I am in Israel

[Secularbeliever]

I have many observations about being here but here are a few.

1) Tel Aviv, very pleasant place.  Not too much political discussion.  I did talk to one young man who gave me his side of the housing prices protest.  He made some good points but if these kids cannot afford housing how do they have all this money to spend in cafes of which there seem to be 3 on every block and all are busy.

2) Haifa- spent little time there and had no major interactions other than getting lost and driving in circles while trying to return a rental car.

3) Galilee/Golan-stayed at Tel Chai youth hostel (although I am far from a youth).  Beautiful serene setting.  I got a private room at a very favorable rate.  Drove and hiked through the Golan.  Met up with some very nice young ladies all of whom were 30 and looking for husbands, one Israeli Gush Katif survivor, one a Jew form Germany and one a Christian from Holland.  I tried to get the Israeli interested in my nationalist Orthodox friend, not real successful.

4) Jerusalem our crown jewel.  Went to the Western Wall for Friday night.  Very nice, the energy and pride there is impressive.  Went through the Damascus Gate which was a bit serious.  It was the day Abbas spoke at the UN and the Arabs were celebrating.  They were making a lot of noise but not causing any trouble that I could see.

5) Today and tomorrow I am visiting Yesha and the Jewish community of Hevron.  Will report on that later.

[The proud Jew]

I would suggest that you should make contact with our allies in judea and sameria.  You should send chaim a private message on who to visit and where they are. Be carefull in judea and sameria, the shabak's informants are everywhere. Just some words of advice.

[Meerkat]

sounds like a lot of fun!

[cjd]

Sounds like an interesting trip... Keep us posted.

[Rubystars]

Sounds like you've had an interesting trip so far I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of your time there. I think it would be a great country to visit some time. It's on my list for countries I'd like to visit if I ever get enough money to travel. hehe

[Dr. Dan]

Have a wonderful safe trip.

[Secularbeliever]

I had my tour of Judea and Samaria.  The tour of Hevron got cancelled, bummer.  I am giving some thought to just taking a bus there and looking around.  Not sure if that is a good idea.  The Hevron tour included Rachel's tomb which I cannot duplicate.

Today's tour was very interesting.  I went to a hilltop community and went inside a house being built.  Now the house is illegal but there is a soldier there guarding it (cute young woman).  Apparently, the IDF does not always follow a consistent pattern.  I met a fellow from Amona, his house is next on the list of homes to be destroyed.  He offered to dismantle it (he plans to move it to another site) but the Peace Now scum are pushing for it to be demolished.  The pioneers in Judea and Samaria are a different breed of tough.  They sacrifice their finances, their stability in life, etc.

I got to Avri Ran's farm which I have always wanted to see.  It is quite serene.  My guide who drove me there (it was e$pensive but I view that as a contribution to the cause) had a pistol in his pocket.  We went through one Arab town where the road goes straight through town and it would be very easy for a car in front of you to stop and trap you.  He took his pistol out of his pocket.  He claimed it was not loaded but I have my doubts. 

[Secularbeliever]

Sounds like you've had an interesting trip so far I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of your time there. I think it would be a great country to visit some time. It's on my list for countries I'd like to visit if I ever get enough money to travel. hehe

Rubystars, it is expensive being here.  That is hard to get around.  The dollar has done poorly against the shekel.

[Rubystars]

Rubystars, it is expensive being here.  That is hard to get around.  The dollar has done poorly against the shekel.

Maybe if the USA gets a few decent presidents (I'm not expecting good ones, but just something a bit better than Obama) then the dollar will do a bit better. Travel is expensive anyway though and before I made any trip I'd want to have all the money saved up to go on it. I have a policy where I try to avoid debt as much as possible. I use my credit card to help build up my credit score but I always have the cash on hand before hand in my bank account so that I don't owe anything, pay them off as soon as I get the bill.

[Maimonides]

Rubystars, it is expensive being here.  That is hard to get around.  The dollar has done poorly against the shekel.

The dollar is stronger than the shekel. The reason things in Israel have ALWAYS cost so much is because Israel is a small isolated country, which means most goods are produced at a low level (so each one is more expensive then if you had large economies of scale) or the goods have to be imported from far away (considering that nearby neighbors are not ideal trade partners!).