Who receives the most U.S. aid

A friend just shared an article with me that lists the ten countries that receive the most financial aid from the United States and describes how the money is allocated for the top six recipients. I had never seen this list before and was really surprised by it.

1. Israel - $2.4 billion (virtually all of this money is used to buy weapons - up to 75% made in the U.S. Beginning in 2009, the U.S. plans to give $30 billion over 10 years.)

2. Egypt - $1.7 billion ($1.3 billion to buy weapons; $103 million for education; $74 million for health care; $45 million to promote civic participation and human rights.)

3. Pakistan - $798 million ($330 million for security efforts, including military-equipment upgrades and border security; $20 million for infrastructure.)

4. Jordan - $688 million ($326 million to fight terrorism and promote regional stability through equipment upgrades and training; $163 million cash payment to the Jordanian government.)

5. Kenya - $586 million ($501 million to fight HIV/AIDS through drug treatment and abstinence education and to combat malaria; $15 million for agricultural development; $5.4 million for programs that promote government accountability.)

6. South Africa - $574 million ($557 million to fight TB and HIV/AIDS; $3 million for education.)

7. Mexico - $551 million

8. Colombia - $541 million

9. Nigeria - $491 million

10. Sudan - $479 million

Top ten humanitarian crises

As I've been reading more about the current situation in the Gaza Strip, I couldn't help but think about some of the other places I've visited in the past six months, namely Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that have fallen into unbelievable humanitarian crises shortly after my visit. I was curious about which places would be considered the worst humanitarian crises and found out that MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières, Doctors Without Borders) publishes a list of the top ten worst humanitarian crises each year. This year's list includes Somalia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, childhood malnutrition, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq and co-infection with HIV and tuberculosis. Stories, photos, maps and videos on each of these crises can be found here.

Israeli attacks on Gaza

It makes my head spin that just days after I published post after post about my trip to Israel - how beautiful the country is, how nice the people are, how delicious the food is, how peaceful the place feels - that same country would attack a neighboring territory. Israel released a wave of missile attacks on the Gaza Strip beginning Saturday morning and attacks continued on Sunday. Recent reports say that more than 270 Palestinians have died in the attacks (one Israeli has been killed by a rocket fired from Gaza into Israel). Already, though, this is the one of the bloodiest incidents in the sixty year conflict between Israel and Palestine, and Israel says it is only the beginning. The Israeli military has assembled troops along the border of the Gaza Strip for a possible ground invasion, even as the U.N. Security Council calls for a halt to the violence.

The following is a video from Al Jazeera News, an English-language news station in the Middle East. Be forewarned, some of the images in this video are quite graphic.

Back to Cairo

We made good time on the drive back to Eilat, turned in our rental car and crossed the border without much difficulty. It was much easier and much quicker to cross back in to Egypt than it had been to cross into Israel. I forgot to mention earlier that when we were crossing into Israel, we had a little difficulty because neither Meg nor I could have an Israeli stamp in our passports. Some of the countries where we have to travel for work will not allow entry to persons who have visited Israel, so we had to convince both the Egyptians (with their exit stamp) and the Israelis (with their entrance stamp) to stamp separate pieces of paper outside our passports. After much explaining on both sides of the border, we succeeded. However, the Israelis then noticed that Meg had an Afghani visa in her passport and decided to give us a hard time for a little longer. Finally, though, we passed into Israel, with no passport stamps as proof.

As I said, he way back was much easier, mostly because we already had the separate pieces of paper to be stamped. The only hassle we had was trying to enter Egypt with a number of bottles of wine. Even though there's no sign or written rule about coming into the country with alcohol, the guys who scanned our luggage gave us a hard time and told us that we were only allowed one bottle each (we had a total of eleven). Basically, they were pushing for a bribe, but eventually I talked our way through without even having to pay a single pound.

Once we made it back into Egypt we had to wait a while for the bus. Once it arrived we loaded our luggage on top and were on our way back to Cairo.

Sea level

As we continued driving downhill from Jerusalem, we passed a sign marking the altitude of sea level, and I was reminded how much of Israel is so far below sea level. When we were at the Dead Sea, we were at the lowest point on earth - 400 meters (1,312 feet) below sea level!

Camels

After visiting the sites on the Mount of Olives we unfortunately had to return to Eilat, a resort city on the Red Sea at the very southern tip of Israel, to return to Cairo. On our way to Eilat, we saw what I think is a really neat image of a train of camels walking along the top of one of the many hills in the area.

Grotto of the Betrayal

Just beside the tomb of the Virgin Mary is the Grotto of the Betrayal, where Jesus was betrayed by a kiss from his disciple Judas and then arrested.
I really liked a simple carving in the wall of the grotto just to the right of the altar that reads, in Latin, the command that Jesus gave his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Stay here and keep watch with me." (Matthew 26:38)

Tomb of the Virgin Mary

Near the Garden of Gethsemane is the tomb of the Virgin Mary.
A church has been built at the site of Mary's tomb inside an underground rock cave. The entrance to the cave is a wide staircase built during twelfth century.
At the foot of the staircase, to the left, is the chapel of Saint Joseph.
On the right side is the entrance to Mary's tomb. We happened to be in the church just as the priests there were beginning to worship. I caught a few seconds of their chanting. (Again, apologies that the video is turned sideways; if anyone knows how to rotate video, please let me know!)

Garden of Gethsemane

Farther down the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus went to pray with his disciples prior to his crucifixion. Overlooking the Garden of Gethsemane is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony. It was amazing to me how much the architecture of the church was able to reflect and emphasize the solemnity and agony of the site. It wasn't as obvious from the outside of the church, but from the moment I set foot inside the building, I could feel the intensity of the place.I loved the doors at the entrance to the church. The metalwork of the gnarled, twisted wood of the olive trees set the tone for the entire church.
Inside the church was silent and dark. The beautiful purple stained glass windows gave the space a dark glow while keeping out most of the natural sunlight. In front of the altar of the church is the piece of bedrock on which it is said Jesus prayed before his arrest.

Jewish cemetary

There is a large Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, where Jews have been buried since biblical times with the belief that when God resurrects the dead, He will first raise those buried on the Mount of Olives. Today there are more than 150,000 graves on the Mount.

Views from the Mount of Olives

A few views of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives...

Augusta Victoria

On our last morning in Jerusalem, we went out to the Mount of Olives. The first site we visited was the Augusta Victoria, a church built between 1907 and 1910 by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who visited Jerusalem in 1898.

Another amazing breakfast

I know I've already put up one post about breakfast in Isreal, but I couldn't help but post another! On our second morning in Jerusalem, we had breakfast at a fantastic little cafe and bookshop. This morning I had a tomato/onion/egg dish called shakshouka, which is one of my new favorites. I'm determined to learn how to make it now!
After breakfast, we took a day off from sightseeing to go shopping!

City walls at night

On our way back to the guesthouse after visiting the King David Hotel, the walls of Old City and the Tower of David were lit up and looked beautiful against the deep blue sky.

King David Hotel

After a long day of touring Jerusalem, Meg and I decided to have a drink at the King David Hotel, a five-star hotel in Jerusalem where foreign heads of state and diplomats stay when visiting Israel.

Crosses

I realized when I was looking through all my pictures from Jerusalem that I took a TON of pictures of crosses throughout the city. Here are a few of my favorites...