Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Israel & the Palestinian Territories (Country Guide)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I am generally a fan of lonely planet books, and have used them as a guide on other trips. This particular lonely planet guide disappoints. I found this book to provide precious few details about important Jewish sites. Significant space in the book is devoted to the authors' (one-sided) political commentary. The Let's Go guide is more comprehensive and informative (with less political fluff). I recommend skipping this particular lonely planet guide.

As a center for Judaism, Christianity, & Islam I was really excited about reading up on the section on Jerusalem. I'm planning to visit in May but after reading this guidebook, I'm left disheartened. This is the first time I've been disappointed by LP. This book doesn't do a good job of representing the 'Holy Land' traveler. The attitude that the best reason to visit sites with religious significance like the Church of the Ascension & The Mount of Olives are their 'spectacular views' is a let-down. Give me a break! The "Haram Ash-Sharif/Temple Mount" is covered very poorly. And forget about The Dome of the Rock which they didn't cover because it was only open to Muslims that day (probably because it was Friday- so SMART). I was expecting a guidebook on the 'Holy Land' to be a little more sensitive to the religious significance of the sites & would not try to serve as a reader on history tinged with political bias. I was expecting useful info like: what time to go, what is the best entrance, tips & shortcuts. For GOD'S SAKE get a Jewish, Christian, & Muslim correspondent to cover their respective sites so that they're adequately & accurately represented. This way pilgrim will find useful & relevant information. We don't need cut & paste history lessons.

The lack of available travel guides to Israel is amazing if you consider the amount of attention the world gives to this tiny state on the western Med. Most that are available are often outdated. Frommer's Israel 5th edition is perhaps the best overall but should have been updated better. Lonely Planet's guide, biased and ill informed, is the worst. Eyewitness's guide is great for background info. Fodor's guide is new and I haven't looked it over yet. If you are visiting Israel, you might be better served to buy guides when you get there. Several I have seen that are area and city specific are a lot better than what is available in generic country guides. If you must purchase ahead of time, or need to research your trip before leaving, Frommer's book will serve you well, not this one however. Lonely Planet's books are often amusing as the editors tend to editorialize a lot in many of there guides. Not here. The editor's prejudices are all too obvious.

I share a prior view that this guide gives too little attention to the sights, and sensuality of the Israeli experience and too much attention; an almost overbearing attention to political correctness and "fairness".
I got a lot more out of Fodor's 6th edition and look forward to buying the 7th. Having used and enjoyed LP guides before - I looked forward to using this one - but this one is a stinker.

I've used many Lonely Planet guides in the past, and was hoping that this one (the 5th edition) would be helpful in my trips to Israel (three in the past 18 months). Instead, this guide was a *huge* disappointment. First, the guide has far less information than others on sites in Israel itself, and there's little information on whether a site might be worthwhile or not. Equally important, though, is the consistently anti-Israel tone in the guide. For example, a section on architecture starts by describing Palestinian architecture, and then says that modern Israel "isn't known for its terrific architecture". Only later in the section does it admit that "Tel Aviv is a bastion of glorious Bauhaus design" that UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site. Then there's the comment that foreign passport holders might gain "kinky satisfaction" from their ability to travel through a barrier that denies West Bank Palestinians free passage.

If you want an Israel guide book that focuses on what to see and do rather than focusing on political correctness, go for the Frommer's Israel (Frommer's Complete) guidebook - we found it a lot more useful than this Lonely Planet guide.

The authors surprise with a critical attitude towards Christianity and Judaism. That is a pity for the traveller, since the interesting places are not situated in the realm of the Palaestinians. For Christian pilgrims this is irritating, the hypothermic style : Jesus is said to have performed miracles there", with the omission of detailed background information which in Israel is at least forcing itself on members of the cultural circle of the western hemisphere.
Israel has great world historical and religion historical importance with a multitude of monuments and archaeological interesting localities.
Notwithstanding the guide is thin, featureless, unmeaning, bland, trivial and often saying nothing at all. Composed unlovingly.
If you compare it with Lonely Planets voluminous Tibet guide, in which the most meaningless monasteries are hailed as worth seeing, then you ask yourself whether there is a lack of balance. Travel books should be unpolitical, impartial, but also with a sense for the meaning of the sites. Monasteries in Tibet have a minor meaning for world history. You can hardly say this about Nazareth or Kapernaum! How meager this guide is! Especially countries with a great cultural and historic heritage demand for authors who appreciate this and not just a statement like:
there is a café with a nice hangout". This guide conveys the impression that Lonely Planet wanted to fill a gap true to the motto:
ok. Let`s do a guide on Israel! At least a quick shot! A chance was missed! Israel deserved much better!

In the book you will find only the basic information;
here, in Israel, you have on each corner something to see and remember;
read and finish the book, before you will start travel;
make notes, and prepare for your self questions;
a native person can solve this easy;

I'm here to sell my copy of this book and can't believe how many negative comments there are. It's like a Zionist club got together and decided to bomb the comment board with negative reviews. I went to Israel last year, loved it, although was overwhelmed by it, especially Jerusalem which must be seen to be believed. I used this book to get around by myself, without tour companies, and it worked for me. I also enjoyed the political commentary. It's Lonely Planet, people, you should know what you're getting into before you buy the guide. No travel guide is neutral, and it's pretty clear from LP's hippie past that they're going to give Palestine equal billing here. That's why it's called Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Israel, needless to say, is chock-full of history and nothing is going to be exhaustively covered. If you're looking for in-depth commentary on certain religious/political sites, buy a book that addresses those things specifically. I thought this LP was right on par with all of the other LP guides I've used for Europe and Southeast Asia. If you like LP in general, you'll be satisfied with this one. The historical commentary actually whetted my appetite for more and I'll be looking into general history books on Israel in the near future.

This is the first time that I have used the Lonely Planet series and it may be the last. I found that the restaurants recommended were mediocre, the lodging descriptions were only vaguely accurate and worst of all, the directions for finding the cafes & internet access was both poorly done and at times completely inaccurate. I will admit that the fact that the guide listed internet cafes, etc was quite nice. In addition, I thought that the description of the history and sites was quite helpful. However, if you instead choose the guide by Eyewitness Travel, you will find excellent descriptions and pictures of the sites and, in my experience, better restaurant and lodging recommendations.

This guide has been a disappointment. The authors are so hell-bent on providing the reader with an "objective picture" of the country that they end up distorting it. I don't think there is a single passage in this guide that mentions Israel as... Israel. It's always "Israel and Palestinian Territories" - such a silly exercise in political correctness of the worst "he or she" kind. One doesn't have to be a Zionist or a crazed settler to recognize the simple and legally codified fact of Israel's existence. It has been created and continues to exist and prosper as a Jewish state. We all have our political opinions and peeves but, guys, you are writing a TRAVEL GUIDE, not a political pamphlet. One strength of the guide, I must say, is in two useful chapters on side trips to Jordan and Sinai. Still I'm retuning it to B&N.