I've been away on holiday in England for the past few weeks and have only occasionally been tapping into the wealth of news coverage that focuses on the Middle East, and on Israel, in particular.

In my case however, out of sight has certainly not been out of mind, and following the death of the Israeli soldiers close to the northern border with Lebanon from Hizbollah shelling, and the missiles fired out of Gaza to Ashkelon, (not to mention those that appear to have emanated from Sinai and landed both close to Eilat and in Aqaba in Jordan), I've been toying with the idea that something radical needs to be done to change the state of play at the moment.

It seems to me that there is no doubt that an increase in the marginalization of the Hamas regime in Gaza can only help to serve Israel's interest. Looking back to 2005 when the decision to unilaterally withdraw from the territory was taken by the government of Ariel Sharon, I was amongst the many people who were enthusiastic at the prospect of the Palestinian people in Gaza being given the chance to prove that they really just wanted to live a life of peace, earn enough to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, and go about life in much the same manner as the rest of the people of the region, and indeed across the world.

How demoralizing then it was when, given 'relatively' free elections, they voted in the one party who placed the destruction of the State of Israel and the driving out of Jews from the region as their top priority. When Hamas came to power they moved swiftly to eliminate as many supporters of their secular rival Fatah from the Strip as possible,  human rights groups confirming mass executions, widespread maiming, and the intimidation of anyone who didn't share their radical, violent agenda. Fatah were all but eliminated from the territory and the free elections the international community had encouraged only served to usher in a tyrannical and destabilizing presence in the region, a group funded and supported in many ways by Iran.

The Gaza War that inevitably followed as a result of the thousands of missiles launched by Hamas into southern Israel following their ascent to power, highlighted the danger that Hamas poses, not only Israel, but to Egypt as well. Interestingly, whilst Israel sought neutralize the threat posed by the Hamas missiles, Fatah, the party that governs the West Bank, remained conspicuously silent. For them, (although not prepared to admit it publicly for fear of incurring the wrath of the Arab world), Israel was doing their dirty work, weakening their Palestinian opposition. I would not be in the least bit surprised to learn one day that Fatah's internal security services had offered some support to Israel's effort to diminish Hamas' effectiveness in Gaza.

The fact is that whilst the people of Gaza have been driven into poverty by the actions of their own terrorist government, the Palestinians in the West Bank have seen a marked change in their fortunes over the last few years. With security and commercial agreements with Israel appearing to be holding up well on the whole, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, (despite widespread allegations of corruption), has overseen a significant improvement in the standard of living and quality of life of its citizens. Businesses are flourishing in Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho, average wages have soared and their economy is growing at a reported 10% per year at a time when much of the world is still teetering on the brink of recession.

Although in public the peace process appears to be gaining little ground, there have been a number of indications that suggest that behind the scenes some progress is being made as both Israel and the PA grudgingly realize that they are going to have to work with one another, like it or not.

Surely, the average Palestinian living in Gaza, talking regularly by phone to his cousins in Ramallah and hearing about the flourishing economy and much improved standard of living, would be bound to wonder to himself how much better life might be for him if Hamas were no longer in a position to rule his life. He shouldn’t have voted for them, he should distance himself from their ideals and seek to find a way to support Fatah and undermine those in power.

Such is Hamas' grip on Gaza though that any dissent is very dangerous. Aside of Israel returning to the territory, (a military option that would cost many lives on both sides, enrage much of the Arab word – though not all - and return the Jewish state to a status quo they were happy to rid themselves of five years ago), a popular uprising seems the only logical way that Hamas might be removed from power.

By way of encouraging such a happening, I suggest that serious consideration should be given to Israel making peace with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a scenario that is not very far from the current situation on the ground. Israel would receive significant positive reaction from around the world, the PA would gain more credibility, Hamas would become further marginalized and Israel would be shown to be genuine in wanting to secure a deal with a real partner for peace.

None of this would be easy, but nothing in our part of the world is easy. The situation in Gaza poses a massive threat to Israel's security and to the stability of the region. Hamas must be removed from power, and it might just be that following the old adage of 'divide and rule', by genuinely forging a peace deal with Fatah, Israel can retake the intiative and set a positive agenda in the region.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
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"Good morning. It's 11am. This is the British Broadcasting Association.

"The British government's three year naval embargo on goods destined for the IRA-governed province of Northern Ireland has come under the spotlight once again after SAS commandos boarded a vessel carrying Catholic 'peace campaigners' from Italy, Spain, Poland and South America, wishing to show solidarity with the terrorist government and the suppressed Catholic population of the former British colony.

