Newsletter: Identity's - The Traveller (the December Edition)

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Ben Gurion's Fruitful Christmas

While Europe looks like its heading into an " ice age", Israel can only dream of a white Christmas. Here the sun still shines the young flock to the beaches and stay to bathe in those warm shafts of light till sunset.

As fun as this may sound to those who are cuddling in front of their fire places or clearing out their icy driveways, for Israel this sunny winter is a real problem. Israel is drying up. The Sea of Galilee has decreased significantly in size and the Dead Sea has sprouted new islands in its salty waters. Farmers have lost much of their crop and have to keep innovating to save on precious water.

Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister was well aware of this problem and was known for his vision of making Israel's barren southern lands flourish.
These winter days are always the best time to go south and hike in the vast desert plains of the Negev. The sun isn't scorching hot, but pleasant. Water finds its peace in rocky hideouts and crevices. One could go top off their tour by visiting Sde Bocker, Ben Gurion's modest Home.

Walking through the household you can see Ben Gurion was a man of action. He saw things as they might be not as they are. His roots were in German's icy soil but when the UN suggested a Jewish state that was at the most part a barren desert land he jumped at the offer.

His grave today lays at a panoramic mountain top, his favourite place in the desert. I can imagine him looking out, and picturing in his mind's eye a flourishing green community.

He wasn't far off, Israel's Negev has sprouted the city of Beer Sheva, originally dating back to the Israelites of the 10th century BC, It now boasts a modern well-respected University, theatre, sports stadiums and a population of 200 thousand. The Negev has a new ecological tourism industry that’s growing steadily. And Israel is the only country in the world that has ended the previous century with a surplus of trees, planting more than destroying.

Come to think about it, the forestation of Israel is a beautiful example of Israel's tendency to plant positively and constructively despite its problems and short comings. From the ashes of the holocaust rose a state, from the war of the Middle East rose its military might, from the desert sun sprouted agricultural innovation, from lack of natural resources an economy based on intellectual power and from dependence on oil an explosion of green novelties.

Any problem along the way is just a seed to a solution.

Ben Gurion must be smiling in his grave, the desert of Israel, once barren and underdeveloped has become green with innovative spirit and new ventures. 

So if you are snowed-in, think of a hike in Israel's desert and driving nearby through the Tuscan like wine country of Lachish, think of sleeping in an ecological Bed and Breakfast in the midst of the dry landscape, a gold palace compared with the modest lodging of Israel's first PM in the Kibbutz of Sde Bocker.  Think of floating effortlessly in the waters of the lowest sea on earth or warming up to the sunset rays on the banks of the Mediterranean.

When I think of all that Israel has managed to do by daring to dream and thinking constructively I get a warm feeling in my heart.

Have a warm Holiday season.

Remember what the Holidays are all about?

We wanted to take this opportunity to remind everybody who is enjoying this holiday season where it all began. We want to thank all of our customers and readers for allowing us to take part in their memory of ancient times. We are sure that the past has a message to impart to us all. Whether you have experienced a tour of this land or simply reminisced of its glorious past;  feast, celebrate and remember to let the history resonate through the millenniums and into your life today.

We are certainly reminded of our mission during these festive times: Promoting understanding through travel.

Season's Greatings,
From all of us at the Identity Travel Team

The Good Fire on the Carmel

Fire and black smoke plumes over Mount Carmel. The media in Israel is playing the blame game: was it a selfish youth that started the fire? Did people not care enough about firefighters? Where was the government? A Rabbi is interviewed and hints that this is a punishment by god for the sins of Israel.

I am reminded of a previous time when the Carmel was up in flames. Back then Elijah challenged the other faiths and the fire and brimstone were materialized by god to light his alter on the Carmel.

While smoke from the Carmel still darkened the skies Elijah finds refuge in a widow's home. Although food was scarce and would not suffice even her family's apatite the kind widow offers her last loaf of bread to Elijah.

She gives to a stranger selflessly and her did is rewarded her " jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land. " (KINGS 1:17)

I am reminded of this story because one of the dead in this week's fire was a 16 year old boy with that same altruistic selfless spirit. This young man was a volunteer in Israel's fire brigades.  As news hit the waves that a fire had unleashed its flaming wrath on the pastoral communities of Mount Carmel, our protagonist dropped everything and ran to the rescue. He hoped to save the lives of strangers.

