The first thing I noticed about Israel was the yellow. All throughout the North, the hills were hidden beneath a dense cover of bright yellow flowers. Clumps of it lined every roadside, and the hills rolled out yellow far into the distance. On the edge of a field at Kibbutz Degania I walked amongst it as the setting sun intensified the yellow of the petals. Driving north through the Golan Heights the yellow covered the hills as far as the eye could see. A gas station bathroom