"SAS commandos had anticipated little trouble from the peace boat, the Mary Magdalene, who had been instructed to divert to the port of Liverpool to undergo routine inspection of her cargo, but were met by a hostile crowd armed with steel bars, stun grenades, slingshots and knives who viciously attacked the British special unit who were eventually forced to open fire to protect their own lives. Nine of the so-called peace campaigners were killed and a number of SAS personnel were seriously injured.

"The international community led by the Catholic block have been quick to condemn the British government and have called for an immediate lifting of the naval embargo which is, of course, complimented by the closure of the land border with the Republic of Ireland, also a Catholic nation, but one which rejects the violent armed struggle being waged by the IRA and who have a long standing peace agreement with Britain.

"After more than six years of rocket attacks from Northern Ireland that terrorised the communities of Manchester, Liverpool and the west coast of England, in 2005 the British government took the decision to unilaterally withdraw from the province as a gesture of goodwill and to give the people of Northern Ireland an opportunity to elect a peace loving government that would work for the betterment of all of the Northern Irish people.

"Following the elections of 2006 which saw the IRA gain a majority vote, all political opposition in Northern Ireland was eradicated with many opposition politicians and spokespersons being summarily executed, whilst others have been forced to flee for their lives.

"Despite being granted autonomy, the IRA continued a sustained barrage of rockets into the west coast population centres of England, forcing millions to live in fear of their lives and spend long periods of time every week living in bomb shelters; children unable to go to school, businesses forced to close, civilian deaths from indiscriminate rocket fire, and local authorities and public services unable to function.

"The British government's decision in 2008 to send in the RAF to destroy the IRA bomb factories, callously and calculating placed in built-up city areas, resulted in a significant loss of life as a result of the IRA effectively using the captive Northern Irish civilian population as human shields. Once again there was a massive international outcry at the disproportionate number of deaths on the Northern Irish side, as opposed to the 13 military and civilian casualties sustained by British forces.

"The decision to enforce the naval embargo to ensure that more weapons materiel and bomb making equipment cannot arrive at the port of Belfast or other smaller ports on the Northern Irish coast, has been roundly condemned by the UN and other major international organizations, many of whose members appear fearful of a violent backlash within their own communities from the radical Catholic population who demonstrate daily on the streets against the British and in support of the IRA, an organization which has been and still remains on the international list of terrorists organizations.

"Despite the British government bending over backwards to allow as much humanitarian aid as possible into Northern Ireland, it is widely acknowledged that the IRA have commandeered most of the humanitarian aid and are using it for profiteering and raising cash to purchase more weaponry from sympathetic nations such as Venezuela, the Seychelles and Libya. There has been little or no distribution of the aid to the civilian population who are suffering daily due to the actions of the IRA government.

"It has now been revealed that there were as many as 50 people amongst the 600 on board the Mary Magdalene that are wanted in a variety of countries across the globe for anti-British and anti-Protestant offences, including the attacking of Church of England premises and the murder and attempted murder of regular Church of England worshippers. A number made statements to their local media before the Mary Magdalene set sail, saying that they were prepared to die and be martyred like Saint Joan if necessary, in order to break the naval embargo imposed by Britain. It is quite clear that this hardcore of violent activists were spoiling for a fight with the SAS all along and duped the genuine peace campaigners aboard the ship into believing that they had only peaceful intentions.

"It is now understood that a new flotilla of boats seeking to break the embargo has set off from Brazil, Mexico and Italy, whilst it is also reported that President Chavez of Venezuela, a man who has expressed his total support for the terrorist IRA and whose government has allegedly given billions of dollars to the terrorist government in order to buy missiles and weaponry to use against the British, is to send two warships to the Irish Sea in an effort to ensure that the breaking of the naval blockade will succeed, even if that means engaging the British navy to do so."
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Makes you think, doesn't it?  Thankfully, the IRA laid down their arms and decided to follow the path of peace. It could all have been so different.

Isn't it a shame that Hamas refuse to do the same?
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Life in semi-rural Israel can be a real pleasure, especially if, like me, you appreciate nature and enjoy being in relatively close contact with the animal kingdom.

When my wife and I chose to live in Zichron Yaakov it was because it offered all we were looking for; a relatively small community, but with nearly all the everyday facilities one could possibly need, good schools for our girls, close proximity to the beautiful beaches north of Caesaria, and a green outlook with the Carmel hills rolling down around us. It's a pretty idyllic spot.