When the fire began the boy was attending his Civics lesson at school. He burst out of the classroom dramatically and headed towards the flaming horizon. This boy didn't need to attend a civics class to know what civic responsibility is all about. When he heard the call for help he felt a burning passion, a fire in his bones and in his heart and was willing to risk his life for the collective good. This type of good fire is what citizenship is all about.

In the bible, the benevolence of the gentile widow is contrasted with Israel's sinful collective and she serves as an example of a Good Samaritan. I hope young people in Israel today will remember this young fire fighter and that his flame will catch like a brush fire in all of our hearts so that we could become good smartens.

  

A Storm Over Nazareth

Storm over Nazareth

Last week in Nazareth, Israel, stormy weather approaching, an Arab Israeli citizen, Sheikh Nazem Abu Salim, the Imam of Nazareth, was arrested for inciting violence. In the backdrop a historical reconstruction of the town reminds us that Nazareth was once a Jewish city in the heart of a Roman province.

Nazareth, 1st Century AD
In those turbulent times the governing power was Rome, and the Jewish people were the ones in conflict with their government. Some Jews argued then, as this Israeli citizen argues today, that one must take arms against injustices and fight for his belief with force.
Meanwhile a Jewish boy grew up in Nazareth, and became a preacher. He preached of tolerance, of benevolence and of turning the other cheek. His name was Jesus. His crucifixion would mark the beginning of the Christian faith. Soon after, the faith was adopted by a regional empire: The Armenian Empire. The Armenian people stood fast to their faith for 18 centuries even when they were conquered by the Mongols and under Arab rule in the 13th century.
Nazareth, 19 hundreds
By World War I, the Ottoman Empire was the dominant Muslim power and it was set on destroying these ancient people. Genocide followed.
Many Armenians fled from turkey and ended up in Israel, some in Nazareth. A small community of Armenians still lives here till this day. The underground Jewish organizations, living in Palestine under Ottuman rule heard their stories of mass killings and coupled with the new laws issued for Jewish deportation they realized that the Jews might be next. This contributed to their decision to change sides and assist the British as they conquered the Middle East.
After the Second World War and the genocide perpetrated against European Jews, many Jews came to Israel.  The British, attempted to prevent the influx and fell out of favor with both Jewish and Arab residents. At the end they divided the land in accordance to its population. As Nazareth was mostly Arab it was supposed to be under Arab rule. However war broke and Israel conquered the town.

Nazareth, Today
Nazareth is a prominently Arab city and many Arab citizens don't approve of Israel. Salim is one. Salim called for a Jihad (Muslim holy war) against the state of Israel and called it Satan. He gave sermons and circulated leaflets to the worshipers at his mosque telling them to act against the state. 
There it is, a full circle. History is a storm. You may be basking in the sun one minute and shattered on the rocks the next. The question is what you do when that storm arrives.  The winds of change have put the Jewish people in power and Salim chose to fight this change with violent conviction.
The question we must ask ourselves is where history will carry Nazareth tomorrow. Where will our hometown be tomorrow? We must remember that our place may change and that our actions of violence as well as those of benevolence will become our legacy for better or worse.
What legacy do you want to leave behind ?

DeLorean in Orthodox Jerusalem

DeLorean in Mea Sha'arim

A drive through Mea Shaarim, an ultra orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, might as well be taken in a time-traveling DeLorean. It takes us on a journey to a different place and time, A Ghetto in Eastern Europe of the 1800's. 

Most people are quite surprised to see the circular fur hats worn in the scorching summer heat or a man raising his palms and shyly blocking his vision at the sight of a woman. These day-to-day gestures have continued day-by-day for hundreds of years.  For the people of this god fearing neighborhood they are not simply idiosyncrasies, or traditional whims, they are the very fabric of life.

As I walk through the street, I think of the data made public last week. 53% of the orthodox community in Israel falls below the poverty line. Once again, the snapshot reality of the media fails to point out the historical context of this fragment of Jerusalem.   

