The problem is also that the issues go much further back than most people realize, and involve decisions made by other nations as well as international organizations, specifically the United Nations.

There are historical facts that should be known, even though they are often overlooked or even denied, in particular by the Palestinians and the Arab world. Yes, sorry, I am biased, I am after all Israeli, and proud to be so.

The below video explains these historical facts in as simple terms as possible. But it does deal with the historical facts in a way that I usually also describe them. And in much shorter time than I can. Of course I have to do it all verbally, and it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I do not say I agree with the conclusions, but at least here is an attempt to explain the background. But I do particularly like the explanation on the term West Bank. After you see this,there are so many other resources are available for further informtion, including tons of books and media coverage. It will now be up to each to decide how many more details.

Courtyard of Citadel

There is a question I receive very often as a guide in Israel, in particular in the Old City of Jerusalem. It comes in various forms such as: “Are there any original buildings in the Old City?” “How old are these buildings?”

To talk about original buildings in Old Jerusalem is problematic. What is original? If we are talking about buildings dating to the first Jerusalem, the answer has to be an emphatic no. After all, Jerusalem has been built and destroyed innumerable times.

Dome of the Rock

If by original we talk about buildings that were built hundreds of years ago and are still standing, the answer must be yes. Examples of this are The Dome of the Rock and The El Aqsa Mosques on Temple Mount, built in the 7th and early 8th centuries, and still standing more or less as they were built. Another example is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built in the 12th century by the Crusaders, and incorporating even older building from the 4th century.
So these buildings are original, although not necessarily the first buildings on the site.

But often the questions relate to the ordinary buildings used as housing or other mundane purposes. Again, it’s hard to come with a direct answer.

Housing showing several stages of construction

Many years ago I lived in an old, restored house in the Jewish Quarter. It was an old house that had been renovated and modernized as part of the general renovation of the Jewish Quarter, following the Six-Day War in 1967.
I am not exaggerating when I say some of the walls were more than 5 ft. thick. At the time I did not question how that came about, but today I do understand the process.
A long time ago, a house was built there. With the passing of time, it may have been damaged through acts of war or natural causes. Instead of tearing it down, as is so often done today, new layers of stone were pasted on to the walls, thereby making it structurally sound again, but of course also adding depth to the walls. This probably happened many times, until it today has those amazing thick walls.

A friend of mine also lived in an old building. And one day they decided to scrape away the newer levels. When they reached Crusader columns, they decided they had gone deep enough. And from then on part of the decorations of their living room were these 12th century columns.

Stone in secondary use

Another thing to understand is that most common building material in Jerusalem, indeed in Israel, is stone. In Jerusalem it is referred to as Jerusalem stone. But quarrying stone is expensive and takes time. So it was normal to use stones from destroyed buildings to build the new buildings.
Examples of this can be seen especially in archaeological sites all through the country. But many buildings in the Old City show this feature as well.

City wall next to Dung Gate showing several layers of construction

There are also architectural features that can easily be seen as you walk the alleys of the Old City that show how a building has undergone changes. There are arches in walls, now blocked up. There are walls with stones from obvious different ages.

So the answer to those first questions on being original and age of buildings is that there are original buildings. But there are even more stones that may have been quarried two thousand or more years ago, that are now in secondary use in relatively modern buildings. These stones are the proof of the continuous life in Jerusalem for more than three millennium.

How many construction periods do you see? Southern Temple Mount wall

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.
So how many words is a short animated movie worth?

One of the things that can be a little difficult is to understand the history of Israel and the Jewish people. What happened when – who were involved – who is the father of who and what they did and how it influenced history.

That’s why I often use pictures to explain a point. I love the fact that  many of our sites have models and drawings. In some places there are even short movies. The feedback from my tourists tell me how much these tools help them understand what happened or what something looked like.

One issue that is often brought up by my tourists is how to remember the the history of Israel, and the history of the Jewish people, and how the two are connected. It’s not easy to remember 3000 years of history, when you hear it the first time. It is still not easy to remember after hearing it several times in the course of a short visit, while trying to absorb and remember lots of other information.

That why I thought this little video might help.

Actually, it’s a history of the Jewish people, but the land of Israel is an integral part of that. Yes, a bunch of history of the land is missing in this video, but that’s because it’s the story of the Jewish people. Maybe one day I will come across something similar on the history of the Land of Israel.
If you need something to help you with the history, here’s a timeline I once created.

I am not saying I agree with everything the video says, but at least it’s said with humor. Have fun.

Jerusalem

One of the most popular travel websites, Trip Advisor, recently set up a list of top 10 culture and sightseeing destinations. No, sorry to say, Jerusalem did not make number uno, but a proud number seven.

The list was compiled following a survey on the site.