To make matters even better, we found a house that looks directly onto the Rothschild nature reserve of Ramat HaNadiv, on the edge of a steep ravine covered in olive trees and scrubland on the opposite side. And, on our side, a variety of plants and trees, most of which I've been unable to put a name to. Directly opposite the house on the other side of the ravine – about 100 metres as the crow flies – is a huge cage which is run by the park rangers as an R&R retreat for injured birds of prey. Eagles, buzzards, vultures, owls and hawks are all restored to good health by the expert ornithologists who gradually train them to return to the wild, training runs that frequently cross over our heads and send the green parrot population heading for cover for fear of ending up on an eagle's dinner table.

Crickets whirr loudly through the evening and into the night, competing with jackals that roam the reserve and get a bit of a howl on when the female of the species 'puts out' that she's ready to be 'covered', as they say in the horse breeding business.

Our only domestic pet is our faithful dog Mocca, a mongrel we chose from the animal rescue centre at Hadera just over two years ago and who has become a much loved member of the Alster family. Being the only one that doesn’t answer back, who is always happy to see me, and costs a relatively small amount to keep, it would be fair to say that there are times when he goes close to being at the top of my family favourites list, if only for a brief while. 

The girls walk Mocca morning and afternoon, and I take him out for a stroll at night, where he struts around the neighbourhood as if he owns the place, exchanging pleasantries with the other hounds on the block. He's never got into a fight and all the dogs, both male and female seem to like him – I suspect he might be gay, but I don't love him any less for it!

His evening ritual is to pad around slowly, sniffing here and occasionally woofing there, and then, as we return to within sight of the gate at the bottom of the steps up to my house, he always sprints the last 30 metres, rather as I used to do at the end of cross-country running at school as we were being counted in, and I wanted to impress with my physical fitness and stamina. The fact that I'd walked most of the previous five miles is neither here nor there! 

Anyway, a few nights ago Mocca headed around the corner of our street towards an open area of scrubland, whereupon I found him rooted to the spot, furiously sniffing the air as his tail curled alarmingly between his legs. I asked him if there was a problem, but he refused to explain. Then, with a feeble whine, he turned around and scooted back in the direction of the house at high speed. 'Stupid dog'.

I peered curiously into the darkness. Despite my lack of foresight in not packing night vision goggles for the 10 minute stroll, it didn't take the instinct of James Bond or David Attenborough to sense pretty quickly that there was something out there. Then an audible rustling noise made by 'something of substance' emanated from the bushes. Had I happened upon a young couple 'pitching-the-woo' as they said in days gone by, or was a terrorist about to leap out and 'make my day' by making me a 'martyr'? Before I had time to hatch a 'cunning plan' all was revealed. It was big, it was hairy, and it definitely wasn't kosher! A white tusked, bigger-than-I-had-ever-suspected wild boar started trotting slowly, but most definitely towards me.

'Surely it must be frightened of humans', I thought briefly. But then, as it continued its progress in my direction, I soon formed the opinion that maybe I was more frightened of it, than it was of me, and that discretion was definitely the better part of valour. First rule of warfare – never turn your back on the enemy. 'Oh sod that' I thought, as I shouted out 'Ohhhhh shit!', turned on my heels, and ran at a pace that I swear would give Usain Bolt something to think about. I'd gone at least 50 metres when I glanced behind and noticed that 'old pigface' had ground to a halt, probably offended by my turn of phrase. 

He stared at me, and I stared back at him. My faithful, fearless hound was already hidden behind bushes half-way along the street. It was nearly midnight and there wasn't a soul about. The crickets whirred in the silence. From the eagles' cage I could hear a squawking noise that almost drowned out the beating of my heart – but not quite. The boar – I'm talking about the one with the tusks, not me, - looked me up and down for a few moments and then appeared to decide I just wasn't worth the effort, turned its piggy tail and headed back into the night, from whence it came.

Well! What a palaver! A quiet evening stroll had turned into a spot of man versus beast short-course athletics. Mocca, looking somewhat embarrassed at his lack of canine backbone, eventually came ambling over to see if I was OK. 

'You big puff', I told him, and he jumped up to show me how happy he was that all's well that ends well. 30 metres from the gate, his dawdle suddenly turned into the customary sprint and he shot around the corner, up the stairs and onto the lawn, impressing no-one - particularly not me.

Good old Mocca.
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This week I had planned to discuss matters of less gravitas, but the events surrounding the IHH flotilla on its way to Gaza are understandably dominating the thoughts of everyone here in Israel, and quite obviously many people further afield.

At the time of writing, reports are still coming in depicting the scenario that greeted the Israeli soldiers attempting to board the main vessel that was on its way to Gaza to apparently deliver humanitarian aid, and it might well be that by the time you hear this blog more evidence will have come to light that sheds quite a different perspective on the matter.

As things stands, the loss of human life in such a situation is always highly regrettable but it does appear that blame lies on both sides and not solely on the side of the Israelis, as was indicated by initial reports from a variety of mainstream international news media.