During the Holocaust, the Jewish orthodox intellectual crowd took a difficult blow. Most where easily identified as Jews by the Nazi régime and murdered. Few escaped to the holy land, but for those who escaped Israel was just a historical haven and they had no ambitions for statehood, some even thought that an establishment of such a state before the coming of the messiah was a sin. 

Israel was established as a Jewish and democratic state, and to its founders that meant the Jewish element that was destroyed must be nurtured. The plan was to provide the orthodox 'wise men' or rabbis who see "Torah as their Craft" with a government income so they could once again become fertile ground for thinkers and religious leaders. This population grew quickly and enjoyed a very unique and protected lifestyle. 

For more than 60 years, two narratives evolved separately by neighboring Israeli Jews. One of a liberal, secular, democratic country that will draw on its Hebrew heritage for inspiration and direction in a world of conflicts, and another of religious riotousness and a belief that God's law is above state law and tradition above liberty. These cultures would have to clash eventually.

Today the orthodox community in Israel is a paradox. It can no longer shut out the world but is unable to integrate itself into the culture around it, it is unable to sustain itself economically through study and yet unable to find employment in the modern world. 

As I stroll through the Ultra-Kosher shops, the bible-study rooms and stare upwards at the laundry lines of the many poor but large families living here I can't help but wonder how or if they grasp their own dilemma. 

With extreme tradition these simple people have managed to beat the Nazi war machine and revive their community just as it was hundreds of years earlier. But just like the protagonist in a Greek tragedy, their attempt at escaping a horrible doom proved to be their downfall. 

Their way of life is a relic of the past, detached from modern life and in danger of extension and yet, the Orthodox Jew with his fur hat, dark overcoat and ironic existence, is forever a part of the Israeli mosaic, a master piece of diversity that makes this country unique and beautiful.        

A Scary World and the Myth of the Lone Bomber

Bomb in Turkey! coordinated attacks in Iraq! printer-bomb found Yemen plane! Iran weapon ship stopped on its way to Africa! What a scary place our world has become.

How has this happened? Where did we go wrong?

Terrorist bombers have existed for decades. Israel used to be a focal point for fundamental Islamic terror organizations. With the birth of terror bombings a new myth emerged.

Media reported of a bomber, crazed and oppressed by the forces of occupation. This troubled soul was lead to a desperate act of violence as defiance; Whereas the bomber is perhaps reproachable, the media pleaded, his act is but a red flag to encourage us to look at his desperate cause.

This was what we would call "The Myth of the Lone Bomber". Why a myth?
As we can learn from terrorist attacks the world over this is almost never the case. Take for example the attack on Mike's Place, an Israeli Bar a few years back. This young Muslim bomber was a British college dropout who was unemployed and yes, he was desperate. However here is the route he underwent before finally committing his desperate act:

Indoctrinated in Jihadist Islamic Ideas through his local mosque, he became an activist in London. Recruited as an Islamic soldier to Bosnia fighting for the Mujahidin, he then flew to Syria, then to Pakistan for combat training, passed the border and met with Al-Qaida in Afghanistan, fought allied forces, then flew back to London and once more to Syria from which he was supposed to be taken to Iraq to combat allied forces yet again, but his mission changed and he was handed over to Hamas.

This is where his Jihadist ideology would finally be transformed into action but not before Hamas would drive him through Jordan across the border to Israel to research possible bombing targets, then invite him back to Gaza for more mental training, recording his farewell tape and receiving his already prepared trigger and explosives.

Luckily this man did not manage to carry out the attack, his bomb did not go off. His partner yet another desperate soul with a similar route was the one that ended up committing mass murder as an act of defiance in Mike's Place.
Not Exactly a one man show, is it?


What is clear from all the current events is that there is a network surrounding the bomber. The bomb itself is just the most apparent part of the network, the tip of the Iceburg.

This network provides the ideological doctrine, identifies and recruits , trains, transports, smuggles weapons and explosive, engineers the bomb, plans the route, provides documents and takes care of media relations after the attack.
Yes it is easier to recruit people who are desperate and yes the occupation is one of the reasons that a lot of people are desperate in the small Gaza strip but why are British Muslims desperate not to mention Iraqis, Saudis and Yemenites, Turks, and Kurds?

Should we look at London's underprivileged class as a breeding ground for terror because it inspires desperate bombers? We think not.

