west bank. judea sumeria.

traveling from Tiberias to the Dead Sea leads you through a disputed land. from the perspective of the Arabs this land is called the West Bank. from the perspective of the israelis this land is called judea sumeria. 

i have never thought of the names until now. if you stand in Jordan, and view this land as yours, you see it as your land lying west of the Jordan river. The West Bank. 

if you live in israel and currently control the land, you refer to the land as it has always been : Judea and Sumeria. 

I'm not surprised this conflict has no end. and it leaves me wondering how i should refer to this land without pissing someone off. 

from the west bank / judea sumeria, here's a picture sam took of a man and his sheep. you don't see that every day in hudson. 

and here's the checkpoint between the west bank and israel on the way to the dead sea: 

all in all, i'm really happy about the trip today, if for no other reason than i hope it gives our kids a bit of context into the realities of the ongoing struggle within the heart of israel and palestine. they had lunch and rode camels in jericho, a palestinian city. they had dinner and floated in the dead sea in isreal. the people were...people in both places. they smiled in both places. they ate well in both places. they have memories in both places. the world is complicated. i don't have the answers as to why there is not a lasting peace in this land, and i don't know if there ever will be. i'm not going to pretend to know how to fix it, or if it can be fixed. but i'm glad my kids saw and experienced people and happiness. maybe someday, in the midst of all the vitriol and anger, they'll remember that there are two sides to each story, and in each story, there's people. but i'm surely making things too simple, but i hope not.