Israel Travel Guide

Israel and the Palestinian Territories are open for all seasons, but there are a few factors to consider when planning your trip. Weather-wise, the best time to visit is in the spring (April and May) or autumn (September and October) when temperatures are mild in most areas. November and March are likewise pleasant but do see some rain, especially in the coastal areas and up north. Consider regional temperatures; while the south is still pleasant in November, the Golan will be cold and wet. Winter (mid-November to mid-March) can be surprisingly chilly, with heavy rain along the coast and frost in the highlands. Mt Hermon in the
Golan gets enough snow to ski on and even Jerusalem can see occasional snow flurries. January temperatures in Jerusalem are 6°C to 11°C, while at the same time in Eilat it is 10°C to 21°C. During these months low season prices prevail.
Summertime temperatures in the far south are extreme. Eilat will see highs topping 40°C, but this is a dry heat. The weather can be even more oppressive in Tel Aviv where the humidity will make you sweat standing in the shade. This is a good time to visit Jerusalem or other highland areas that are less affected by coastal humidity. Summer is also the peak season for tourists; hotel prices are at their highest and it can sometimes be difficult to get accommodation.

Israel is not a cheap country and you can expect to pay standard Western prices for most goods and services. Backpackers can expect to spend between US$20 and US$40 per day, about half of that going towards accommodation. For a little more comfort in a midrange hotel and meals other than felafel and shwarma, think about spending between US$50 and US$100 per day, or more if you don't have someone to share a room with. To live comfortably at the top end, staying in three- and four-star hotels, dining at fine restaurants and renting a car, you can expect to spend US$120 to US$180 per day. A student card will save you some shekels at museums and historic sites. Look out for special internet-only deals for hotels.

When I was a little boy in Wales, my great-uncle Dai used to get drunk at Christmas and tell us about his WWI exploits. Dai fought with the Imperial Camel Corps as it battled through Palestine. Cutting the Turkish supply lines before the British made their final push on Jerusalem, Dai was shot in the buttock. When he was well into a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label, he used to drop his pants and show the scar. This gave me an earlyfascination with the Middle East.There's sure to be some part of the Holy Land's history that has touched your life already - even if not quite as viscerally as the naked backside of a 90-year-old war veteran. Whether it's singing Christmas carols about events in Bethlehem 2000 years ago; praying with your father in a synagogue, facing towards the Temple destroyed by the Romans; or shaking your head as you watch the news of an unfolding intifada on TV - in some way, the story of Israel and Palestine is part of your history. But
the accepted accounts are constantly being revised by new historians and archaeologists who must grapple with the national and religious myths inscribed on almost every weathered chunk of local limestone.

