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Thanks. When I really believe in something, I can sell it. If only every "product" was as wonderful as Israel. Here's some of my pics from my trip:

City of David, Jerusalem

Machpela

Inside Machpela, where the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried. This man is kissing the plaque, commemorating the grave of Jacob. The actual graves are far beneath the multi-story building.

The Kotel (Western Wall)

The young guardians of Israel, may they be blessed. They enter the army for obligatory service right out of high school.

An archaeologist explaining how the Arabs destroyed Jewish artifacts on the Temple Mount and dumped the rubble into the town dump, and how we were going to help out by sifting some of the rubble. I myself found some 1,000 y.o. Byzantine tile and other stuff. Some kids in our group found ancient coins.

Looking down at the Bahai Gardens from hotel room in Haifa.

Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, in the Gush Etzion region. This is where King David was born, where the Maccabees revolted against the Romans--and where Arabs slaughtered innocent Jewish kibbutzniks in the 1948 massacre. Five hundred and thirty five Jewish men and women held off an armed force ten times their size. 157 were killed. 128 of them massacred after surrender. I saw photos of people with their hands hacked off to stumps, gruesome hack wounds on bodies, people hacked up beyond recognition, murdered Jewish children.

The bunker where wounded, women and children took shelter. Arabs tossed a grenade into this bunker, killing all inside.

The Lone Oak, a 700 year old tree which was the only tree remaining in the area. After the destruction and slaughter of the 4 kibbutzim comprising the Gush Etzion communities, the survivors and their children would gather every year under this oak which became known as the "Lone Oak". After the 6-Day War, the children of the original kibbutzniks returned and reestablished their destroyed community. This tree is regarded as a symbol of renewal and continuity.