As the flotilla made its way to this part of the world it was, for a while, refused entry to Cypriot waters, apparently on the grounds that the Cypriot authorities were unwilling to accept the assurances of those on board that the cargo was wholly humanitarian and there were no items that could be used by the Hamas regime in Gaza for more ulterior purposes.

The day before the alarming pitched battle that occurred at sea, a variety of news sources reported that passengers aboard the lead ship were singing a song glorifying Islam and pining for the removal of Israelis from the land and a return to the teachings of the prophet Muhammed. A strange ditty, I thought, for a humanitarian organization whose sole aim is to relieve the acknowledged suffering of the ordinary people of Gaza. Could it possibly be that those on board had more on their collective agendas than simply offering supplies to a people let down, abused and kept in poverty by their own militant leadership?

Here in Israel most people from across the political spectrum felt that the flotilla was most likely a carefully orchestrated anti-Israel publicity stunt, just as much as it was an alleged humanitarian mission. The test of the voracity of the mission was whether or not the flotilla would accept the offer made many times by the Israeli authorities that the ships' cargo should be unloaded and inspected at the port of Ashdod, and then, subject to the consignment being legal and above board, would be delivered by lorries, in full, to Gaza. Surely any humanitarian group whose prime objective was to deliver goods to the Gazans couldn't have any possible objection to that?

As it happened they did, and refused many times point blank to make their way to Ashdod, raising suspicions that the contents on board the ships weren't all for 'humanitarian' purposes. Any country in the world anticipating the arrival of suspicious cargo in its territorial waters has the right to make an inspection. At this point Israel was doing everything by the book.   

Unfortunately, Israel has become a past master at scoring own goals on the PR front and of often turning a perfectly reasonable argument into a cause celebre for its opponents. What transpired when Israeli commandos boarded the ship appears to have been a doubly flawed policy which went disastrously wrong. With the most reasonable and legitimate of intentions, Israel managed to somehow 'cock it up' by first boarding the ships in international waters and not in its own territorial waters, and then launching a highly flawed and amateurish raid that saw individual soldiers being dangled and dropped into crowds of armed and baying pro-Palestinian protesters, without any recourse to an element of surprise or safety in numbers. 

One soldier, under what appeared from video images to be an alarmingly vicious assault from the supposed 'peace' flotilla, had his automatic weapon wrenched from his grasp, thus turning a potentially challenging situation into one that would soon resemble a war zone, with at least nine protesters dead and a number of Israeli soldiers seriously injured.

Reaction to the events of the boarding of the flotilla have been predictably swift, with Hamas calling for a 'day of rage', human rights organizations chiming in with 'war crimes' comments, and the good old UN recalled for an emergency session to discuss the matter and doubtless issue a stern condemnation of the Israeli authorities without mention of any extenuating circumstances.

What upsets me most in this whole affair is not that Israel intercepted the flotilla – they were perfectly entitled to do so – but that the planning and execution of the inspection of the boats was carried out with less brains than your average Somali pirate can muster! Worse than this, the resultant reaction has provided a desperately needed lifeline for the terrorist regime of Hamas in Gaza. 

At the start of this week it was widely reported that there was distinct unrest in the territory due to the wages of public workers not having been paid for three months, the perceived cronyism and corruption of the government, and the significant deterioration in the standard of living of Gaza residents. Since Hamas came to power, and as a direct result of their refusal to acknowledge the right of the State of Israel to exist and their determination to carry on an armed struggle, the Israeli blockade of the territory for all but humanitarian aid and essential supplies has brought very hard times to the average Gazan. Hamas' populatiry was at an all-time low and there was a distinct chance of a popular uprising favouring a return to rule by Fatah.

Israel has now presented the Hamas leadership with a gift wrapped publicity coup that has turned their popularity completely on its head. What a stupid a mistake for the Israeli government and armed forces to make. Time might show this error will prove very costly indeed.

The atmosphere in Israel now is very tense. Latest reports indicate that Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran in southern Lebanon have now amassed up to 40,000 rockets (some capable of reaching further than Tel Aviv), and most of which are sited within the supposed UN security zone or ' blue line'. How can the 'impartial' UN explain how it has let the terrorist Hizbollah forces re-arm to a far greater strength than was the case before the last Lebanon War in 2006? 

On top of the Hizbollah situation in the north, with Gaza in the south now on the verge of re-igniting, a growing appetite for confrontation coming from the West Bank, Syria and Iran making inflammatory statements, some Israeli Arab leaders talking of an uprising and the US diplomatic line failing to bear fruit, the signs all point to a major armed conflict in the region, most probably within the next 3-6 months.

