Monday 9 September 2013 Jerusalem Overlook Tour with the students

We toured with the students today - looking toward Jerusalem from the east, south, and north - to get a geographical perspective on the area.

City of David, on the south side of Jerusalem.  

We are in front of the Seven Arches Hotel on the Mount of Olives.  The Old City is to our right. The Hinnom and Kidron Valleys meet here and run to the Dead Sea. To our left is the Mount of Corruption.  Solomon let his wives worship their gods on the mount, so it was called the Mount of Corruption.

 Dome of the Rock is the third most holy Muslim site, built in 691 AD. Just outside the wall are Muslim graves.  The Jews believe the Mount of Olives will be split and the Messiah will walk into Jerusalem through St. Stephens (Lions) Gate. The Jews wanted their graves to be close to the wall so they will be the first to be resurrected.  The Muslims put this graveyard by the wall to prevent the Jews from having their graves by the city.

 Jewish graves are in the foreground, Muslim graves are at the base of the Old City wall.

Inside Augusta Victoria Hospital.  It is a Lutheran hospital that serves the Palestinian community.  It was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II as a guest house and hospital to serve the immigrants and visitors from Germany to the Holy Land.  The armistice of World War I was signed here. The mountains on the east of Jerusalem act as a watershed as the clouds move over land from the Mediterranean. West of these mountains is relatively green, and east is barren.

The Augusta Victoria Hospital Tower is a landmark on the Mount of Olives, along with the Hebrew University Tower and the Russian Church of the Ascension Tower.

 Looking from south of Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock is by Linda's head. The Hinnom Valley is in the center of the picture, south of the Old City wall.

 On the way to the Bethlehem outlook, we saw this family herding goats.

Looking at Bethlehem from an outlook south of Jerusalem

 Looking at Gibeah on the north of Jersalem, where King Saul had his palace.  King Hussein began to built a palace here before the 1967 war.  Israel captured this area and the palace remains unfinished.

Looking at Gibeon from Nabi Samwil, the traditional burial site of Samuel the Prophet.

Looking toward Ramallah, north of Jerusalem in the West Bank.