We took a side trip to the Jordan River Vally last week. The river was running very high due to snow melt and water runoff from Mount Hermon. There has been a lot of rain fall over the winter and the snow is rapidly melting. This has caused the river to rise to a very high level and flow over the concrete bridge.
I met a few people from the United States who were there to see the river. There were also some media people who showed up to take pictures of the water level. It is a big deal to have this much water coming down from the mountain and ending up in the Sea of Galilee. So we stayed out of the way of the media and left after a short time.
This is a very popular place for the local citizens and various bus tours to come and see the river. The scenery is quite spectacular in this region.
I received this in an email from a friend. It is a knock off of an original. If I could give the originator a kudu for it, I would. Be that as it may I decided to put it up on the blog if only because I liked it. If the person who actually started this wants to contact me I am easy to find. I would then be quite happy to provide credit to him / her for the work.
As I am a pilot on a ground job in the middle east I can relate. I have never been so impressed with Canadian military men and women until I got to work with them out of country.
Bez ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Canadian soldier is profane and irreverent, living as he does in a world of capriciousness, frustration and disillusionment.
He is perhaps the best-educated of his kind in history, but rarely accords respect on the basis of mere degrees or titles.
He speaks his own dialect, often incomprehensible to the layman. He can be cold, cruel, even brutal and is frequently insensitive. Killing is his profession and he strives to become even more skilled at it.
His model is the grey, muddy, hard-eyed comrade who took the untakeable at Vimy Ridge, endured the unendurable in the Scheldt and held the unholdable at Kapyong.
He is a superlative practical diplomat; his efforts have brought peace to many around the world. He is capable of astonishing acts of kindness, warmth and generosity. He will give you his last sip of water on a parched day and his last food to a hungry child; he will give his life for the society he loves.
Danger and horror are his familiars and his sense of humour is, accordingly, sardonic. What the unknowing take as callousness is his defence against the unimaginable; he whistles through a career filled with graveyards.
His ethos is one of self-sacrifice and duty. He is sinfully proud of himself, of his unit, of his country. He is unique in that his commitment is total. No other trade or profession demands such of its members, and none could successfully try.
He loves his family dearly, sees them all too rarely and often as not loses them to the demands of his profession. Loneliness is the price he accepts for the privilege of serving.
He regards discomfort as routine; the search for personal gain is beneath him; he has neither understanding of, nor patience with, those motivated by self-interest, politics or money.
His loyalty can be absolute, but must be earned. Paradoxically, payment for his loyalty, is also loyalty.
He devours life in big bites, knowing that each bite might be his last; his manners suffer thereby. He would rather die regretting the things he did than the ones he dared not try.
He earns a good wage by most standards and, given the demands on him, is woefully underpaid. He can be arrogant, thoughtless and conceited, but will spend himself, sacrifice everything for total strangers in places he cannot pronounce.
He considers political correctness a podium for self-righteous fools, but will die fighting for the rights of anyone he respects or pities
He is a philosopher and a drudge, an assassin and a philanthropist, a servant and a leader, a disputer and a mediator, a Nobel Laureate peacekeeper and the Queen’s hitman, a brawler and a healer, best friend and worst enemy.
He is a rock, a goat, a fool, a sage, a drunk, a provider, a cynic. You, pale stranger, sleep well at night only because he exists for you — the citizen who has never met him, has perhaps never thought of him and may even despise him.
He is both your child and your guardian. His devotion to you is unwavering. He is The Canadian Soldier.
Today ICRC started transferring apples through the Kuneitra crossing point between the Israeli Occupied Golan and Syria.
This is a good news story for all sides. People from the Israeli Occupied Golan can ship their apples to Syria.
The Israeli Defence Force gain some excellent points for their fair, friendly and agreeable assistance.
The Syrian people get this fruit for their use.
The Syrian military gain some excellent points for their fair, friendly and agreeable assistance.
I was actually encouraged to take photos today - by all sides. This is an extremely rare happening.
However, despite the careful overseeing of this transfer and obvious close attention to security by all parties, there was a bit of an air of festiival.
Making it a good news story for all parties concerned.
I was quite pleased to play a small part. I might add it was quite cold but the temperature did not seem to be able to spoil the mood.
Essentially the apples show up at the A-Gate in large delivery vans on the Israeli Occupied Golan side. They are then transferred to ICRC (Red Cross) vehicles. I admit to sampling a couple - but out of thousands of tonnes of apples I am sure they will not begrudge me on or two apples!
