PALESTINE - ISRAEL - JORDAN - SINAI

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

The Hummus Trail – Young Israeli Veterans in India

By Miri –  It has become something of a rite of passage for Israelis to embark on a long journey after their discharge from the army. Travelling constitutes something like a bridge from the army time to a nascent adulthood of university applications or job hunting and thus a rare opportunity for carelessness for young […]

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A Community of Its Own? Russian Speaking Jews in Israel

By Miri –  Russian speaking Jews constitute about 20% of Israel’s total population today. Notwithstanding their large numbers, the fact that they have been calling Israel their home for quite a few decades by now, and that especially many of the younger generations perceive of themselves as Israelis, the veteran Israeli population still refers to […]

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Rising from the Margins: Musika Mizrahit

By Miri – In a previous article on this blog we already outlined the historical roots of the socio-economic marginalisation of the Mizrahi (lit. “Eastern” Jews, stemming from Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus) communities by the dominant Ashkenazi (usually understood as European Jews) elite. The subordination of the Mizrahim also included the forced erasure […]

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Jerusalem YMCA

By Fred Schlomka –  Green Olive Tours selected the location of the International YMCA of Jerusalem as a convenient central departure point for most of our tours. However our affiliation with the organization goes much deeper and reflects our endorsement of YMCA’s philosophy of inclusiveness in this divided city. Every morning, while waiting for their […]

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On the Economic Situation of Palestinians with Israeli Citizenship

By Miri – A common image of South Tel Aviv Israel and its supporters were shocked by a recent report which qualified the Jewish state as the one with the highest poverty rate among all OECD nations. Poverty in Israel is however not a shared reality for all, instead it is very much concentrated in […]

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Israeli Cuisine – Beyond Falafel and Hummus

By Miri – Culture is a complicated enough term, but when we talk about a region whose history dates back thousands of years, a region which has been conquered and incorporated into numerous different empires, whose position has always been located at the crossroads of east-west trade routes, and whose current society is made up […]

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“We See, We Hear, We Refuse” – Israeli Conscientious Objectors

By Miri –  General, your tank is a powerful vehicleIt tramples the forest, it crushes a hundred men.But it has one flaw:It requires a driver.General, your bomber is strong.It flies faster than the storm, it loads more than an elephant.But it has one flaw:It requires a mechanic.General, man is very useful.He knows how to fly, […]

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Jewish Democracy in Action

by Fred Schlomka –The term ‘democracy’ is used today by so many people from different backgrounds that the word has begun to lose any definitive meaning. In particular the dichotomy between the reality of the ‘Jewish Democracy’ in Israel and the Liberal Democracies of the West seems to be diverging rapidly, resulting in a serious […]

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Women in the IDF – Debunking the Myth of Equality

By Miri –  “The army is the supreme symbol of duty and as long as women are not equal to men in performing this duty, they have not yet obtained true equality. If the daughters of Israel are absent from the army, then the character of the Yishuv will be distorted.”  David Ben Gurion The […]

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Tales of Masada

By Miri –  The ancient fortification of Masada in the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea is the most popular tourist site in Israel.Apart from the breathtaking beauty of both the site and the area, it is especially the legend surrounding it, which continues to play a crucial role in discourses of national security and survival. […]

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The Beta Israel – Ethiopian Jews in Israel

By Miri –  Today, there are about 130,000 Ethiopians living in Israel, of which more than 38,000 are Israeli-born. In the following we shall briefly outline the origins of these communities, their journeys to Israel and their status within contemporary Israeli society.  Origin and History of the Beta Israel  Beta Israel community in Ethiopia, ca. […]

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The Holocaust in Israeli Society

By Yahav Zohar –  Apparently, following Israel’s recent attack in Gaza there was an upsurge in anti Israeli propaganda comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. For those of us trying to affect change on the ground in Israel-Palestine such discourse seems both ludicrous and counter productive. Though millions live under the boot of […]

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