzim of Israel before 1967.
For a whole generation,
the Syrians were here on the Golan,
on the edge of the cliff,
targeting and shooting
every single village and kibbutz of ours.
Every day, they looked up to Golan, saying,
"Is it going to be a day of shelling today?"
STEVES: Artillery from this little base -- boom.
Mortar shells, artillery, tank shells, machine gun fire.
STEVES: And the Sea of Galilee was
the source of the freshwater for Israel.
Still is.
BENNY: The Sea of Galilee was always and still is
the most important water reservoir we have,
and that's why,
today, it's very difficult for us even to conceive
leaving the Golan, allowing anyone to be here.
Above all, we must maintain our security.
The security of the Israelis, the families, the children.
Then we can speak about all the other things.
Control of land is the crux of the problem
between Israelis and Palestinians,
and occupying the high ground is more than a military issue,
it's a civilian one, as well.
Israel is developing settlements,
fortified communities on the tops of hills,
deep into the West Bank.
Essentially Israeli towns,
these controversial developments reach far into
what Palestinians consider their territory.
Many Israelis make the case that developing this land
is justified because the land was unused.
And many Jews believe it's God's will
that they occupy Biblical Judea and Samaria,
which is what they call the West Bank.
Roughly half a million Israeli Jews
now live in settlements in Palestine.
These planned and gated communities
come with all the comforts.
And with Israeli government subsidies
for housing and transportation,
young Jewish families can afford to live here
and commute from West Bank settlements back into Israel.
As in other democracies,
there are disagreements over government policy,
and many moderate Israelis oppose construction
of settlements in the West Bank.
But Government policies still allow
the ongoing construction of these settlements.
I chatted with several settlers
And to get another narrative,
I talked with my Palestinian guides,
both residents of the West Bank.
Now, there's a lot of confusion in America
about settlements and so on.
Is this a settlement?
Is this what you would consider a settlement?
Well, the word "settlement" has all kinds of connotations.
We consider it a city.
And just like Seattle's a city, so is Ma'aleh Adumim a city.
There is some dispute in the world
as to what this should be and what its status is.
Are you settlers?
Or what do you -- how do you consider the name?
I don't have name for that.
We live in Israel, this is Israel.
Yeah, so this is your town.
-Yeah, this is my country. -Exactly.
Now, what is Ma'aleh, what is Jordan Valley?
It's Israel. Everything, it's Israel.
Israelis, I've heard, would say,
"Well, the land is unused anyway.
It sits on the top of the hills."
Yeah, that's -- [Laughs]
That's a good excuse, but why it's unused?
Because we are not allowed to use it.
I'm sure you have a thousand dollars in your bank account,
and you're not using it, you know,
so it's still your money, you know.
-That's a good analogy. -Yeah.
Whenever you want to use it, you want to use it.
Whenever you don't want to use it, you don't want to use it.
It's our land. It's our right.
What would you say to an Arab that says,
"This is on the other side of the line defining the West Bank,
and it's Palestinian territory, and you don't belong here."
What would you say to them?
I don't know.
My history goes back not to the line, whatever the line is.
My history goes back thousands of years,
and in my history, this is part of Israel.
Why should I leave my country? I was born and raised here.
My grandfather, his grandfather,
his great, great, great, great, great grandfather,
and we still here, we didn't leave.
We do need to find a way to fix everything,
but I don't know how easy it's going to be,
and if it's going to be possible now.
You know that, daily, there are settlements are buildings,
the wall is being built,
and the Palestinians don't do anything about it.
We don't fight, we don't do anything against it.
We just want to show the world
that we are a people that want peace.
We want to show them
we're accepting this now,
because we want to show you this is not who we are.
We are people who want to achieve something.
My hunch is they've learned that there's only one future,
and that is to respect Israel and not be violent.
I don't know if they've learned. I'm not convinced yet.
STEVES: I'm hopeful. That's my hope.
-That's my hope. -That's your hope.
I think we're all hopeful. I don't think we've seen it yet.
Those settlements are making these --
this idea of us building the states
on that land impossible.
If you want peace, if you want a two-state solution,
help us achieving that, you know.
The settlements, for sure, they don't help.
I know this is the big, million-dollar question,
but do you think the future -- the best future
is a two-state solution or a one-state solution?
-You answer. -I don't know.
I'm not in politics. I'm a computer programmer.
I'm hoping -- and that's part of the things I'm involved in --
to create, plant seeds,
hopefully, maybe 10 years, 15 years from now,
people will realize the importance
of living together
and having one pluralistic democratic state.
You can't do one country to Israeli and to Palestine.
'Cause it's not going to work, it's not going to work.
It's not going to work. It's going to make only war.
Yes.
