These pictures are from the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv corridor. It was the site of many battles during the 1948 war, as the Israelis fought to keep the Arabs from cutting off communications to Jerusalem, which was under siege and whose residents almost starved. There are a lot of very interesting and inspiring stories, including the Burma Road, a bypass built in record time to keep supply convoys to Jerusalem running as they were being ambushed on the main road. Anyway, I hiked south of Highway 1, which links Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. After the war, the corridor, which is very mountainous, was planted with trees by the Jews. In the pictures from 1948, you can see barren hillsides covered with garrengue, the landscape you get after you chop down all the trees for wood and then herd goats and sheep over the land to such a degree that only spiny, thorny bushes can survive. Today, there are huge trees everywhere, pines, figs, even palms. It looks a bit like the low mountains of Bosnia or the Appalachians.
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| Olive grove |
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| Jerusalem from the West |
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| Hadassa Hospital and a church to the left |
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Judean Mountains
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