Rabbi Dale Cohen's blog

The millions of people who will visit Jerusalem's Old City this year can now save on admission to the city's most famous sites with the HolyPass. The new smart card provides access to two major sites-such as the City of David National Park, the Jerusalem Archaeological Park and the Burnt House of Kathros-in addition to three other Old City attractions, including the Ariel Center for Jerusalem in the First Temple Period, the Ramparts Walk, the Roman Plaza and Zedekiah's Cave. The HolyPass-which costs $25 for adults, $13 for children and is valid for one week-is available for purchase at tourist sites throughout the Old City, and at many Jerusalem hotels; travel agents can purchase group passes (valid for 10 people) through the HolyPass website.

www.holypass.co.il

Following the launch of Delta Airlines' March 2008 launch of new daily flights to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport from New York JFK, several international airlines have debuted new daily flights to Israel. British Midland (www.flybmi.com) recently began daily flights between London's Heathrow and Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airports, with connecting flights to the US and Canada on Star Alliance partner airlines. Czech Airlines (www.czechairlines.com) will also increase its summer service from Prague to Tel Aviv from seven flights per week (in 2007) to 11 flights (in summer 2008). And the Vatican's airline, Opera Romana, is expected to debut six weekly flights from Rome and Verona to Israel, two of which will fly to Ovda Airport in the southern city of Eilat.

From Israeli Ministry of Tourism

Prime Minister Olmert has started talks with Syria. These talks are sparked by the continuous requests by the "shelf agreement" and road map concept advanced by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Various polls in Israel show that 65-70% of the Israeli's are against the giving up of the Golan to Syria. Yet the U.S. government is continuing to put pressure on Israel to give it up and to go back to the pre 1967 boundaries. For Israel to give up the Golan would be equavilant to commiting suicide. When will the world realize that the Palestinians have no plan to make peace with Israel? Palestinian leaders currently are completely unable to deliver on any of their obligations under the "old" road map. They will only make demands on Israel, put pressure on the United States to put pressure on Israel and give nothing in return.