Israel is a hot spot on the planet.

The country this website is dedicated to traditionally sparks a clash of opinions and sometimes heated passions, but few would deny that it is a special place on our planet. That's why it's difficult to write about, even though much has already been written about it in a wide variety of genres and styles.

Talking about Israel, you can easily offend someone without intending to. For example, our site wouldn't be complete without articles about Bethlehem, Jericho, Hebron, and these cities are controlled by the Palestinian National Authority. At the same time, creating two separate websites about Palestine and Israel is hardly advisable at this time, as the problem of their separation is far from resolved. As of this writing, the West Bank territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority is divided into dozens of enclaves, surrounded by territories completely controlled by Israel. Such a complex, confusing situation cannot be stable.

Israel's Fantastic Diversity

Israel's diversity is astounding and delightful. Ranked 143rd in the world by land area, the country boasts nine distinct climate zones. It boasts forests, deserts, mountains, and lowlands (including the lowest point on land on earth – 417 meters below sea level). Israel has four seas: two "outer" seas – the Mediterranean and the Red Sea – and two "inner" seas – the unique, super-salty Dead Sea and the freshwater Sea of ​​Galilee (Lake Kinneret). In winter, you can ski in Mount Hermon and admire the corals, fish, and dolphins in just a few days. beaches of Eilat, get treatment in a healing place dead sea, catch tilapia (St. Peter's fish) on Lake Kinneret, go on a mountain hike along one of the many routes, and ride jeeps or camels into the desert. However, in the summer, you can do all the same activities (except skiing), but in extreme heat. In Israel, Kibbutz Tirat Zvi recorded a record-breaking summer temperature of 53,7°C (123.5°F) for all of Asia.

The diversity of worldviews, outlooks on life, traditions, and religions here is in no way inferior to the natural diversity. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Dome of the Rock Jerusalem, the Western Wall and the Cave of Machpelah, the Bahai Gardens in Haifa and the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh—all these holy sites of various religions are located here. Looking at all this diversity, one is sometimes surprised not by the uneasiness of the place, but by the fact that representatives of different peoples and religions have somehow learned to live side by side.

Israel for tourists and pilgrims

There are few places on Earth that are simultaneously hot spots and attractive tourist destinations. Israel, with its developed religious, health, and rural tourism, is one of them. Here, after driving from Sderot to the Dead Sea in the evening, you can wake up in the night to the sound of birds flying overhead. hotel в Ein Bokek planes, and in the morning hear on the news that Sderot was hit by Qassam rockets yesterday, so the Gaza Strip was subjected to a retaliatory attack by Israeli aircraft. Meanwhile, the resort life on dead sea It's unlikely to have an impact. At first, you'll be surprised by checkpoints and road patrols, attractive young men and women with machine guns slung over their shoulders (women serve here too, and when soldiers go on leave, they always take their weapons with them and hide them in the closet at home), a man with a gun who always accompanies school excursions, a security guard in swimming trunks and with a machine gun sitting in a lounge chair by a public pool with healing sulfur water. But you'll quickly get used to it. Besides Israel, I can probably only think of South Korea among countries where military tensions and tourism don't conflict with each other.

Russia and Israel

Russians have a special relationship with Israel. On the one hand, the headlines about the "crimes of the Israeli military" and the "machinations of Zionism" haven't yet been forgotten by everyone. On the other hand, where else, besides the former Soviet republics, can you find so many Russian speakers? One in four or five. There's a fully-fledged television channel broadcasting in Russian. This makes it much easier for our tourists to get to know the country's political and everyday life. Finally, and this is simply wonderful, Russians recently no longer need a visa to travel to Israel. Just buy a ticket and fly. Tel Aviv, whenever you want. Interestingly, the feeling of having arrived abroad quickly fades. This is probably due not only to the large number of people who speak Russian fluently, but also to the intuitive "pilgrimage" feeling that the surrounding biblical sites belong to the entire world, are part of global culture, including Russian culture.

After your first trip, you inevitably feel like you missed something or didn't see it, and you want to return. This Holy Land is where monotheism and the concept of human freedom were born. It is as captivating and inexhaustible as the entire history of human civilization.

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