With Increasing Unrest In Israel, How Do Three MedTrekkers Get To Gaza And Live To Talk About It?
The Idiot constantly got advice during his 400-kilometer MedTrek from Syria to Gaza along the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon and Israel.
Most people — of various cultural, national, political, racial and religious persuasions — questioned his general sanity and were adamant that he should abandon his quest to walk through Gaza if he wanted to live another day. The suggestions that he quit MedTrekking intensified due to increasing unrest and violence throughout Israel.
Yet The Idiot not only continued through Tel Aviv to Israel’s border with Gaza but also invited his 21-year-old niece, who was on an archeological dig in Egypt, and a former 76-year-old foreign correspondent with The Times of London to accompany him.
There are few stretches of the Israel coast that are closed to MedTrekkers but one is south of Tel Aviv between Bat-Yam and Palmahim. The message conveyed by a very serious fence and a sign indicating “Firing Area — Entrance Forbidden” was supported by the sound of gunfire.
After walking inland around the military zone, the MedTrekkers arrived at the pristine Palmahim Beach and continued to Ashdod.
The coast was clear for MedTrekkers until they arrived at a power station, defended by machine gun-toting security guards, just north of the border with Gaza.
The seaside arrival at the border with Gaza begins with a warning sign and ends with an intimidating wall. The Idiot and his fellow MedTrekkers, who heard one gunfight between Israeli Defense Forces and Gazans that resulted in the deaths of four Palestinians, ended the current MedTrek on the beach.
The MedTrekkers were, like almost everyone else, not permitted to enter Gaza by the Israelis at the official Erez Crossing a few kilometers from the sea. However, The Idiot did consider entering Gaza from the Rafah border crossing in Egypt when he returned to the region.
Inshallah.
Tomorrow: Who Did The Idiot Run Into While Strolling Down The Mediterranean Seaside In Lebanon and Israel?
Joel Stratte-McClure, an American journalist/adventurer who lived in France for over three decades, is the author of “The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean” (2008) and “The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean” (2013).
He is currently based in Northern California but travels regularly to the Mediterranean to gather anecdotes and add kilometers for his third book in this series: “The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Walking the Mediterranean in the Footsteps of Alexander the Great” (2018).
Follow The Idiot @ www.followtheidiot.com
