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My first impression of Israel was of the heat, humidity and the chaos of the immigration hall at Ben Gurion Airport...

Israel

Hank Shiffman
2003-11-29 14:49:24

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century; Jaffa has that beat by a few thousand years. (Jaffa/Jappa is credited as Jonah's departure point for his legendary encounter with the whale.) A portion of the old city was renovated during the sixties and turned into a rather pleasant tourist area. This Old Jaffa area dates back only seven or eight hundred years; far newer than the bits of first century structures in the visitor's center. With its history as the target of one conqueror after another, it's surprising that there's anything from that earlier time.

Jerusalem, Israel

Thanks to a strange set of coincidences and a small but very determined Israeli subsidiary, I found myself back in Israel for my second visit just five months after my first. This time I made it from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a distance of a few dozen miles and a few thousand years.
If geography is destiny, it's no wonder that Jerusalem has been the center of history and conflict for so long. To the ancients, its location, relative fertility and mountain security made it the land of their dreams. And what one has, others want. No longer a divided city, Jerusalem still maintains its distinct neighborhoods: Christian, Moslem, Armenian and Jewish Quarters. The last is the most modern, having been destroyed by Arabs after Israel won independence in 1948 and built fresh after Jerusalem's capture in 1967.

Jerusalem has expanded dramatically in recent years, its new suburbs coming into view many miles before you reach the old city from the west. Fortunately, most of the new architecture maintains a connection to the past through the use of native stone, like these buildings at the Hebrew University to the east of the city. You can almost forget that this land was reclaimed from the desert. And then you look to the east of the city where Israel ends and the vast wasteland begins.

A lot of people expressed concern about visiting such a focus of violent activity. But once I got past the sight of police armed with Uzis, I felt safer and more relaxed than in many a Western city. My more religious colleagues were affected deeply by their visit to the holy sites. For me it was more a connection to the past and perhaps to family I didn't know I had than it was a religious experience. The Western Wall is interesting and all, but I don't believe that God listens any closer in one spot than in another, fax and Internet-based prayer services notwithstanding