Tours In English Blog • Palestine • Israel

Fred Schlomka Speaking Tour

2009-11-06T10:58:00.015+02:00

December 26th 2009 - January 15th 2010 Download the tour flyer. (see flyer below) Fred Schlomka, Director of ToursinEnglish.com, will spend 3 weeks on a road trip from Seattle to Boston visiting both coasts and driving a southern route. The map below is updated on an ongoing basis as the schedule of the tour is firmed up. Join our email list if you want to be contacted directly with the full

Jerusalem Settlement Map

2009-11-03T19:04:00.006+02:00

This map is courtesy of the right wing Jewish settler organization, Beit Orot. You are encouraged to check them out at http://www.beitorot.org. They are well funded, well organized, and explicitly dedicated to altering the demographics of Jerusalem and forever thwarting the possibility of a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. However they do publish a great map;-) Beit Orot

Tipping

2009-10-31T09:29:00.005+02:00

How much to tip, and when? I've been asked these questions a few times recently which prompted this post. In general tipping in Israel and the West Bank (Palestine) follows the same pattern as other countries. However there are a few significant differences between Israeli and Palestinian culture regarding tipping. If someone provides a service at an airport, border terminal, restaurant, hotel,

Using Alcohol on your trip

2009-09-23T15:32:00.002+03:00

Many people like to have an alcoholic drink now and again. Some like to party on a regular basis. However every country has it's customs and regulations regarding alcohol. Israel and Palestine are no different. ISRAEL and JERUSALEM Inside Israel, west of the Green Line, the laws are clear. The drinking age is 18 years but not as rigorously enforced as some European countries and the USA. Places

Let's Marry and Settle Down

2009-09-23T14:59:00.003+03:00

The Gate Cafe at Damascus Gate was busy yesterday as the East Jerusalem population emerged from Ramadan. I sat and had a coffee with my friend Haitham and his cousin Abed, talking politics as usual. Two stories emerged that I'd like to share with you. They reflect the complicated identities of Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Israelis. I was meeting Abed for the first time so naturally we enquired

Playing for Change

2009-08-06T14:09:00.000+03:00

This is a great project, Inspiring and bringing hope to milions around the world though music. The Playing for Change organization now has a band on the road and CDs and DVDs are available online.

Settlement Tours - Christian? Tours

2009-08-01T09:42:00.002+03:00

I came accross this video clip from Al Jezeera recently. It highlights the organized way that supporters of the West Bank Settlements are influencing Israelis and Jewish visitors to the country. These tours are the counterpoint to the tours we promote on this site. Their intention is to build support within Israeli society and forever forestall the emergance of a viable and sovereign Palestinian

West Bank Segregated Roads

2009-07-31T11:50:00.000+03:00

The original version of this article was published in the Los Angeles Jewish Observer © Foundation for Middle East Peace Download Map Despite the new White House administration’s adamant refusal to accept any more settlement construction President Obama has allowed USAID to continue funding the segregated road network that links the settlements to Israel. This continues to be a major

New York Times-False Hope for West Bank Economy

2009-07-29T11:59:00.060+03:00

Both the New York Times and the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz published articles recently touting an economic revival in the West Bank, Nablus in particular. In 'Signs of Hope Emerge in the West Bank', Ethan Bronner writes that the opening of movie theaters and deployment US-trained police are creating conditions of calm and optimism. However despite the projected 7% increase in the West Bank

18,000 homes Campaign

2009-07-15T10:30:00.012+03:00

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Israel Palestine West Bank Maps

2009-06-08T17:54:00.020+03:00

Due to popular demand I have created this page of maps and made them available for download. These are the same maps* I use for the briefings that are conducted prior to many of the tours. The sequence takes you through the development of the political geography of the region. You can download individual maps or download the complete package of maps which includes all the maps below plus an

Hiking in the Holy Land

2009-04-24T09:48:00.004+03:00

One of my highlights during April was hiking in the West Bank. A group of hikers was trekking the Nativity Trail from Nazareth to Bethlehem and I joined them for a day, beginning at the Huwara Checkpoint at Nablus to the hilltop village of Duma just a little North-east of Ramallah. It was about 20 kilometers of fairly easy hiking. The was even a 72 year-old woman in the group who kept up fairly

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Complains to US Treasury Department

2009-03-28T16:25:00.004+03:00

original article Road with wall down the middle - Anata, East Jerusalem One side for Palestinians. One side for Israelis The American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC) has filed multiple administrative complaints with the US Department of the Treasury, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). the organization requested investigations into organizations claiming

