"Beit Gidi", the 1947-1948 Etzel Museum in Tel Aviv

On the border of Tel Aviv and Jaffa are the ruins of an old house overlooking the beach and the Mediterranean Sea, with an incongruous black cube rising from its remnants. This is the Etzel Museum, also known as "Beit Gidi". It is dedicated to fighters of the Etzel organisation, better known as the Irgun in English, a Jewish militant organisation that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. Along with the nearby Hassan Bek mosque, the ruins are one of just two structures that remain from Manshiyya, formerly the northernmost neighbourhood of Jaffa. The house was built in 1900 by a Jewish businessman who came to build his home in Israel. In 1914 he travelled to Russia for business and was killed during World War I. Arabs from Jaffa then used the building for residential, industrial and commercial needs.

The Etzel, whose emblem is a hand holding a rifle over the whole of Palestine and Transjordan, fought for the realisation of the idea of establishing a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. The organisation was established in 1931 as an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish paramilitary organisation, the Haganah. They retaliated against attacks by Arabs on the Jewish population and rebelled against the British government's White Paper policy that imposed restrictions on Jewish emigration to Palestine.

In 1947, the UN resolution divided mandatory Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The Arabs began terror attacks against the Jews throughout the country. Jaffa was the largest Arab city in the country, so the Tel Aviv-Jaffa residents suffered greatly. Worse yet, the hostile city in the middle of the Jewish state made it impossible to create a stable state.
The Etzel's leadership saw Jaffa as a great problem, especially because of its proximity to Tel Aviv. Jaffa's residents were specifically targeted by the Etzel and the Lehi, or Stern Gang, another extremist organisation. In one case, Etzel operatives dropped a barrel bomb from a vehicle on a busy avenue that rolled down the street and it blew up outside a café, killing 6. In another, Lehi militants exploded a car bomb that destroyed Jaffa's old town hall, killing 28. These strikes were denounced as acts of terrorism. Jaffa's upper and middle classes began to flee, leaving behind an increasingly desperate situation as the city's economy faltered.
In April 1948 Amichai 'Gidi' Faglin, in whose memory the Etzel Museum is dedicated, led the Etzel's operations against Jaffa and, as the museum's displays indicate, Jaffa was bombarded into submission. Some 40,000 residents of the city fled, in addition to the 20,000 that had already left. More would flee by boat in the following days, until, along with the casualties, only 3,000 to 5,000 residents remained in Jaffa, out of a population of 70,000 to 80,000.

It must be noted that at this time Albert Einstein, among others, denounced the Etzel as a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organisation in an open letter to The New York Times.

"Beit Gidi", the 1947-1948 Etzel Museum, focuses on the battle to liberate Jaffa and as well as other battles that Etzel members fought in during the 1947-8 War of Independence. It is dedicated to the memory of the 41 Etzel fighters who fell during the conquest of Jaffa and their operations officer, Amichai 'Gidi' Faglin.

The first part of the museum deals with the organisational structure of the Etzel. A map of Israel according to the UN partition resolution of 29th November 1947 is displayed on one wall. Another electronic map, along with documents and photographs, shows Etzel positions, attacks and raids during 1947 and 1948, including the infamous attack on the village of Deir Yassin in the Jerusalem corridor.

Another section of the museum concentrates on the Altalena affair. The Etzel's armaments-carrying ship had embarked from the port of Marseilles. Upon arrival at the shore of the newly-founded State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion's demands that the armaments be handed over to the unified Jewish forces were refused. An attack on the ship was ordered, and a massive explosion set off by a shell destroyed the ship and cargo. A large encased flag of Israel, above, flown on the deck of the Altalena, hangs on the wall. In the accompanying text one reads that the flag was saved minutes before the ship blew up, an Etzel fighter risking life and limb in an effort to rescue it.

One exhibit is dedicated to the taking of the Wadi Nisnas Arab neighbourhood in Haifa - in present times the venue for an annual co-existence festival of art, music and culinary delights held during the month of the Chanukah, Christmas and Ramadan holidays.

