My son was at the embassy in Amman for 15 months. Went there three times and highly recommends it. Wife and i went to Israel for a week and i wanted to go to Petra. She wouldn’t go to an Arab country or arab controlled are. So no Petra and no Bethlehem.
Every Christian alive OUGHT to go to Bethlehem, Our Lord's birthplace, and then to Calvary.
In the fourth century there were SO many people visiting Mount Calvary that the Romans TOOK DOWN THE HILL.
The outcome is that the site of the Cross and the Tomb of Jesus are on the same level not far from each other.
My friend and I did both, Bethlehem and Calvary. We also went up top to where the Transfiguration took place. THAT had a fabulous view as well.
We had to have our passports ready to show the Israeli Security almost every few miles. The Israeli Army was everywhere as well.
The country is, if nothing else, safe.
We also learned that there aren't enough Jewish Israelis to do all the work. They WON'T wash toilets. But, the Muslim Arabs will, so many of them have Jewish bosses...but they DO have a job.
And the way people are in life, the boss and the employee learn to work together and appreciate each other.
The Roman Catholic Palestinian Arabs, and that's what they call themselves, are the go-between people. They are ARABS but they aren't Muslim; they are ROMAN Catholics. That was a very weird thing to grasp. But, it happens there--the confluence of Judaism, Islam and Catholicism.
Our leader was Steve Ray, a former Baptist minister and covert to Catholicism. And there is NO one with more fervor than a convert!
It was a FABULOUS tour. Steve Ray does four trips a year to the "Holy Land." It's well worth the trip.