One thing that is almost impossible to argue over when it comes to the Land of Israel is that this tiny country holds a special place in the heart of people from all three of the great religions as well as those from less well known faiths such as the Baha’i, the Druze, and the Samaritans, amongst many others.


Despite all the difficulties and security issues that so often are the focus of international media, religious tourism from both the Christian and Jewish communities as well as, to a lesser degree, the Muslim faith, have rarely failed to keep on coming to sample the unique sights, sounds and atmosphere of the Holy Land. Even atheists or agnostics rarely leave Israel
without feeling, at the very least, that they have ‘touched history’.

 
I remember guests coming over to Israel for my wedding more than 12 years ago who had never been before and who felt that the occasion of our
nuptials was sufficient cause to see for themselves what all the fuss was about.  I can honestly say that out of all the wedding guests as well as all those who have subsequently visited Paz and I over here and enjoyed trips to many parts of the country, no-one has ever failed to enjoy themselves and leave with a positive impression, and many have come back time and again.

 
I recall my great friends Sandra and Ted Nicholson, seasoned international travellers, arriving in Israel back in ’99 and being overwhelmed by the food, the humour, the bad driving, and in particular, the historic sites. I took them on a walking tour of the Old City of Jerusalem, entering through the Jaffa Gate then ambling through the seemingly endless Arab market all the way down to the Kotel, the Western Wall, via a stop at the stunning Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the five main branches of Christianity compete to demonstrate their image of Christ and have their own varied opinions of his teachings. 

 
From the frenzy of the Western wall with orthodox and secular Jews buzzing around the ancient stones that are the only remaining feature of Solomon’s Temple of more than 2000 years ago, passing by the ‘Golden Dome’ mosque, the building constructed to mark the spots where Allah is believed to have ascended to heaven, we wandered down to the Gardens of Gethsemane before returning via the Via Dolorosa, where we visited the Station of the Cross. It was towards the end of the day that archetypal Yorkshireman Ted, (for whom Christian belief has hardly been a mainstay of his daily routine), turned to his wife and said in quite an emotional voice, ‘Can you believe it, Sandra. We stood all those years singing ‘Jerusalem’ every day at school and in church and now we’re actually here. It’s bloody amazing!’

 
Only last week I took a couple of friends on a day trip to Sea of Galilee where we climbed up to the lookout point at the top of stunning Mount  Arbel overlooking the northern shore, before passing through Tiberias to witness the hundreds of baptisms at the River Jordan site where Christians from across the globe come to take to the water. It’s an impressive place, very well presented and invariably provokes really strong emotions as the realisation on so many black, white and brown faces that they are getting ever closer to their Lord rarely fails to draw me and any guests close to tears. 

 
We ended the day on a historic modern Jewish theme by visiting the first ever kibbutz at Deganya, but there are so many stunning places around
the Galilee that it comes as no surprise to learn that the Israeli Tourism
ministry has inaugurated the ‘Gospel Trail’, a walking path that covers a total of some 63kms from Nazareth to Capernaum and takes Christian pilgrims who want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus through many places with ever so familiar names that have become inextricably linked with his teachings.

 
I was surprised to learn that, according to the Jerusalem Post, of the record 3½ million tourists who came to Israel last year, 66% were Christians, and around half of them came specifically to take part in some form of pilgrimage. I feel able to say with some certainty that the new Gospel Trail is going to be a very big hit and will give even more people of all faiths the chance to sample a part of Israel that is truly stunning; rural Israel, where you get close to the real Israelis of the kibbutzes, and the small towns,  the villages, be they Jewish, Christian or Arab, and the amazing historic sites and antiquities that make this country so unique and so special to so many
people.

 
With all the never-ending chaos that seems to perpetually surround us, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that Israel really is a very, very special place. I count myself lucky these days to be able to call it ‘home’.

Here’s a question for you. Where doing aging rock and pop stars go to play to massive and enthusiastic crowds of fans when they’re closing in on their pension book? Well, Israel, of course.
 
Yes, Israel, more readily associated in the mind of many with conflict, danger, adverse headlines on ‘News at Ten’ and religious strife, is the venue of choice for many aging ravers that you might have thought had disappeared stage left and flounced off into the sunset, or who you were all but sure had ‘pegged it’ some time ago!

