Eilat under attack
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Travel, War
August is one of the busiest seasons of the year in Eilat, as well as its hottest. The kids out of school, summer camps finishing up, and semi-attractive deals offered by the dozens of hotels and resorts in the Red Sea haven all contribute to an influx of tourism from within during the month.
Especially since Israeli tourism to Turkey has dropped to virtually zero because of the post-Flotilla diplomatic tension between the countries, Eilat is even more packed than usual. Which makes this morning’s news about five rockets likely fired from Sinai landing near the city is sending tremors throughout the country.
The five rockets – two in the Red Sea, one in a field near Eilat, and two in Jordan – included one which reportedly landed in front of the Intercontinental Hotel at the neighboring Jordanian port city of Aqaba, injuring four.
According to initial reports, a possible group behind the rockets could have been Hamas, which is known to use Sinai to smuggle weaponry and operatives in and out of the Gaza strip. There are also known to be global Jihad elements in the Sinai who have the capability to fire rockets toward Eilat. The attacks could be a continuation of the weekend rocket attack on Sderot, an attempt by Palestinians rejectionist groups to torpedo planned direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Regardless of the reason, the fact that rockets are falling close to the main vacation center in Israel is disconcerting indeed. Some Facebook posts are already intimating cancellations of plans to go to the Red Sea location: “My summer vacation is ruined,” wrote one FB poster.
Rocket attacks in Eilat are rare but not unheard of, with two attacks having occurred in the last five years. In April, two rockets fired landed in Eilat and Aqaba.
But what’s more disconcerting about the attacks – both in the Eilat area and in the South near Gaza – is that if the terror groups are trying to goad Israel into another Operation Cast Lead-type incursion, these incidents won’t be remembered at all.
The world media will write about Israeli aggression and overreaction, and ignore the fact that a sovereign state has been attacked. The average newspaper reader of TV news watcher in the US or Europe probably has no idea these acts of violence have taken place against Israel. But, if Israel retaliates, you’d better believe they’ll know about it.
So, besides getting the word out that Israel is being attacked seemingly on a daily basis these days, there’s one other thing to do: keep going to Eilat. I’m not going to cancel my plans to vacation there near the end of the month, and I urge everyone else to do the same. The coral reef and the dolphin beach more than make up for the inconvenience of having to dodge a rocket here and there.
Snorkeling in Sinai
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Holidays, Life, Travel
We didn’t know what to expect heading into Sinai for the first time in 12 years. Everyone we had told that we were going to vacation there along the Red Sea in Nueweiba about 50 miles south of the Taba border crossing had asked ‘isn’t it dangerous?’ and ‘aren’t you afraid?’
Maybe we were too stupid to be afraid, or maybe it was the incredibly inexpensive resort we had booked that had blinded us to the al Qaida terrorists that were going to be hiding behind every other palm tree – or just maybe, the Sinai is an overlooked paradise, right next door to Israel and easily accessible, but quiet, pristine, gorgeous and full of friendly, eager-to-please Egyptians and Beduin whose only concerns seem to be making the visits of tourists – including Israeli tourists – as pleasant as possible.
Surprisingly, at our elegant beachside resort – the Swiss-Care, and along the half-dozen or so other resorts that dotted the Nueweiba landscape, no other Israelis were to be found. Most of the tourists seemed to be from European countries, but according to our hotel’s proprietor Alvin, the Israelis were due in the week of Pessah and beyond.
Most, however, prefer to remain in the northern enclave of Taba, close to the border and more ‘Western.’ At our digs, a splending combination of European standards and Bedouin hospitality, there was no loud pool music, no lifeguards, no aerobics in the pool, and no “Arctic’ ice pop hawkers along the beach.
Instead, there were plenty of folks using camels as modes of transportation, Beduin jewelry salesmen setting up make-shift shops on blankets in the sand, amazing snorkeling along magnifcent coral reef, and a mellow time out of centure sense of relaxation.
The Beduin staff at the resort seemed genuinely interested in hearing about Israel – and why we spoke English – and expressed the hopes of being able to visit someday if Egypt ever begins allowing Egyptians to enter Israel. If they hate us, they keep it well hidden.
For us, Sinai is no longer some shadowy, mysterious entity with bad guys hiding in waiting. It’s the regional vacation spot of choice, and representative of the possibilities of tranquility that could await us all if there was ever real peace here.
Young Underwater Archeologist, Beverly Goodman, Wins National Geographic Explorer Prize
I first “fell in love” with Beverly Goodman, when I dropped in to see the marine research station where she works in Eilat. Hoping to score some research material for my next series of articles, Goodman, a young Canadian-Israeli researcher working there, would go on to give me exciting details about her work in underwater archeology. Not before going through a long list of other marine research, some linked to climate change, happening at the research facility, known as the IUI.
Goodman, I would learn, had been interviewed about her work for a National Geographic program. She’d been collecting core samples from the seabed off the coast of the Roman city Caesaria. After inventing her own method for extracting the cores (she explains it’s practically impossible using traditional methods), Goodman would dive down to the seafloor and pull up layers of sediment to read back into history and find clues about what might have caused the destruction of Caesaria.
You can read all the deets on ISRAEL21c, which I’ve made handy for you here — Israel’s Freshest Face in Archeology Works Underwater — but her story goes like this:
Goodman’s research may give science new clues about the coastal environment in the context of global warming. Are the seas rising? Could a melting glacier break off and create a tsunami? Will storms and floods increase as the earth warms? Goodman’s questions might be more local in nature, but her work has global significance by adding to the information science holds about earth events and climate change.
Sifting through broken shells and sediment from coring samples, she has determined that at least three ancient tsunamis struck Israel’s port of Caesarea in the past. Concurrently, she also works in the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba to determine how local flood cycles and sea levels have changed over time.
