Israel

I spent two weeks in Israel over Christmas and New Year. I lost count of the times people thanked me for going there at a time when so many are afraid. There really isn’t any need to be afraid. The last suicide bomb attack in Israeli territory was in September, and nearly all cases of violence break out in isolated areas which are easy to avoid as a traveller. A trip to Israel can take in Egypt and Jordan as day trips, although with an Israeli stamp in your passport you will be barred entry from most other Arabic countries. Apparently you can ask immigration officials to not stamp your passport, but I arrived bleary eyed and hungover at 5am and ...  Read the complete review

When I was offered a free trip to Israel I was both excited and anxious. I don't follow the news, so knew there was conflict there, but not how much, but then again a free week's holiday isn't something to be sneered at, so I eventually agreed to go along. I was flying to London, spending the night there and leaving the next morning on a plane for Tel Aviv. I was travelling with a group, so we all piled on the plane and elbowed each other out the way to get to our seats. Once comfortably seated, it was just a matter of twiddling our thumbs for about 4 hours until we descended onto the Israeli tarmac, all anxiously peering out the windows and oohing and aahing ...  Read the complete review

After living in Israel for almost 6 years I can safely say that what we read about and what we see abroad do not photograph the every-day life of either side in the conflict. The conflict has not just been going on for some time, it has been going on since the start of Islam, and it has been going on perhaps even before then as many could say. Like two children fighting feverishly over control, Israelis and Palestinians are at war for what they want. In the process innocent lives are being lost and families are being destroyed. I have lost many friends, from both sides to this horrific violence and think that it is my civic duty to set the ...  Read the complete review

NB: This is a subject I am deeply committed to so my opinion is extremely long. Just wanted to warn you! :) The Arab-Israeli Conflict "You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked; For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together" From Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (pg. 41) The Arab-Israeli conflict essentially began in 1917 with the issuing of the Balfour Declaration by British Foreign Secretary, Arthur J. Balfour which proclaimed that, "the British government looks with favour at the Jewish aspiration to establish a ...  Read the complete review

Israel has the wonderfully sunny Red Sea resort of Eilat, with its deep blue sea, amazing water sports, and luxury hotels; Israel has the DEAD Sea; Israel has lush green Galilee and the famous town of Nazareth; Israel has Jerusalem; Israel has children being shot by soldiers. (Terrified 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durrah was cowering in his father's arms when he was apparently deliberately shot by Israeli soldiers.) In Jerusalem there is the Western Wall ( best visited on a Friday night); there is the Garden Tomb and the Via Dolorosa and the Mount of Olives. There is the CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE which was built in the 12th century by those bloody ...  Read the complete review