5,983
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
no edit summary
|country = of Israel
|capital = [[Jerusalem]]
|language = [[Hebrew]] (official), [[Arabic]] (official), [[Eastern Europe phrasebook#Russian|Russian]] and [[Western Europe phrasebook#English|English]] most commonly used foreign languages
|pop = 7,900,117 (2008 est.)
|currency = New Israeli Sheqel (NIS)
Hitchhiking is very common in '''Israel'''. [[Hitchhiking]] is often done by pointing to the ground with the pointing finger far from the body, <!-- maybe someone has a nice picture of this? --> instead of raising a thumb. But possibly raising a thumb will be understood as well. Variations exists such as pointing straight down while bobbing the hand up and down to indicate a short distance hitch, or pointing right or left to indicate a desire to turn right or left at the next major junction.
Hitchhiking in Israel is usually done without a [[signs|sign]], since stopping in almost all junctions is possible. An exception for this is the new Road 6, in which stopping in only possible on on-ramps and [[petrol station hitchhiking|petrol stations]].
[[File:Israel 338.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Tmoon hitching to Eilat]]
== Cities and locations ==
* [[Beer Sheva|Be'er Sheva]]
* [[Dead Sea]]
* [[Eilat]]
== Shabbat ==
In Israel people work on [[SundayGood times to hitchhike|Sundays]]s so you'll be fine, but Shabbat is a fairly bad 24 hours for hitchhiking there since religious people are not driving at all (and they're usually quite skilled at [[picking up hitchhikers]]) and there's generally less traffic, but particularly on smaller roads there will be a lot of people out with their families and people pickup hitchhikers more because there is no public transport. Note that Shabbat starts on Friday when the Sun sets and ends at sunset on Saturday. Friday night, a few hours before sunset and Saturday night, immediately after sunset, are both EXCELLENT times to hitchhike! Many people drive from rural areas to the "center" of the country, urban Tel Aviv or Jerusalem due to visiting family for the Shabbat (Jewish sabbath) - beware of the traffic jams!
== Crossing borders ==
==== Avoiding an Israeli stamp ====
When entering Israel at [[Ben Gurion International Airport|Ben Gurion]] it's okay to ask the border people to not stamp your passport. However, this only makes sense if you fly in from Egypt, since if you go to the Syrian border from Jordan with a passport not showing how you entered the Middle East, they will simply refuse your passport.
At the Jordan crossings officials on both sides generally seem to not stamp your passport if you ask them to.
# In northern Israel, next to [[Beit Sheaan]], you can cross in the Abdallah bridge crossing, from which it is quite straight forward if you continue onwards to Amman.
# In [[Palestinian Territory|Palestine]] (the occupied territories) the Israeli forces run the Allenby bridge crossing, separating [[Jordan]] from the Palestinian territories. Because of its location, this border is only crossable to Palestinians and internationals (not Israelis) and the passengers are subject to intimidating "security" interrogations. This is also the most direct border crossing from [[Amman]] to [[Jerusalem]]. Notice that if you need a Jordanian visa, it cannot be acquired at this crossing.
# In the south, 3km north of [[Eilat]], you can cross at the Arava crossing (''Yitzchak Rabin terminal'') which separates [[Eilat]] from [[Aqaba]]. This is probably the most popular border terminal.
{{IsIn|Western Asia}}