After the establishment of the state, the Etzel fighters were integrated into the newly-formed Israel Defence Forces (IDF), in an agreement signed by the Etzel's commander-in-chief Menachem Begin and the government of Israel. But even after the agreement was signed, there remained a great deal of bitterness between Begin and Ben-Gurion. Begin founded a new political party, Herut, which he later merged with other right-wing parties in 1973 to form the Likud, the same party that Benjamin Netanyahu leads today.

* This post has been shared on My Corner of the World, Little Things Thursday, The Weekend Link Up, All Seasons, Sharon's Souvenirs, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures and Travel Tuesday.

The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation

The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation organisation was founded in 1996 by Shimon Peres, the Nobel Prize-winning elder Israeli statesman who advocated for peace with the Palestinians and Israel's neighbours, and was one of the architects of Israel's peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. The organisation is independent, non-profit, non-governmental and non-political. Its aim is to further Peres' vision of people in the Middle East working together to build peace through socio-economic cooperation and development and people-to-people interaction. It offers a meeting place for technology entrepreneurs, startups and investors, as well as a recently opened visitors' centre where the public can experience the story of Israel, the "Startup Nation".

Some time ago my dad came back to Israel for a visit and he and I joined a tour of the new centre. Former Prime Minister and President Peres wore many hats over his decades-long career in local politics. He was the Defence minister responsible for Israel's nuclear energy program, the architect behind the Oslo Accords and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize. He was also Israel's leading technology cheerleader, tirelessly promoting Israeli technologies and Israeli startups. This final chapter of Peres' life - he passed away in 2016 at the age of 93 - became the inspiration for the visitors' centre.

Our tour included a visit to a hall lined with 18 life-sized video avatars of Israeli entrepreneurs who have made their mark on the "Startup Nation". Tech celebrities include Uri Levine, founder of traffic app Waze, Dov Moran, whose company M-Systems created the disk-on-key and Hossam Haick, inventor of "Na-nose" technology that can sniff out cancer and other diseases.
We visited a replica of Peres' office from the time he was Israel's ninth president, then learnt about Israeli startups in automotive tech, agritech, medical devices, cybersecurity and more. We got a taste of where Israeli innovation could lead next in a virtual reality capsule and, in the final room, visited an exhibition highlighting 45 Israeli startups. The exhibit will change every year but companies currently highlighted include genealogy leader MyHeritage, radiation protection vest maker Stemrad, manure-to-renewable energy converter Homebiogas and water purity checker Lishtot. Our guide even offered us a taste of mass-produced kosher grasshopper from Hargol FoodTech. I decided to decline!

As well as the visitors' centre, the Peres Peace House also contains the Shimon Peres Archives, an auditorium, conference rooms and a conflict resolution library. Many of the Peres Center's activities, including public lectures and coexistence activities, take place within the Peres Peace House, as well as activities for the empowerment and development of the local Jaffa communities. The first event held at the building was a graduation ceremony of 21 women, mostly Arab, who graduated from a Women's Economic Empowerment Program and received their computer technician certificates.

In 2011, the Israel Tax Authority denied the Peres Center's request for tax-exempt status in Israel demanding that the organisation stop funding the training of physicians from the Gaza Strip in Israeli hospitals. The demand led the organisation to suspend its application for tax-exemption rather than stop the training project. However, in 2016, the Peres Center finally received tax-exempt status in Israel. The Peres Center for Peace also has tax-exempt status in the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy.

One of Peres' most inspirational quotes was, "Dream big. The bigger your dream, the more you will get". As you approach the entrance to the Peres Peace House, a giant sign reminds you to, "Dream Big." It is framed on one side by the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea, and on the other, by the contemporary building that now houses the Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation. It moved to its current four storey high location in 2009. Built on the seashore of Jaffa, the building is a unique structure designed by Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas and local architect Yoav Messer. In essence, the building is simply a long box emerging out of the hillside. The short end, facing the sea, is a wall of clear glass; the other three sides are made up of thin horizontal bands of copper-green concrete and glass of various thicknesses, layered apparently randomly, like sedimentary rock. According to the architect, the building materials represent "places that have suffered heavily"; solid concrete for times of stability and fragile glass for conflict and turmoil. The only clear view is out to the sea - to the future.

Inside, the Peace House had to be divided into rooms. The internal divisions are also glass, although there is a concrete core running through the building containing stairs and services, plus a reinforced bomb shelter on each floor. Every new building in Israel is required to have them.

