TL;DR (8 min. read) – We recently visited Israel to see the current status of the country. Based on our findings, life has essentially gone back to “normal” for most of the Israeli & Palestinian population. Everyone is expected to return to their homes by May 2024. Many sites (including Bethlehem) have remained open, except for a few Northern Galilee sites. Several groups (including one with 231 travelers) have already visited the Holy Land since October 7th, and both the Israeli people and imagine are excited for you to visit soon too!
We’ve (our President, Rick, and our Global Market Developer, Tim) just returned from visiting Israel last week on a personal inspection trip to see and experience the situation in Israel first-hand. Primarily, this visit was to allow us the opportunity to meet with many of our contacts in country, from the offices we work with, hotel management, guides, shop owners, plus many of biblical sites we send our groups to. Additionally, we wanted to visit Bethlehem which as we all know is under the Palestinian Authority.
My visit allowed us to see first-hand that parallel to the war in Gaza (which is now isolated, and not an area we visit to begin with), and how the affected cities had been impacted. By no means do we want to make light of the situation and what has transpired (as well as what is still currently taking place in Gaza), we simply wanted to assess the situation with our own eyes.
The Good News. The situation in the North is actively being de-escalated and negotiations are in the works to stabilize the nation and establish some form of agreement between Israel and Lebanon which would eliminate further conflict. By doing so, this will finally allow these families to settle back into their original lifestyles and resume a sense of normalcy. The same is currently happening, at a somewhat slower pace, in the southern region near Gaza. The country is currently expecting that this month 20-25% of the people will be able to return home, with another 35-45% to return the following month. This is a lengthy and longing process, but the goal is for the majority of families to return to their homes come May.
As we visited Tel Aviv, Serona, Jaffa, etc. business was being conducted as normal. The streets were filled with many people going about their daily lives! Ascending into Jerusalem, we also noticed the traffic had not changed (which could be considered both good and bad). People were happily walking the streets, parents pushing baby carriages, local buses filled as people continued to work, even the new train had a full crowd! As we arrived at Mt. Scopus, we saw our first group taking in the beauty of Jerusalem. From here, we ventured to the Mt. of Olives where again, we witnessed first-hand several private tours and families visiting the site, including a family of Hasidic Jews paying their respects to a loved one that had passed. Not far down the Palm Sunday Road at the Garden of Gethsemane we saw another group touring the gardens as two small groups had just entered the church. The further we got into Jerusalem, the busier it seemed to get! As we made our way into the Old City, we found the shops were bustling with local shoppers and tourists alike. While we were in the area, we made sure to stop at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where we noticed that renovations were steadily underway as a portion was closed off to visitors. There was quite a bit of activity taking place in the remaining space as several small groups explored the church and surrounding areas.
Afterwards, we continued to walk along the streets and visit many of the local shop owners before carrying on to the Western Wall, which surprisingly had many visitors. We saw this first-hand as we waited in line for security to enter the area. We then exited via the Dung Gate before making a brief detour for a Shawarma Pita lunch, before continuing to the Garden Tomb. As we entered, it was the first time since COVID had taken place that we had seen the Garden this empty. We had the entire site to ourselves!! On our way out, we thankfully saw two small families entering. From here we drove back to the Jaffa Gate, where we visited the Tower of David (having recently gone through renovations) and the new museum area. This was a must-stop for us, as we had to take advantage of the spectacular views from atop the lookout point! After spending some time here, we walked through Mamilla and then made our way to the YMCA area located across the street from the King David Hotel. We continued to walk some more before finally retired to our hotel for the evening.
After several breakfast meetings, we continued to Bethlehem to visit with our Palestinian Christian friends. Here we visited the Shepherds Field, the cave and church and then finally made our way to the Church of Nativity, where we witnessed two small groups leaving. We entered the church and made our way to the Grotto of the Nativity, which we had to ourselves. What an experience, though incredibly touching, surreal… it was also very sad to not see the crowds we had come accustomed to on our previous visits.
In between our meetings, we included visits to meet with many of the different hoteliers and tour guides, in addition to the various office partners we work with here to get their perspective on the situation. We did hear from one of the local offices that they had just hosted 28 pastors on a recent familiarization trip and the same office shared that they had a group of 231 travelers! Yes, you read that right, there are 231 travelers that are in country (Israel); a Catholic group from Europe that continued with their travel plans. Both hotels we stayed at, we experienced that the hotels were somewhere between 85-87% occupancy, part of this being businessmen and women, as well as other organizations visiting on solidarity trips to show support for Israel and the local people.
Like many of you, we wanted to see this all for ourselves, and I’m sure you would too! While we were countryside, we filmed and shared a handful of videos from our time overseas this past week which you can find on our company Facebook page.