We believe that this myth of the bomber being just a symptom of desperate plight as oppose to a fanatic ideology and network of terror, rewards terror organizations such as Hamas and Hizballah and encourages them to continue utilizing terror as a means to an end.

If terror is allowed to be an effective tool to voice an opinion in Israel, than why not in Iraq or for that matter England or the United States.

At Identity Travel we encourage people to plead their case through dialogue, and to travel throughout the world, meeting other people with other views, listening and constantly reassessing their own opinions.

After all, as Mark Twain said "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness".

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Roman Pipedream: Letting Ideas Flow

This weekend we joined one of the tour groups on a day tour to the Alona reserve near Zichron Yaakov in Israel. It is the site of 2000 year old Roman ruins, the remains of an aqueduct system that brought water to enable the expansion in the port city Ceaseria.

At a certain point the water was transferred in underground passageways. The Romans dug piers, and connected them with caves. They calculated the angle carefully and the water ran down hill.

This is a fun little trail. We walked through cool underground caves, water up to our waist and everybody marveled at the ingenuity of Roman engineers.  After all it was a time when people believed in pagan gods and prayed to idol statues, and there in the midst of all this, mathematicians and engineers were constructing complex structures and putting the laws of physics to use for mankind.

Being students of history, we have to remind ourselves constantly that ancient people were not dumber, or primitive necessarily. In almost every possible sense, Ancient Romans, Cananites, Israelites, Babylonians and Egyptian were like us. The brain had not significantly evolved over 3 millenniums.  However, the norms, concepts, beliefs and way of life predominant in the time of the ancients were completely different in comparison with that of modern western societies. Most of the ancients, like most of us were unable to transcend their time, their world.

Looking at the current events throughout the world and specifically in Israel, We always try to keep this in mind. Israel is a micro-cosmos of a world debate about ideas on religion, society, human rights, culture and nationality. It is the kind of debate we encourage in our Educational tour.

In order to have a civilized fruitful debate it is important to remember that different societies have taken different paths and over generations had nurtured different ideas and that those ideas have become the reality for them. Yes our society is no different, and we also find it hard to transcend our "facts of life".

If we avoid labeling societies as primitive or people as evil, we can have a true exchange of ideas, a true debate and perhaps we could nurture a more collective inclusive culture. If we are not afraid to let ideas flow between us  we may be able to connect the peelers of our society like the arches of the aqueduct.  Then we may find that other people aren't all that different from us.

Economic Peace: A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

-A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Yes, sometimes we look from those summits in Washington to the conflict in Israel and our eyes darken and it feels like the worst of times, like we are all going to hell, Arabs, Jews and all the rest. However there are places where we feel it is the best of times, an epoch of belief with  everything before us.  One such place is Rawabi.



Rawabi 3D illustration



Rawabi is a new city to be constructed by Palestinians for Palestinians outside of Ramallah. The new venture is one of hope, forward looking sentiments of a bright tomorrow. Colorful  3D animations already display the bustling city streets, green parks and historic view while the founders promise high education, ample business and employment opportunities. A pink vision for the future Palestine.



What do the Israeli's say about all this?  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he supports Rawabi's construction. Going back to 2008 Netanyahu said "We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process, that means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by encouraging rapid growth in those area, growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians."



Not very far away are our headquarters in a city named Modiin. Modiin had quite similar beginnings. It is a modern planned city with the highest environmental standards of urban planning and a design for future growth. The city rose from nothing in 1993 and today is home to approximately 80,000 people.



Modiin, Israel



As Jerusalem became more orthodox and hard-lined many of its Jewish moderate communities moved to Modiin. And I wonder whether Rawabi would be an escape for the moderate Palestinian, an oasis of economic peace in the midst of political turmoil.





Moderation is profoundly simpler when the fundamental elements of life such as education, employment and community are provided for. Luckily moderate people have a tendency to build and innovate. So in Israel and in Palestine moderate people will continue to build cities where they can nurture their peaceful way of life and where they will feel at home.   

The Great Iranian Leader or Honestly, Who Throws a Rock?

As Iran's President tours Lebanon heading to the Israeli border to ceremoniously through a stone at what he refers to as "the evil Zionist regime" I reminisce on the days of Ancient Persia and its King Cyrus.

