Off the track beaten by most Holy Land tourists lies one of the richest archaeological sites in a country full of them: the walled port of Acre, where the busy alleys of an Ottoman-era town cover a uniquely intact Crusader city now being rediscovered.

Preparing to open a new subterranean section to the public, workers cleaned stones this week in an arched passageway underground. Etched in plaster on one wall was a coat of arms — graffiti left by a medieval traveler. Nearby was a main street of cobblestones and a row of shops that once sold clay figurines and ampules for holy water, popular souvenirs for pilgrims.

That’s how the city of Akko, Israel, was described to Canton officials and members of the Police Department at a presentation on Tuesday about security.

A delegation of several officials from Israel, including Shimon Lankri, Akko’s mayor, met with local officials to discuss economic development, security, community issues and other topics of mutual interest.

 

Arne Reimer/courtesy of the artist/Orit Pnini/courtesy of the artistClockwise, from upper left: Anat Fort, Eli Degibri, Avishai Cohen, Rafi Malkiel.

For a country of some 7.5 million, Israel has a surprisingly large jazz footprint. More and more internationally acclaimed jazz musicians happen to be from the country.

 

Twenty-five years ago, the Israeli jazz scene was barely on the cultural map. But enough American musicians moved there, and enough foreign-trained Israelis moved back — and they started teaching. There’s long been an infrastructure for classical music in Israel, and jazz latched onto that model. U.S. jazz schools have since established relationships with Israeli ones, owing in part to long-standing political relations.
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