Being here,
I can see the appeal of these neighborhoods,
especially for young families.
But I've learned that these Israeli enclaves
embitter the Palestinians as much as violent resistance
embitters Israelis.
And many fear that the more the West Bank is fragmented
by Israeli settlements,
the more elusive a mutually agreeable solution
to this region's troubles will become.
The Palestinian perspective of the situation
is illustrated by maps like this,
showing how their land holdings
since the creation of Israel in
And there's the wall, begun in 2003 by Israel
to defend its border with the West Bank.
Israeli's say this is a security fence,
built after losing a thousand of its citizens
to suicide bombers in the previous decade.
And they claim it's been effective,
noting that, since its construction,
there's been almost no terrorism.
Palestinians counter by saying that the wall was built
with the pretense of security.
They say it's actually a land grab
designed to hobble a Palestinian state.
The fence or wall,
which is over 300 miles long,
generally runs well within Palestinian territory.
And it's nearly twice as long
as the border it claims to defend,
redrawn in order to secure settlements,
aquifers, good farmland,
and holy places within the West Bank for Israel.
While it's landscaped
and can look attractive from the Israeli side,
the wall is unfinished and feels demoralizing
from the Palestinian side.
This struggle has been difficult,
with killings and tragedy on both sides.
While one man's terrorist may be another man's freedom fighter,
the fact is, in recent decades,
both sides have suffered terribly.
Israeli Jews have been killed by Palestinians,
and Palestinians have been killed by Israelis.
I can certainly understand Israel's need for security,
but walls are designed to keep people apart,
and to me, that's part of the problem.
I felt that young generations on both sides want to connect,
but with this barrier,
which many call "the separation wall,"
people connecting to find common ground
is not an option.
Beyond the infrastructure of conflict,
it's the treasured land that defines Palestine.
Rejoined by our Palestinian guide, Kamal,
our first stop is Battir Natural Park,
famed for its hikes through olive groves
and ancient terraces.
Here in the Holy Land,
the land itself is holy to its inhabitants,
and for Palestinians, the olive tree
is a kind of lifeblood for their culture.
KAMAL: We are in Palestine.
This is Palestine here.
These are the biblical terraces of Battir.
And we call them biblical because they're over
2,000 years of age.
My ancestors came here and carved these terraces
into the mountains.
It was the only way for them to survive.
You know, the mountains are hilly.
You need the terraces to plant on them.
They did that at that time, and guess what?
We exist to today. We're still here.
Only though them.
That's why I love this place.
This tells me this is where I belong,
tells me this is Palestine.
STEVES: What do olives mean to the Palestinian people?
KAMAL: Olives, they're the best trees.
They're the poor man's tree because the olive tree
gives without taking.
The olive tree gives us the olives without even
needing us to do anything for it.
It's October, and across the land,
as they have since ancient times,
families gather in the olive groves
for the harvest.
Children are let out of school for the week
so they can work the trees with their parents.
In the West Bank,
60% of the trees are olive trees.
To Palestinians, the beloved olive tree
represents their past and their future.
They say, "It was planted
by our grandfathers for us to eat,
and we plant it for our grandchildren
to eat."
In nearby villages, families take their olives
to the communal press to make oil.
The traditional technique survives,
though boosted by hard-working machinery,
as a busy crew in oil-soaked shirts meets
the demands of the harvest season.
Rounds of olive paste are pressed into a weeping mass.
The fresh oil, after filtering, becomes
a golden liquid poured into jugs to be taken home.
As if rising out of those ancient olive groves,
the ancient city of Hebron, with over 200,000 people,
is the largest city in the West Bank,
and it's the bustling commercial capital,
with nearly a third of the entire West Bank economy.
Just strolling the streets,
dodging cars,
and mixing with the people,
I feel the energy of an economy
that seems primed to grow.
Commerce spills out everywhere.
Exploring the market streets,
I'm immersed in Palestinian life.
Experiences like these are why we travel.
Along with all the market activity and commerce
comes high security and tension.
That's because this city has the tomb of Abraham,
so sacred to both Israelis and Palestinians.
Here, Jews live literally atop Palestinian Muslims,
nas the two communities struggle
to be near the tomb of their common patriarch.
While the city is mostly Palestinian,
a determined and well-protected community
of several hundred Israeli settlers
has staked out the high ground.
The tension between the communities is illustrated
by a wire net that protects
the Arab food and clothing market
from the garbage of the Jewish residents above.
Israeli troops are posted here in the name of security.
Turnstiles and checkpoints are a way of life.
A no-man's land with Jewish political art
decorating closed buildings divides the two communities.
And it's all about this very sacred and complicated site --
an ancient structure capped by a medieval church
which now functions both as a mosque and a synagogue
holding the tombs of Abraham and his family.
