Israel has surpassed the 3-million-tourist mark for 2010, breaking the annual record for tourists set in 2008. More than 60% of tourists are Christians and the nation’s goal is to reach 5 million tourists a year by 2015.
Last week’s annual meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society was attended by Ferrell Jenkins, who provides summaries of many of the lectures. Aren Maeir has posted his observations of one day of the ASOR meetings.
The Magdala excavations are continuing around the calendar and photos are now posted from November.
Israel is calling on the Palestinian leadership to reject the “study” that the Jewish people have no right to the Western Wall.
The PBS Special “Quest for Solomon’s Mines” is now available online, though viewing in some
countries is not permitted. UCSD’s role in the feature is discussed in a campus news story.
I have not yet seen it, but a trusted reader tells me that Anson Rainey’s Teaching History and Historical Geography of Bible Lands: A Syllabus that I mentioned here before “consists almost entirely of the text of biblical passages, without any commentary or other notes.” You might browse it before you buy.
This week I read A Promise Kept, a new book produced by Insight for Living. Subtitled “A Pictorial Journey of the Coming of Christ,” the beautifully illustrated and superbly written book was just what I needed to start the Christmas season. It’s available this month for a donation and will be on sale in the IFL store in December.
One thought on “Weekend Roundup”
Having been in Israel in late October this year, I can personally attest that it was completely crazy. During trip we were bird-dogged by a 5 bus Benny Hinn tour, along with several other one and two bus groups. We still had Hazor to ourselves though. 🙂