ISLAND IN TIME

From Mahmoud Darwish, Poet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Darwish 
An Ancient Coastline

Gaza is not the most beautiful city.

Its shore is not bluer than the shores of Arab cities.

Its oranges are not the most beautiful in the Mediterranean basin.

Gaza is not the richest city.

It is not the most elegant or the biggest, but it equals the history of an entire homeland, because it is more ugly, impoverished, miserable, and vicious in the eyes of enemies.

Because it is the most capable, among us, of disturbing the enemy’s mood and his comfort. Because it is his nightmare. Because it is mined with oranges; children without a childhood; old men without old age; and women without desires. Because of all this it is the most beautiful, the purest and richest among us and the one most worthy of love."

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  . . .For a few days a place called Gaza appeared between dreams. The old harbour of Gaza may currently be experiencing reinvestment delays but the sun shines as beautiful here as on any other part of the eastern Mediterranean coastline.

The crowds here might make one believe they were in any part of downtown Cairo.

In time, hostility may not end, but its substance might evolve to resemble a minor disagreement over tax revenue and appropriate use of firearms. And that evolution for Gaza is still somewhere down the road  . .

 . . . in the undiscovered country.

Cross Currents

    . . . in time and water often find their way back to where they once began.

 

 The beaches of Tel Aviv are much the same - perhaps just a little cleaner and more appreciated than when last visited.

As despair, revolutions and hope rise and fall in the region, the White City keeps shining brighter. Streets are jammed with all sorts of people enjoying a freedom unimaginable beyond the national borders. Students of civilization come from everywhere to study improving restaurants, viticulture, dance and theatre, making it hard for the Time Traveler to find a vacant hotel room.

   www.gotelaviv.co.il

Like a City in the clouds, Tel Aviv's skyline hovers above Ramallah  - as viewed from 40 kilometres away in the Palestinian hills.

WHITE CITY

Early last century, european architects and immigrants brought new ideas about building design to the eastern shores of the Mediterrenean. This idea gave birth to the “white city” comprising thousands of homes inspired by the Bauhaus philosophy of architecture - the only City comprised mostly of Bauhaus designs. On Rothschild Avenue a UNESCO plaque documents the world heritage status of the city.

The website of the Bauhaus Institute of Tel Aviv provides a wealth of detailed information . . . .

ttp://www.bauhaus-center.com/

Today, enterprising tour guides lead tourists through neighbourhoods along Rothschild Avenue - describing the young history of Tel Aviv and how the original designs continue to be reflected in new construction.