This is what they have to say about Jerusalem:

Religious pilgrims have been traveling to Jerusalem for centuries, yet you don’t have to share their zeal in order to appreciate this city’s profound cultural and historical significance. Plan on seeing the major sights, but also leave plenty of time to walk through the streets and simply immerse yourself in the daily life of such an ancient and revered place.

On a personal note, I must tell you that Jerusalem has developed its own very special after hours life. More and more young, secular people are returning to Jerusalem, and creating something new and exciting.

So when you feel you can’t take more culture and history and religion, relax in one of the cities excellent eating places, or go our for a drink somewhere. There are too many for me to recommend here.

Tel Aviv

This follows a no less honorable place for Tel Aviv, as one of the top 10 Beach Cities in the world, by the prestigious magazine National Geographic.

This is what they say about Tel Aviv:

Call it Miami Beach on the Med. Tel Aviv is the Dionysian counterpart to religious Jerusalem. In the “bubble,” as it’s known for its
inhabitants’ tendency to tune out regional skirmishes, some restaurants, discos, and clubs are open until dawn. By day, the scene
shifts to the city’s promenade and eight miles (13 kilometers) of beach literally steps from town. Head to wide and sandy Gordon
Beach to sit in a seaside cafe or take a dip in the saltwater pool.

So if you are looking for a holiday that should include both history, culture and religion, as well as time for relaxing and a night out, all
within a hour of each other, Israel is your place.

Eilat

And just in. BBC Travel in conjunction with Loney Planet has come up with a list of 10 weirdest bars and restaurants. Yes, Israel is again on the list, this time as number two with the Red Sea Star in Eilat.

This is what they have to say about this place:

The Red Sea Star is a bit like Stromberg’s underwater lair in the 1977 James Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me – which is unsurprising considering that it is 5m below the Red Sea in Israel. The interior of this bar-restaurant feels somewhat reminiscent of a mermaid’s lounge, with fishy fantasy motifs – including jellyfish-shaped stools and starfish-shaped lights – and huge windows through which curious (or possibly vengeful) fish and other marine creatures eyeball the customers eyeballing their seafood platters. If you crane your neck, you might see a ship overhead from time to time. Landlubbers will be relieved to find the rooftop Metro Bar is open 7pm-3am, the underwater bar opens from 10am; details at www.redseastar.com.

Of course, while in Eilat, you may enjoy some water sports and scupa diving, or snorkling. Or take in a desert tour. Or just use the beaches, or its amazing night life.

And if you do this in the winter, you could include a ski trip on the Hermon Mountain, with ski lift and all.

So there you have it. Culture, history, religion – Jerusalem. Beach city – Tel Aviv. Weird eating place – Eilat. I wonder what else we may have for us to be included in top ten.
What about the Dead Sea, for Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Michelangelo

Without knowing it David became one of the most influential of historical figures. Whether he existed as told in the biblical stories or not has no importance here. For millenia and till today people hear the stories about King David, and many believe them true.

The account of David is one of the most detailed accounts of anyone in the Bible, beginning with his ancestors and to his death,  and descendants. We hear about his accomplishments as a warrior, as a player of the lyre and the writer of songs. But we also hear about his frailties and faults, of his relationships with some family members and supporters.

Who Was King David

David was the second king of ancient Israel. He is accredited with uniting the two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, under one united Kingdom of Israel. He is also the conqueror of the small town of Jebus, making it into his capital, under the new name Jerusalem. It is these two events that made the historical imprint.

He is generally believed to be born in 1040 BCE*, became king of Judah 1010 BCE and in 1003 BCE created the united Kingdom of Israel. He died in 970 BCE, to be followed by his son Solomon.

The only sources for the life and reign of David can be found in the Bible, in Samuel 1 and 2, 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles. There is to date only one extra biblical record where the name David appears. This is the Tel Dan Stele, an Aramaic inscription from 9th or 8th century BCE, commemorating victories over local peoples including Israel and The House of David.

Biblical Narrative – Early Days

David was the youngest of eight sons of Jesse, a grandson of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 4:17). As a young man, while King Saul still ruled, he was annointed to be king by the prophet Samuel. (1 Samuel 16:13).

Carravagoio, 1600

While still a youth he was sent by his father to meet his three oldest brothers, who had joined King Saul in the battle against the Philistines in the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17:17). There David killed Goliath, the mightiest of the Philistine warriors, with a stone from his sling (1 Samuel 17:49), causing the Israelite victory. Saul takes him to his court and a deep friendship develops between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son (1 Samuel 18:1).

David becomes the most successful and renowned fighter in the Israelite army, loved by all, but causing Saul’s jealousy (1 Samuel 18: 5-16). Hoping to snare David, Saul arranges for his daughter Michal to marry David (1 Samuel 18:27). David is also known as an accomplished harp player (1 Samuel 18:10), and is accredited with writing many of the psalms.