The 7,000 square metre lot is located next to the poor Arab neighbourhood of Ajami and is enclosed by an old Muslim cemetery to the south and by the beach to the west. The building was built on the top part of the lot, surrounded by a public park - the "Peace Park" - which falls into the sea.

We took a walk through the park and along the seafront after our visit to the centre, giving us time to think about our time there and Israel's success as the "Startup Nation". Happily, it's hard to visit The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and not feel hopeful for the future!

* This post has been shared on The Weekly Link Up, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Travel Tuesday, My Corner of the World and All Seasons.

The Best of 2017 - Part II

1.  In Full Color: 60 Years of Design by Dan Reisinger   2. The Field of Narcissus Flowers   3. Turtles, Trees and Trumpeldor   4. Givat Barfilia   5. Florentin   6. From Within - Nirit Levav Packer   7. Flowers on Titora Hill   8. On the Edge - Israeli Paper   9. Pura Nature Reserve   10. Nahal HaShofet

Happy New Year! When I started writing this blog back in 2008 I initially kept it as a blog purely about my papercut art. However, I soon found out that people were interested in reading a little more about me and my life here in Israel, as well as viewing my latest creations. Whilst I still don't write every single detail about myself here, I have opened up to you about my Jewish faith and many of the holidays we celebrate, and I have written about some of the beautiful places I have been fortunate to visit in Israel.

I will soon be marking 23 years in Israel. That's almost half my life! Over the years I have enjoyed exploring the country and finding off the beaten track places to visit, particularly when the kids were younger. Just from compiling this collection, I can see that 2017 saw me visit less outdoor locations but more art exhibitions. My boys are now well in to their teens and are busy with their own lives. Whilst we would once spend the school holidays searching out new places, they now do their own thing, leaving me with more time to do mine. A win-win situation!
This year I travelled abroad several times (lucky me!) so I have not been to the Golan or down to Eilat. However, I have seen beautiful narcissi growing wild in a field north of Tel Aviv, I have travelled further south to see the anemone bloom, and I have walked along the pretty riverbank at Nahal HaShofet, the Judge's Stream. In addition, I have enjoyed several wonderful exhibitions, my favourites by far being the brilliant "From Within" presenting the incredible life-size statues of Nirit Levav Packer, and the inspiring  "60 Years of Design" showcasing the work of the award-winning Israeli designer Dan Reisinger. I would say it was a good year!
I have blogged about all of these places and more, but thought it would be fun to pick my top 10 of 2017. So, in no particular order, please click on the names above and enjoy exploring Israel with me!

* This post has been shared on Travel Tuesday, Wednesday around the World, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Little Things Thursday, Share Your Cup Thursday, No Rules Weekend Blog Party, Budget Travelers Sandbox and Monday Morning Blog Club.

Trees, Turtles and Trumpeldor

I haven't written a post about my adventures in Israel for some time. My kids are getting older and don't come out with me as much as they used to, but my Dad was here recently for the holiday of Sukkot and some time after. He was more than ready to come exploring with me, even if it meant that the explorations were at a slower pace than usual!

We made a return visit to the Ilanot National Arboretum, which was planted in the early days of the State of Israel to test the possibility of acclimatizing different tree varieties to local conditions. As the years passed the forest was abandoned and suffered from neglect, until the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) took it in hand and revived it. My Dad is a keen gardener and also helped raise money for the JNF for many years, so this was the perfect place to start his visit, and for us to get acquainted with some foreign, strange and wondrous trees, representing a great assortment of locations all over the world.

Later that day we revisited Gesher Hatzabim, or Turtle Bridge, in the Nahal Alexander National Park. Turtle Bridge is one of the only places in Israel where a population of giant soft-shelled turtle can be observed. They cluster by the bridge because they can be sure of an appreciative audience of visitors, usually feeding junk food to the unfortunate beasts. Sadly the peanut butter-flavoured snack Bamba is no better for turtles than it is for us, so really it's a terrible shame that people do it. However, the park is a great place for families to hang out, and Dad, Mister Handmade in Israel and I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon there, picnicking in the sunshine.

