Hello! I haven't traveled in a long time and wish to visit Israel, but I'm stuck between 2 tours and hope some kind soul will help me decide maybe??? These are the tours:
(1) http://americaisrael.us/specialtravel.html
(2) http://www.itastours.com/israel-tours-spring.htm

The price comes to about the same, but I do not know these 2 companies. If anyone knows them I'd be so grateful to let me know.

I read the hotel reviews in both tours and they weren't good, except for only one or 2 hotels in each tour with 5 stars - the rest were considered not so good...

I need to send deposit by Tue. 3-21. Thanks ever so much for any suggestions?

isreal is not considered asia so you probably will have little luck on this site

Thank you, I know it, but I couldn't find the Middle East. Mysteriously I found it when I came here again...

Israel is in Asia. If you do a Fodor search on Israel it will appear under the heading "forum: Asia."

huh?

Hi basingstoke
There are a list of countries in the box at the top of the page with search next to it - these are the countries that are included in the Asia forum. Israel is not one of them

post under the Africa/Mid East section

Aloha!

It might solve a few problems if Israel could be towed off to Asia, but last time I looked it seemed to be securely anchored on the Mediterranean side of what's usually considered the Middle East.

Hi Neil_Oz, The Midde East is not a continent. Never was - Some countries of the Middle East are in Africa e.g., Egypt. Others are in Asia e.g., Israel.

On the Fodor forum site and type in Israel in the search box. Hit search. There will be a list of postings on the left side of the screen labled "Forum: Asia, Text: Israel.

We don't care how the search function on fodors.com work. We just know that if you want questions answered about Israel, you don't post on this board.

Hi, basingstoke1. I know the Middle East is a somewhat loose geographical concept and not a continent - but IMO not quite so loose as to exclude Israel.

If you look at the country list alongside the 'search' box Israel is on the Africe & ME forum, not the Asia forum. This seems commonsense to me in terms of most people's understanding of what constitutes the ME region.

From a continental perspective you could certainly place Israel in Asia - but that would mean that ALL the countries (except Egypt) that we think of as the "Middle East", most of them well to the east of Israel, would also be in Asia - in which case what would be the point of having an "Africa & the Middle East" forum at all?

IATA's definition of the Middle East is widely accepted and covers Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian Territory, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

this sounds like the europe board!!

And about time too! Sometimes this board is just too well-behaved.

Basingstoke - if you did a search for London whilst on the asia board you would find references to it - but you wouldn't put a post for London on this board. When you search for 'Israel' on the Asia board, that is all you are doing - searching for references to Israel. It doesn't mean that Fodors classifies Israel as being in Asia, just that there are mentions of it on the board. You are correct that geographically Israel belongs to Asia but it is at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia and as fodors have grouped it with countries classified as Africa & ME, clearly you are going to get better responses to your question there

Thanks for the info on how the Fodor board works. I just did not read far enough down the list - just until Asia and clicked on there since I knew that is the continent where Israel is located. It brought me here.

The Fodors board is divided geographically, but not necessarily by continent. Witness Caribbean, Latin America, Middle East...

Good one Neil Oz

what I don't understand is why you have to go to the Latin America section to post anything about South America.

Aloha!

hawaiiantraveler, I'm pretty sure it's because they all speak Latin down there (wasn't that Dan Quayle's take on it?)
Cheers,
Neil