Sinai Terrorism Doesn't Shake Eilat Tourism
W hile the Israeli-Palestinian peace process got new boost forward at the turn of the year in cabinets I spend a week at the seashore in Eilat, a popular (about 2.5 million tourists per year) Israeli destination for domestic and international tourism. I have some doubts about positive outcome of peace talks but not a bit about goal-directed development of tourism in Israel. Here some of my impressions in relation to my previous visit a couple of years ago. Eilat is modern small town at north end of Red Sea on the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba and part of the Southern Negev Desert. It has also a remarkable history as background. Eilat is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Exodus, as stations 7 and 9th–13th are in and around Eilat, after the exodus led by Moses from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. Timna Valley Park is notable for its prehistoric rock carvings, some of the oldest copper mines in the world, and prehistoric tombs dating to the 7th millennium BC at the...