Hiking in Palestine
One highlight of my trip was taking part in a weekly hike organized by a few Palestinian locals. It was set up as a way for local Palestinians to get together and better appreciate the beauty and history of the landscape surrounding Ramallah and other areas of the West Bank. My cousin Juwana goes on these hikes most weeks and several weeks ago, my niece joined them when she was visiting. My niece highly suggested I go.
So I was picked up at 5:45 a.m. by my cousin and we met the group at 6 a.m. at Al Manara, the center of Ramallah. We were then all shuttled to the beginning of the trail and were on our way.
What was most amazing to me was the truly international flavor of the group. There was a guy from the U.K. who heard about the hike while on business consulting with a Palestinian N.G.O. (non government organization). There was also the couple from Paris touring the middle east. The NYU law school student was in the middle of his trip “backpacking” the region and going on tours to witness occupation first-hand. Then there others from Australia and others from the U.S. About half of the group were local Palestinians.
The experience truly rounded out my time in Palestine. I spent very valuable time with my cousin, absorbed the beauty of the Palestinian landscape, and met people from around the world. We also enjoyed a great breakfast together and got some sun and well-needed exercise too.
