My west bank tours are one of my favorites. I believe that touring the west bank would break many misconceptions about the area. Moreover, there are some beautiful sites to visit in Palestine. So where should we start? Well, there are two major cities worth visiting in Palestine. First is my Bethlehem tours which I offer tours to from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. The other is my tour to Jericho. Another city worth visiting if you wish to get to know the West Bank (Palestine).
By the way, the term “West Bank” name was given to the territory after it was captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War because it sits on the west side of the Jordan River hence the “west bank”. Jordan subsequently annexed the territory in 1950 and held it until 1967 when it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.
HISHAM’S PALACE IN JERICHO
West Bank Tours: Bethlehem Tours
Bethlehem is an ancient city that goes a couple of millenniums back. In fact, the earliest known mention of Bethlehem was in the Amarna correspondence of 1350–1330 BCE when the town was inhabited by the Canaanites. In addition, the Hebrew Bible, which says that the city of Bethlehem was built up as a fortified city by Rehoboam.
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus. Bethlehem was destroyed by Emperor Hadrian during the second-century Bar Kokhba revolt; its rebuilding was promoted by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great; who commissioned the building of its great Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. The church was badly damaged by the Samaritans, who sacked it during a revolt in 529, but was rebuilt a century later by Emperor Justinian I.
MEDIEVAL DRAWINGS ON A PILLAR IN THE CHURCH OF NATIVITY
Tours to Jericho
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho; the first of which dates back 11,000 years (9000 BCE), almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth’s history. Copious springs in and around the city have attracted human habitation for thousands of years. Jericho is described in the Hebrew Bible as the “city of palm trees”. So my tours of Jericho include a visit to the ancient Tel Jericho and much more!