The focal point for both faiths is this,
the tomb of Abraham.
Poignantly, access for the feuding
descendants of Abraham is divided by a pane
of bullet-proof glass.
On one side of the glass,
Jews worship in the synagogue,
the second-most holy place in Judaism.
It's enlivened with singing, studying,
and praying among the tombs of their great patriarchs.
The other half is a mosque, where Muslims worship
before their shared patriarch with equal fervor.
Its exquisite minbar,
where the imam stands to give sermons,
is a rare original from the 12th century,
with inlaid wood and no nails.
Unfortunately, this holy place's history
has a tragic aura.
For centuries, Jews were generally
not allowed to worship here.
Then, after the Israeli victory in the war of 1967,
the space was shared by Jews and Muslims.
But during a Muslim service in 1994,
an Israeli settler entered here with his gun
and killed 29 Palestinian worshippers.
Since then, this holy space has been divided,
emblematic of the difficult challenges
that permeate the Holy Land.
As a visitor traveling from Palestinian city to city
on fine modern freeways,
it's easy to underestimate the complexity of the region
and the extent of Israeli control.
Palestinians living in the West Bank,
while nominally autonomous,
are living under an Israeli occupation.
Israel has granted sections of the West Bank
various degrees of autonomy.
Palestinian cities are generally Palestinian-run
nwith their own security forces.
These islands of relative independence
are surrounded by zones controlled by
Israeli military.
Most of the West Bank population
is in Palestinian-controlled cities,
but Israel still controls most of the roads
and most of the land.
If there's a problem or unrest,
Israel can activate checkpoints like this
all across the country
and stop all traffic in the West Bank.
Within minutes, they can lock down and isolate
every Palestinian city.
Palestinian cars have green plates.
Israelis have yellow plates.
Generally, most West Bank roads
But when times are tense, checkpoints are manned
and only yellow plates are allowed.
Things are pretty quiet during our visit,
and we're able to move fast and free,
even with our green plates, throughout the West Bank.
Some of the most dramatic and evocative scenery here
is in the vast and arid Judean Desert.
Hiding in folds of the desert
are fabled monasteries which, since ancient times,
have given hermits the isolation of their dreams.
Our ears pop as we continue deeper into the desert
and drop below sea-level.
The road ends at the lowest place on earth,
the fabled Dead Sea.
Palestinians living in the West Bank
have no access to waterfront.
Officially, there's no seaside,
or lakefront in the West Bank.
Israel adjusted the border
to control the entire Dead Sea shoreline.
But when tensions are low,
Palestinian families
are allowed to enjoy some Israeli Dead Sea resorts.
Approaching any Palestinian city,
a bold, red sign makes it clear --
you're leaving the realm of the Israeli military
and entering the zone
controlled by Palestinian security.
This comes with a checkpoint, sometimes manned,
sometimes unmanned in a simple drive-through.
Regardless, there's always a watchtower,
reminding those coming and going
that Israel is keeping an eye on things.
Nablus is the second city of the West Bank in population,
with a fine modern center and a long history.
In Ancient times the Roman Emperor named it
the new city -- that's Neapolis or Nablus.
The people of Nablus are relatively conservative.
And immersed in this vibrant city's commercial commotion,
I found simply being part of the scene
a powerful experience.
Famed or notorious for its fighting spirit,
the city has walls crusty with political posters.
These young local men,
considered terrorists or freedom fighters,
depending on your perspective,
are mostly in Israeli prisons or dead.
Yet, they live on with posters that celebrate
their commitment to Palestinian independence.
As these posters fade,
I'm hoping that what seems to me
like a new spirit of nonviolence
to address the region's problems
reflects a permanent shift in Palestinian strategy.
A recurring symbol throughout Palestine is the key.
Many towns display a big key
as a reminder of a big issue here --
refugees, the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
who were displaced with
Here in the West Bank, over 60 years later,
many refugee camps are still filled
with Palestinian families who fled
when their land became Israel.
To this day, these people -- whose parents and grandparents,
thinking they'd be returning home soon,
grabbed their keys and fled back in 1948 --
treasure those old keys and are happy to tell their story.
MAN: Around the 19th of October, 1948,
my family was forced to leave their village.
They closed their house and moved away,
waiting for two weeks, and then they will be coming back.
65 years later, we are in a refugee camp,
still waiting for this return, which never happened.
Two-thirds of Palestinian people became refuges in 1948,
dispersed in 59 refugee camps,
and most of them have these old rusty keys
for doors that do or do not exist anymore.
Among the many refugee camps in the West Bank,
the biggest, with over 20,000 people,
is Balata, just outside of Nablus.
