Ancient Jerusalem tunnel causes friction between Israelis and Palestinians

by Sean McLachlan on


Here’s a big surprise–the Israelis and Palestinians are squabbling over land rights in Jerusalem again.

Archaeologists have cleared an ancient passageway they believe was a drainage tunnel leading away from the Second Temple, the Jewish holy spot destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Canadian Press reports the tunnel runs from the Temple Mount, now the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, 2,000 feet under the Old City and into the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan.

The controversy centers around the dig’s sponsors, the Elad Association. Not only do they fund excavations of Jewish sites, but they also move Jewish families into Silwan. Locals have cried foul and say the dig is politically motivated, that what the archaeologists are really trying to do is make a connection with the Jewish temple and Silwan as a justification for moving the Palestinians out. Archaeology quickly gets political in a land where the past justifies the present. As I discussed in my article Two Tours, Two Jerusalems, residents of this city can look at the same thing and see something completely different. Silwan even has another name in Hebrew–The City of David.

But none of this matters to the child in this lovely photo by user Flavio@Flickr via Gadling’s flickr pool. She’s content to sip her drink in a quiet spot somewhere in Jerusalem’s Old City. Looking at her face you can’t tell if she’s Jewish or Arab. Many Israeli Jews can pass for Arab and vice versa. They both speak Semitic languages that share a large number of words. In Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom. In Arabic it’s salaam.My Spanish wife commented that the kid looks Spanish. Hardly surprising considering that many Spaniards have both Arab and Jewish blood, a legacy of the many periods in that nation’s history when they lived in peace. A thousand years ago, this kid would have been allowed to play with “the other side”. I doubt she gets to now.

I wish it were the same in Israel. When I was working there as an archaeology student back in the Nineties, I made friends with a Palestinian guy and an Orthodox Jewish family. Despite their homes being only a few minutes’ walk apart, they never met. I tried to get them all together, but they weren’t interested. So if you go to Jerusalem, remember you’re actually going to two cities and try to visit both.

Photo of the day (12.31.10)

by Meg Nesterov on


It’s New Year’s Eve, a time to make (and eventually break) resolutions for the incoming year. Time to start exercising, cut down on junk food and alcohol, keep a journal longer than 2 weeks this time, etc. Even us at Gadling have some travel resolutions to keep. These girls on the sands of Tel Aviv, Israel are fitting in some yoga with their day at the beach and it looks like their friend on the left has made a resolution to get in shape as well, or maybe just get a girlfriend. Thanks to Flavio@Flickr for this resolution inspiration and Happy 2011!

See any resolutions in action on your vacation? Submit your photos to the Gadling Flickr pool and we might just choose one as a future Photo of the Day.

American-Muslim group urges Palestinians to visit Holocaust Museum

by Sean McLachlan on


The Islamic Society of North America is defying Hamas and urging Palestinian youths to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the Jewish news service JTA reports.

A group of A-students from the Gaza Strip are to visit the nation’s capital on a UN-sponsored educational visit. Their tour is to include the Holocaust Museum, but Hamas, which runs the Palestinian Authority, has criticized the plan. A Hamas spokesman says Palestinian children suffer enough persecution and can’t deal with learning about other people’s suffering.

That prompted the Islamic Society of North America to make a public statement endorsing the plan, saying they’ve taken Muslims there before and that it has had a positive effect on Muslim-Jewish relations.

I’ve never seen this museum, but I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Although I went nearly twenty years ago, I have a very clear memory of speaking to a German student who I met there. Her reason for going? “I feel it’s my responsibility as a German.” She became a friend, and although she often criticizes Israel’s policies, she’s fully aware of what happened in the biggest crime of the twentieth century.

Who knows? Perhaps this will encourage Jewish-American children to visit Palestinian high schools, or Iranian and American kids to set up an exchange program, or North and South Korea to create a communal youth group.

