Written by Jay Dumanian '14
“What is that thing?” Someone said. “It looks like a beaver.” Someone else: “Yeah, it’s a beaver!”
“While it looks like a beaver, that is obviously not a beaver. Of course there are no beavers in Israel,” said our guide.
Shows how much we know, I suppose. After arising from a full night’s sleep at last at the kibbutz, and eating a delicious breakfast of eggs, cereal, fruit and vegetables, we had taken our bus to the Agmonha Hula nature preserve and birdwatching center. Our guide, Nir, pointed out to us the hordes of cranes scattered around the preserve, and we learned about the massive bird feeding operation underway. Tens of thousands of birds are fed every day, in an effort to save crops in the region from the hundreds of millions of migratory birds that travel through Israel each year. We then learned about bird tracking and tagging- researchers strung up huge nets all around this preserve to catch and then band birds. Collaborating with other researchers in Africa, Europe, and Asia, they hoped to, over time, get a better and better picture of the migratory patterns of these kingfishers, cranes, and raptors, to name a few.
After the preserve, we went over to the Beit Habad olive oil production factory, and received a quick lesson in the virtues of olives and their products, as well as a somewhat political lecture on the Palestinian situation. After touring the production process and trying out all sorts of olive oil creams, soaps and balms, we piled back in to the bus, which quickly filled up with the smell of lemon and olive. Another lunch of shwarma and falafel found us in Katzrin, and also gave us our first interaction with a group of Israeli soldiers. Our last stop of the day brought us to the Har Bental Israeli military bunker system. These fortifications had seen heavy fighting in the frontlines the Yom Kippur war, as heavily outnumbered Israeli troops fought off hundreds of Syrian tanks. Unfortunately, it had begun pouring rain just as we were pulling in, so our views of the Syrian border were cut short. However, the chance to explore the bunker system and hear stories from the war was incredibly powerful; we stood in the same places that Israeli soldiers, at our age, fought and died for their country and homeland.
While the weather may have taken a turn for the worse today, we saw a side of Israel that I, at least, really did picture when I thought about my upcoming trip. The abundance of wildlife was amazing to see, as was the wide open farmland and marshes.
I constantly find it amazing to be in a land that has been so contested and fought over and debated, even within my relatively short lifetime. We learned from our guide Daniel that some of our time today was spent in land that is technically occupied Syrian territory under international law- the “border” that we would have seen in better weather conditions is in fact a ceasefire line and not a true border, which are only formed when there is peace. Today, I found myself engaged in wonderful conversations about this and many other topics, ranging from why someone made aliyah, to mandatory military service, to why US celebrities deserve more privacy. While I’ve heard from friends who have been on Birthright that one of the best parts to them was conversations just like these, I am still amazed at all I have learned, discussed and debated in the last 12 hours. Maybe it’s the fact that we finally got some needed sleep, or the delicious coffee we just drank at Har Bental, but I am excited to see what there is still to come in the next 8 days.