Contemporary History Israel Tours

DAY ONE – Welcome to Israel and to Tel-Aviv. Afternoon Arrival to Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. You will be met by our Diesenhaus representative and be introduced to your dedicated Israeli History professional who will be accompanying your group and serving as your guide during the complete trip. The bus ride from the Airport to downtown Tel-Aviv takes about thirty minutes. After check-in and some time to unpack and freshen up you are invited to a welcome cocktail reception and dinner at the hotel. Overnight in Tel Aviv. 

DAY TWO – Tel Aviv Introduction.

This will be your first morning in Israel and your first chance to enjoy Israel’s famous breakfast tradition – an unusually rich selection of dairy, pastry, eggs, smoked fish, vegetables, fruit and beverages. After breakfast you will join your fellow travelers at one of the hotel’s conference rooms for a four-hour introductory lecture given by your guide. The lecture will provide you with an opportunity to meet your expert and hear a comprehensive lecture about Israel’s contemporary history with emphasis on the places you will be visiting. Around noon time you will have a short break to get some rest following your incoming flight and/or stroll the colorful Carmel open market, Tel-Aviv’s trendy Neve Tzedek district or take a leisurely walk on the “Tayelet” – Tel Aviv’s bustling boardwalk overlooking the Mediterranean, all are just a short walk from your hotel. Early afternoon you will be taken on a guided walking tour of “The Station” where in 1890 a railway station was constructed as an end point for the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway – a major stepping stone to the revival of Jewish habitation in Israel. The railway was envisioned by Moses Montefiore in 1857 and by the 1890’s was serving many pilgrims and newcomers to Israel including Theodore Herzel. In the 1920’s, under British rule, a new extension of railroad tracks was laid to connect the Jaffa-to-Jerusalem line with Tel-Aviv’s new railway station built just north of the new city’s center. From The Station exhibit complex, you will be taken to Old Jaffa, Tel-Aviv’s multicultural, ethnically diverse, history-soaked and colorfully attractive neighborhood. In Jaffa you will have a chance to learn about the area’s early Jewish residents who relocated from Jerusalem or arrived from destinations such as Morocco, leading to the formation in 1863 of the Jaffa Jewish Committee. You will hear about Jaffa’s vibrant Jewish cultural and religious revival and about the growth of this community in terms of commerce and society leading to the formation, just north of Jaffa, of two new Jewish neighborhoods - Neve Tzedek and Neve Shalom in 1887. These neighborhoods were the direct precursors of Tel-Aviv. You will hear about how Israel’s first bank, the Anglo-Palestine Bank, and first educational institution, the Hebrew Gymnasium, were founded in Jaffa. In the evening you will have a chance to explore Jaffa’s eclectic mix of contemporary galleries, shops, Churches, and Mosques, and enjoy Dinner at one of Jaffa’s exceptional restaurants and return the short distance to your hotel for your second overnight in Tel-Aviv.

DAY THREE – Palmach Museum, Mikve Israel, Zichron and Atlit.

After Breakfast and an early start your bus will take you to the Palmach Museum in Tel-Aviv. The Palmach Museum will provide you with an opportunity to learn about the elite fighting force of the Haganah, established in 1941 as an underground army during the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach played an integral role in the relations between Israelis and the English before 1948 and was a crucial and determining force in the War of Independence. The museum narrates the Palmach’s history and its significant contribution to Israel’s political, social and cultural heritage. From the Palmach museum you will travel to Mikveh Israel, the first Jewish agricultural school in Israel established by Charles Netter of the French Jewish organization Alliance in 1870. Netter pioneered progressive educational methods to teach agriculture as a new way of life for the future inhabitants of Israel. Over the years Mikve has taken part in the most dramatic chapters of Israel’s history––as a base for the pre-state defense force, the Haganah, and a home for waves of new immigrant children. A guided tour brings alive the old gate, the synagogue, the Karl Netter House and other attractions at the site, which is dipped in greenery, including its famous Bengali Ficus tree planted by the Mikve’s pioneering landscape gardeners around 1888. You can also descend deep underground to the cool arched halls of the stone-carved wine-cellar, built in 1883. From Mikve Israel you will travel north along the coastal road to Zichron Ya’akov, one of the first Jewish settlements in Israel founded in 1882 and visit the old town, the Aaronson House and stop by the first winery in Israel built by the Baron de Rothschild in 1885. Zichron Ya'akov was founded in December 1882 when 100 Jewish pioneers from Romania, members of the Hovevei Zion movement, purchased land in Zammarin. In 1883, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild became the patron of the settlement and drew up plans for its residential layout and agricultural economy. Zichron was one of the first Jewish agricultural colonies to come under the wing of the Baron (along with Rishon LeZion and Rosh Pina), who renamed it in memory of his father. To accomplish his first objective, Baron de Rothschild brought in planners who designed and allotted housing lots along the main road for the use of settlement farmers. Each lot included a house facing the street, a long interior courtyard and a rear building for storing agricultural implements. The French-inspired architecture included tiled roofs and painted wooden windows. In 1885 Rothschild helped to establish the first winery in Israel, the Carmel Winery, together with a bottling factory, in Zichron Ya'akov. Today, the winery remains in action, as do the huge wine cellars that were carved into the mountain over a century ago. From Zichron your bus will travel a short distance to  the Atlit detainee camp, a detention camp established to prevent Jewish refugees from entering Palestine by British authorities at the end of the 1930s. Tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants were interned at the camp, which was surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. After concluding the comprehensive visit to Atlit, you will board your bus and continue north along the coastal road to Haifa – capital of northern Israel and the country’s largest commercial seaport. In Haifa your bus will ascend Mount Carmel along a panoramic road that overlooks northern Israel and the Galilee. On clear days Mount Hermon, the tallest peak in the Middle East is clearly visible. Your bus will do a quick photo-op stop at the lower entrance to the Baha’i Shrine & Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and then continue on to the where you will enjoy dinner at your hotel, an evening stroll along the Carmel panoramic walkway overlooking the city and an overnight in Haifa. 