David becomes an accomplished warrior, and captain of Saul’s army. His popularity enrages Saul, and David flees the court into the desert, where many men join his band. He comes to an agreement with one of the Philistine rulers, Achish of Gat, and stays in Ziglak for many years (David in wilderness and Ziglak 1 Samuel 19:1-30:31), only to return to Judah on the death of Saul and Jonathan during the battle with the Philistines at Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31).

David As King

David mourned the death of Saul and his sons (2 Samuel:11), moves to Hebron (2 Samuel 2:3), from where he rules for 7 years. After the death of Ish-boshet, Saul’s surviving son and ruler of Israel (2 Samuel 4:7), David is anointed king of Judah and Israel, the United Kingdom (2 Samuel 5:3).

He now conquers the Jebusite stronghold (2 Samuel 5:7), to become known as The City of David, Jerusalem. He establishes it as his capital and the center of worship by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the city (2 Samuel 6:12). The Ark is placed on Mount Moriah, but David is not allowed by God to build a temple around it. This falls to his son, Solomon.

There are many stories about David as king, how he keeps defeating the Philistines and his relationship with friends and family. To recount them here would make long and tedious reading. But two stories are better known. The first is the story of his infatuation with Batsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, how he disposes of Uriah, so he can marry Batsheba, who becomes the mother of Solomon (2 Samuel 11:1-27).

The other story is about his son, Absalom, who rebels against his father (2 Samuel 15:1—)  and his death (2 Samuel 18:14). The cause of the rebellion is partly the rape of Tamar, Absalom’s full sister, by her brother or rather half-brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13:1-14).

The End

Before his death David finally made order in his inheritance, and had Solomon annointed king (1 Kings 1:39). He dies soon hereafter (1 Kings 2:10), after having ruled his kingdom and people for 40 years.

His legacy is not only in creating the United Kingdom and making Jerusalem the religious center of Jewish worship. It goes much deeper. For Jews in later generations he becomes the ultimate symbol of unity and belonging to the Land. In later generations he came to be seen as a model for the mashiah (Hebrew for messiah). This is still true to some degree for certain parts of Jews today.

*BCE – Before Common Era; CE – Common Era.

Nahal Saar is one of those experiences. Nahal Saar flows between the Hermon Mountain and the Golan Heights in the north of the Israel. The word nahal means stream, and as with many streams in Israel water can only been seen in late winter and early spring. This on condition that there has been a good amount of rain through the winter, and hopefully also some snow on the Hermon Mountain and the northern Golan Heights.

This year has been like this. I was fortunate that the other day I was touring up in that part of the country with my tourists, and I had the time and they had the interest to stop for this special experience. The day was glorious, way too warm for this time of the year, but we made the most of it. So we stopped at Nahal Saar, where it has created a fairly large waterfall.

I have to tell you that we were not the only ones there. Though I did not film it, I could hardly find parking place on the other side of the road. Some people even hiked up for an even better view, but we made do with the low view. This is what I am sharing with you here.

It is mid-winter.
Good winters are filled with cold and rain, and hopefully snow in the higher regions of the country. In this coldest, darkets time of the year, Israel celebrates the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the Festival of the Trees.

This is not a religious holiday like most of the other Jewish holidays. What this means is that it is not a holiday stipulated in the Tanach (Hebrew bible) and so there are no particular religious ceremonies to keep. In modern Israel work and school continue as usual.  The holiday usually falls in late January or early February.

Tu B’Shvat derives its name from the Hebrew month of Shvat. Tu is the 15th day of this month, the day of the full moon. The original purpose of the holiday as described in the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah was as one of the four new years in the Jewish Calendar:
- The first of Nisan – new year for kings and festivals
- The first of Elul – new year for animal tithes
- The first of Tishrei- new year for calculation of the calendar, sabbatical years and jubilees, for planting and sowing
- The fifteenth of Shvat – the new year of the trees

There was a very important function for determining the new year of the trees. According to Jewish law fruits of trees could not be eaten or used as tithing during the first three years (Leviticus 19:23). Tu B’Shvat became the cut off date. In the final year, fruit ripening before Tu B’Shvat were considered mature and was permitted for tithing. Fruit ripening after this date was not permitted as tithing.

Let’s face it, tithing in those days was a form of taxation, so this could be very important for the farmer. In some Jewish ortodox circles these rules are still adhered to in determining if something is kosher or not.

Customs around Tu B’Shvat
It was always customary to mark this day by planting trees and eating of nuts and dried fruits. From a practical point of view this is natural. This is the time of year that is best for planting trees, as the soil is wet and more rain is still expected. The trees have the best chance to flourish.

Nuts and dried fruits. Mid-winter. No doubt people on purpose prepared dried fruits and stored nust for the time of the year when there would have been a scarcity of fresh fruits.

