PALESTINE - ISRAEL - JORDAN - SINAI

Off the beaten track tours • Visit sites • Meet locals • Discuss Human Rights & Politics

The Politics of Hummus

By Miri –  Many times I am being asked why the hell I decided to move to such a crazy and often times depressing place such as Palestine and Israel and to be honest I asked myself the same question numerous times. Obviously there are quite a few factors determining the answer, one of which […]

Read More

LGBTQs in Palestine and Israel

By Miri –  Last week was very much associated with the LGBTQ1community, both for the good and for the sad. Last Thursday, Jerusalem held its 10th Gay Pride Parade, while on Saturday, the Tel Aviv community commemorated the third anniversary of the shooting at an LGBTQ centre that left two dead and fifteen wounded on […]

Read More

Passageway of Civilizations

By Yahav Zohar, Senior Tour Guide – Green Olive Tours Visitors to Israel/Palestine are often struck by the variety and proximity of its landscapes, alongside the incredible richness of its archeology and history. One hour’s drive will take you from sandy  beaches through  fertile planes up into the forested hills and down the other side […]

Read More

The African Hebrew Israelite Community in Israel

–> By Miri – Origins and Way of Life The African Hebrew Israelite Community (AHIC), usually referred to as Black Hebrews, emerged in Chicago at the height of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and formed part of the big array of Black pride political and cultural organisations.  Like the Nation of Islam, the […]

Read More

Conflicting Identities, Conflicting Loyalties – The Case of the Druze in Israel

By Miri –  Druze Religion The Druze are a religious community which emerged around the 11th century from Ismailism, the second largest branch of Shia Islam. The main distinguishing factor from other branches of Islam is constituted in the Druze acceptance of the divinity of Hakim, the third Fatimid caliph of Egypt, which also forms […]

Read More

Feminism in Muslim Societies

By Miri – Both Islamic feminism, as well as feminism in Muslim dominated societies are often considered oxymorons. In the eyes of many in the West, Islam and Muslim societies are synonymous with gender inequality and oppression. At the same time the need to “liberate the oppressed Muslim woman from her plight” has and continues […]

Read More

Progressive Judaism – an Overview

  By Miri – Like most other religions, Judaism is not one static homogeneous belief system. Throughout its history, and throughout the various places that Jews took their beliefs, their practices and culture to, Judaism has changed and developed. From an analytic point of view it may be actually more appropriate to view Judaism as […]

Read More

A Weekend in Palestine

by Fred Schlomka – My wife Sunita is leaving soon for an extended performing and teaching tour in the USA, so we decided to take a weekend off and spend some time together. For some time I had been wanting to visit the village of Al Aqaba in the north-eastern West Bank, and since they […]

Read More

Cousins – the Muslim-Jewish Connection

By Miri – These days it is way more fashionable to emphasise the distinctions and the conflicts between Judaism and Islam, as well as between its respective followers. There are however way more similarities between the two religions and its communities than is acknowledged in these days of “clashes of civilisations”. Since both religions, their […]

Read More

Microbreweries in Palestine and Israel

By Miri –  The summer of 2011 is commonly referred to as the Israeli Spring, or at least as an attempt at it. During the course of this summer, the new born social justice movement managed to mobilise thousands of people to the streets, which culminated in the biggest protests in the history of Israel. […]

Read More

Culture and Art in 21st Century Amman

–> By Miri –  Travel guides to Middle Eastern countries tend to either reduce local artistic expression to antique artefacts, usually found at historical or archaeological sites, thereby situating the apex of creation in the past, or, to emphasise what is commonly referred to as “authentic” or “folkloric” culture, such as Bedouin tents and belly […]

Read More

Green Olive Tours Recommends: DIY Tel Aviv

By Miri – For a Middle Eastern country Israel is as Western as it gets and Tel Aviv is probably the queen of Westernness. And yet, for a person who sets her/his foot for the first time into this place, it can get quite confusing. Shimrit Elisar took it on herself to ease this experience […]

Read More
Fill out my online form.