Mideast Travel After METS
by Bennie Hilton (Duke '01)

In June, 2001, I sat in a small café in the port of Hydra and began to download what had been largely indescribable adventures, arguments and friendships from my METS experience. Journaling came slowly to a person who otherwise had much to say. One thing was clear: I would return to the Middle East. Back in America, I finished my M.Div. and began work on a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible at The University of North Carolina. While I entered the program at UNC to study Dead Sea Scrolls with Armin Lange, I was pleasantly surprised to find that UNC had recently hired an up-and-coming Levantine archaeologist named Jodi Magness. I was elated in 2003 when Jodi announced that she would lead a dig at Yotvata in Israel. While the excavation was to be a Roman site, well outside of my specific area of academic interest, I could not pass up the chance to get field training in Palestinian archaeology at a time when it was virtually impossible to do so. Our dig was one of only two that worked in Israel in the summer of 2003.

I did not fully appreciate what it might mean to be a young, non-Jewish male traveling alone to Israel with a passport full of visas from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. Long before my plane touched down the flight steward (an Israeli security officer) asked me a battery of questions while serving my ginger ale. That did not prepare me, however, for being met on the tarmac by security officers who invited me for a “special” conversation in the basement of Ben-Gurion.

“Have you ever been to Lebanon?” Yes.
“When were you in Lebanon?” Two summers ago.
“How long were you in Lebanon?” Only a few days.
“Who do you know in Lebanon?” No one.
“Then why did you go to Lebanon?” An educational seminar.
“Do you know professors in Lebanon?” No.
“How, then, did you have an educational seminar in Lebanon?” American professors led the trip.
“Are the American professors of Lebanese descent?” No.
“Did you meet anyone in Lebanon?” I guess.
“Have you spoken with them at any time since leaving Lebanon?” No.
“Are you sure?” Yes.
“Did you purchase any items in Lebanon?” No.
“Where did you go in Lebanon?” Baalbek.
“The Bekaa Valley?” Yes.
“Have you heard of Hezbollah?” Yes.
“Do you know any members of Hezbollah?” No.
“Then why were you in the Bekaa Valley?” To visit Baalbek (!!!).
What color underwear did you wear in Lebanon?” (OK, so they did not ask about my underwear).

I was, however, stripped down to my underwear while answering the same set of questions for the second of three times. The entire process took two hours and forty-five minutes. Professor Magness, who was waiting for me in the airport, actually thought I might have been sent back to the U.S.

Throughout the entire ordeal, I thought back to my METS experience and the grilling that our Palestinian guide received as we passed from the West Bank back into Israel. I do not pretend to know what it feels like to endure such experiences daily. I do think I got a taste.

Arriving in Yotvata marked the beginning of my second great adventure in Israel. Yotvata is situated in the Arava Valley 25 miles north of Eilat. I woke up every morning looking at the mountains that separate Israel from Jordan, and that hid from my eyes the magical secret of Petra just a few miles away. Yotvata is an oasis in the desert, known for dates and dairy products. Thus, it was for me literally a land of milk and honey.

Our dig team was very small.I was the only American student who could be convinced to go since bombs had begun to fall on Iraq only two months before we left. Our team consisted of four professional archaeologists and a handful of Israeli students. I tried to soak up every minute I could of one-on-one tutelage from the directors of the dig. I learned about reading a balk and identifying destruction layers. I got a chance to use every piece of equipment from the largest hoe to the tiniest brush. I was able to help recover some nice pottery, several coins, a mud-brick wall, a tower and staircase, and an interesting fire installation. My most exciting find was a small ostracon, which is a piece of pottery with an inscription. I have since had several enjoyable arguments with a leading Israeli epigraphist over what the inscription actually says.

While staying in Yotvata, I interacted with several students from the Arava Institute (both Israelis and Palestinians). Those conversations were not unlike the lively conversations that take place on METS trips. It was for me a much-needed reminder that there are many good and loving Israelis and Palestinians who desire to live with each other peacefully. As a participant in METS, I knew that my career plans were to be intimately tied to Israel. I also figured out that my involvement in Israel could never simply be about my career. Living together with Israelis and Palestinians in Yotvata during June of 2003 was a first step in practicing the sort of life that METS made imperative for me.


Bennie Hilton is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina studying Ancient Mediterranean Religions/Hebrew. If you would like to contact him about his adventures, you may email him at benhilt3@aol.com