Discussion: Orienteering in Israel - can I tempt you?

http://israelorienteering.org/o-training-travel-in...

Have just booked to go to Israel in the off session for a week of training Feb 15-24, 2013. Earlier this year I took a week and went to the Cappadocia Cup in Turkey and had such a good time that I have decided to try again. Anyone interested in joining me?
Jeremy

Hi Jeremy
Have you been to Israel before or got any connections? Reason for asking is I was vaguely tempted to try something like this in 2013 and combine with a visit to my sister. My sister lives in the West bank though and is married to a Palestinian. I'm slightly worried about the logistics/politics of visiting both sides of the divide as it were. Theyve only recently moved over there from the UK so havent been before. Any advice?

no

Avoid spicy food. It really packs a bang.

will be in israel in december but dont think ill be able to orienteer there

You will definitely be ill if you eat the spicy food.

Zig-zag lots and intermittently duck for cover.

Seriously, I was in Israel for the Israeli champs in 2009. We visited the West bank too for some "orienteering" and had absolutely no problem entering and leaving then. We even stayed in a hotel there overnight. This might all be dependent on where you are going and when though, we went to Jericho which is supposed to be one of the nicest part of the now very fragmented West bank. There might also be more of a problem if you go to there to visit family rather than just as a tourist, but I don't really know about that. Your sister should know where and when to cross.

My experience about checkpoints and border control in Israel is that they are very thourough but usually quite nice, at least if you you are an obvious western tourist and avoid bringing anything "political" in your bags. As for the dangers, that's usually quite exaggerated. Have you heard anything in the news about things other than talking from the West bank or Israel lately? No news = good news mostly. General travel advice only suggests that you should avoid the Gaza strip and nearby areas, everywhere else is fine.

If now is considered 'no news' then I hate to think what 'real news' is then.

Ha ha ha. Rocket, missiles and bombs flying everywhere. Assassinations and retalliatory attacks sounds a lot like news to me. Certainly been on every news bulletin I've watched or listened to in the last 2 days.

Do they have border patrols at the checkpoints in Israel? Must make for slow orienteering courses but you'd find them more easily.

I went there for the MTBO World Champs in 2010.
The actual organisation and courses were the best ever of MTBO Worlds. Quite hot and dry country - like Aust in summer.
Extra bulletin sais something like "dont be scared to come to our event (there had been bombs flying around in the months before) as the range of the bombs are at least 5 kilometres from where you will be riding."
Needless to say our team size dwindled from 8 to 2!

I wouldn't have qualified. Well given that was the year I put the handlebar through my knee prior to the trials, I really wouldn't have qualified.

Back in the 1980's a friend of mine in Canada and his wife went home to Belfast to help celebrate his brother's 60th birthday. When cousins asked of his further travel plans he said during the next winter they would be going to Florida to play golf. "Florida?" they replied, "that's way too dangerous."
World media attention tends to exaggerate the dangers afar while those living the situation adapt as needed and get on with their lives.

Maybe fifteen times more people were murdered in the eighties in Florida than were killed in the Northern Irish "Troubles" in the same period.

Did 80 rockets get fired into Florida last night from a neighboring country? Just saying the situation now may be somewhat less safe than when this thread started.

The point is that at that time in Canada we thought of Belfast as a 'no-go zone' and Florida was safe because we knew that then as now violence is far and away limited to non-tourist areas. On the flip side there are those today who think any trip in to the Canadian woods brings you to the brink of a bear attack. Not so.
Saying you wouldn't go to orienteer in the Jerusalem or Nazareth area of Israel because of trouble in Gaza and Tel Aviv is like saying you wouldn't go to Dublin because you fear the violence in Belfast.

Except that the odd rocket's making it to Jerusalem, too...

Have heard a few stories about orienteers encountering IRA training activities in various Northern Irish forests back in the day - apparently things operated on a 'we'll ignore you if you ignore us' basis.

THink I'll keep an eye on things for a while - apparently all quiet in the West Bank right now

Just after my last post in this thread I heard on the radio that a rocket managed to hit the Mediterranean Sea quite far north of the Gaza strip so a bit of bad timing there maybe. Seems like Hamas have become a little bit better at manifacturing their homemade fireworks. What you should be aware of is that it's in the interest of both sides of the conflict to exaggerate the dangers. You will never hear officials in Israel say that the "missile" that hit a field 10 km outside Jerusalem was a modified rocket without payload. Instead you get all these rumours about the Gaza strip being full of guided missiles that have been smuggled from Iran somehow.