Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and Armenia after their earthquakes in 1985 and 1988, respectively. After the devastating earth-
quake in Haiti in 2010, Israel sent ten tons of medical equipment and more than 200 people,
including doctors, nurses, medics, police, and a search-and-rescue team. Israel set up the fi rst
fi eld hospital in Haiti, which treated at least 500 victims a day.
Israel was relatively late in beginning to deal with environmental problems compared to
Western industrial states, but the country's small size and its ecosystem's delicate balance have
forced it to take such problems very seriously. The tendency had been to use the relatively
unpopulated Negev as a dumping ground, especially Dudaim and Ramat Hovav, the location
of the two main waste disposal sites. The latter opened in 1979 to hold toxic waste. According
to studies, leakage has led to higher rates of birth defects and cancer in the local population.
The sharp increase in the number of automobiles — from 1 million in 1990 to 2.5 million
less than a decade later —brought a major increase in air pollution and traffi c within cit-
ies. The contamination of limited water supplies by industry is also a leading concern. Lo-
cal governments have implemented vehicle and fuel standards to reduce pollution in line
with European practices and promoted alternative fuels such as electricity and liquefi ed pe-
troleum gas.
Israel has been among the world leaders in recycling, however. About 70 percent of waste
water is recycled — triple the percentage for any other country. Overall recycling rates of mate-
rials rose from 3 percent in the early 1990s to 21 percent in 2008. New facilities have been built
and innovative methods have been used. The target for 2020 is a 50 percent recycling rate.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Given Israel's long history and its location at a geographical and cultural crossroads, it is one
of the most important and productive areas in the world for archaeology. Archaeology became
something of a national hobby, with the participation of many amateurs as well as academic
archaeologists from Israel and other countries.
Finds date back to the Stone Age. Archaeologists discovered ancient human remains in the
Carmel mountain range and a site in the Jordan Valley where prehistoric hunters killed and
butchered an elephant. One of the most spectacular early fi nds, made in the central hill coun-
try, was the city of Megiddo (the Biblical Armageddon).
Many discoveries relate to Biblical history. They date back to the Iron Age and the arrival of
the Israelites and continue up through the Roman, Muslim, and Crusader periods. Gezer was
the fi rst Biblical-era city excavated, and the material uncovered tended to confi rm the main
outlines of the history recounted in the Jewish Bible. Two of the most signifi cant fi nds were
Masada, where Jews held out until they committed suicide to avoid capture during the revolt
against Rome, and the Dead Sea scrolls, among the earliest known texts of the Bible. Other
notable fi nds date to the Roman and Byzantine periods and include entire cities, beautiful
mosaic fl oors, and synagogues.
The Islamic authorities who control the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the al-Aqsa
Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located, have repeatedly discarded materials excavated
during construction and repair projects that have been shown to contain important archaeo-
logical artifacts. Upon examining this waste, Israeli archaeologists discovered many artifacts
 
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