car rental switzerland to italy

israel is lacedby modern freeways. by tour bus, public bus, or rental car,getting around is easy. road signs are in threelanguages and three scripts. hebrew and arabicfor jews and arabs

car rental switzerland to italy, and english foreverybody else. and the scenerycan be dramatic. driving along the dead sea,the lowest place on earth, you marvel at thetimelessness of thelandscape

and the historyit's witnessed. our destination-- masada, an ancient fortressdramatically capping amountain and the site of a pivotalevent in jewish history. a gondola zips useffortlessly to the summit. built over 2,000years ago as one of king herod'smany palaces, masada served as a refuge of last resortback when the jews

were the rebellious subjectsof roman occupation. in about 70 ad,the roman emperor titus, in an effort to put downthe jews down once and for all, destroyed jerusalem. about 1,000 jewish rebels,in a desperate last stand, fled up to this fortressto defend their families, religion, and way of life. a mighty army of romansattacked. you can still see the rockyremains of their camps.

to avoid a long,starve-'em-out siege, the roman army engineeredand built a massive ramp up the side ofthis mountain. slowly, as the rebelswatched with frustration, the ramp was completed. the jewish rebels realized they were doomed to a lifeof slavery or worse, so, on the eve of the inevitableroman breakthrough, masada's rebels methodicallytook their own lives.

today, that mass suicide isthe symbol of israel'sstaunch

"they'll never take us alive"commitment to freedom. and "masada shall neverfall again" is a popular slogan declaring israel'sdetermination to remainfree.