Today turned out to be quite a interesting day even though it was quite cold.
First off I got up early and saw a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galileo. Which is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth at 209 meters below sea level and second in the w. 1/3 of all of Israel’s water came from this lake until 10 years ago when Israel became water independent via the biggest desalination factory in the world. Israel is now building in India a desalination factory.
Our guide took us to Mount Bental in the Golan Heights where we could see the dmz zone between Israel and Syria and the border between Israel and Syria and at the same time see the border between Israel and Lebanon. There was a town you could see on the Syria side of the fence that had been destroyed and never rebuilt. This is probably the closest I’ll ever come to going to Syria or Lebanon.
Israel does not have a peace treat with Syria only a cease fire. On the way to Mount Bental on fences there were signs on both sides of the road for miles that said Danger Mines. Israel houses to this day have gas masks in them. There were some areas were the military cleared the mines and farms would have cattle graze on those lands first just in case a mine was missed. Coming from the US and not been in the military it seems so strange to actually see mine fields and a dmz zone but for citizens on both sides it could turn into a very real threat.
On the road headed away from Mount Bental and out of the mine area, cars were parked on either side of the road leading up to Mount Hermon. Israel parents were taking their children to Mount Hermon to touch the snow. Growing up with snow and school closures due to snow we tend to forget that others don’t get to experience this like we have. Mount Hermon has Israel ‘s only ski resort.