The empire over which Cyrus ruled was the largest the Ancient World had ever seen and may be to this day the largest empire ever. The image of Cyrus has survived throughout history as more than a great man who founded an empire, but as a conqueror that was tolerant, benevolent and magnanimous.
Perhaps some of the positive sentiments that we have for this king were seeded when he ended the Babylonian Exile and let the Jews return to their conquered home land.

Today Persia is no longer the crown jewel of the world, but its leadership is still striving to hold influence over the entire region. It does so by supporting militias in Lebanon and Palestine, by providing oil to Russia, strengthening relations with Syria, Turkey and of late Colombia and it is aggressively pursuing nuclear capabilities.

Whether their endeavor will bare fruit is still unknown. But the interesting question is what type of Middle East is Iran promoting. What cultural contribution will they have? what would be inscribed in history as Iran's cultural legacy? 

Women in chādors  (a cloak covering  the body and head) , totalitarian government systems,  fundamentalist religious rule and persecution, weapons of mass destruction (like those used in the 80's during the Iran-Iraq War).

Perhaps Iran would be forgotten but its leader remembered for eternity as a heroic figure who threw a stone over a fence at his enemy?

Tolerance, Benevolence… these attributes belong to Ancient Persia and have been lost in the sands of time. I doubt King Cyrus would have condoned a petty symbolic action such as that of Ahmadinejad, because King Cyrus was indeed a great leader.  His greatness as a ruler was an extension of his character as a man, a great man to be favorably remembered over millennia.

Do You Follow the Golden Rule?

We apologize for not updating the blog this past week.  It was due to the Holiday of Sukkoth, or as it is often translated the Feast of the Tabernacles.

The Holiday, originally an agricultural festivity, commemorates Gods helping hand as the Jews made their 40 year long Odyssey from Egypt through the desert to the Promised Land.
Jewish People celebrate the holiday by sitting, sleeping, and feasting in traditional huts or "Sukkot" gazing at the stars through palm tree branch ceilings.

I wonder… Were such Sukkot built during the current settlement freeze? Did Palestinians oppose them?  What was the position of the United States?… but I digress.

Lately evangelical Christians have also started celebrating this holiday because it was during the Feast of the Tabernacles that Jesus revealed his role to the disciples. On this day evangelical Christians, gather from the four corners of the world in the annual Christian Embassy "Feast of Tabernacles Congress” in Jerusalem.

We at Identity Travel attended this year's Congress, which took place this past week, and presented the visitors with our new Jesus Biographical Tour of Israel. It was heartwarming that Christians would come all the way to Jerusalem to show their love and support for the Jewish People.  As believers in both the Old Testament and the New Testament they remember the Jewish heritage of the Christ and the Jewish role as God's chosen people.

All of the major monotheistic religions believe that God has a plan, and that we all have roles to play in his vision. It is because of that role that despite all the disagreement and strife we are commanded to follow the golden rule. A law which is mentioned in the philosophies of all the empires that have ruled this land, through all religions that sprouted here and through all cultures that see Israel as a home:

Ancient Egypt: (c. 1080 – 332 BCE) papyrus: "That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another.

Jewish: "Love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD."—Leviticus 19:18, the "Great Commandment"

Ancient Greece:  "Do not do to your neighbour what you would take ill from him." – Pittacus (c. 640–568 BCE)   

Jewish Talmud: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." —Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Islam: "Seek for mankind that of which you are desirous for yourself, that you may be a believer; treat well as a neighbour the one who lives near you, that you may be a Muslim [one who submits to God]."—Sukhanan-i-Muhammad (Teheran, 1938)

Bahá'í Faith: Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. —Bahá'u'lláh

Whether you are a Palestinian, a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew or an Atheist, whether you live in Israel or elsewhere we would like to leave you with this thought; despite all the controversy and all the animosity, and regardless of your own personal, national and cultural conflicts do you observe the Golden Rule?