These are difficult and dangerous times here in the Middle East. Israel has a right to defend herself and to use reasonable force to do so. Israel has the right to exist in this historic, but much troubled region. But Israel must not alienate the few friends that remain by using flawed military tactics and initiating amateurish commando missions. 

The Gaza flotilla debacle might pass without an immediate conflict being lit by this particular touch paper, but it is merely a matter of time before another incident, most likely of far more serious proportions comes along and Israel and its neighbours face each other once again at the point of a gun.
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After Judy Garland received the nasty bump on the head that led her to the ‘Land of Oz’ whilst trying to get back home during a dustbowl tornado in 1939, she encountered a world of oh so familiar people in very different guises. Eventually, as we all know, after many adventures in the company of the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, she came to her senses and woke up declaring ‘There’s no place like home’.

I’ve been back in England for the last two weeks and to Leeds, the place I called home for the first forty years of my life. But now Leeds is no longer my home; Zichron Yaakov in Israel is very much the place where I lay my hat, (as Paul Young so famously declared in the 1980’s song), and strangely, revisiting the place of my birth, adolescence and subsequent adulthood seems more like returning to an alien environment than to the northern city to which I am inextricably linked due to family ties and close friendships.

I left Israel during a spring heatwave with the temperature sizzling at around 35 degrees. Six hours later I emerged into the Manchester night to the shock of the cold that is 2 degrees above freezing – and this is the middle of May! For the first three or four days in Leeds I felt terribly cold and old friends and family thought I was exaggerating when I insisted that I really was feeling miserable in the winter-like chill. It was only when I pointed out that the drop to even a mid-day high of 14 degrees was like them suddenly descending to minus 5 in the space of a few hours that they accepted that maybe I was feeling a bit on the nippy side.

Of course, what for me is a spring break in leafy England is for everyone else just another week of work and family commitments. It is unreasonable for me to expect everyone to suddenly cancel their business meetings or decide not to take the kids swimming or to dance classes just so they can sit around drinking coffee with me and reminisce about old times. Life goes on as normal, just as it does when visitors come to Israel, and it’s a case of trying to fit in with the routine and find a few hours here and there for some ‘quality time’.

I headed into Leeds for a bit of shopping. With the pound now incredibly weak due to the economic hardships being experienced in England, (and sure to get much worse over the next few years), buying clothes and gifts here is pleasantly affordable. The shekel goes a long way these days and I looked forward to spending up. Leeds is a fairly cosmopolitan and prosperous city, or at least it had been until the last few years where signs of recession are visible on every street with empty shops, all-year-long sales and discount stores occupying main high street positions where once stood elegant classy department stores and quality retail outlets.

‘Times is ‘ard’, as they say in these parts. People are worried about their jobs. Genuine fears of redundancy or enforced pay cuts loom for an alarming number of my friends and there is no doubt that people are cutting back and preparing for the major tax rises that are certain to come in next month’s emergency budget of the new Liberal/Conservative coalition government.

Maybe it was the weather, but people look as grey as the leaden skies, there is an astounding rise in obesity among the general population, and I strongly felt an atmosphere of gloom hanging over the place. Israel has its problems, many and complicated, but at least we are able to face them against a background of sunshine, beaches and a comparatively thriving economy. All of a sudden, the challenges faced back home seem that much more bearable – well, at least from afar!.

Just a minute – where is home? Is home the place I grew up, where my parents, childhood friends and many former colleagues are, or is home where I now live with my wife and children, my new friends and new colleagues? In Israel, I am still often referred to as ‘the English guy’ whilst in England I am thought of as ‘Israeli Paul’.

As well as missing Paz and my daughters Tami and Maya, I’m missing the Israeli food. Trying to get a decent salad over here is only marginally less of a challenge than Indiana Jones found when looking for the ‘Lost Ark’. Being gluten free these days rules out 9/10ths of the British diet – no pies, pasties, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, fish and chips, Indian food, you name it. I did find a Tesco sushi one lunchtime and that kept me going, and had some excellent, succulent Yorkshire roast lamb one evening, but overall, despite a definite improvement in the last decade, eating out in Britain falls a long way short of the standards I’ve become used to in Israel.

Driving in Britain though is an absolute delight. I’d almost forgotten what it is like for people to keep their distance, not use their horn, signal where they are going, and to top it all, stop and give way to let you into the traffic – with a smile and a cheery wave. Wonderful!

