This in Ha’aretz today:
Haaretz has learnt that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is considering a five-year plan costing NIS 500 million to renovate and preserve national heritage and infrastructure sites, in an attempt to strengthen ties between global Jewry and Israel’s historical and Zionist legacy…
The premier added that on February 25 he intended to present the cabinet with a working program which would include the inauguration of two trails to be added the existing Israel Trail: an historical trail that would connect various archeological sites, and an "Israeli Experience" trail linking dozens of Israel’s landmarks, museums and memorials.
Let’s take a look at the map of this proposed "historical trail", and see what you notice.
Planned Historical Trail
The report indicates that part of this new initiative is an expansion of the existing ‘The Israel Trail’. In contrast to the new route, the current trail was apparently designed to exclude ‘disputed’ (in other words, occupied) territories:
The Israel Trail was first marked in 1995, and it was carefully constructed to sidestep areas of territorial dispute, such as the Golan Heights, West Bank settlements, and even Jerusalem.
‘The Israel Trail’ is also part of Israel’s tourism appeal.
Should Netanyahu’s plan be realized, one hopes that tourism agencies, international hiking organisations, and other related groups will refuse to have anything to do with a project so heavily implicated in the apartheid occupation.
