Wednesday 30 December 2015
Alwayswriteagain: ‘We’re Not in Kansas Any More’!
Monday 28 December 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Make Eating a Joy
Sunday 20 December 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: It's Never, Ever, 'All Over'.
Saturday 19 December 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Still Sowing Wild 'Oates'!
Friday 18 December 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Poetry with Punch
Tuesday 8 December 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Then – and Now
Monday 7 December 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Rudolf Abel’s Anglo-Jewish Connection?
Sunday 6 December 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: ‘Time for You and Time for Me’
Monday 23 November 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: The World Is Their Wedding
Friday 13 November 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Brave New World in Galilee!
Thursday 12 November 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Coco the Swinger - Another Wandering Jew
Sunday 8 November 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Where the Cage Bird Was Forced to Sing
Saturday 31 October 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: The Most Beloved One of All
Wednesday 21 October 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘The Art of Impalement’
Monday 19 October 2015
Karmiel Writers Group Expands!
© Natalie Wood (19 October 2015)
Friday 16 October 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: The Jewish Poet of Sri Lanka
Tuesday 13 October 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Days of Rage
Alwayswriteagain: Living in Fear
Friday 9 October 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Herschel Silverman –‘Beat Poet Candy Man’
Monday 5 October 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Sorry, I Wrote!
Friday 2 October 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: This Dinner Guest’s Personal Exodus?
Alwayswriteagain: Walks on the Wild – and Wet – Side!
Friday 25 September 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘Saving Private Grief’
Tuesday 22 September 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: The Burden of Great Age
Saturday 19 September 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Why Hungarian Envoy Loves Israel
Alwayswriteagain: Why Hungarian Envoy Loves Israel
Tuesday 15 September 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: A Day of Love - and Hatred
Sunday 6 September 2015
Alwayswriteagain: כתיבה וחתימה טובה 5776
Tuesday 1 September 2015
Alwayswriteagain: From This Weakness Comes Forth Strength!
Saturday 29 August 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Reigns in Spain – Mainly All the Same!
Friday 28 August 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: ‘Matis’ Affair Proves Jews Still Tried for Their B...
Saturday 22 August 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: At the Art Café, Tzfat
Friday 21 August 2015
Alwayswriteagain: The Love of Complete Contempt
Alwayswriteagain: A Glimpse of ‘The Threat Beneath’
Tuesday 11 August 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Naughty – but Nice!
Saturday 1 August 2015
Alwayswriteagain: A Most Sacred Circle of Friends
Monday 27 July 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: His God Was Sun!
Saturday 25 July 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: From Pakistan to Israel – in Peace
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Another Prize for a Poet of Peace
Tuesday 21 July 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Reuben Rose Poetry Competition 2015
Sunday 19 July 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: When Fantasy Meets Reality
PerfectlyWritePoetry: When Fantasy Meets Reality
Alwayswriteagain: All Heart and No Heart: The Debate About Jewish Id...
Friday 17 July 2015
Alwayswriteagain: In His Own Words …
Alwayswriteagain: Return of a Wandering Star
Friday 3 July 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: All Their Sons
Thursday 2 July 2015
Alwayswriteagain: THURSDAY IN THE PARK WITH ESRA KARMIEL!
Monday 29 June 2015
Alwayswriteagain: “We’re All Israelis”– Bedouin Envoy
Sunday 28 June 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘The Price of Love’
Saturday 27 June 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Whistling in the Dark!
Thursday 18 June 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Aching for the Past
Saturday 13 June 2015
Key Preliminary Findings of the High Level International Military Group on the Gaza Conflict « View from Geneva
This is a stonking piece of "we told you so". Shame it's almost 12 months too late!
Thursday 11 June 2015
Alwayswriteagain: A Good Shepherd Who Loves Israel
Tuesday 2 June 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Poetic Slivers from a Dreary Slice of Life
Tuesday 26 May 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Debbie’s P.A.W.S. in Israel!
Sunday 24 May 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘A Witness to Israeli Racism Speaks Out’
PerfectlyWritePoetry: A ‘Need’ to Break the Silence!
Saturday 23 May 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘On First Looking into Hitchcock’s Holocaust’
Friday 15 May 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: The Mourning After
Monday 11 May 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Jews Imprisoned by the Colour of Their Skin
Saturday 9 May 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: The End of FridayFlash.org.?
Tuesday 5 May 2015
Alwayswriteagain: The Christian Gospel - According to Amos Oz!
Thursday 30 April 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Israeli Voters Examine Their Scars
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Alas, Poor Yolek!
Wednesday 22 April 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Eating Soul Food!
Saturday 18 April 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: ‘This Ghastly Masquerade’
Thursday 16 April 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: She Will Never Be Silenced!
Wednesday 15 April 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Holocaust Day - Yom Hashoa 2015
Friday 10 April 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Still Alice – and Richard, Too!