After a week of leaden skies and temperatures well below seasonal norm, the weather has taken a significant turn for the better. As I write to you, Britain is ‘sweltering’ in temperatures around 28 degrees – ‘Phew! What a scorcher’, The Sun newspaper is no doubt reporting. And when the sun does eventually shine, Britain is stunningly beautiful. The Yorkshire countryside close by is truly breathtaking when the skies are blue, the sheep and cattle graze in immaculately tended fields, and country villages filled with old stone cottages and a dazzling array of flower baskets look like images on top of those quaint old toffee tins you find at Betty’s Tea House in elegant, majestic Harrogate.

It won’t last though. Tomorrow I fly home and am taking the warm weather with me. It’s forecast to fall back to 15 degrees maximum temperatures and the greyness will return. The great unwashed, (I know that’s the case having endured a fortnight travelling on local buses, especially during the mini-heatwave), will repopulate the streets, the shops will be shuttered at 5pm to save them from being smashed up from drunken yobos during the night, and very soon Prime Minister Cameron will deal a financial blow to the populous that will make life even tougher here.

Last night I visited friends who were watching the final of a talent show chaired by Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber in which the winning contestant will play Dorothy in his new stage version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. As I mentioned earlier, Judy Garland’s last line of the movie has become a Hollywood classic. Tomorrow morning, courtesy of the Jet2 budget airlines service from Manchester to Tel Aviv, I’m flying back over the rainbow to be with my merry band of friends and loved ones. There really is ‘no place like home’.

 
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The Israel Trail 05/04/2010
 
On Thursday last week my father-in-law, Dan Eyal, went to work for the final time. At the age of 67 he has received his 'gold watch' and all the family now look forward to him enjoying a long and happy retirement and to him being free to do all those little jobs around his house (and mine), that have needed attention for some time.

Dan has experienced quite a journey through his 67 years, a journey that in so many ways typifies the struggles and joys that the State of Israel has survived since 1948.

He was born Daniel Krakowski, in, (of all places), Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Why was this Jewish baby born in that Central Asian Muslim state back in 1943? Well, because his mother and father, natives of Zakopane and Warsaw respectively, in Poland, fled east away from the advancing Nazi forces, and kept running until his mother could run no more. They had reached Samarkand, and that is where Dan was born. 

At the end of the Second World War, unlike the overwhelming majority of Polish Jews, Dan's parents chose to return and settle in Warsaw. They stayed there until 1956 when resurgent anti-Semitism caused them to flee again, this time to the fledging Jewish nation of Israel. Like so many European immigrants to Israel, Dan (on his wedding day) chose to change his name and left behind Daniel Krakowski to become Dan Eyal.

Growing up on Kibbutz Hatzor, near Ashdod, Dan served in the Israeli Army and was amongst the Nahal fighters under the watchful eye (singular) of Moshe Dayan, who won back Jerusalem from the Jordanians in 1967. He went on to fight a few days later against the Syrians in the Golan, and was called up and back in action again in 1973 down on the Egyptian border during the Yom KippurWar, after which he chose to stay in the air force parachute regiment where he held the rank of major until retiring in 1985.

From then until last Thursday, Dan worked for the Israeli aircraft industry as an electronic engineer. An honourable career I would say, by any standards.

There is a group of hardcore Israelis who love the Israeli countryside, the mountains, deserts, fruit groves and beaches, who set themselves the task of walking every step of the 'Shvil Yisrael', the Israel Trail. Dan decided that upon retirement he wanted to do a section of the nearly 1000km trail every few weeks, a walking path that begins at Metula on the Lebanese border in the north, and ends in Eilat on the shores of the Red Sea.

Last week he mentioned he was going to do the first section, and in a moment of weakness I offered to walk with him on the trail from Shefiyya to Jisr Az Zarqa. And so it was that this very morning we were dropped off at the Shefiyya junction and headed off with map in hand, a couple of bananas and five litres of water between us on the first leg of what would surely be a journey of epic proportions.

Dan might be 67, but he's in very good nick, swims four or five times a week, cycles regularly and walks every evening. I'm nearly 43, do none of the above, but have been known to be fairly useful at snooker and can knock out a passible version of 'Misty' when in the mood to tickle the ivories. Regular followers of this blog will know that I'm not averse to a little wager now and then, and I would have made Dan 4/6 favourite to complete the 20km hike and me no better than 5/4 against!

Once away from the main Route 70 road from Fareidis to Yoqneam, we crossed into the first of many beautiful fruit groves. Apricots were beginning to appear on the branches of these very attractive trees and huge bulrushes ran around the perimeter of the grove where a small stream flowed. Birds were singing, the skies were blue and my legs soon felt like a spinster's pincushion as we walked through thistle-laden paths, having made the mistake of wearing shorts and not hiking trousers. 