Lonely Planet / National Geographic Movie

2009-03-15T08:40:00.001+02:00

I had an interesting weekend helping Lonely Planet TV and National Geographic with an episode of their upcoming 13-part series of travel programs. They are producing each show with Lonely Planet Authors. For the Israel/Palestine episode, Amelia Thomas was the host. I met the video crew a little south of Be'er Sheva in the Negev Desert, and brought them to a friend of mine, Khalil, in the

Olive Products Festival - Jenin

2009-03-14T17:21:00.000+02:00

The Palestinian Agricultural Development Association is hosting an Olive Oil Festival on the 18th-19th March. The venue is the Al-Shaheed Na'eem Khader Center at the Agricultural Relief headquarters in Al-Zahabdeh in Jenin. The Governor of Jenin, Mr, Musa Qaddoura is co-sponsoring the event which is funded by the European Union The opening of the event will be at 3pm on 18th March and

American Friends Service Committee ADSC Video

2009-03-09T06:23:00.000+02:00

This short short video by the American Friends Service Committee brings home to all of us the impact of Israel's colonization of the West Bank.

Gaza CLOSED ZONE video

2009-03-04T18:00:00.001+02:00

Yoni Goodman, director of animation for the Academy Award-nominated film, "Waltz with Bashir", Now brings you 'Closed Zone'. Despite declarations that it has "disengaged" from the Gaza Strip, Israel maintains control of the Strip’s overland border crossings, territorial waters, and air space. This includes substantial, albeit indirect, control of the Rafah Crossing. During the past 18 months,

Sebastia is waiting for Tourists

2009-02-09T09:20:00.046+02:00

Back in the 1999s the tour buses clogged the parking lot of Sebastia in the Northern West Bank. Not any more. This ancient Roman city, and the adjacent modern Palestinian village are victims of Isreal's encapsulation of Palestinian areas though hundreds of checkpoints, barriers, and restricted roads. The tourists used to come mainly from Israeli tour companies who now steer visitors away from the

Israeli Tourism Ministry Boost Public Relations

2009-02-05T18:06:00.002+02:00

Editorial from Fred Schlomka: Hopefully some of the tourist traffic generated from this public relations campaign will result in some people visiting the Palestinian Territories. Unfortunately the entire tourist industry in Israel seems to steer people away from the West Bank, and tour agencies and Israeli guides often advise visitors not to to there. TOURISM MINISTRY ALLOCATES 17 MILLION

Negev Tours to meet Bedouin

2009-02-04T16:30:00.056+02:00

Most tours to the Negev are pretty standard fare. However there is much more to the Negev than visiting a staged Bedouin tent where a dutiful Bedouin employee will serve tea. The vast majority of Bedouin have long since given up living in tents. Most of the 165,000 Nevev Bedouin now live in shantytowns, or 'unrecognized villages' as the Israeli government calls them. Some have moved to the '

CBS Video Israeli Occupation

2009-01-26T21:27:00.001+02:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

Israel Attacks Gaza - Travel & Security

2009-01-08T11:10:00.007+02:00

It's hardly the time to be advocating tourism to Palestine and Israel when dozens are being killed daily in Gaza. Please download and distribute the flyer on the left. Click here to view a larger image. Download the flyer I won't elaborate on the Gaza situation other than to say that I fully endorse the message on the flyer. However this is an important time for people to visit and see for

Kalkiliya - A forgotten corner of the West Bank

2008-12-12T09:57:00.002+02:00

Yesterday's visit to Kalkiliya was a fascinating window into life under Occupation. Kalkiliya lies at the westernmost tip of the West Bank, just 12 kilometers from the Mediterranean at the narrowest part of Israel. A small private group from England, organized by ToursInEnglish.com, spend most of the day in this beleaguered town of 45,000. After passing the Israeli army gatekeepers of the only

Getting Towed in Ramallah

2008-11-26T20:46:00.003+02:00

What a day! It started off OK. I picked up my friend Tamer in Azariya and drove to Ramallah. As usual the downtown area was chock-a-block with traffic, and I suggested we park before we arrived at the usual gridlock around al-Manarah square. We were lucky. A van pulled out of a spot and I slipped in to the curb. I noticed that it was a red and white zone but Tamer assured me that: "cars never

Review of a Private Tour

2008-11-06T08:10:00.004+02:00

Today I had an interesting group of five visitors from Switzerland. I picked them up at their Tel Aviv hotel in the early morning and proceeded to Route 5, a large four-lane highway which thrusts deep into the West Bank, due east of Tel Aviv. En route we stopped in the Palestinian-Israeli village of Kfur Qasim, site of an infamous massacre in 1956 by an over zealous army commander enforcing a