I’m apparently not Goodman’s only big fan. Our editor Nicky, at ISRAEL21c and ISRAELITY, sent me a notice she’d received from National Geographic this week. It went on to state that Beverly, was awarded awarded $10,000 by National Geographic and is one of the media mogul’s Emerging Leaders, “one of 10 visionary young trailblazers from around the world,” the magazine/news channel writes.
The program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring adventurers, scientists, photographers and storytellers making a significant contribution to world knowledge through exploration while still early in their careers. Introduced in this month’s issue of National Geographic magazine, you can also see a web feature of Goodman and her cohorts at http://www.nationalgeographic.com. A few months ago she appeared on a Nat Geo program, too.
“National Geographic’s mission is to inspire people to care about the planet, and our Emerging Explorers are outstanding young leaders whose endeavors further this mission. We are pleased to support them as they set out on promising careers. They represent tomorrow’s Edmund Hillarys, Jacques Cousteaus and Dian Fosseys,” said Terry Garcia, a rep from Nat Geo.
Goodman deserves it and I look forward to reading about her new advances: She knows about water and the forces of nature. She grew up on the shores of Lake Superior at Whitefish Bay in Canada, 17 miles from where the legendary freighter, the Edmund Fitzgerald, floundered and then sank.
She told me poetically, in the ISRAEL21c article: “As much as I love the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, Israel is different,” she says. “Israel has been a crossroads forever. The time scale is so long. We can get a historical and pre-historical perspective from a long view, while being connected to well-known historical events.”
Read all about Goodman, and her great work on underwater archeology, here at ISRAEL21c.
More Israeli award winners:
Waltz With Bashir Gets Oscar Nod
Israeli Singer Shiri Maimon Wins MTV Prize
Israeli Film Students Come Out As Prizewinners in International Student Film Festival
Belly dancing on the Red Sea
Filed under: coexistence, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture
In a trend that runs parallel to the exploding popularity of pole dancing lessons among North American soccer moms, Israeli women – even Baby Boom-generation Ashkenaziot (Jews of Eastern European descent) – have been flocking to belly dancing activities and workshops in recent years.
The art form’s renaissance in Israeli culture, which always seems to be searching for ways to marry Middle Eastern folk arts with contemporary lifestyles, was on display in full force this past weekend in Eilat, where the fifth annual International Belly Dance Festival took place with much fanfare at the Golden Tulip hotel, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Workshops with over 20 instructors from around the world introduced participants to a variety of schools of thought on the subject of abdominal writhing. A wares fair offered goods like Turkish outfits, Indian jewelry and Egyptian recordings. A belly dance-off allowed participants from Russia, France, Germany Belgium and Israel to compete for a slot in an upcoming Berlin competition as part of that city’s Bazar Oriental festival.
And recital performances kept those in attendance entertained, thanks to shimmying from the likes of Egyptian-bred Magdy El-Leisy and Moroccan-raised Mayodi.
Image of an Israeli belly dancer courtesy YanivG from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Strategic Solutions Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe
Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from the Red Sea all the way to the Dead Sea, Dead Sea water can be restocked easily and plentifully. Calling it the Peace Canal, they dont consider the impact of such water as it passes through the desert landscape.
An Israeli company Strategic Solutions has announced a new technology that can transport seawater from the Med Sea to Dead Sea, using floating pipes filled partially with natural gas. According to the company, this is a viable alternative to the canal/pipeline which is an ecological disaster but which has the backing of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and World Bank. With this new technology it can be done cheaper, safer without impacting on the environment.
Besides the vast distance, over 200 km of the Red to Dead Sea vs. 70 km Med to Dead Sea, the main obstacle is environmental. This entire route is on an earthquake fault and it is inevitable that earthquakes will cause fissures and the salt water will destroy the freshwater aquifer as well as making the soil even more salty so that agriculture will be foreclosed. The sea spray will kill wildlife and plant life.
They write Green Prophet where this post is x-posted from: If, because of political or financial constraints, this is the only route to be considered, the only way for this to be viable is for the waterway to NOT be in canals/tunnels or pipelines on the ground, but rather the sea water must be enclosed and transported over the ground, in an aerial pipeline.
The Israeli scientists at Strategic Solutions designed a delivery system of natural gas and liquids, be it water, oil, or petroleum products. It is based on a very simple fact: natural gas is lighter than air.
Hope floats, we hope
Like with helium, fill a balloon with natural gas, it will float, the bigger the balloon, the stronger the pressure to rise. If the balloon is very tall, there will be stronger pressure to rise. If you put this very tall balloon on the side so that on one side the gas is coming in and the other end some is coming out, the middle will rise.
The fluids need to be pumped up, but travels by gradient like your drain pipes in your house. Using this aerial pipeline, natural gas can be delivered from isolated gas wells to industrial centers that need it. It can also deliver water to isolated regions that need it. It can deliver both simultaneously so that desalination can occur at point of need as there is also sufficient fuel, natural gas.
Viable energy production
Or the water falling can generate hydro-electricity and the desalination can be by one of the companys cleantech solar desalination methods. This presents a viable alternative to the Red to Dead Sea canal/pipeline touted by Shimon Peres and backed by the World Bank, they write.
Wed love to see some illustrations of how this would work/look. And can just imagine Israeli kids using the pipes for target practice. Lets wait and see.
Israelis like solutions that float. See Geotecturas solar energy balloons in Solar Energy Hope Floats.
(Above illustration comes from New York-based architect Phu Hoang Office who seeks to address and solve Dead Sea issues with No Mans Land, a series of artificial islands that would provide recreation, tourist attractions, renewable energy, and create fresh water. Via Inhabitat)
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