Summary
Bedouin owner-operator of Ohel Ha’Shalom (“The Peace Tent”) in Rahat, one of the bedouin-owned tourism ventures Dinero profiles in Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin as a corrective to both the “perpetrator” and “victim” tourism narratives (PDF p.207-208).
Details
- The tent opened in early 2006 as a family business (El-Afenish, his wife and children), off the beaten track outside Rahat; no Jewish youth groups come, as it is located within an Arab town (PDF p.207).
- Initially perhaps 80 percent of visitors were Israeli Jews and very few foreign tourists; by July 2007 only about 10 percent of the business was tourists — some 300 since opening — and most business was Rahat residents’ weddings (5 July 2007) (PDF p.208).
- His stated purpose beyond economics is to tell his people’s story: “We teach about bedouin culture here… We teach them about how we are now, the transition that’s taken place. We have people in the professions now. We talk about the advancement of bedouin women” (PDF p.208).
- On what visitors know beforehand: “That we are thieves and robbers! That’s all that is communicated here, and so when they arrive here they know little else about us, about who we really are” (PDF p.208).
Related pages
Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin, Rahat, Voluntourism