Up the first (of many) hills and through the vine groves belonging to the Carmel winery, beginning to blow a bit as we walked the steep path that leads up to the tourist haven of Zichron Yaakov. The path, marked every 100 metres by blue, orange and white lined symbols took us through woods that offered blessed relief from the rising temperatures and after the first hour we stopped in what had been an ancient quarry. It's not easy to find a silent place in Israel, but that was the prize for arriving at this spot. Silence, apart from the twittering of the birds, the whirring of a few grasshoppery-type creatures, and the hissing of a snake. The hissing of a snake! 

Yes, but 10 feet away a black or dark brown slithery, disgusting reptile stopped momentarily to take a good 'butchers' at us. I have to confess to being afraid of few if any animals, with the exception of snakes. I am terrified just looking at them. My spine started shivering and my feeble hushed calls to Dan literally fell on deaf ears, as he had not brought his deaf aid with him for fear of it falling out in the undergrowth. Happily, it slithered under a rock some way away and I packed up my bananas, blanched almonds and bottled water and headed away - poste haste, with Dan trotting after me asking "what's the hurry?" 

Through orange, fig, and pomegranate groves, passing beautiful wild flowers in shades of pink, purple and yellow and on to a descent where fly-tippers had taken the outrageous liberty of dumping building material, doubtless from a major housing project under construction a couple of miles away. In Israel, the police rarely if ever prosecute anyone for destroying beauty spots. It's a crying shame. Crossing the main Binyamina road and uphill (again) through the rugged Ramat Hanadiv Nature Reserve, across landed given by Baron Edmond de Rothschild to the people of Israel. 

In amongst a stunning pine forest where the scent reminded me of an after shave my dad used to wear back in the 1970's - it wasn't Brut – but something like it – it might have been Old Spice – and on to Ein Tzur a beautifully preserved natural water spring that became a spa and baths for the Romans, built around 100BC. Through the rough pastureland past a herd of unflappable Jersey type cows and eventually to Hirbet Aqav, the remains of a Roman Villa that was later home to Byzantine farmers before being lost for nearly a thousand years until, according to a plaque on the site, it was discovered again by Kitchener in 1873. He must have been on a day trip from Khartoum! Quite a find, and with a view from the top of the rocky headland across to the Mediterranean that was simply breathtaking.

Being an amateur Israel Trailer walker, it was only then that it dawned on me that we would have to find a way down the extremely high mountainous rock on which we were standing, and the thought made me wonder why I'd volunteered for the 'stroll'. We'd now covered about 13 kilometres. The path directed us onto a particularly taxing descent over massive uneven boulders and through a Canaanite burial site that dates back to 2500 years BC. Just a quick thought; how can anyone deny that this is the Jewish land when there are such sites documented and proven dating back through so many thousand years of Jewish life in the area?

A very difficult descent indeed, after which we found ourselves stymied by the main Haifa to Tel Aviv rail line and accompanying barbed wired fence which runs right across the path. As if by magic, four walkers came from the opposite direction (the first we'd seen in nearly four hours), and one of them, younger and clearly with less brains than us, took it upon himself to sprawl across the barbed wire to lower it to a height where we could all cross, whilst he groaned in discomfort in Tommy Cooperesque fashion.. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" That's from the New Testament (John 15:13), but who cares, we're in the right part of the world! Bless him, whichever A&E department he must now be residing in!

Through olive groves, banana plantations, through the waters of the Taninim River, past the edge of Binyamina, through Beit Hanania and finally to the Roman aqueduct that lead us, staggering slightly in the manner of Laurel and Hardy in their French Foreign Legion picture, to the Sudanese Arab town just north of Caesaria that is Jisr-Az-Zarqa. 

Well done Dan – a great performance for a newly retired 67 year old. And well done me too, (though I say it myself). A real sense of adventure and achievement, highly recommended to all who come to visit this extraordinary land. The Israel Trail. A long and winding road….. 

Check out the Israel Trail for yourself at www.israelnationaltrail.com

 

 
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The State of Israel celebrated its 62nd birthday this week, quite an achievement when one considers the many challenges to its existence that this tiny Jewish nation has faced since 1948.

The sad truth is that whatever trials and tribulations have been overcome thus far may well pale into insignificance with what lies ahead. Over the last few weeks I have spoken to quite a sample of people from across the political and religious spectrum, and whilst most are agreed that we have created an extraordinary country in such a relatively short space of time, most also fear the enormity of the problems that are staring us in the face.

I'm not trying to be a scaremonger or harbinger of doom, I'm simply attempting to relate to you the feelings of the man on the street, those that work hard for relatively low pay, whose children serve in the armed forces, who struggle to afford a mortgage due to the massive rise in house process here, but who believe passionately that  the Jewish people need a place of their own if we are to avoid a repeat of the awful happenings of the late-1930's and 1940's in western and central Europe.