If the last few decades in Israel were times of terrorism, the state's earlyyears were times of war. In 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on its Arab neighbours, devastating the armies of Syria, Egypt and Jordan. In less than a week (which gives the war its popular name, the Six Day War) Israel won control of the Golan Heights from Syria and the entire Sinai desert and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. For Jordan, the war was a particular disaster because Israel captured the West Bank and the jewel of East Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock. Syria and Egypt fought back in 1973, launching a surprise attack on the Jewish holy day, Yom Kippur. Unprepared, it seemed at first as though Israel might be wiped out, but it pushed the Arab armies back. Israel's situation had, for a time, been so desperate, however, that the Arab leadership portrayed the Yom Kippur War as a victory. For Israelis, political positions often are coloured by which of the nation's wars occurred during their youth. There are the nostalgic, old socialist Zionists of the 1948 battle for independence. The victors of the 1967 Six Day War contributed to the messianic zeal at the root of the settlements in the Palestinian Territories. Those who, by the skin of their teeth, defeated the surprise attack of 1973 felt heroic, but had a jaundiced view of the country's leaders for failing to foresee the onslaught. But by the time Palestinian guerrilla attacks across the northern border drew Israel into an invasion of Lebanon in 1982, young Israelis questioned
the sense that their nation faced an existential enemy and argued for territorial concessions. Israelis also felt they'd been sucked into someone else's war when their troops failed to intervene to halt the massacre of Palestinians by Lebanese Christians in the Beirut refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila. Not all Israelis went along that more dovish path. Since the Lebanon War the country has been deeply divided between a nationalist right that focuses on the settlements of the West Bank and (until 2005, when they were evacuated) the Gaza Strip, and a left that put its faith in the 1993 Oslo Accords , setting up a Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern the towns and cities of the Palestinian Territories.For Palestinians, warfare didn't bring any benefit: they soon realised that Arab armies wouldn't win back their land for them. In 1964, the Arab League, which is made up of representatives of 22 Arabic-speaking nations, set up the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). But it wasn't until the Arab defeat in the 1967 war that a Palestinian leader willing to defy the Arab League won control of the PLO. Yasser Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929 and was related to the powerful Husseini clan of Jerusalem. While working as an engineer in Kuwait, he founded Fatah, an Arabic acronym for the Palestine Liberation Movement and also the word for 'victory'. It was through the Fatah faction that he took over the PLO in 1969. He instituted a long campaign of terrorism designed to force the international community to recognise the need for a solution to the Palestinian problem - something war with Israel hadn'taccomplished. Senior Fatah men were behind the fatal 1972 attack on Israeli athletes in the Olympic village in Munich and many other terrorist strikes. In 1987, an uprising called the intifada (Arabic for 'shaking off') broke out around the West Bank and Gaza. It was a spontaneous eruption of stones and Molotov cocktails by
frustrated youths, but Arafat soon had control of it and kept it simmering for six years. Though Arafat kept the Palestinian question on the world's agenda, he made a mistake in supporting Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. Kuwait and other Gulf nations cut off funding to the PLO and expelled Palestinians, on whose pay packets many families depended back in the West Bank and Gaza. The financial and political squeeze forced Arafat to consider peace negotiations, leading to the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Whatever preconception you may have about who is an Israeli or Palestinian, a Jew or an Arab, will surely end within a few days of travel in the country. Every colour is represented, thanks to the 'Law of Return' that has drawn Jews of diverse backgrounds to re-converge in the Holy Land. It's impossible to make generalisations about such a diverse culture because your Tel Aviv peacenik, ultraorthodox Jerusalemite, Be'er Shevanimmigrant, Eilat hedonist, Ramallah liberal and Gazan conservative will all have a different world view. Yet no matter what their background, everyone remains patriotic to their particular cause, war often having that affect on people. This contest of survival has emboldened all sides and as the generations pass the national psyche deepens for all. For a more in-depth look at the history that has shaped this region

Israel and the Palestinian Territories are the birthplace of two of the three great monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Judaism. The youngest of this trio, Islam, considers Jerusalem to be its third-holiest city. Around 80% of Israel is Jewish while Sunni Muslims make up around 15%. The remaining 5% is Christian and other sects. The Palestinian Territories is around 95% Muslim and 5% Christian, give or take a few
percentage points.

The 'melting pot' description tagged onto Israel and the Palestinian Territories is not wholly accurate. Although Jews of various backgrounds have reunited in Israel, many still adhere to their traditional lifestyles and life at home is quite different for the secular and the religious. Added to this are Palestinian Christians and Muslims, who enjoy a different lifestyle altogether.The majority of people you can expect to meet are secular Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, whose lifestyle is not unlike that of any other West-erner from Sydney to Seattle. Because Israelis go to the army until age 20 and often take a gap year to travel abroad, university students are often aged 21 to 24. As a result, urbanites tend not to marry until their late 20s or early 30s and generally keep families small (two or three children). Family life is important
but it's not uncommon to encounter single parents or an older couple without children. Seniors are quite independent and often live alone or in retirementcommunities, although many are cared for by their children.Average Israeli salaries are in the neighbourhood of US$20,000 to US$25,000, which provides enough disposable income for leisure activities. On weekends Israelis flock to beaches or take driving and hiking trips in the countryside. When they get around to settling down they may return to the kibbutz where they grew up, or otherwise move to the suburbs and commute to work. Homes themselves are spacious; apartments may have three or four rooms while many private homes may have five rooms and multi-levels. Most homes also come equipped with a bomb shelter/ basement that may have been converted into a guest room.Ultraorthodox communities are insular and more self-contained. Members of the community are free to travel as they please but dedica-tion to study and commitments to a large family keep them close to home. Men often study in a seminary until marriage.

