Kever Rachel, Not For The Two-Wheeler

Recently there has been lots of praise for the news that you no longer need to go to Kever Rachel, Rachel's Tomb, enclosed in a bullet-proof vehicle. Just the other day, my neighbor told me how easy it was to go in a simple car, park in the parking area, stay for as long as they needed, go back to their car and drive out.

Yes, that's the good news, but Jerusalem doctor, Alexander King, was disappointed to discover that he was forbidden to enter the compound riding his bicycle.

Read his report:

Dear Friends,

Today (Wed 10 Sep) I cycled down to Kever Rachel at around 3pm.

The guard at the yellow gate checked with his superior, the "mefaked hakever" called "Yarden," and told me that bicycles are not allowed it. Only "rechev im mano'a" (motorized vehicles). No
amount of reasoning would help my situation. I hung around for about 20 minutes and then left. I was none-the-less happy to see that the tomb is being well visited: every few minutes a car would enter.

So I have a few options:

* To keep coming back every now and again (to put the pressure on)
* To arrive there with several other cyclists (+/- media) and see what happens.
Interested parties should forward me their cellphone numbers
* To speed past the guards when they open the gate for a car (not a good idea as risk getting shot or arrested)
* To arrange a visit, co-ordinate permission, with the local commander...
Does anyone have any connections?

Please let me know if anyone has any ideas, ajdking@hotmail.com.

To share ideas, please join the FACEBOOK GROUP "Biking to Rachel's tomb":


I have posted up some photos on the facebook group.

Regards,
Dr Alexander King