A week later, a suicide bomber would kill three customers at a Tel Aviv cafe. When you're Jewish, Israel woos you. It's the only country where you can be in the majority and feel completely at ease wearing a Star of David. I need only a bike helmet, not a bulletproof one. A van takes the 14 members of our group and our bicycles to the starting point, Qumran, a blond set of mountains in central Israel where 50 years ago a Bedouin shepherd boy found the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Every minute is precious on an organized tour.
I take advantage of a break when a Bedouin notices my admiration of his camel. I take you. The camel-hawker says six. He urges the smelly camel to kneel. I climb on, thankful for a blanket separating me from camel hide.