Israel Back on the Tourist Map?

Israel suffered a slump in tourist numbers between 1999 and 2001. Those from Britain numbered 200,000 in the former year, 80,000 in the latter, only two years later. What had happened in the intervening time? The second intifada had broken out in September 2000, after peace talks collapsed during that summer. The intifada lasted a ghastly five years.

TOURISTS ARE BACK
However, despite the war against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, Israel is now judged to be relatively stable and tourist numbers are rising again. From the UK 167,000 visitors travelled to Israel in 2006 and within a year the number is expected to be ten per cent higher. Guidebook publishers are starting to put Israel back on the map.

The revival comes not before time for Israel’s tourist industry, which was barely scraping by since 2000, but has lately picked up enormously. The country attracts not only religious devotees but also plain tourists interested in the multiplicity of things that the country has to offer.

ABOUT ISRAEL
srael is tiny: nearly 12 Israels would fit into the area of the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, it boasts no fewer than 54 national and nature parks, displaying a range of features from Turkish baths to mosaics, from Roman ruins to mediaeval citadels, from spas to fortresses. Kursi, for example, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, is mentioned in the New Testament as the scene, ‘in the country of the Gadarenes’, at which Jesus exorcised the devils from the body of a man and transferred them to a herd of pigs. The pigs then purportedly hot-footed it down to the water, where they drowned.

JERUSALEM & TEL AVIV
Jerusalem, it goes without saying, is a place for all seasons, for worshippers and heathens, for historians and shoppers, for photographers (the light and the yellow stone of the old buildings are wonderful) and restaurant-goers. Tel Aviv is one of few capital cities that are situated along a beachfront and also have a 24-hour culture suited to all ages and tastes.

SECURITY
Security is tight on leaving as well as entering the country. Here is the text – approximately – of a conversation my partner and I had with a security officer on our first visit to Israel (my thoughts in italics):

Security Officer (SO): ‘Sorry to ask you a personal question, but what is the relationship between you two?’
I: ‘We are partners.’
SO: ‘You live together?’
I: ‘Yes. We work together too.’
SO: ‘You live together and work together. How long have you known each other?’
I: ‘Two and a half years.’
SO: ‘How long have you been living together?’
I: ‘Two years.’
SO: ‘So, you’ve been living together for two and a half years.’
I: ‘No, we’ve known each other for two and a half years and been living together for two years.’
Are you trying to catch me out or are you just forgetful?
SO: ‘How often do you have sex?’
No, sorry, I must have imagined that one. It just felt as if we were being asked that.
SO: ‘Where have you been staying in Israel?’
I: ‘Partly with relatives, partly in youth hostels.’
SO: ‘Ah!! You have relatives here. How are they related to you? What are their names? Where do they live?’
I told her.
SO: ‘Do you speak Hebrew?’
I: ‘No.’
SO: ‘Have you ever made any attempt to learn Hebrew?’
As though my learning five words of Hebrew would make me less likely to be carrying a bomb.
I: ‘No.’
SO: ‘Is this your first visit to Israel?’
I: ‘Yes.’
SO: ‘For both of you?’
I: ‘Yes.’
SO: ‘Why have you come to Israel?’
I: ‘Because I have relatives here and we thought it would be interesting.’
SO: ‘Ah! And you haven’t visited the relatives before?’
Good thinking, kid. I already told you that.
SO: So, you’ve been living in the UK for 34 years. How come you’ve been allowed to stay in Britain that time?’
None of your business. That’s between me and the British government.
SO: ‘Have you spoken to any Israelis while you’ve been here?’
No, I’ve temporarily turned into a deaf mute.
SO; ‘Were your relatives born in Israel or did any of them make aliyah [immigrate]?’
I: ‘The ones I’m seeing were all born in Israel.’
SO: ‘So, none of them made aliyah?’
I: ‘No, they were born in Israel.’
As before.
SO: ‘And where do the relatives live?’
I: ‘In Tel Aviv, in Karkur, in Yiron Kibbutz on the Lebanese border and in Kfar Yehezkel.’
SO: ‘And you don’t speak Hebrew?
I: ‘No, but my pronunciation of names is all right, isn’t it?’
SO: ‘Not bad for a foreigner.’
In the end, I expressed my puzzlement at some of the questions. What possible indication of my ill intent could they glean from, for example, the fact that my relatives were born in Israel?
‘I could tell you,’ said the security official, ‘but I’d have to kill you afterwards.’
Don’t bother. In the end, I later realised, the heat of an Israeli summer nearly did that.

Apart from the questioning at the airport, Israel was one of the most beautiful countries I have so far visited and the people were extremely hospitable. So, welcome back to Israel and as the Israelis say: ‘Enjoy!’

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