 
Could it be the blue skies, the outstanding falafel and shawarma, the Dead Sea spa treatments, divine inspiration in the Old City of Jerusalem, or
possibly the guarantee of filling a stadium full of western-style music fans,
that has tempted some of the biggest names in the business to perform here in 2011, and for a significant number to pledge to return having enjoyed the experience so much.

 
Well, whatever it is, if you are an Israeli of a certain age or are a young music lover who enjoys the sounds of the ‘60’s, 70’s 7 80’s, this year has seen you spoilt for choice as to which star of a bygone era to go and spend you shekels on. Here are just a few on this year’s roster to bring back floods of memories of dancing in the school disco, at your barmitzvah party, 
office ‘knees-up’ and gigs around the globe.

 
First up let’s introduce Deep Purple, the aging rockers having gone down a treat when they played two dates in May just down the road from me at the Roman amphitheatre at Cesarea, a stunning setting with a backdrop of the
Mediterranean Sea at sunset. They were sold out for both gigs. Echo & The
Bunnymen refused to cancel their appearance in late-April having been bombarded by hate mail and apparently produced a great show in the shadow of the iconic former power station at Reading on Tel Aviv’s northern side of the port.

 
Neil Sedaka, well into his late-60’s these days, he of the ‘Laughter In the Rain’, ‘Solitaire’and ‘Oh Carole’ packed them in at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv, only a week or two after another 50’s/60’s icon Paul Anka had bowled the crowds over at the same venue on his third concert in Israel in the last two years. To prove how much the man who wrote ‘My Way’, ‘Put Your Head On My Shoulder’ and many, many more, as they say, loves coming to Israel, he came back to do an encore performance on November 12 and sold that out as well. 

 
Duran Duran, Simon le Bon et al, strutted their stuff successfully during a high summer run that also included the likes of Roxette, Suede, Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, and the rather more contemporary Moby, before the big hitters came to town.

 
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the hottest tickets in Israel this summer were for none other than Bob Dylan, for Leonard Cohen, for Paul Simon, for Andrea Bocelli, and for Jose Carreras, and just when you thought the crinklies had withered away for the year I opened my weekend paper to see half-page ads for the forthcoming concerts of none other than every Latino grandmother’s wet dream Julio Iglesias, whilst Engelbert, he of the Humperdink, is to be prised from his bathchair, or is it given day release from the ‘Twilight Home for the Bewildered’ and will be doing it ‘one more time’ in a showstopping gig in downtown Tel Aviv.

 
Now, in case you think I’m being cynical about these aging and aged stars coming here, I’m not, I think it’s great. Many of these guys and girls can still perform the socks of the younger generation having spent decades
perfecting the art of live performance, as I myself can testifying having seen
the amazing Sir Paul McCartney in concert here a couple of years ago, (he
greeted the crowd in Hebrew, then to be politically correct also wished the
Muslims in the audience a happy Ramadan).

 
I was more than pleasantly surprised at a knockout gig I attended by no lesser a half-forgotten pop idol than Gilbert O’Sullivan, he of the knitted tank tops, frizzy hair and the flat cap. The biggest clue as to how nervous O’Sullivan was as to the reaction of an Israeli audience, was that for the first four numbers he didn’t speak a word. It was only when he made a
wisecrack comment to one of his band and it was met with laughter from the crowd, that the man who penned ‘Claire’,‘Alone Again (Naturally)’, ‘Get
Down’, and ‘Matrimony’ to name but a few, realised that the audience actually spoke English and enjoyed a joke. From that moment on he came to life and by the last number was giving it the old air guitar on top of his grand piano with a sixteen-piece backing band bringing the house down.


I’ve lost count of the number of stars who have performed here recently, including Madonna, who have gone on record as saying that playing
Israel is one of the great experiences of their career and that they are
overwhelmed by the warmth they feel from the Israeli audiences.

 
Whether you are a regular visitor or not, enjoying great music in stunning settings such as Bocelli’s opera concert on top of the Massada rock, in
Roman amphitheatres, in modern concert venues or in the big football stadiums, maybe you should come here yourself and enjoy the country with the backing track of some of your all-time favourite musicians, singers and their songs.

Well, there’s never a dull moment round these parts! The last week has seen Syria suspended from the Arab League; not that that will have any
affect whatsoever on the ongoing mass murder of their own citizens, a fact that seems to have barely caused a ripple in the corridors of international power. Imagine if Israel had been responsible for killing a couple of its own citizens. Every organization you had ever heard of and many you never thought existed would be picketing embassies, Marks & Spencer’s, demonstrating in Trafalgar Square and so forth, but when its Arabs killing their own nobody seems to care very much. It’s a disgrace, the indolence of the world community in letting Assad run riot against his own down-trodden people.  