The 10' x 10' platting,
marking where tents were posted
Only now the tents are gone,
replaced by multistory cinder block tenements.
Throughout the world, there are
Wandering these lanes,
I can't imagine living in such dense population...
the lack of privacy...
Being a parent with children and little money...
the frustration of an uncertain future.
For over 60 years, the United Nations
has maintained a calming and helpful presence.
When the UN-run-and-funded school lets out,
the streets flood with children nhappy to practice their English
with a rare traveler venturing into their world.
[All shouting]
[Steves laughs]
A women's co-op provides training and helps kick-start
cottage industries run by traditional artisans.
And the commerce enlivening the main street of the camp
is like that of a town.
We're joining little Mustafa,
who's been sent by his mother to get chicken for dinner.
[Chicken squawking]
Around here, pride can come in little triumphs,
and Mustafa is heading home with dinner for the family.
Life goes on in these camps,
as the refugees wait for a resolution to their plight.
It's time to move on to our final stop in the West Bank.
It's October, and the landscape
is pretty brown after a scorching summer.
Today's vistas feel timeless.
In fact, I can imagine Abraham, Jesus,
or Muhammad each traversing these same valleys.
The city of Ramallah
functions as the de facto capital of Palestine.
While most Palestinians consider Jerusalem
their rightful capital, so do Israelis,
and sharing the city seems unlikely for now.
That leaves Ramallah to host the Palestinian government
and international agencies.
Adjacent the president's headquarters
stands the tomb of Yasser Arafat.
While he certainly has plenty of detractors,
this Palestinian statesman,
who led the PLO from 1969 until 2004,
is without a doubt the father of modern Palestine.
Call him what you like, people here celebrate Arafat
as the man who did more than anyone else
to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle
for independence.
With its international professionals
and university students, Ramallah has an almost
cosmopolitan energy you feel nowhere else in Palestine.
Whether coming together at the Square of the Lions
or browsing down a stylish shopping street,
Ramallah helps me envision a peaceful and prosperous
Palestine of the future.
Nearby, at Bir Zeit University,
with its beautiful campus and 9,000 students,
you feel a younger generation working hard
and engaged.
A stroll through the campus gives me a chance
to connect with students and learn a bit
about both their culture and their aspirations.
In a university like this,
are there more men or more women studying?
Women, I believe, women, yes.
STEVES: What is it like for a woman in Palestine?
They live freely, like womens in the world.
Yes, we can do everything today.
We can go out together, and no judgmental, nothing.
This feels so free and beautiful here,
and you have such a future, but you're living behind a wall.
What is that like?
It is like I don't see the whole of my country.
I can't go to Jerusalem, also.
I can't go to the sea. I can't see the sea.
I don't know my country.
STEVES: Because it's on the other side of the wall?
Yeah. There was a history of violence
during different struggles,
but I feel today that there's a recognition
that violence is not a winning strategy.
What is the thinking in Palestine
about violent resistance now?
For us to stick together, to be together,
to be one unite, you know.
And this is our victory to us,
for us to keep together, to stay together,
and never let them make us feel, at the end, that, yes,
to accept the idea that we are the bad guys.
'Cause we are not.
So what is the hope for -- for the future?
Of course, to live in peace, to have peace and to be --
To have all your family around, to go abroad
whenever you want.
We're very happy that you're coming
and give you these points and these thoughts about us,
because we know that Americans and public in general,
they know the bad idea about us.
So it's our pleasure to have this opportunity
to give our thoughts and who we really are.
STEVES: Free women with a good future.
-Yes.
Insha'Allah, insha'Allah.
STEVES: Traveling here humanizes the Holy Land.
On both sides of the wall,
nyou feel the religious passion,
the historical suffering,
and the national pride.
And you meet endearing people.
Good people motivated by fear and love.
Land is treasured,
land is disputed,
and land is the basis of dreams.
Both communities have inflicted pain,
and both communities have endured pain.
And peace is possible only when both sides
move beyond the past and make real concessions.
The United States is clearly a stakeholder,
and it's hard to imagine a roadmap
to peace in the Holy Land without American involvement.
There's no easy answer.
Yet, traveling here, I feel there's a growing realization
that neither side is going away,
violence is not the answer,
and everyone will be better off
and economic justice are provided to all.
I know the hurdles are high,
but after hearing both narratives,
I can envision a peaceful and prosperous Holy Land,
with a secure Israel and a free Palestine.
And I'm hopeful.
In this land, so treasured by Jews, Muslims, and Christians,
I'm reminded that the prophets of each of these religions
taught us to love our neighbors.
And the lessons learned from traveling here in the Holy Land
can inspire us all to strive for that ideal.
I'm Rick Steves.
Until next time, keep on traveling.
Shalom, salaam,