Allon

Thursday eve we went to a batmitzvah near a little settlement called Allon,
close to Ma'ale Adumim on the West Bank. It was in a magnificent location
with a view of the desolate desert mountains. To get there we drove past
Jerusalem, past Ma'ale Adumim on the road to the Dead Sea, and then turned
left onto the Allon Road. This was built by Yigal Allon when he was Deputy
Prime Minister after the Six Day War of 1967 along the crest of the hills
between the cities from Jerusalem to Ramallah and Nablus on the West
and the Jordan Valley to the East as a means of maintaining communication
and control.
Just along the road was the location of the event called "Eretz Berashit"
literally translated as "Beginning Country" or "Land of Genesis" as they
called it. It was located on a promontory that jutted out into a valley with a
view into the distance. At night it was possible to see cars traveling along
a main road in the distance and the lights of a city. We thought it might be
Ramallah, but we were not sure, since the road twists and turns so much
getting there that you couldn't be sure which way you were facing. The
weather was hot (28 deg C = ca 86 deg F), and in the evening there was
a pleasant cool breeze.
There are two roads to take to bypass Jerusalem, either route 443 that goes
through Modi'in or the main route 1 and then the by-pass roads to the
north through the French Hill junction. Unfortunately, there was a major
accident on route 443 that held people up because the road was closed. A
bus, a garbage truck and several cars crashed into each other and two people
were killed. This is not unusual in Israel. Luckily we chose to go on route 6
and then route 1, so that we avoided the problem and got there in less than 2
hours.
The batmitzvah party was wonderful and we got to see our old friends the
Churgins (I won't go into detail about the hosts etc. since that gets too
personal). But, the batmitzvah girl spoke movingly about her experience
serving poor people in a soup kitchen set up as a restaurant. We ate in a tent
called "Abraham's Tent" and the food was excellent.
One of the topics of conversation was that it would be a shame if our
Government gives this little piece of our Land to the Palestinians. Since it
is so close to Ma'ale Adumim, just 5 mins drive, it should be incorporated
into the Adumim block. Ma'ale Adumim literally means Red Heights, and the
city really rears up high as you drive along the valley road next to it. I
remember my cousin taking me there to see it when to was first being built
on Government land in the late 1970's. Now it is a city of ca. 30,000 people,
and will certainly be incorporated into Israel as part of the final borders.
This may be Sharon's lasting legacy, he engineered the situation whereby,
because Israel gave up Gaza, we in turn have earned the right to retain and
incorporate those densely populated Jewish areas of the West Bank, such as
Ma'ale Adumim.
The road back at night was an interesting drive, particularly since we went
through a maze of tunnels that I did not know existed, through the hills into
Jerusalem, which we then skirted to the north and came out onto routes 443.
We stopped in Modi'in to drop off some friends. This is another city that
has grown incredibly since it was also founded maybe 30 years ago. It is
situated in an ideal location, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, very
central, and on the heights so it is cool. It is on Israeli territory, not
the West Bank, and is reputed to be (near to) the place where the Maccabis
lived and where they fought against the Syrian Greeks, in the story of
Hanukkah.
Anyway it was a very pleasant and interesting outing, and we got home late,
exhausted but happy.