Gaza Border Reality Tour

Photo of Eliyahu, an Israeli and the originator of the Gaza Border Reality Tour, a tour to give you an understanding of the conflict between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Before Hamas came into power in a free election in 2006, there was an open border between Gaza and Israel. Hamas is a Palestine fundamentalist militant Islamic organization and is not the only militant organization in Gaza. There is also the Palestine Islamic Jidah among others, some aligned with Hamas, others in conflict with Hamas. Our tour from Tel Aviv met tour people coming from other Israeli cities who were from many countries and also Eliyahu at the train station in Ashkelon. I like day tours as I get to talk to people from around the world. On this trip, from the UK, Germany, Brazil, Russia, the Netherlands, and Taiwan among other countries.

Erez Crossing

We drove to the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel. The only way to get into Gaza is if you live there or sometimes if you are a part of a relief organization. Permits are required by both Hamas in Gaza and Israel for Gaza residents to cross the border into Israel. We were here when the border area on both sides was quiet. However, since Trump’s peace plan has been announced, this area is not very safe to visit and I assume that tours here have been canceled.

On the Israeli Side

The Gaza men under the covering are permit holders. They are construction workers, merchants, and ones waiting to go to a hospital. Arab cab drivers pick them up. We had conversations with a few of the Palestinians and were able to ask them many questions. I asked them if they got CNN and Fox News on their TVs––yes, but they prefer Al Jazeera.

Netiv Ha Asara

We next drove to the Netiv Ha Asara moshav, which means “the path of ten” in memoriam to the 10 sons of the moshav who died defending the area. A moshav is an agricultural cooperative of independent small farms or land farmed by the whole community. Each family has their own houses and gardens. A kibbutz, on the other hand, is a communal farm or factory, though kibbutzes now have individual family housing as well. We were told that Moshav Netiv is the closest settlement to the Gaza border. Before entering a meeting room, we viewed the moshav’s collection of rockets that Gaza had fired at them. Each house in Netiv Ha Asara has a safe house to go to when a siren is sounded that a rocket has been fired.

Netiv Ha Asara

In a meeting room at Netiv Ha Asara, we watched a movie of how life living so close to the Gaza border is and having to deal with mortar attacks, sniper fire, and rockets. I think that the woman narrating the movie is the one who developed the idea of the Path to Peace Wall. Some of its design can be seen in the photo.

Walls and Fences

Walls have been built in the border area to protect the settlers from mortar and sniper fire. Here the walls are decorated. In the middle of the photo, you can see another wall and fencing dividing Israel from Gaza. You can also tell that we had much rain that day.

Path to Peace Wall

Part of the Path to Peace Wall. Visitors glue mosaic pieces on the wall.

Path to Peace Wall

Another section of the Path to Peace Wall.

Path to Peace Wall

Two big buses of Israeli soldiers came to the wall when we were there. I think it is part of their education to see the wall.

Bus Stop Bomb Shelters

Each bus stop in the border area has its own bomb shelter to run into if a siren is sounded that tells them that the area is being attacked by Gaza. Many of the bomb shelters are decorated, such as the one in the photo.

Kibbutz Lunch

We ate lunch at a kibbutz that had many different offerings. You serve yourself and bus your own dishes. In the photo you can see the school children arriving for lunch.

Gaza City

From this viewpoint, we could see Gaza City on the other side of the fence. The population of the Gaza Strip is about 2 million, with the population of Gaza City a bit over 500,000.

Gaza Conversation

We stopped and Eliyahu had a phone conversation with a journalist and his friend who were in Gaza. They pointed out that with the almost total blockade of Gaza by both Egypt and Israel they feel like they are prisoners. The friend bemoaned that he can’t leave Gaza to get a good higher education and also that the blockade blocks Gaza from developing.

Asaf Siboni Lookout

We made a stop at the Asaf Siboni Lookout. Asaf Siboni was killed when his helicopter crashed into another helicopter in 1997, known as the Helicopter Disaster, which killed 73 Israeli soldiers. The large rock in the photo is for Iris Eden who lost her first husband in that crash and her second husband when his vehicle was hit by a Hamas anti–tank missile. She said that “The two loves of my life went up in flames.”

Gaza City

We also had views of Gaza City from the lookout.

Sderot

Our last stop was at Sderot, a small Israeli city of about 25,000 only 1 km (0.62 miles) from the Gaza border. A city with many bomb shelters.

Sderot

A display in Sderot of the rockets from Gaza that have hit the city.

Yeshiva of Sderot

We visited the Yeshiva of Sderot where students study the Talmud and the Torah and are exempt from military service as long as they are studying.

Sderot

From the top of the yeshiva, we had this view of Sderot. After this, we drove out to where the Iron Dome Air Defense System is located on the edge of Sderot, then dropped Eliyahu off and we were driven to the train station to go back to Tel Aviv or to other cities. On the train ride, I had some interesting conversations with people from the UK. A young man told me told he and his friends are afraid of traveling in the United States because of our mass shootings (but he was on this tour to the Gaza border!). Also, the UK people were in Israel because Ryan Air had offered a great fare price to Israel. They hopped on a plane and then decided what they would do when they got here––a sense of freedom. They said that I should travel this way sometime to try out an unplanned vacation and just do what I feel like at the moment. They were very interesting tour mates.

I have put my photos of the Gaza Border Reality Tour on a slideshow. Go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/gaza–border–reality–tour/ (Slide Shows, Middle East, Israel, “Gaza Border Reality Tour”).