Death is destiny’: Israeli tourists flock Kashmir

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Death is destiny': Israeli tourists flock Kashmir

 

Reuters

Posted online: Thursday, August 19, 2004 at 1313 hours IST

 

Srinagar, August 19: Gulzar Ahmad, owner of a handicraft shop near

scenic Dal lake in Srinagar, recently changed the language of his

outlet's signboard from English to Hebrew.

 

 

 

It was another sign of the new acceptance of visitors from Israel.

For the second successive year, Israelis top the list of foreign

tourists visiting the region.

 

"Seventy per cent of my customers are Israelis," said 50-year-old

Ahmad, a Muslim. "So I changed my signboard to attract more Israeli

customers."

 

On the face of it, Kashmir, once a tourist haven but now the centre

of a bloody Islamic insurgency, seems like a most unlikely

destination for Israelis who are themselves battling Palestinian

Islamic militants at home.

 

However that, and the fact that Kashmir is now one of the most

violent regions in the world with daily gun battles between troops

and militants, grenade attacks and bomb blasts, has not apparently

reduced its attraction to Israeli tourists.

 

"Kashmir is an amazing place and so are its people. They are Muslims

but not hostile to us," said Rita Katzir, a 28-year-old computer

software engineer from Israel.

 

"Now, violence can touch you anywhere, in any part of world. I can

die anywhere -- in Washington, in Jerusalem, here in Srinagar or in

Tel Aviv or any other city.

 

"Death is destiny."

 

A Kashmir tourism department officer said 960 Israelis had arrived so

far this year compared to 1,097 last year.

 

The Chinese were second with 700 visitors to the Himalayan region

known for its lush pines, snow-capped mountains, lakes and streams,

houseboats and picturesque trekking routes.

 

Overall, about 10,000 foreigners were among 200,000 tourists who

visited Kashmir this year after a new peace process between India and

Pakistan led to a fall in separatist violence.

 

Before the insurgency began in 1989, Kashmir attracted some two

million visitors a year.

 

Most foreigners, including the Israelis, come to Kashmir despite

advisories by their countries to avoid the region.

 

Kashmiri militants have targeted Israeli tourists in the past. They

abducted 6 Israelis from Srinagar in 1991. One of the captives was

killed, four escaped and the last was set free.

 

"I know about the trouble here, but I respect rules and act by the

rules. After it gets dark I go to my hotel," said Ronan Madiani, a 32-

year old lawyer from Israel, who was staying with his wife on a

houseboat on the calm Dal lake.

 

Visitors say few places in the world can compete with Kashmir for the

tag of being a paradise. But locals say that the 15-year revolt,

which has killed more than 40,000 people, has turned an idyllic

corner of South Asia into paradise lost.

 

"We know what trouble means and how painful it is when it spills

blood," said Adam Koaz, a student form Tel Aviv. "I have full

sympathy for the people of this beautiful part of world. I can only

pray for them."