In 1890 Rabbi Zeev Yavetz took his students in Zichron Yaacov and planted trees on this day. This tradition was adopted by the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayement l’Israel) and the Jewish Teachers Union in 1908.

It is no surprise that the two organizations leading Tu B’Shvat are these two. Throughout most of modern Israel school children go planting, often in collaboration with Jewish National Fund. But many adults join in, and this can go into the millions total.

As part of keeping the traditions, many families make a seder meal with dried fruits and nuts, a seder meal emulating the Passover Seder, even with its own hagaddah.

Symbolism
For most Israelis Tu B’Shvat marks the beginning of the end of winter. The sign for this are the almond trees. When they bloom in pink or white flowers, we know that longer and warmer days are approaching. In their own right the blossoming almond trees are a magnificent sight, the tree being without leaves, and the middle of fields or orchards green from the winter rains.

So what is this exciting piece of news?
Well, it is about being green, and going green. Apparently, an Israeli-American entrepreneur has brought in an investment of $350 million to develop the world’s first complete grid for 100% electrical cars. This is double exciting, because it means that there is government approval. Actually the approval was granted more than two years ago.

And this is exciting, because it shows once again the advanced thinking in Israel on energy issues, on going green, on doing more for a cleaner environment.

I am not going to give you all the details on this deal. You will get much more information by going to the source of my information The Haaretz Daily newspaper.

If this comes off, and I truly hope it does, it will take Israel a giant step forward to cleaner air. It will also show our population and the world the importance of these issues. And we will all become more aware of Israel’s efforts in developing clean tech.

Is there more to be done? Of course. This is only one step. But Israel does have a reasonably good collection system of plastic bottles. Large containers where we can drop our bottles. I have noticed that it is no longer just bottles, but all kinds of other plastics that end up there.

In many places there are also collection bin for used paper. All supermarkets must have collection and crushing of cardboard boxes, and many private citizens bring their boxes there.

Solar Hot Water Heaters in Israel
Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/juliepics

When you travel through Israel you can’t help seeing the solar panels on all houses. These panels are for heating water, and I have been told that some 95% of all hot water in Israel is heated this way. Unfortunately we do not yet have solar electric panels, but I know that is on the way. Here it’s a question of the government dragging it’s feet for passing laws connected to this. Or maybe it’s the Electric Corporation that has too much influence?

All of this are steps in the right direction. But there is of course still a long way to go.

This is also my experience as a tour guide. Many of my tourists get mixed up. After all Israel has quite a long and rich history with many events that have had impact on the world.

Because of this I have created a time line with the most important events, historical and biblical references. I made it pictorial, only to make it more colorful. It does not go into all the intricate details, but I have included the most important events for each time period.

I hope you will find this useful and inspiring.

Image via Wikipedia

Ein Gedi is one of the most visited nature reserves in Israel, both by Israelis and by tourists. This is due to its unique nature as an oasis in the Judean Desert, but also because the easy trails within the reserve.

Ein Gedi is situated approximately half way on the shores of the north part of the Dead Sea. The two year-round streams, Nahal David and Nahal Arugot, are its basis. In addition to these two streams there are four springs in the area, to feed the streams and the wild-life. All the water to the reserve originates from the rain that falls in the higher sections of the Judean Mountains.

The water and the climate allow for a great variety of unique wild life, both in plant and animal species. This is not to say that these species are not to be found in other places, but in Ein Gedi they are closer together, and easier to see.

Among the plant species to be found in Ein Gedi are acacias, Christ-thorn and Sodom Tree, as well as giant reeds and cattails. Various forms of mosses and ferns clothe the mountain sides.

The animals most widely seen are the wild goats of Ein Gedi, the ibex, and the hyrax, also called the marmot. If you could be there at night you might see foxes, wolves and hyenas. Until a few years ago it might also be possible to see a spotted leopard, but from recent information it seems they have gone extinct.

Though most visitors come to Ein Gedi for its spectacular nature, there are many remains of human habitation, starting in the Calcolithic (Late Stone Age) period some 5000 years ago. From around the 7th Century BCE a Jewish community thrived in Ein Gedi, leaving behind the remains of the houses, production sites and particularly the synagogue from the 3rd-6th century CE. Remains of the watering system has been found, showing the importance of agriculture, especially of dates and the balsam tree. We do not know today what the name balsam tree refers to. However, in antiquity one of the most expensive perfumes was produced from it.

When visiting Ein Gedi you can chose from a number of trails, from easy family trail, such as Nahal David, the somewhat longer trail through Nahal Arugot, or even longer trails leading up to the higher mountains in Ein Gedi. Most tourists make do with the short Nahal David trail.

Visiting hours:
April-September 8 am to 5 pm
October-March   8 am to 4 pm. In these months last entrance is at 3 pm. at Nahal David and 2 pm at Nahal Arugot.

The best seasons are fall, winter and spring. The summer at the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi can be extremely hot.