When I told folks in Macon I was going to Tel Aviv they acted like I was going to Bagdad. Tel Aviv is modern, secular, yet very Israeli. As I walked along the beach I could have been in Miami execpt this city is cleaner and safer. Beautiful modern hotels and condos line the beach. One of our travellers commented how her hair dresser wanted to know if there were bodies in the street in Jerusalem.
There are 340 members of the international press stationed in Jerusalem. Israel is the most reported country in the world yet the press has not given a very accurate picture of the country. Jerusalem is very different from Tel Aviv.
40 miles down the beach from Tel Aviv is the Gaza Strip. In the minds of the Israelis it could be 5,000 miles away; life is very normal. Life here, however, is not always so normal. There are modern scultures along certain streets that are memorials to civilians killed in bus bombings during the intifada. Stark reminders that if we do not stop this terrorist insanity over here, whether in Israel, Bagdad or elsewhere we will be building these memorials in the United States.
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