Private Citizens: Israel

Israel: Taxpayers to pay for private citizens going to Mideast with PM, according to Globe and Mail. RAFI BARAK Stephen Harpers firsthand Israel Israel is an immensely complicated country, and it takes a great deal of time for an outsider to begin grasping its many facets. So when you just pop in for four days for your first-ever visit, as Prime Minister Harper is about to do, your itinerary is critical. Mr. Harper and his team will return confident that they now have a good grasp of Israeli realities. They will be deluded. All they will see is one particular dimension of Israeli reality, the one their Israeli government hosts want them to see and which, as it happens, is also the one they want to see. The entire West Bank and Gaza are to receive a hasty meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Why complicate the Prime Ministers simple one-dimensional view of Israel by exposing him to the larger picture? More Related to this Story The North Q A with Harper: No previous government has delivered more in the North (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.