Now it must be remembered that Israel and Syria are still officially at war - although the A/B lines between the two parties is and has been reasonably quiet for some years. I attribute a great deal of this peace to the quiet and determined professionalism of the UNTSO military observers and the UNDOF soldiers.
So to make this transfer happen and maintain complete neutrality, the Red Cross arranged to actually truck the apples from Israeli Occupied Golan, through the Israeli Crossing (Alpha-Gate), past the United Nations Check Point (Charlie-Gate) and finally through the Syrain Gate (Bravo-Gate).
Once through the A / C / B gates the apples are transferred to waiting Syrian trucks for transportation and delivery. It went very well today.
This operation will continue for another few weeks until all apples are transferred into Syria.
Below is a selection of pictures I took today with short descriptions.
1. The apple delivery trucks arrived on the Israeli Occupied Golan side of the crossing point and lined up to transfer their loads into Red Cross trucks. I managed to beg an apple from one of the men from Buqata and it was pretty good. Mind you anytime I can get fresh fruit I am a happy camper - it was good!
2. Using two forklifts, each truck was loaded with apples in a matter of a few minutes.
3. This is a view of the A Gate where the apple trucks will come from Israeli Occupied Golan into the neutral area at the United Nations C Gate.
4. This is a view of the United Nations crossing point. We call it the C Gate. It sits in the middle between the A & B Gates. The trucks will be stopped and checked here to ensure a neutral party inspects the trucks after leaving the Israeli Occupied Golan and entering Syrian territory.
5. This is a view of the Syrian gate or the B Gate from the UN checkpoint at the C Gate. Once the trucks have been released by the United Nations military police, they will travel down this road and enter Syria.
6. From the Syrian side you can see the very first apple truck coming!
7. Dignitaries, citizens and media gather around the first truck as it enters to be unloaded.
8. A lot of people wanted to take part - especially the reporters and the photographers.
9. The trucks started coming steady after the initial ceremonies were over.
10. Loading the Syrian trucks for distribution.
11. Inside the Syrian gate looking back at the A / C Gates.
Approaching Nimrod Castle from a distance allows you to see how imposing it truly is. Located in the northern region of the Golan Heights at an altitude of 815 metres above sea level, it was once the primary defence for this portion of the road from Tyre to Damascus. The walls are not only imposing, but the thought of attacking up the very steep slopes is quite daunting.
Nimrod is a large and well preserved fortresses in the Middle East and has survived many battles, being only truly damaged by earthquake.
Approaching Nimrod:
Without siege engines this was a difficult fortress to conquer. The terrain prevented large machines of war to approach the walls:
The fortress has a long and narrow structure to fit the topographic area upon which it sits. Its width varies from 50 – 150 metres and its length is approximately 450 metres. The walls are tall and thick – sitting high on the face of steep hills and cliffs making it virtually impregnable without siege engines.
History:
After the battle at Horns of Hittin (1187), the Crusaders lost most of their hold on the Territory of the Land of Israel. Salah-a-Din commanded the army in the fight against the Crusaders, He and his troops systematically destroyed the fortresses which fell into their hands. The Crusaders attempted to return to the Holy Land and retake the lost ground. They were only able to take and hold the lands on the Mediterranean coast and Galilee.
Kaiser Frederick II arrived in the Holy Land in 1227. Sultan el-Kamal (nephew of Salah-a-Din) feared the Crusaders would attack Damascus. He initiated the building of Nimrod Castle in the same year in order to protect the road to Damascus. When the danger had passed he expanded the fortress on the westward side. Construction was completed in 1230.
In 1253 the Crusaders attempted to conquer the fortress to no avail. The Mongol invasion of Syria and the Holy Land in 1260 brought about the destruction of the fortress. It was rebuilt in 1275 by the governor appointed by the Sultan of Mameluke.
After the Crusaders were ejected from the Holy Land in the end of the 13’th century the fortress fell into disrepair and was eventually used as a prison in the 15’th century and finally abandoned. Damage seen today happened during an earthquake.
A tower entrance:
A typical firing position from within a tower:
A double firing position from within a tower:
Each firing position also allowed one tower to support another tower in event the attackers attempted to scale the walls:
A look at the interior layout from the top of the first or original Keep:
Water was always important. This fortress had the ability to survive for a long time in event of blockade as there was a gigantic cistern that held massive amounts of water:
