Haifa port played host to a flotilla of luxury cruise ships over the week-end including the 65,000 gross ton, 960-foot Cunarder Queen Elizabeth 2 which landed 1200 tourists Friday. Special security measures were taken to protect the giant British vessel, the last of the so-called “superliners” still in active service.
The QE-2 visited Israel three years ago–also during the Passover season–and was at that time a target of bomb threats by Arab terrorists. There were no reported threats this time. A fleet of 20 air-conditioned buses was lined up at the quay Friday to take the visitors on sight-seeing tours.
Other cruise ships, mainly of Greek and Italian nationality, brought an additional 5000 tourists to Haifa since Friday. One of them, the Greek-flag Golden Odyssey, came from. Alexandria but had to make an unscheduled stop at Cyprus to put ashore the Egyptian harbor pilot. The latter was unable to leave the ship at Alexandria because of high seas. Although Israeli authorities gave permission for him to land at Haifa and return to Egypt, the Egyptian authorities insisted that the pilot be landed at a neutral port.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
