Touring the Katyusha trail

[spindrifter]

Haaretz.com
Mon., August 28, 2006 Elul 4, 5766

By Irit Rosenblum

Burned fields and forests and blackened mountainsides are still visible in the Upper Galilee. A group of tour guides from the North and center will be organizing trips to the area on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week. The tours, arranged by Vacation in the Clouds, will include stops at the following sites: the Katyusha-damaged Pa'ar cave; the Arab village of Gush Halav (Jish), home to Maronites, Catholics and Muslims; the Dalton plateau, which overlooks the Circassian village of Rihaniya; and the Kfar Giladi memorial for fallen reserve paratroopers. The tour will end in Kiryat Shmona, where participants will meet with local residents. There may be slight changes to the schedule.

Price: NIS 125 per person, including a NIS 50 down payment. Tours must be reserved in advance by phone...
<snip>

The Gonen resort offers a tour of Moshav Avivim, overlooking the Lebanese village Maroun al-Ras, and Kibbutz Malkiya, overlooking the entire region. The trip includes a ride along the northern border, from where neighboring villages on the Lebanese side (Hula, Taibeh, Markaba, etc.) can be seen, as well as an explanation of the border's history. The tour will also pass by Kibbutz Manara and will include a visit to the Kfar Giladi cemetery, the local shelter, a house hit by a Katyusha and the indigenous woods next to the kibbutz. The tour will also pass through private homes in Kiryat Shmona, and will include a meeting with a Magen David Adom representative.

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/755679.html

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At first I couldn't believe this. Then I remembered all of the other battlefields that have become tourist sites.

[breakaleg]

1. Why would they offer a tour of a war zone?

Seems to me they are trying to glorify it maybe?

[spindrifter]

2. I think both the Israelis and the Lebanese

suffered enormously from the war's negative impact on tourism. There was a short piece on NPR this morning about an Israeli couple who run a b & b and will simply not be able to recoup the loss of their August income.