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A Ceasefire, For Now

Travel Jitters

EMILY LAMBERT

Jewish Renaissance Media

A

nother casualty of violence:
travel plans.
After witnessing weeks
of fighting and the issuance
of a U.S. State Department travel
warning, many Americans are cancel-
ing or postponing trips to Israel dur-
ing what is normally one of the year's
busiest tourist seasons.
Israel's ministry of tourism said that
while more visitors than usual have
gone there this year to celebrate the
millennium — 2.8 million already
compared to last year's 2.5 million —
there's been a downturn since violence
broke out. A spokesman for the min-
istry said that hotel cancellations
around Eilat and the Dead Sea are
approximately 10 percent, and the fig-
ure is more than twice as high in Tel
Aviv, Jerusalem and central Israel.
"This is much more serious,' admit-
ted spokesperson Geoffrey Weill, corn-
paring the situation to the end of
1999, when the State Department was
again advising Americans to stay
home. "Those were fears based on
people's fantasies. These are fears based
on serious disturbances."

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While approximately 60 percent of
Israel's tourists are Christian pilgrims,
who generally travel later in the year
and whose travel decisions have yet to
be seen, this week is one of the most
popular times for Jews to visit.
The weather is gorgeous, plus "the
atmosphere on Sukkot is what's so
exciting," said 25-year-old Maurice
Abrams, a rabbinical student in New
Jersey who saw many of his friends
bow out last-minute.
And the end is not in sight. The
American Jewish Committee's Project
Interchange, which educates American
leaders in Israel, is considering cancel-
ing an upcoming trip, which would be
a first for the organization.
A decision about the trip, scheduled
for Christian clergy and to depart
Nov. 8, will be made today (Oct. 20),
said Lisa Eisen, Project Interchange's
executive director. "The violence is not
contained to specific areas as it has
been generally in the past ... the bot-
tom line is, we are not going to place
anyone in jeopardy."
Airlines are feeling the pinch. El Al

canceled two of 18 flights last week
out of New York. A Continental
Airlines spokesperson said the compa-
ny has not canceled flights but has
offered ticket-holders the chance to
reschedule or take a refund of travel
credits. She said some travelers have
taken the airline up on the offer, but
said she didn't know how many.
Andy Gelber, chief executive of
Isram World of Travel, said only 40
percent of people are going forward
with scheduled trips, while 40 percent
are postponing and an additional 20
percent are canceling or taking•a cred-
it. He said over-the-top media cover-
age is scaring off business.
"They bring everything into your
living room," he said. "Sometimes I
see the same picture [of violence] 12
times over. So how do you expect peo-
ple to react?"
Indeed, many people with family
and business ties to the region, who
travel there often, downplay the latest
round of violence, chalking it up to
life-as-usual in the Middle East.
"It depends on what you want to go
there for," said Roman Aronbaev, 26,
who lives in New York but has family
in Tel Aviv.
He said he wouldn't recommend
taking a relaxing vacation in Israel
right now, but he rarely would. "To
visit friends and family, it's no prob-
lem."
Gail Hyman, vice president of pub-
lic affairs at the United Jewish
Communities, said the latest round of
violence has had an ironic effect.
"We've had an enormous outpour-
ing," said Hyman. The UJC had to
schedule an unplanned trip that took
30-plus participants to Israel Tuesday,.
The travelers are aware of the risks
involved but want "to express visibly
and viscerally their solidarity for the
people of Israel at this time," she said.
Rabbi Moshe Kripka, national direc-
tor of synagogue services for the
Orthodox Union, said he probably
knows 100 New Yorkers who went to
Israel for the week, and he's glad
they're there.
"Israel is the land of the Jewish peo-
ple and, yes, now there's tension.
There's a degree of concern and cau-
tion that has to be exercised," he said.
"But that's our homeland. And Jews
should never be afraid to go there." D

Emily Lambert is a journalist in
New York City.