Thursday 9 April 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: A Poetic Gift From a Shah – Fit for a Queen!
Wednesday 8 April 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Two More Very Narrow Bridges …
Tuesday 7 April 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: The Afterlife of a Wandering Sailor-Poet
Monday 6 April 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Talking - Eating – Poetry!
Tuesday 31 March 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: A Prize for Hebrew Poetry?
Monday 30 March 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: Giving a Dissident Poet More Space
Sunday 29 March 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘The Best of the Rest –a Modern Fairy Tale’
Thursday 26 March 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: His Name Now Carved in History
Wednesday 25 March 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘Sugar Cones and Salt Men’
Monday 23 March 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘The Regal Bones’
Friday 20 March 2015
PerfectlyWriteFamilyTales: ‘Hello, Dolly!’
Wednesday 11 March 2015
Alwayswriteagain: Shechita-Halal Protection May Still Be Debated at ...
Sunday 8 March 2015
PerfectlyWritePoetry: How They Worked It Out
Saturday 7 March 2015
Alwayswriteagain: ‘Gaza Man’– the Video Game Teaching How to Maim an...
Alwayswriteagain: How Indian Women Stay Alive …
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Alwayswriteagain: The Illusion of Jewish Security
Alwayswriteagain: UK Muslims ‘Sympathise’ with Charlie Hebdo Attack
Tuesday 24 February 2015
Truth, Tourism Among Top Casualties of War
If truth is the first casualty of war, in Israel, tourism runs a very close second.
During 2014, for example, after a spectacular 18 per cent jump during the first half of the year, visitor totals later crashed by an overall seven per cent because of Operation Protective Edge – the IDF’s invasion of Gaza.
Indeed, the 182,000 recorded visitors to Israel during August marked the lowest total for the month since 2006 – the year of the Second Lebanon War.
Instead, Israelis fled in their droves and trips abroad during July and August rose by two per cent compared to the same period in 2013.
In September, soon after the war ended, Tourism Minister Uzi Landau revealed that incoming tourism had plummeted by 20-30% during the hostilities but it was estimated that matters would be back to normal within three-six months.
However, while Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug expressed confidence that the war would have only a ‘moderate effect’ on the economy, she warned soon after it ended that its impact on certain sectors, especially tourism, was likely to continue for some time.
Her words now seem prophetic as recent IDF-Hezbollah clashes in the Golan have had a harsh effect on domestic tourism.
Indeed, I’ve seen the consequences first-hand while dining at two excellent eateries.
The first, in July, was at the Eitz Tut (Mulberry Tree) Restaurant deep in the artists’ quarter of Tzfat, the famous holy hilltop city of mystic piety.
The other, during January, was at Bella Mia, an Italian Grill Bar in Ma'alot-Tarshiha, a mixed Jewish-Arab town, near to both Karmiel and the coastal resort of Nahariya.
Eitz Tut, in Tet Vav Street and adjacent to the Khan of the White Donkey cultural centre, was previously known as Isidora. The new owner has renamed it in honour of the splendid, ancient tree that provides a presiding presence over both the trellised courtyard and patrons while they dine.
As customers were so few the day we visited, the friendly young owner’s wife and infant daughter enjoyed their own meal at a table directly under the tree while he served us.
It was, as my husband observed, war or no war, an idyllic setting on a perfect summer late afternoon. The only thing missing was more company for us all!
Although Eitz Tut is not fully vegetarian, the menu is varied and between us we chose an imaginative blue cheese salad and a pasta dish accompanied by hearty bread, followed by suitably indulgent desserts. An English language menu is available on request.
Our only caveat was that when we visited, the restaurant was not open in the evening. This policy may have changed but I can offer no further details as none are apparent on the web. I must presume this is because of the relatively recent change in owners.
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Bella Mia is billed as ‘romantic’ but also suitable for families with children! Whatever the reason for an outing there, we found it eccentrically fetching with its log cabin facade and European bar interior.
Again, we noted a dearth of fellow diners but were greeted by extremely friendly and efficient staff who provided a full English language menu.
Portions at Bella Mia are extremely generous and soon we began to wish we had not devoured such large starters of home-made bread and savoury dips!
Dishes each of richly flavoured ravioli and spaghetti followed in speedily served succession, with a grand finale of a shared giant slab of excellent cheesecake.
As we visited Bella Mia on a dark, cold winter’s evening, we could not take advantage of the attractive outdoor seating that overlooks spectacular countryside.
But Bella Mia, like Eitz Tut, is well worth a second visit, so we’ll be back to both soon.
Bella Mia is open: Sunday – Saturday- 10:00 - 12:00 midnight.
Email: Bella_mia@walla.com
Tel: 04-957-5075
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This piece first appeared in the March 2015 edition of Live Encounters magazine (http://liveencounters.net/?p=9988) edited by Mark Ulyseas, a faithful supporter of Israel and all matters Jewish.
© Natalie Wood (24 February 2015)