ATMs throughout Israel will dispense NIS from a Cirrus or Plus bank card as well as from credit cards. For hotels and such, you can often simply pay in US dollars. For a country that has been in a state of official war with at least one neighbor for more than 50 years, Israel is remarkably safe. The most dangerous thing that you can do in Israel is to drive or ride in a car. The accident rate per passenger-mile is one of the highest in the world.
Drivers are aggressive, roads are old, twisty, ill-designed, and overcrowded.
More Per page, the most useful guidebook to Israel is the Dorling Kindersley Jerusalem and the Holy Land . A more current look at the situation is provided by New York Times correspondent Thomas Friedman in From Beirut to Jerusalem Yahoo Travel pages on Israel Text and pictures Copyright 2000 Philip Greenspun . PhotoCD scans by Advanced Digital Imaging . Philip has summarized travel to Israel well. If that happens, hotel rates jump, and the scarcity of available rooms is matched by the number of sites with restricted hours.