The Jewish New Year 9 Years after 9/11

For Jewish people all over the world Rosh Hashanah marks the creation of the universe. According to Jewish tradition that creation reoccurs all the time and this recreation is what enables change, choice and other free-will concepts. This is why Rosh Hashanah is also a time of reconciliation, atonement and judgment. Jews look back at the year, what has been created, what part have they taken in this creation and what they would like to create in the future. The holiday ends on a positive note with the festive blows of a ram’s horn, signifying that redemption is one year nearer.

9 Years ago WTC bomings

Yesterday was September 11th; in America people bowed their heads in silent memory of the victims of the WTC bombings. 9 years have passed since that bloody day. The USA went guns blazing into Iraq and Afghanistan, Bombing occurred in London, Iran has become a nuclear power. Obama was elected president of the USA under the slogan YES WE CAN, Israel withdrew from Gaza and built a wall around the West Bank, Palestinians have elected Hamas into power and a new round of peace talks began in Washington between President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

When we look at all these years, the chain of events, it’s easy to feel like nothing can be done, to sit at home, watch the TV screen and sigh at our cruel fate. But it is important for us to remember that nothing is predetermined, that despite conflicts, deaths, hatred the potential for change is always there and that we can influence the world and change it for the better until the day of redemption comes when:

"They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." - Isaiah 2:4

President Obama: Greeting for Rosh Hashanah

Couldn't have said it better ourselves.
A happy Rosh Hashana from the team at Identity Travel

Rare People in the White House

"Statesmanship is knowing how to combine vision and reality,” said Netanyahu before heading to the summit in Washington to promote the vision of peace in the Middle East. Reality caught up with him on the plane.

Rare People in the White House

The murders in Hebron showed how delicate the situation is. Hamas took credit for the attack and settlers immediately responded by reinitiating their building projects in the West Bank.

In the Middle East there is no shortage of vision. Some have a vision of a future where Israel is replaced with a Palestinian state. Some envision a bigger Israel, which spans from the Jordan River all the way across to the Mediterranean. Some envision a two state solution and peace.

There is also a large dose of reality in the Middle East. Demographics, geographics, politics, cultural gaps, historical injustice, armed factions, settlements, terrorist attacks, an endless list of words and connotations that make up a complex reality.

What we are lacking in the Middle East are people who combine the two, people who envision a better world. People, whose vision is realistic, people who envision a way and not just an end. This combination is rare here. These people are rare.

We hope that at least two of these people are meeting today in Washington.

Life and Death in Abraham's Hebron

Mount Hebron was once the home of Abraham (Ibrahim as the Muslims call him). Abraham was know for being a extraordinarily hospitable man. A depiction of his meeting with the angels (Genesis) can be found under the term hospitality in Wikipedia – the text says "In Middle Eastern Culture, it was considered a cultural norm to take care of the strangers and foreigners living among you. These norms are reflected in many Biblical commands and examples".

Abraham would not have recognized Hebron today.

Yesterday a Palestinian gunman shot down 4 Jewish people including a pregnant woman and in the process orphaned 7 children.

Since Abraham, in Mamlukian and Ottoman empires Jews and Arabs have resided in and around the mountain.

As Jewish and Arab numbers rose steadily so did tensions, until in 1929 following rumor that the Jews were planning to seize Temple Mount, Arab mobs massacred scores of Jews. Few Jews would remain in Hebron. Neighborly spirit evaporated. 

In 1948 the UN decided on dividing the land according to demographic data. Since Hebron was no longer inhabited by many Jews it would not be a part of the Jewish state. Neighboring Jordan conquered the land and would not allow Jews to visit Hebron.

In 1967 Israel conquered Hebron. Jewish settlements popped up everywhere. Jews were not welcome in Arab neighborhoods, nor were Arabs in Jewish neighborhoods. In 1994 a Jewish man opened fire on praying Arab worshipers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and killing 29 people.

Today residents of this mountain live apart entrenched in separate and fortified enclaves. They fear their neighbors.

It was said that Abraham's tent had 4 openings to welcome visitors from all directions – it is also said that a house in mount Hebron has 4 locks.

The legacy of Abraham or Ibrahim, whatever you may call him is gone for good. Mount Hebron today is a very inhospitable place.

