It seems strange to be writing about Israel when so many people in the world right now are calling for the destruction of the country. This week was Israel’s independence day, and all the articles that I saw in the UK were centred on the 76 years of Palistine’s occupation. It is hard living in a country that doesn’t respect Jewish people, and to see so many of the people around me spouting antisemitic rhetoric while protesting a ‘genocide’ as if they don’t understand what a war is. While I have a very complicated belief about the current war, I understand the history of the area and who has claimed the land at different stages of time.

But, that is not fun to think about, whereas my time in Israel and Palestine was fun. Day 8 found us in Bethlehem where we got to visit the Church of the Nativity. This is one of the oldest continuously run churches in the world. It is currently run by three different religious groups, Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Armenian Apostolic. You can see the influences of the different religions in the architecture and the way that the church is decorated. It is within this church that the spot where Jesus was born is marked with a 14-pointed silver star.

We then wandered through the city and did the stations of the cross, stopping at each site in the busy city streets. We ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (which is called the Church of the Resurrection).

This was the last part of the tour, so my parents and I went back into the city for a final dinner together. I ended up having a very rushed goodbye with them at the airport and didn’t get to see them again for almost 10 months. It was worth spending time with them though and learning a lot more about the region. Israel is a place I would visit again, and Tel Aviv is a city that I could see myself living in. It makes me sad to think that some of these places have been destroyed because of the war or that some of the people that we met could be dead, or could have family who have died. I wonder what happened to our tour guide Rafe. He has such a love for Israel and had such a love for the fact that we were Jewish and he could show us our culture in a real and in-depth way.

It is one of the best vacations I have ever taken, and I hope to return to Israel one day.