Then there’s our old friends Iran, who got a bit of smack on the wrists for the IAEA who confirmed what we have all known for donkey’s years, that the Islamic Republic is indeed doing everything possible to acquire a
nuclear weapon. And nothing would give those in power in Tehran more pleasure than despatching in an easterly direction a shiny new warhead with a destination address of dear old Tel Aviv.

 
Did you notice the news reports over the last few days about some serious shenanigans at a ‘military depot’ near Tehran where apparently 17 people
were killed. It was reported to have been an unidentified explosion at a base of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Oh dear, I wonder how that could have happened? I suspect someone forget the no smoking rule and absent mindedly threw a fag end over a chicken wire fence that just happened to contain some materials that could have caused serious damage had they been despatched via aerial delivery to an undisclosed location with a Jewish-sounding address! Pure conjecture of course, but it was interesting that today’s Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot reports that sources in the US believe it was caused by an Iranian militant group who, the Americans claim, are working in cooperation with sources in Israel.

 
Listening to an Iranian opposition spokesman on Al Jazeera last week I was impressed by his argument that the only way to avoid war in the region is for Israel and others with a lot to lose in the area adjacent to Iran, (such as the Gulf States, Jordan, and even Iraq), to do all they can to help support those attempting to bring down the despicable regime from within. He stressed that most educated Iranians oppose Ahmedinejad’s plans and should the regime be overthrown the moderate Iranian voices would immediately cease funding the likes of Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad and end the development of nuclear facilities designed for military purposes.

 
Earlier this afternoon I listened to a debate hosted by the excellent Gavin Esler on BBC World in which a number of Arab academics form the Arabian Gulf discussed the ‘Iranian problem’. It was surprising, but very reassuring to learn that the Gulf States are not a great deal less concerned by Iran’s development of nuclear weapons than we are here in Israel. They pointed out that the site of the nuclear development is on a well known fault line that is prone to seismic activity and where there is a history of minor and major earthquakes over the years. 

 
They Arab academics expressed fears that even a minor quake could release radioactivity into the Gulf and cause havoc to the populations in the area. Interestingly, when asked if they felt Israel was being melodramatic in  suggesting they could be the potential target of a nuclear attack, three out of four suggested that there were serious grounds for Israel to be  concerned and that if they were in Israel’s position it would be an incredibly
tough decision to make as to whether to sit back and wait - letting Iran
continue to close in on the completion of a nuclear warhead – or take unilateral action to neutralise the threat knowing full well that they could
stir up potential havoc in the region?

 
One point that was made though, and was that in the area adjacent to Iran genuine friends of the Islamic republic are rather thin on the ground these days. The Gulf States can’t stand the Iranian regime, Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, who reached out to Iran a couple of years ago and promoted the idea of an Iranian/Turkish/Syrian axis, has realised he made a major boo-boo, with his two so-called ‘new best friends’ both now being returned to international pariah status. Turkey has hurriedly distanced itself from its foreign policy faux pas and has gone very quiet on that subject. Assad in Syria is too busy killing his own people and trying to save his own rather long neck –  am I the only person who sees a similarity between Assad and ‘Beaker’ from ‘The Muppet Show’ – and Iraq has no more an uneasy calm at the moment with the nation who not long ago killed more than a million of their own people.

 
The discussion ended with general consensus amongst the panellists, (who came from various different positions within the political spectrum in the Arab world), that Iran is in a bit of a pickle. Their only real trump card is oil and their control of the Straits of Hormuz, and the only way they might fight back against more sanctions is to impose a military blockade of the Straits, and lock down the transfer of more than 40% of the world’s oil to customers around the globe, thereby forcing up the price to an unbearable $200 a
barrel, a measure which might persuade European and American politicians to ease any sanctions they might impose.

 
It’s all a rather deadly game of political/nuclear poker, with the trump cards (do they have them in poker, I don’t play that game) being the potential intervention of either or both of Russia and China, who thus far have refused to condemn Iran too harshly, but who might change their tune if it affects their economic interests and creates a security headache for them.

