Donate Now
Jerusalem is not a city of war. Avner Goren is stubborn on this point.
We are on foot, walking under a cloudless morning sky in the Levant, following a river of raw sewage that foams in torrents from East Jerusalem—12 million gallons a day, Goren informs me—a foul discharge that runs for 23 miles down to the Dead Sea. We are trailing the waste as a form of pilgrimage. Goren, one of Israel’s leading archaeologists, thinks like this.
“There have been 700 conflicts here since Jerusalem was founded,” he says over his shoulder, wedging his way through religious tourists in the Old City. “But there were long times without war too. And people lived peacefully together.”
To read the full story in National Geographic click here.
Visit National Geographic to follow the Out of Eden Walk in real-time online.