Destinatio
JONATHAN
FRIENDLY
National Editor
T
Jerusalem
ourism in
Israel is being
hammered.
The Al-Aqsa
uprising that began Sept. 28
has prompted a flood of trip
postponements and cancella-
tions, particularly by Americans
who saw no need to put them-
selves or their children at risk
when stones and bullets were fly-
ing in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip.
In the last three months of last year
alone, tourist revenues slumped $700
million and preliminary figures suggest
the first quarter of 2001 will repeat the
pattern of a 50-70 percent fall-off. Hotel
rooms, restaurants and shops all over Israel
are empty and some have been closed.
But the Israel Government Tourist Office
insists the fears are ill-founded, that the vio-
lence is limited to a handful of areas tourists
would almost never visit, that the impression
of widespread turmoil was created by news
reports that overplay the limited, very small-
scale skirmishes that have become the pattern
of Palestinian terror.
Last week, I and seven other journalists
with American Jewish media toured Israel
on a visit sponsored by the government in
hopes we would provide a more accurate
account for U.S. readers.
Journalists are uncomfortable taking
direct handouts from the governments
they cover. But in no case did the
government officials ask for any
special treatment, and they did not
control who we interviewed or
what we reported beyond mak-
ing the decisions on which
major stops we would make.
All of us had concluded
long before we left that there
is no special danger to travel
in Israel, assuming normal
precautions about particular
places — roads to isolated
West Bank settlements, for
example, that no tourist
would ordinarily visit.
By week's end, we came
away more convinced than
ever that anyone with a mod-
:
icum of common sense and a nor
curiosity about the land that is ou
shared history could hardly find a
time to go. Prices are down, acco
dations are easily available, the bes
are uncrowded and nightlife is fu
Just as important, the intifad.a (
ing) is producing a tectonic shift
assumptions about the future of Is
and the Mideast generally, meani
visitor has a chance to see history
making.
And, of course, it's safe.
Historical Presence
The present in Israel is always tie
the past. Nowhere is that more dr
cally evident than in the newly ex
ed tunnel along the base of the
Wall of the mount of the Second
Temple.
To look at the massive stone bl
some as much as 200 tons, that
masons carved and set more than
year ago is to understand anew th
power of belief.
Our guide, Roni Milo, a forme
Defense Forces lieutenant colonel
pointed out that the excavations
underneath the present Jewish Q
of Jerusalem's Old City; no simila
is under way to understand the h .
underlying the Arab Quarter.
During our visit, Sheik Ikram
the Mufti of Jerusalem who is ap
ed by the Palestinian Authority,
fatwa, a religious decree, assertin
"no stone in the Western Wall ha
connection to Jewish history." It
ply one of the foundation walls f
Al-Aksa Mosque, he said, conveh
ignoring every bit of archeologica
dence as well as a once-substanti
tradition of scientific inquiry.
Santana's aphorism about repea
history if you fail to study it coul
ly be more relevant to the Palesti
leadership's pattern of relapsing i
rorism — and failing to win any
progress for their people.
Masada And More
Within easy walking distance of
tunnel is the ambitious Tower of
Museum where every major peri
Jerusalem's history is laid out wit
clarity and simplicity that makes
inviting doorway to more study.
The museum drew more than
350,000 visitors last year when a
.