DAY FOUR – Exploring Israeli Pioneers in the Galilee.

Today you will explore the history of Israel’s pioneer communities in the Galilee and early agricultural settlement in the region. Your guide will provide expert historical insight at each location. After breakfast at the hotel in Haifa, you will board your bus and drive to Kibbutz Ein Harod, the first Kibbutz in Israel. The kibbutz was founded by Russian Jewish pioneers of the second and third Aliya in 1921 on a tract of land near a railway station in the Jezreel Valley. The kibbutz played an important role in the defense of the area during the 1936 Arab revolt in Palestine, during which it was the base of Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads. The kibbutz has exceptional significance in the history of Israel’s road to independence and in the country’s patriotic culture. From Ein Harod you will travel along the Jezreel Valley to Gan Hashlosha National Park where you will visit a restoration of Tel Amal, established on the night of December 10, 1936 as one of the Tower and Stockade settlements set up by Jewish pioneers in the face of British Mandate opposition. The rooms in which the pioneers lived feature an exhibit of daily objects and a 10-minute film in the restored dining hall depicts life during the time of the Arab revolt (1936-1939). You will be able to take a refreshing stroll through the lush tropical park where warm spring water emerges to form the Amal Stream and picturesque pools. From Tel-Amal your bus will travel north from Beit Shean, along the Jordan Rift Valley, to Kibbutz Gesher, founded in 1939 by German immigrants from Germany and named after the neighboring Naharayim ridge over the Jordan River. The kibbutz was founded in 1939 as a Tower and Stockade settlement on lands bought with the help of Edmond de Rothschild. In Gesher you will hear about battles with Iraqi forces in 1948 and the region’s duress during the War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970 when the kibbutz was attacked by the PLO operating out of Jordan. After the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, the kibbutz established a museum that documents the history of Gesher and the Jewish-run power station of Naharayim. From Gesher you will travel to Kibbutz Degania Aleph, the first kibbutz established on October 29th, 1910 by Zionist pioneers. On May 20, 1948 during the Battles of the Kinarot Valley, Degania Alef repelled a Syrian attack. Degania Alef has been home to many prominent Israelis and members of the Yishuv. The poet Rachel, the "prophet of labor" A.D. Gordon, and Joseph Trumpeldor, all worked at Degania Alef, whilst many early members of Degania Alef left to found other kibbutzim. Moshe Dayan was the second child born in Degania Alef. In 1981, Degania Alef was awarded the Israel Prize, for its special contribution to Israel’s society and history. Near Degania you will visit the Kinneret Courtyard – a National Historic Site - where many of Israel’s major institutions were founded. To the east you will visit a historic cemetery where many pioneers and leaders of the Labor movement are buried including Israel’s prolific composer and songwriter Naomi Shemer. Following your visit to this amazing part of Israel’s history you will board your bus and travel the short distance to Tiberias where you will have dinner on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and check in at your hotel for an overnight stay in Tiberias.

DAY FIVE – The Golan Heights.

After breakfast at your hotel in Tiberias, you will board your bus and drive to the Golan Heights, ascending gradually to the high volcanic plateau from which the Syrian army once terrorized Israel’s Northern Galilee. Today will be one of the most important and fascinating days of your tour, dense with relevant history that reflects the crux issues of Israel’s precarious security situation. On the way to, and during the various stops, your guide will highlight points of interest and discuss the region’s unique geography and history. Your first stop will be at Tel Facher, a Russian built Syrian bunker fortress that harassed Israel’s Galilee Panhandle from 1948 till the Six Day War in 1967. You will learn about and explore the remnants of this Syrian base with your guide, or just wander around the trenches in the 50 year old footsteps of the Golani Brigade soldiers who captured the mountaintop. You will continue exploring significant Golan locations related to the 1967 and 1973 wars: The Bental outlook from which you will see Syria’s landscape to the east; The Quneitra lookout which overlooks the abandoned city of Quneitra in the DMZ; The Bacha outlook from which you can see an area in which heroic Israeli units thwarted Syrian attacks in the Yom Kippur War; The Shalom overlook – another site from which Syrian bunkers harassed Israel’s northern Galilee; and the Gadot overlook commemorating the perseverance of Kibbutz Gadot’s 20 years of suffering on the Syrian border. Later you will visit the Kesem Hagolan Center in the central town of Katzerin where you will also be able to learn some more about the Golan’s geological attributes and enjoy a light lunch, wine tasting, a tour at the Golan Winery and a beer sampling from one of Israel’s finest Breweries. Your bus will then descend from the Golan along the Sea of Galilee and travel to Kibbutz Ginosar – home of Yigal Alon the legendary Palmach commander and then return you back to your Tiberias hotel for dinner and an overnight stay.