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’.

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.