I've been surprised at the level of agreement about exactly where the main dangers lie. We're all concerned about Iran's attempt to produce nuclear weapons given its leader's promise that he will wipe Israel off the face off the earth. There have been many  recently corroborated reports of Hizbollah arming themselves with longer range weapons on the Lebanese border, right under the nose of the 'supposed' UN peacekeeping force. And in Gaza, despite their assertion that they won't use the smuggling tunnels any more, there have been enough unsavoury incidents and sporadic clashes to suggest that it will take just the merest of touch papers to ignite further violence in that extremist Hamas entity.

For me, and for the majority of Israeli citizens, the most distasteful sight of the last week was the demonstration by members of the Haredi communities in Jerusalem and B'nei Barak against the very existence of the State of Israel! To those unfamiliar with mainstream Haredi thinking, they don't acknowledge the existence of Israel because the Messiah hasn't come, and only then can there be a country called Israel that will be home to the Jews – that it, of course, to ultra-religious Jews like themselves. Me, and those many Israeli citizens like me, (and that includes modern Orthodox Jews who pray every day and wear a 'kippa' (skullcap), are seen by many Haredim as not even Jewish, because we are not religious enough for their liking.

In both Jerusalem and B'nei Barak, a handful of young Haredim were arrested for burning the Israeli flag and chanting "death to Israel", as they refused to stand and respect the siren honouring the fallen soldiers of the wars and those that died in the Holocaust.
 
The token arrests have sickened many people over here who point out that if it were Arab, Bedouin, Druze or secular Israelis doing the same, they would be arrested in droves and sent down for long periods. This will not happen to the Haredim, you can be sure of that.

I've expressed my feelings about these people before in this blog, but it should be understood that I am not some renegade voice sailing against the tide. Judging by the masses of correspondence in the Israeli media and on the principal internet sites, a significant majority agree with me when I say that people that don't acknowledge the existence of the Israel, who refuse to work but have families of as many as 16 children and receive astounding amounts of social security and other benefits, whose children do not fight in the army, who pay no taxes, and who wish to impose their way of life on everyone else in the country (given the chance), represent the biggest threat to the continued existence of the State of Israel – as we know it.

According to a report in the Jerusalem Post this week, if the current demographic trends continue, in 25 years only 50% of the adult Israeli population will be from working families whose children are obliged to serve in the army. The Haredim know that if they continue breeding at the same rate as today, in 40 years they will form a majority of the electorate in this democracy.

The Arabs who surround Israel have no need to go to war against us, If they sit tight and consider feeding funds to the Haredim – you may or may not know that a deputation of Haredim was received warmly recently by President Ahmedinejad in Tehran where they expressed their solidarity with the megalomaniac leader who doubtless didn’t send them home empty-handed – Israel will be theirs for the taking as the formerly everyday secular, traditional and modern-Orthodox Jews will doubtless up sticks and go elsewhere. That is, of course, assuming there is somewhere else to go.

The other trump card for the Arabs is to again sit back and wait for Israel to descend into civil chaos as the religious and secular societies battle over a clash of ideologies. If there is one grain of hope, it might possibly come from the presently very small minority of Haredim who themselves have realized that their stance on many subjects is causing them to be hated by so many.

To their credit a few Haredi leaders came out and publicly condemned the violence seen this week, and the Hadrei Haredi website, using unprecedented strong words against one of their own, described the Deputy Health Minister Litzman's decision to scupper the building of an emergency room at a major hospital in Ashkleon because some ancient graves had been found their that he thought might be Jewish, (even though all archealogical evidence has proved otherwise), as "an unnecessary battle that caused immense damage to the Ultra-Orthodox sector".

The Hadre Haredi site went on to point out that Litzman had,"…aggressively and disgracefully exploited his power in a way that turned the entire nation against us... it is not the honor of the dead at stake here, but solely that of the deputy minister." In an astonishing public attack against one of their own leading politicians, they concluded in a somewhat unfortunate turn of phrase, "…to safeguard the graves, while it was clear to [Litzman] and anyone who dealt with the topic that there is no halachic, ethical or moral problem, has brought a holocaust upon our heads that will take many years to amend."

The disproportionate power the Haredim have on the coalition government means that many of the leading parties are obliged to team up with these people if they want to govern. It's about time, having survived 62 hard and dramatic years, that a new political mettle is revealed that gives our politicians the backbone to stand up and say that no more will the law abiding, tax paying, military serving citizens of this country be held to ransom by people who, like Hamas, Syria and Iran, don't even accept that this country has a right to exist. 

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