Hmmm. . .is that too much to hope for this holiday season?

[Image courtesy user AgnosticPreachersKid via Wikimedia Commons]

Top ten holiday season foods from around the world

by Laurel Miller on

No matter where in the world you live, whatever your ethnic or religious heritage, the holidays are inextricably linked with food. Whether there’s symbolic meaning behind these seasonal treats, or they’re everyday dishes that have become festive additions to the seasonal repertoire, they’re hard to resist.

Below, I’ve picked some of my favorites, most of which have personal meaning (although sometimes, an Israeli jelly doughnut is just a really great jelly doughnut). For the record, I’m not religious, and in fact don’t really celebrate the holidays anymore (the result of years working in the food and travel industries, and not having kids). I’m ethnically Jewish and of Russian descent, but grew up “celebrating” Christmas, which usually included a heaping plate of my grandmother’s latkes (yes, I realize that’s weird, but you haven’t met my family).

In more recent years, I’ve taken to traveling during the holidays when I can, but barring that, I love me a good dim sum feast on Christmas Day. Who says we can’t make our own traditions?

In no particular order:

1. Tamales (Mexico, parts of Central America)
Who can resist steamed bundles of sweet, earthy, corn-based dough filled with spicy, savory meat or cheese?

[Photo credit: Laurel Miller]2. Aebleskivers (Denmark)
Like dense popovers, these baked balls of dough are served with berry jam and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. The promise of these were my parent’s modus operandi for getting me and my brother to behave on our annual road trip to the Danish-theme town of Solvang, on the Central California Coast.

3. Jollof rice (West Africa)
This fragrant Kwanzaa rice dish has all kinds of irresistible, adaptable components, fried up in coconut oil. Chilies, nutmeg, cinnamon; onion, tomatoes, and other veggies; chicken and/or roasted pork or seafood. What’s not to love?

4. Latkes (Eastern Europe)
One of the most classic foods of Hanukkah, these lacy potato pancakes are fried in oil and served with applesauce or sour cream. Addictive.

5. Roasted chestnuts (parts of Europe and Asia)
One of life’s greatest pleasures is strolling the streets of an unfamiliar city, plucking steaming chestnuts from a newspaper cone.

6. Sufganiyot (Israel)
Fried doughnuts stuffed with jelly or preserves, and dusted with powdered sugar. Clearly I have a weakness for dough with jam.

7. Asado/parilla (Argentina)
Meat. Lots of it, grilled or roasted.

8. Stollen (Germany)
Yeasted, spiced bread with candied fruits and nuts, icing, and a marzipan filling. A good stollen will make up for the emotional scars caused by fruitcake, something I discovered while working at a bakery in Oakland’s quirky-cool Rockridge neighborhood.

9. Cotechino de lenticche (Italy)
A humble New Year’s dish of pork sausage with lentils traditionally eaten just after midnight. Legumes are associated with money throughout much of the world (for their resemblance to coins when cooked), and pork is also symbolic of good fortune, progress, or prosperity.

10. Pavlova (New Zealand/Australia)
Although Kiwis and Aussies are still fighting over who invented this confectionery dessert of meringue, whipped cream and fresh fruit, who cares?

Tell us about your favorite holiday foods, and what part of the world they come from!

[Photo credits: aebleskivers, Flickr user Johann C. Rocholl; chestnut vendor, Flickr user Todd Mecklem; pavlova, Flickr user Sandy Austin]

Photo of the Day (11.28.10)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Beach volleyball might seem like a laid-back sport – it’s played on the beach, right? But as Flickr user Flavio@Flickr demonstrates in today’s beach photo from Israel, those casual volleyball matches can get downright heated. The whirls of sand beneath the players’ feet, their frozen-in-air poses and the low upward-looking angle of this photo all lend a vibrant sense of motion and activity to this dramatic scene. I wonder who’s winning?

Have any great travel photos you’d like to share with the world? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.