I had read about the Jewish Legions Museum (Beit Hagedudim), located in Moshav Avichail, north of Netanya, but had not visited before and didn't know quite what to expect. As it happened, we discovered an impressive structure housing the museum on top of a hill, overlooking the wide Hefer Valley.

The museum was established in 1961 by veterans of the Hebrew battalions (gdudim) of the First World War. It presents the story of Jewish volunteering to the British Armed Forces during World Wars I and II. They struggled to bear a Hebrew symbol on their uniforms, yet practically designed the base on which the Israel Defence Forces were later established. Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpeldor, early Zionist activists, led the volunteer movement and the first battalion, the Muleteers Corps.

Jabotinsky's name showed up again when we visited the Etzel Museum in Tel Aviv, below. From 1931-1939, the Irgun or Etzel, as it is also known (an acronym of the Hebrew initials אצ"ל‎, or IZL), fought against the Arabs who attacked Jewish settlements and villages throughout Mandate Palestine. In 1939, when the British limited Jewish immigration, Etzel began to fight against the British as well. Etzel policy was based on what was then called Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky.

The museum explained the context for the Etzel’s formation and about events in the country at the time. We learnt about Etzel members and the many Etzel missions, the strategy for each attack and how it played out. The museum was informative, if a little dry. Dad and I were the only ones there and we had the whole place to ourselves on the day we visited.

Another day we visited the new Israeli Police Heritage Museum, in the same complex as the National Police College, near Beit Shemesh. This wonderful museum only opened in April 2015 and I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be a real treat!
The museum presents visitors with the story of the police in the Land of Israel, from the Hebrew preservation organisations in the late Ottoman period and the British police, through to the establishment of the Israeli Police and operations over the years, up to the police as we know it today. The exhibition includes unique historical exhibits, which illustrate the development of policing in its earliest days to the present, as well as multimedia presentations that contribute to the experience of the tour.

And finally, towards the end of Dad's visit, we went off to explore beautiful Jaffa, thought to have been the port from which Jonah left in the story of the whale. It is also associated with the biblical stories of Solomon and Saint Peter, as well as the mythological story of Andromeda and Perseus, and of course later with oranges.

We started the day at the port (known as Namal Yafo), which used to be a hangout for fisherman, lone artists and the homeless. After major renovation of its old warehouse buildings, the port is now teeming with life and culture, from galleries and cafés, to some of the hippest nightclubs in the Middle East. Afterwards we climbed the steps up to restored Old Jaffa. After Israel’s independence in 1948, Jaffa was twinned with Tel Aviv. For 20 years, it was home to impoverished Arabs and Jewish immigrants from Arab countries. Then, in 1968 a decision was made to rebuild Jaffa. Old buildings, structures and alleys were restored. Parks and gardens were created. The beach was beautified. Over the years it has become filled with artist quarters, studios and art galleries. Shops with Judaica and jewellery now line its narrow alleys, which are named after Zodiac signs.

Visiting Jaffa without eating something would be a mistake, as it is home to a number of unique restaurants and food stands. Dad had yet to taste a falafel on this visit, so we stopped off at the famous Abouelafia and Sons. The legendary Abouelafia bakery, an Arab-Israeli-run establishment, has been in operation since 1879. Open 24 hours a day, it offers long bagels, many kinds of pita, sambusak stuffed with cheese, and savoury sesame-studded bourekas. We opted for a sit down meal in their second location opposite, and thoroughly enjoyed the freshly baked pita bread stuffed with hot falafel balls and creamy hummus.

Our final stop of the day was at the Jaffa Flea Market, or in Hebrew, Shuk Hapishpishim. This neighbourhood of alleyways, covered walkways and outdoor verandas has been operating for more than 100 years across the same sprawling streets, and is one of the highlights of Jaffa. Filled every day with tourists and locals alike, the market is a clash between the old and the new, a place where you can find Israeli antiques from the 1960s, second-hand clothes, brass, old Persian carpets and jewellery, along with some good restaurants and several boutiques selling new products that mix in flawlessly with the antiques. The market is lively and the atmosphere great! It was the perfect place to end our visit to Jaffa.

* This post has been shared on Pictorial Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Wednesday around the World, Wednesday Blog Hop and The Happy Now Blog Link- Up.