The Golan Heights

We started the day off with a nice 2 hour hike through the Golan heights in the northeastern part of the country. The weather was perfect – about 20 degrees not too hot, not too cold. We saw a huge waterfall which leads into the Jordan river. The scenery was awesome, and the day was perfect.

We drove up north to close to the border with Syria. We watched a movie on the Yom Kippur War and the battle at the ‘Valley of Tears’ in the Golan. Israel had only 2 hours to prepare for war on the holiest day of the year – Yom Kippur. Syrian tanks outnumbered the Israelis 10 to 1, but the Israelis outlasted approximately 2000 Syrian tanks for 3 full days until reinforcements arrived. Not only did Israel defend itself, but it captured land from Syria in the north.

We drove to an outlook over the Israeli –Syrian border. This border is the most peaceful border that Israel has because of the extremely high tension between Israel and Syria. It has been extremely calm for 30 years because both sides do not want war. It was extremely vital that Israel defended the Golan during the Yom Kippur war in 1973 because these outposts in the Golan are to give 48 hours notice for war, even though this did not happen in 1973.

From the Golan we traveled to a hot springs located near the border intersection of Syria, Jordan, and Israel. The hot springs was a nice way to relax after a long day of touring. When we got back to the kibbutz, we had a nice dinner and had a bonfire outside by the beach. The weather was perfect, and the view overlooking the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) to Tiberius was outstanding.