Israel - Tourists Unfazed by Gaza Pullout

By Daniella Peled
Published on September 1, 2005

For visitors to Israel this summer, the disengagement from the Gaza Strip proved hard to ignore.

"Everybody's orange," said Rebecca Kaminski, from Berlin, with a laugh, referring to the color adopted by the anti-disengagement activists. "I'm on the blue side, I guess."

Sitting on the beach in Netanya, the 22-year-old was working on her already impressive tan with a group of girlfriends, all students at a six-week summer ulpan, or Hebrew-language immersion course, in Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon.

They have not been deterred from visiting Israel during its exit from the Gaza settlements and parts of the West Bank.

Heeb Crosses the Pond

By Daniella Peled
Published on January 13, 2005

Does edgy Jewish humor translate? The New York-based magazine Heeb is coming to England -- but whether the United Kingdom's rather reserved Jewish population will appreciate the magazine's offbeat urban style remains to be seen.

The magazine's British launch was held recently at a plush theater in north London during a Jewish film festival, organized in association with the Jewish Community Centre for London.