Summary
Tourism organizer at the Siraj Center whose interviews anchor Chapter 2 of Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine on the professionalization, branding and Oslo-era containment of Palestinian tourism (Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine, PDF p.81-87).
Details
- Preferring “responsible tourism” to “alternative tourism” (“because alternative to what?”), he states the Siraj Center’s aims: “Our first aim is to create rural development, the other is to change the perception about Palestine. People look at Palestine as part of Israel. We try to brand Palestine as [a site for] experiential tourism itself” (PDF p.82).
- “We don’t have a Palestinian brand. What we promote is pilgrimage; that’s what Israel promotes” (PDF p.82).
- On pre-Oslo mobility: “before Oslo, people had more accessibility”; guides could go between Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Ramallah and meet groups at the airport (PDF p.85).
- On Oslo negotiations: Israeli negotiators brought a tour guide and Palestinian negotiators did not; “They never thought tourism was important to know about”; at Sebastia Israel put the city in Area A and the heritage sites in Area B or C, so “if you are at the entrance to Sebastia, at the site, it’s Area A. If you move two meters, it’s Area C. Two meters!” (PDF p.86).
Related pages
Invited to Witness — Solidarity Tourism across Occupied Palestine, Siraj Center, Baha Hilo, Sebastia, Solidarity Tourism