Abbas Meets George Clooney and the Survivors

Abbas and Barak - the rerun

Abbas Meets George Clooney and the Survivors

Israelis were glued to their screens yesterday. A secret meeting in Jordan between Ehud Barak, Israel's Minister of Defense and Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority was pushed to the sidelines. The new long range rockets acquired by Hamas couldn't even grab a headline. Israelis were far more interested in the final episode in this season of Survivors (the Israeli Version).

Some may criticize the final episode of being a costly ceremony devoid of real content and aimed simply at entertaining the masses. Others may point out the multitude of seasons and short lived fame of reality stars as proof of the mundane nature of these over-rated events. With all the REAL news out there why do Israelis vote with their remote for reality TV?

Perhaps it is that the Peace Process or Arab-Israeli Conflict also had too many seasons. Perhaps - like so many reality stars, however successful or unsuccessful they may be, politicians are destined to be forgotten in the dusty TV archives when the season ends. My opinion is that we watch TV, to deflect from our own survival in this conflict torn region, and that the ceremonious hand-shakes and hopeful speeches at the white house simply do not achieve this end anymore.

We tune in to see dramatic events not long drawn out processes that need years or decades to take root. At the Emmy awards, the pinnacle of TV events, George Clooney conveyed it perfectly:

"The truth is, when the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story. Honestly, we fail at that…that's the fact."

Reality TV plays on our need for immediate gratification, it promises a resolution and it delivers on-time, on-prime time…And Barak and Abbas? Well… Who wants to see another rerun?

Educational Travel in Hezbollah Land

Visiting the new Hezbollah Theme park must be a very constructive experience for a child. Walking between mangled metal tanks he is inspired by the triumph of spirit over matter. Hopping between mines he strengthens his athletic abilities and lest we forget the unforgettable encounter with adult role models in the shape of camouflaged gorilla fighters.

Kind of makes Disney World look like Geneva, doesn't it?

I think it would be a difficult stretch to contend that Hezbollah won the war against Israel. Or that this war achieved anything but destruction within Lebanon's border. So it may be difficult for us to understand the idea of opening a theme park devoted to Hezbollah's Epic struggle against the Zionist forces.

However, perhaps Hezbollah's new pet project isn't as outlandish as it might seem.

Winston Churchill once said “History is written by the victors.” And perhaps in past generations the outcome of a war dictated the accepted perception of history. In this age we are learning more about the war of perception, a war of narratives, where in by writing history you crown yourself a victor.

Asked whether the park was promoting terrorist propaganda, one of the park's guides and a school teacher answered; "I believe it's our right to have our own propaganda. The important thing is that this is the sincere and true propaganda." This brings to mind yet another Churchill quote; “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it” (ABC, 2010)

Here, between the upturned tanks and confiscated weaponry, inside the malleable minds of young school children, Hezbollah is writing its own history, and kindly winning. To use yet another worn out cliché Across the Lebanon border and in other places around the world Israel is winning the battle and losing the war.

And that's how it all began

It's quite rare for blood pressure to increase like this in a body as young as mine, but the coverage of yet another Palestinian-Israeli clash on the news was really getting the best of me.

For lack of a stronger word, I was enraged. It was as if the reporter had woken up that day and managed to forget 3000 years of history and heritage. For him the story began today.

Israeli soldiers shot dead 9 activists on a boat determined to penetrate the Gaza Blockade. For the news networks, this was where the story began and where it ended.

It did not begin 2 days ago with the boat embarking from turkey in spite of the blockade, nor a year ago when Hamas rose to power and Israel started its siege of Gaza. Nor did it begin 8 years ago when rockets started flying over the Gaza border or 33 years ago when Israel Conquered the Palestinian territories.

Of course it didn't begin with Great Britain dividing the land and the subsequent Arab-Israel war in 1948 and there is definitely no connection to the Muslim conquests or to Jewish Presence in the holy land for the past 3000 years. No, the story began 2 minutes ago when a soldier on a boat shot an activist. BREAKING NEWS!

There is however a silver lining. Fueled by my vexation I decided to do something …something that would promote a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural and political aspects of the conflict. It is not about who is right or wrong it is about understanding and relating to our fellow men.

How else are we to live peacefully with one another if we do not acknowledge or at least become acquainted with the context that brought two people to clash in such a violent manner?

It is with this mission in mind, to promote understanding through travel that we founded Identity Travel.

And that's how it all began...