Built along ancient footpaths, the little town where Mary and Joseph went for the
census and returned with a son is one of the most continuously inhabited places in the world, with residents as far back as the Palaeolithic era. On record the town developed in the 14th century BC as a city-state named after the goddess Beit Lahmu, then donned the Old Testament name Ephrata.
Three centuries after the birth of Jesus, the Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion with the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In 638 the city was conquered by Mus-
lims, but a treaty was signed guaranteeing Christians property rights and religious
freedom. Bethlehem enjoyed exalted sta-tus both domestically and in Europe dur-
ing the Crusader periods of 1099-1187 and 1228-1244. The city continued to prosper through ups and downs under Mamluk and Turkish rule. In the 19th century the British took an interest in the area while an Eastern European-led Zionist move-ment began to take hold in Palestine. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, Bethlehem bucked under the British Mandate, whose policies included revoking the citizenship of Bethlehemites abroad while granting citizenship to Jews after two years of residency. Today it's a distinctly Christian
town with Muslim and Christian Palestinian Arab residents.
Looking east towards Jordan, the graceful Bethlehem wilderness becomes an arid landscape of dusky sand-blanketed hills. Also called the Judean Desert, this retreat for the eyes has a secret backdrop: beyond the blue haze is a stupendous mountain range in Jordan that only emerges to the view seasonally.

A cacophony of market vendors, blaring car horns and church bells, modern Nazareth will come as quite a shock if you're imagining the bucolic Christmas-card images of the Annunciation and Jesus' childhood home. The largest Arab city in Israel, Nazareth is up the surrounding olive groves, farms and pine forests at an ever-increasing pace; where there's a view, there's a house on the hillside and where there's a one-way street, there's sure to be a kilometre-long
traffic jam heading the other way.But the disappointment does not last long.
Nazareth is a vibrant city, with the feel of a small village, and offers much more than its Christian pilgrim history. While the myriad of churches are certainly worth a visit, come to explore the cobbled streets of the Old City with its crumbling mansions, authentic souq and excellent restaurants specialising in local dishes. While the controversial Nazareth 2000 project (a joint project of the Israeli government and the local municipality; approximately US$80 was to be invested in extensive renovation and restoration of the Old City to celebrate the Millennium in
the Holy Land) - unfortunately much of the money was squandered or spent on Upper Nazareth, the Jewish section of the city) has stalled since the start of the second intifada, tourists can take advantage of the early success: the winding alleyways of the Old City beautifully lit at night, preservation of some of thehistorical homes, and investment into a range of interesting new accommodation options. With its proximity to nearby Christian sites such as Mt Tabor, Nazareth makes
an ideal base for a few days' touring the lower Galilee, especially on Shabbat when
everything is open for business, unlike the rest of the country.

If you only go to one place in Jordan, make it Petra. Hewn from towering rock walls of multicoloured sandstone, the imposing façades of its great temples and tombs are an enduring testament to the vision of the desert tribes who sculpted them. The Nabataeans - Arabs who dominated the region in pre-Roman times - chose as their capital a place concealed from the outside world and fashioned it into one of the Middle East's most remarkable cities.Almost as spectacular as the monuments themselves are the countless shades and Neapolitan swirls formed in the rock. Petra is often called the 'Rose-red City', but even this hardly does justice to the extraordinary range of colours that blend as the sun makes its daily passage over the site.Few buildings in Petra are freestanding; the bulk were chiselled and bored out of the rock face. Until the mid-1980s, many of these caves were home to the local Bedouin and a handful of families still pitch their black goat-hair tents inside Petra, or even live in the caves.The site itself is huge and you need a couple of days to come to grips with the place. From Eilat, Petra is an easy two-hour journey, but don't give in to a day tour. Budget for an extra night here - you'll thank yourself for it later. There are tombs and carvings in every nook and cranny, which makes the place perfect for some off-the-beaten-track exploration.