 
I know I’m hardly Andrew Marr on John Simpson, but I hope this slight insight into the way things are being discussed in this part of the world
is of some interest to you.

Today’s Jerusalem Post reports on the growing argument being conducted in the Israeli mass media as to whether or not we should disregard the almost certain furious international condemnation and, more importantly, a possibly counter-reaction from Iran, should the Israeli Air Force bomb the nuclear development program being developed by the Islamic Republic.

 
International condemnation is nothing new for Israel so such a reaction is hardly a major consideration these days for the Netanyahu government, for the simple truth is that whilst many governments would publicly play to the home gallery in voicing outrage at such a devastating unilateral move, privately, (as has been revealed in many papers released by Wikileaks in the last year), many sympathise with the position that Iran’s now not-so-secret development of potential nuclear missiles is a huge danger to the whole of the Middle East and much further afield. 
 
 
Given Iranian president Ahmedinejad’s continued assertion that he wishes to remove Israel from the face of the earth, there are plenty of people with far more understanding of the situation on the ground than me, who assert
that a pre-emptive strike is the only way to neutralise what could be a potential catastrophe for the Jewish nation.

 
Benny Begin, son of the late Israeli leader Menachem Begin and a minister without portfolio from Netanyahu’s Likud party, spoke on Israel radio this very morning expressing his dismay that such a delicate and crucial matter
of state security is being discussed in detail in the full glare of the local
and international media. He cites all branches of the Israeli media as irresponsible, and is no less critical of parliamentary colleagues and respected former intelligence service personnel for publicly contributing to the debate. 
 
 
I am not well enough informed on the subject to decide whether or not such a strike would be the right or wrong thing to do, and just how credible the ranting Ahmedinejad’s claims of being very close to having nuclear capability are. What I would venture to suggest though is that if there is one
man in Israel who would be prepared to take such a decision it is undoubtedly Benjamin Netanyahu, whose disdain for international public opinion was once again demonstrated yesterday by his ordering 2000 new units to be built in the West Bank, a move that will certainly further raise the hackles of Israeli opponents and our Palestinian neighbours, whose premature and ill-judged recognition by UNESCO on Monday was the catalyst for Netanyahu’s unfortunate housing development decision.

 
Netanyahu has been convinced for more than 15 years that the greatest danger to Israel’s future lies in the Iranian threat. Back in 1997, as head of Israel’s first completely all-English language radio station, I was invited to a small press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem where Netanyahu was cosily ensconced during his first term in the top job.

 
The ongoing debate in Israel at the time was the perceived threat of chemical warfare from Iraq as Saddam Hussein threatened to bomb Israel for a second time - the first having been his Scud missile barrage in the Gulf War of 1991. Netanyahu pointed out that if the Iranian nuclear threat hadn’t been ‘neutralised ‘ by the destruction of their Osirak facility in 1981 by Israel - a move that provoked outrage in international circles at the time but as it later transpired may well have averted potential nuclear war in the region – the weapons sent into Israel nine years later could have been potentially devastating and that a tyrant like Hussein would have no conscience or thought for human life if he had such a weapon available to him. In 1997, he didn’t have any such weapons, and Netanyahu asserted that the Iraqi threat was not a credible one.

 
Netanyahu did however move the question on to deliver a chilling warning that the country that posed the biggest threat to Israel’s existence was not Iraq, but Iran. There were no inspection of Iranian facilities and their leadership was  almost certainly more disposed to causing mass casualties in Israel than any other in the region. He warned those present in the room not to be deceived by the relative distraction of the drum-beating Hussein.

 
I mention this incident only because I believe it demonstrates the long-held belief of the current Israeli PM who is reportedly working shoulder-to-shoulder with former Labour party leader and current Defence Minister Ehud Barak in considering whether or not a pre-emptive strike on Iran is a gamble worth taking. An attack on Iran by Israel is a frightening thought,
and one shudders to think what the reaction in this region and beyond might be. 

 
Then again, if Israel sits back and leaves a maniac like Ahmedinejad and those above him in the Iranian echelons of power - who frighteningly consider his policies as being not tough enough against Israel - to further develop their aggressive nuclear capability, one also shudders to think again what might be the consequences on the ground of an Iranian attack on Israel.



Sombre stuff I know, but judging by the growing public and private debates over here, there is an inevitable feeing that the time is growing ever closer when a decision one way or the other on this literally ‘life and death’ matter, will inevitably be made.