Pilgrims Progress in Israel

A recent film issued on Al Jazeera http://tinyurl.com/ndsuesc depicts passionate views from Palestinian priests, a Christian tour operator and a British writer as they speak out against the obstacles facing pilgrims visiting sacred sites today, particularly Bethlehem and Nazareth.

As with many such programmes, the arguments seem convincing. I passed it on the a friend who is a professional tour guide and surprise, surprise, there is a different story.

She writes:-

Thank you for this. I watched that film twice and I must say, it is a good piece of propaganda, filled with half truths and lies.

As a tour guide working with pilgrims (and other groups) I must say, that none of my pilgrims ever visit Yad Vashem. It simply does not exist in these itineraries. Also Eilat is never included, as a proper pilgrim tour takes 8 days maximum.

Further, Qasr el Yahud is included in every pilgrim tour since the place is open to public. However, many Christians prefer to get baptised in Yardenit as the water quality at Qasr el Yahud is very poor. But there are groups baptising there as well. I see them all the time; Ethiopians, Russians, South Americans, Indians etc.  

Bethlehem; Only few Israeli tour guides and few Jewish bus drivers (all Israeli Arab drivers enter!) are entering the site, as we need special permit to Shetach A. There, a Palestinian Tour Guide, mostly connected to one of the shops, enters the bus and brings the pilgrims to one of the Restaurants, then to the Shop, then to the Church and the Shepherd Fields. 

Some visit the Caritas Children Hospital. This takes all in all about 4 hours, depending on how many people standing in line at the birth place of Jesus. By the way; there are absolutely no spiritual feelings in Bethlehem, but a lot of pressure and most of my groups are happy to return to Jerusalem. They simply hate to be fed with propaganda. They want (and they have the right to) to hear different sides of the conflict, that means different views of Israelis and the different Palestinian point of views. That is our duty.  There is no black and white and that is obviously what they get there. (a Messianic Jew tour guide might be an exemption, but I doubt that)

Some groups stay overnight and tour next day to Herodion and other places. 45 minutes will never do!

Nazareth; indeed, there is a point of truth that pilgrims visit the Church of Annunciation and that’s it. There is much more to see, but due to the itinerary, there is simply no time for more. Some operators include a walk through the village and a view point on Har Hagfiza.

Jenin and Nablus are never included in a pilgrim’s program. It would be much more expensive, as bullet proofed buses have to be arranged and which Israeli tour guide wants to visit these places? I would not go and I think, we are not insured there, as we are not when we enter Bethlehem, even with permits!

I checked on the internet that British Reverend talking in the film. He has an anti-Semitic record! Unfortunately, many people do not know how to differentiate between truth and propaganda when they hear people of the public talking, like these different priests and reverends. It’s a disgrace! Films like these make me very angry and sad.

GPS for Brain Surgeons

A line of products trusted by neurosurgeons and neuroscience researchers on six continents was developed by a Christian-Arab couple in Nazareth, Israel.

Abigail Klein Leichman – Israel 21C

Two Arab Nazarenes meet at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, fall in love, get married and move back home to start a high-tech business financed only by the sale of their car.

Doesn’t sound like a recipe for success? Well, it worked out fine for Imad and Reem Younis, whose company Alpha Omega is a world leader in producing pioneering products for neurosurgery and neuroscience research.

Last June, Alpha Omega http://www.alphaomega-eng.com/was named the 2012 American Israeli Company of the Year by the American Israeli Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, Georgia. One of its international sales and support offices in based in Alpharetta, near Atlanta.

Reem Younis, a civil engineer (her husband’s degree is in electrical engineering), explains: “Alpha Omega’s knowhow is ‘driving’ safely inside the brain with an electrode, recording neural activity, stimulating neural tissue, processing and analyzing the data.

“In simple terms, you can look at it as a GPS inside the brain that guides the neurosurgeon to the required location, where a permanent electrode is implanted. This treatment is supposed to eliminate disease symptoms, and the patient can go back to his or her normal life.”

The company’s recording and stimulation tools, which have both FDA (US) and CE (Europe) approvals, are helpful in two realms. Neuroscientists use them in the lab to understand more about the human brain, and neurosurgeons use them for treating patients with a variety of neural disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and dystonia, a nervous system disorder that causes involuntary muscles contractions and spasms.

“In Europe this method is used also for treating people with [clinical] depression,” says Younis.

Meeting future needs

Alpha Omega was established in 1993 in Nazareth, a Christian Arab city that recently hosted its first Startup Weekend event. The company’s sophisticated machinery is manufactured locally and sold through offices in the United States, Israel and Germany, as well as by sales representatives in China, Japan and South America.

The mainly Christian and Muslim Arab staff of 35 in Alpha Omega’s Nazareth headquarters are graduates of the Technion or Tel Aviv University.

During Global Entrepreneurship Week in November, Reem and Imad Younis went from one northern Arab municipality to another, explaining their company’s technology and entrepreneurship model to high school students with the goal of encouraging other innovators like themselves.

“We are 20 percent of the [Israeli] population and also need to be 20% of the Israeli high-tech scene, but we are not,” says Younis. “It’s closer to 1%. Alpha Omega is about bringing high-tech to Nazareth and giving employment to very highly qualified engineers.”

She says the company’s equipment is well known around the world for accuracy and stability. “We are in more than 100 hospitals and more than 500 labs on six continents. Our main market is, of course, the USA.”

Younis says one reason for the company’s success is its close relationship with the research community, particularly at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem and other top researchers in Israel and beyond.

“Because Alpha Omega is involved in both the medical and research fields, we hear about new needs and trends,” says Younis. “We know where the market is leading in five or 10 years, so that our excellent teams will develop the appropriate systems for serving humanity and fulfilling the company’s mission.”

Nazareth Conference - Apartheid?

The Nazareth conference was held recently to celebrate 150 years since a tiny dispensary was established in Nazareth by a devout Scottish couple, Dr. Kaloost Varden and his wife. The hospital was then officially adopted by the Church of Scotland and today it is the Israel Government Hospital for Nazareth, still supported from Scotland.

Irene Murray was the head midwife there for many years and through the work of my very good friend Wendy Blumfield as a childbirth educator, they all became good friends. Workshops were given which were attended by Arab and Jewish midwives and Tipat Halav (child welfare clinic) nurses from the kibbutzim and villages around as well as from the Nazareth hospitals.

The conference workshop was given by another British midwife, Kathryn Gutteridge, on the subject of helping women in childbirth after a history of sexual abuse, a problem that applies to every culture.

In the audience were midwives, social workers, childbirth educators and doulas, Arab Moslem and Christian, Jewish secular and religious. Many of them knew each other, hugged on meeting and chatted so much it was difficult to keep the coffee breaks to the allotted time.


Where are the BBC and the Guardian? Is this Apartheid?