For a place so frequently in the news, it's hard to believe that the whole of the Gaza Stripoccupies a sliver of land just 45km long and less than 10km wide, along the shimmeringMediterranean coast. There are, however, some 1.4 million people packed into this space,in a conglomeration of eight refugee camps and three towns including the sprawling Gaza City. Statistics paint a bleak picture of the tiny, turbulent area, which, according to the UnitedNations Development Programme (UNDP), is experiencing a period of 'de-development'.Unemployment stands at 38%, whilst 78% of the population lives below the poverty line,existing on less than US$2 per day. The average Palestinian wage earner supports eight people, but earns five times less than in 2000. In one of the most densely packed camps,Jabalia, almost 107,000 people live in an area of less than 2 sq km. Over 30% of Gaza'sadults (as well as a high number of children) suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Ontop of this, some statisticians predict that the population will double in the next fifteenyears, stretching Gaza's thin resources even further. Gaza's history, though, is anything but bleak. In its past incarnations it was a highly coveted area with rich natural assets and a population that leant itself to arts, sports and progress under a succession of fiercely dominating forces. You might not immediately recog nise them today, but vestiges of Gaza's heritage, though well hidden, do remain. Look beyond the poverty and rubble, and you'll find traces of an illustrious history that spanned three millennia, and though current conditions are dire, Gaza itself has seen it all before. It's believed that the city has been captured, overthrown, contested and rebuilt more than any other city in the world, a cycle in which it remains firmly caught. So why go to Gaza at all? It's dirty, it's crowded; it can be dismal, depressing and dangerous. The answer is simply because it's here that you can find the human spirit at its most resilient. Take, for example, the 2006 World Cup; directly after the bombing of Gaza's only
electricity plant, many Gazans immediately came up with creative schemes in order to watch the next match when power remained sporadic. Similarly, despite the destruction of basic infrastructure in air strikes, Gaza City entrepreneurs continue to open new restaurants on the seashore. In addition, most Gazans are friendly, welcoming, and more than willing to point the way to places of interest. A visit to Gaza, therefore, for a whole spectrum of reasons, is certain to be one you won't quickly forget.

It's the ultimate Israeli cliché, the picture of the swim-suited bather lying in - almost on -the water, feet up and newspaper open, like a Sunday morning in bed. But unlike a camel ride at the pyramids or wrapping a keffiyeh (chequered scarf ) around your neck, this is one Middle Eastern cliché well worth indulging in. Floating in the Dead Sea is a sensation that cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world.Beyond the obligatory float, the soothing mud bath and a soak in the sulphur, the approximately 65km-long shoreline is one of the most mythic places on earth. Believers say that Jesus Christ was baptised where the Jordan River meets the Dead Sea. It's where the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are thought to have been located and it's where the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest copy of biblical texts, were found in a mountain cave. But the No 1 attraction is Masada, a solitary monolith rising from the desert; the fortress in which Jews martyred themselves and their families rather than become slaves of the Romans nearly 2000 years ago. This Unesco World Heritage site is one of Israel's most enigmatic locations and watching the sun rise over the Dead Sea from the ancient ruins at the top is an experience not to be missed. Ein Gedi's nature reserves are perfect for beginner hikers with their refreshing pools, endangered animals and ancient sites. For adventure seekers there's a wide range of walking trails that offer stunning coastal views and the chance to explore the spectacular canyons of the Judean Desert.

People have been writing about Jerusalem for the better part of its 3000-year history, but still today your first glimpse inside the ancient walled city will leave you speechless. More than beautiful, however, Jerusalem is a spiritual centre, holy to the three great monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. That three religions have assigned so much importance to a solitary city makes Jerusalem
one of the most fascinating places you'll ever visit. Within a short walk of each other, you can find Christians quietly praying in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jews dancing by the Western Wall and Muslims prostrate before Al-Aqsa Mosque. Whatever your credence, it's hard not to be swept up in the emotional tide that pulsates through these ancient streets.warfare and time, Jerusalem's architecture remains in remarkable shape - you could spend days (or weeks) getting lost in its labyrinth of alleys and bustling bazaars. The Old City is surrounded by relics of ancient and modern times. To the south lies the City of David (the original Jebusite city). Predominately Palestinian East Jerusalem is home to con-sulates, museums and the Garden Tomb (the possible crucifixion site), while West Jerusalem has the Israeli capital building and a patchwork of secular and religious neighbourhoods.
Jerusalem, or Al-Quds as its known in Arabic, has an inevitably powerful effect on its visitors, breeding political activism, religious fanaticism or simply a greater appreciation of the magnificent tide of human history. A quick run through the main tourist sights won't do it justice, so plan on staying a while, and see what it does to you.