The Arava is beautiful and well worth the time spent there. BUT the prices are beyond the average Israeli. 480 NIS for a couple to sleep one night? What about food, transport and water bottles? Average Salaries are still 6000 - 7000 NIS a month - with cost of living taking more than 80%. Why not offer "local" prices for Israelis and residents? It is our Arava - but we need options to allow us to enjoy it.

An Arabian babbler, I could not help but laugh.. Perhaps we can apply this to further negotiations with our neighbors!

Correction: this is called Araba nor Arava. It has been a policy to change the names of many places so that they look like Hebrew names.

Arava and Araba are the exact same word. The "v" and "b" are simply interchangable (as is the case with many semetic lettters). Aravah is the term used in the Bible - many hundreds of years before modern Arabic entered the region.

Why let that stop his ignorance? Perhaps for him, his history books start in 1948 or maybe the 600's if you figure in for Muhammed. There are civilizations older than his and every conquering civilization always gave mostly new names to the places they took over from their former owners. The Romans did it the Jews and the Arabs did it to the Romans, but there were Hebrew names to all these places before they were Arab. Getting back to the original point though, you are right, Kate, and #3 needs to learn more than whatever they are teaching in Ramallah

What you said just affirms what I have said in my note. The name Araba indicates that this land belongs to the Arabs. This explains the name Araba or Arava. In Hebrew Arabs are Aravim. In other words even the Bible affirms that this is the land of the Arabs not the Jews. If the name is "yehoda" them it can be Jewish.

Sometimes it is better to sit quiet and resist the urge to say something,and in your case you are a perfect example for that, Your first talkback can be atributed to simply not knowing a fact or two,for which JK and KATE were so kind to teach you something new. Your second talk back just shows the deep deficiency in your education. Stay out of subjects you know didley squat about. Or you will continue to show us how uneducated and backwards you and your people are.

There that 'ol education showing. There were no 'Arabs' until there was 'Arabia' And at the time of the Romans, the piece of land you mentioned was called Idumea because you know who lived there? the Edomites (and maybe the Nabateans there and to the east)... I mean, learn some history...geeez...no need to throw your ignorance around the internet for all to see.

For gods sake, this is an artical about taking a break in the Arava desert. Why do you people always have to turn it into a political bloody debate??? Grow up, get your facts right and stop your pettiness. Its people like you that ruin everything.

Agreed. BTW, I made a specific point when I was in Israel last to drive down to Eilat via the Arava rather than taking Arkia. It is on of the more inspiring places in all of Israel. I love it for the same reasons I love the north. The sheer beauty of it. The multicolored cliffs are great It sad to see all those memorials down the side of the Arava. I didnt know what they were at first until it was explained to me that they were for people who died in car crashes. Terrible stuff. The Arava is beautiful people. Visit it. You wont be disappointed....unless you want to beach. Then you WILL be disppointed :)

When visiting Israel I go to visit a dear friend in Eilat and make a point to rent a car and drive down there. I try to take a slightly different route each time. Highly recommended: drive through Negev via Beersheva to Mitzpe Ramon and Machtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater)--pass through areas with Nabatean settlements--then meet the Arava highway and down to Eilat.

Thats the way I drove back FROM Eilat. Great ride, especially the rise out of the crater as you approach Mitzpeh Ramon....zig zag, zig zag...all the way up that mountainside. I think you also mentioned that Nabatean fortress ay Ovda. Personally, I got lost around Be'er Sheva trying to find the highway north. I'm telling you...I love Israel, but it's one of the worst signed places I've ever been.

I do not mean to be rude, but your information on the Arabian Babblers is slightly incorrect. I studied them in Hazeva with Amotz Zahavi. They do wake at dawn, but soon leave the branches of the roost tree. The stay mostly on the ground foraging for food. Also, they do not stay "permanently on the nature reserve." Many times they go into the moshav, the greenhouses, cross over the Jordanian border, and etc. Some of the more interesting groups to see live not in the reserve, but a little north of it. Also, they do come for food, but you don't have to have worms or bread to see them. By whistling, many will come to you. Some will even perch on your hand or peck at your toes. They are very interesting, and definitely worth going to see. The staff at Hazeva are very knowledgeable about the birds and the surrounding area. Hope this helps.