Arwad Island in Syria

25 January 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  9 minutes

© NASA

© NASA

Arwad, the classical Aradus, is a town in Syria on an eponymous island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative center of the Arwad Subdistrict (nahiyah), of which it is the only locality. It is the only inhabited island in Syria. It is located 3 km (1.9 mi) from Tartus (the ancient Tortosa), Syria’s second-largest port. Today, Arwad is mainly a fishing town. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, during the 2004 census, it had a population of 4,403, predominantly Arab Sunni Muslims. Plans were unveiled in May 2016 to renovate the island to become a tourist attraction. The island is currently surrounded by ancient Phoenician era walls.   read more…

Meze

19 January 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  10 minutes

Israeli meze © flickr.com - Ted Eytan/cc-by-sa-2.0

Israeli meze © flickr.com – Ted Eytan/cc-by-sa-2.0

Meze (also spelled mezze or mezé) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in eastern Mediterranean cuisines: Syria, Iraq, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Armenia. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A meze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Meze are often served with spirits such as arak, rakia, raki, oghi, ouzo, or grappa at meyhane and ouzeri or at regular restaurants.   read more…

Caesarea in Israel

16 January 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Ricardo Tulio Gandelman/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Ricardo Tulio Gandelman/cc-by-2.0

Caesarea, also transliterated as Keisarya or Qaysaria, is an affluent resort town in north-central Israel, which was named after the ancient city of Caesarea Maritima situated 1–2 kilometres (0.62–1.24 mi) to the south in the adjacent Caesarea National Park. One of the most famous residents is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.   read more…

Monastery of Saint George of Choziba in Palestine

24 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Ester Inbar

© Ester Inbar

The Monastery of Saint George of Choziba, also known as Monastery of Choziba (or Hoziba) or Mar Jaris, is a monastery located in Wadi Qelt in Area C of the eastern West Bank, in the Jericho Governorate of the State of Palestine. The cliff-hanging complex, which emerged from a lavra established in the 420s and reorganised as a monastery around AD 500, with its ancient chapel and irrigated gardens, is active and inhabited by Greek Orthodox monks. It houses the relics of Saint George of Choziba, after whom the monastery is named, as well as the relics of Saint John of Choziba (420/450–520/530) and those of Saint John of Choziba the Romanian (1913–1960).   read more…

Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park in Israel

20 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  11 minutes

Crusaider Fortress © שבתשתיות - תיעוד פרויקטים בתחבורה/cc-by-sa-3.0

Crusaider Fortress © שבתשתיות – תיעוד פרויקטים בתחבורה/cc-by-sa-3.0

Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park is a national park in central Israel, containing a large network of caves recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The national park includes the remains of the historical towns of Maresha, one of the important towns of Judah during the First Temple Period, and Bayt Jibrin, a depopulated Palestinian town known as Eleutheropolis in the Roman era. However, Maresha and Bayt Jibrin are not part of the UNESCO site, which covers only the cave network. It is located 13 kilometers from Kiryat Gat.   read more…

Citadel of Acre

22 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Liorca/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Liorca/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Hospitaller commandery of Saint-Jean-d’Acre is a monumental complex founded by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitallers. It is located in the city of Saint-Jean-d’Acre (now Acre in Israel). In the 13th century, the commandery became the headquarters of the Order until the fall of the city in 1291. The Citadel is part of the UNESCO world heritage site “Old Town of Acre”.   read more…

First anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel

7 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  14 minutes

© Ecrusized/Rr016/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Ecrusized/Rr016/cc-by-sa-4.0

On 7 October 2023, the paramilitary wings of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and the DFLP launched a series of coordinated armed incursions into the Gaza envelope of neighboring Israeli territory, the first invasion of Israel since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. This incursion fell on the day of Simchat Torah, right after the festival of Sukkot, a Sabbath day. The attacks initiated the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, almost exactly 50 years after Operation Badr and the greater Yom Kippur War of 6 October 1973. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups named the attacks Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (or Deluge), while in Israel they are referred to as Black Saturday or the Simchat Torah Massacre and internationally as the 7 October attack.   read more…

Nahal Me’arot Nature Reserve in Israel

20 August 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  3 minutes

© Yitzhak Marmelstein/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Yitzhak Marmelstein/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Caves of Nahal Me’arot / Wadi el-Mughara (“Caves Creek”), named here by the Hebrew and Arabic name of the valley where they are located, are a UNESCO Site of Human Evolution in the Carmel mountain range near Haifa in northern Israel. The four UNESCO-listed caves are:   read more…

Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights

1 August 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  8 minutes

Golan Heights cherries © Palmon Adi/cc-by-2.5

Golan Heights cherries © Palmon Adi/cc-by-2.5

Majdal Shams is a predominantly Druze town in the Golan Heights, located in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. It is known as the informal “capital” of the region. Majdal Shams played a significant role in the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927 that was led by Druze leader Sultan Al-Atrash, who is commemorated by several monuments in the city. Beginning in the 1930s, Majdal Shams became involved in political developments in nearby Mandatory Palestine, and supported the Arab Palestinians during the 1948 Palestine war.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top