Israel trip worth risk

Letters

Editor: My wife, 19-year-old daughter, 15-year-old son and I visited Israel from Aug. 21 to Sept. 12, 2002. The occasion was a family wedding. While the decision to go was not easy, it became harder as the departure day came closer. The continued relentless suicide bombs caused us to rethink. Should we risk our lives? Would I be able to justify a death or injury of any member of my family? Are we going to be stuck in my parent's house, not daring to go outside?

After several long talks with my relatives in Israel, and when the situation seemed to have calmed down, we decided to go.

We were all born in Israel and immigrated to Canada 15 years ago. I read the Israeli news through the Internet twice daily so I thought I knew fairly well the situation there. It turned out to be an eye-opening experience.

It is important to note that, throughout our visit, there were no suicide bomb attacks. All attempts were aborted in the West Bank. A major disaster was prevented when a car was intercepted in Israel carrying 600 kilograms of explosives.

My first questions to my welcoming relatives were, "Where can we visit? What should we avoid?" They laughed at me saying that we can go to almost everywhere but to avoid buses.

We rented a car and the next day we were in Jerusalem (one of the places we had planned to avoid). We toured the City of David and visited the Wailing Wall. During the next three weeks, we floated on the Dead Sea, swam in the Sea of Galilee, took an evening stroll in the old city of Jaffa and enjoyed its organized outdoor entertainments. Evening walks along the lively Tayelet, the boardwalk in Tel-Aviv, were most enjoyable. We drove south visiting an interesting Bedouin museum, near Be'er Sheva and a nearby impressive air force museum. We visited the beautiful and recently expanded Bahai temple in Haifa and went to a lively, crowded flea market in Jaffa. We visited many old friends and, for the first time in 15 years, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah with my close relatives in Israel.

So what happened to my intense fears? They remained constantly there. But seeing the situation was relatively calm we just went (carefully) with the flow. "We have no other country," I was told. "The terrorists want to disrupt our lives. We are not going to play their games," my nephew said who took our kids to a teenagers' night club.

I gained confidence from the fact that every mall, big building and entertainment centre was well guarded. Every car was searched at entrances to parking lots and then everyone was searched prior entering buildings. All entrances were covered.

Have people stopped using the buses? No. Children that had to go on buses, for example, would call their worried parents once they got off to confirm their safe arrival. Not at all an easy way of life.

Our kids joined us on most of our trips. They seemed to enjoy the huge bazaars, like the flea market in Jaffa, the colorful shops in Daliat-El-Carmel, a Druz village near Haifa, and the Arab section in the old port of Acre. They mostly enjoyed the wonderful long beaches along the Mediterranean Sea.

It was painful to see the total lack of tourism. Scores of shops and attractions were closed or empty of clients. Yardeneet, a beautiful site once full with streams of Christian pilgrims fulfilling their wish to baptize in the Jordan River, was empty. We were the only visitors.

We returned our rented car on the last day to another city. After debating on how to return, we took the bus. It felt strange. Here we were doing exactly what we thought would be the biggest no-no. While my wife was completely relaxed, I watched everyone who entered the bus. At one stop, a security man came on, checking under every seat. The ride went fine.

The decision to go to Israel was our responsibility. It was a risk we took and it was a trip we enjoyed. Israel is an interesting and courageous country. May peace be with it and its Arab neighbors.

Yigal Kaikov
Richmond

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