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An Israeli soldier supervises an
American tourist firing a gun as she participates in an introductory
course to handling firearms at the Caliber 3 shooting range located near
the West Bank settlement of Efrat. The Caliber 3 shooting school is a
major draw for American tourists. (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana)
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AFP News: Norman Solomon is a 65-year-old real estate agent from Los Angeles, a world away from the West Bank settlement firing range where he is spending the day learning to shoot a gun.
"We came to show the kids how the Israelis
protect themselves and to have a good time," he tells AFP in between
shots at white target paper and photos of men sporting the chequered
keffiyeh scarf worn by many Palestinians.
Solomon, a Jewish American, is
spending a couple of hours of his holiday at the Caliber 3 shooting
school in the West Bank settlement bloc of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem.
The school was set up in 2002 and
has for years provided weapons training to security professionals
including soldiers and bodyguards.
But in the past three years it
has also opened its doors to civilians, offering a two-hour "tourist
course" to those seeking an unusual holiday experience.
The company says it offers "the
values of Zionism with the excitement and enjoyment of shooting which
makes the activity more meaningful."
Its website touts the course as a "special encounter that can not be experienced anywhere else except on the battlefield."
It's a major draw for American
tourists, with hundreds flocking to the site near the settlement of
Efrat for a swift theoretical introduction to handling firearms followed
by a hands-on shooting session supervised by instructors.
"It's a fun experience for the whole family," said Rachel Frogel, a young mother holding a baby in her arms.
Her three other children, all
under the age of 10 years, follow the explanations of their instructors
carefully before putting them to the test with guns that fire paintball
pellets.
A relative decline in violence in
the area in recent years has helped these courses become a local
tourist attraction, pulling in entire families.
The local council of the Gush
Etzion bloc of settlements, which lies between Jerusalem and the West
Bank city of Hebron, promotes Caliber 3 in its tourist brochures.
"It's a private company but it is also one of the attractions of the region," said council head David Perel.
Caliber 3 boss Sharon Gat says the centre is "an 'extreme tourism' site like many others in the world," but also "a Zionist attraction."...READ MORE
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