Tourism

Palestinians watch the lighting of a Christmas tree at Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity in West Bank town of Bethlehem, December 4, 2021. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations marred by Israel’s COVID orders

Israeli travel restrictions have crippled Bethlehem's biggest tourist season, with Palestinian Christians criticizing their occupier's decisions as political.

By Samah Salaime December 27, 2021

Palestinian workers working on the newly-installed flagpole at the public plaza of the town of Sebastia, West Bank, August 24, 2020. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills)

Israeli army orders removal of Palestinian flagpole for ‘security reasons’

Residents of the West Bank village of Sebastia say the military order was the result of pressure by Israeli settlers who visit its famed archeological site.

By Ahmad Al-Bazz and Activestills August 26, 2020

WATCH: Tourism to the West Bank and the persistence of hope

Millions of tourists come to the West Bank every year, but Israel decides who can visit, and only a small fraction of the tourists ever stay in Palestinian hotels and guesthouses or use Palestinian guides. We visit a Palestinian guesthouse in Sebastia and hear how the owner, Ahmad, manages to remain optimistic.

By Social TV March 6, 2018

Latest

Illustrative photo of tourists sunbathing at a hotel pool. (Photo by Benoit Daoust/Shutterstock.com)

Israeli hotel warns Jewish guests ‘there will be a lot of Arabs’

Hotels in Israel are offering their Jewish clients some vacation segregation. Staff at the Magic Sunrise Hotel in Eilat have been making phone calls of their own volition to Jewish clientele who have reservations this weekend to warn them that there will be a lot of Arabs at the hotel due to the Muslim Eid…

By Mairav Zonszein July 6, 2016

Israeli soldiers stand outside a souvenir shop for tourists in Bethlehem, July 12, 2014. (Activestills.org)

Israel’s grip on the Palestinian tourism industry

Through a regime of permits, licenses and visas, Israel controls who guides most tourists to the Holy Land, what they are told and where they spend their money. Can Palestinians use tourism to take back the discourse on occupation? By Amjad Alqasis (See correction below.) Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestine is not limited to…

By +972 Magazine June 5, 2015

A view from the top of the Seter HaMadrega outpost, just west of the Kfar Tapuach settlement in the West Bank. (photo: Yuval Ben-Ami)

The Beaten Path epilogue: Is this the place? (Part 13)

Nothing in the Holy Land is very imposing in and of itself. What visitors seek is a connection to holiness, to an ancient story or to one currently unfolding. The deconstructed tourist trail ends with a realization: Everything here is a trace. The final installment in Yuval Ben-Ami’s journey to Israel and Palestine’s most-trodden tourist…

By Yuval Ben-Ami December 29, 2014

The Beaten Path: Time traveling in Bethlehem (part 7)

Seeking the past in a land with an overwhelming present can be challenging, and ever more so in the extremely compact city of Bethlehem. Part seven of Yuval Ben-Ami’s journey. If you want the world to hate you, turn Bethlehem into a prison. I can’t fully fathom why my government wants the world to hate it…

By Yuval Ben-Ami November 17, 2014

The Beaten Path: Fixing a hole in Safed (part 6)

The deconstructed tourist trail reaches the mystical Galillean town and its many ghosts. Safed is the incredible shrinking city, forever threatened by its own capacity to be more than one thing. Part six of Yuval Ben-Ami’s journey. Safed makes me sick. Literally. As soon as I hop off the bus, take in the obligatory breath of…

By Yuval Ben-Ami November 7, 2014

The Beaten Path: An introduction, or how to ruin a good story (part 1)

In a new series of adventures, travel writer Yuval Ben-Ami sets out to deconstruct the Holy Land’s most famous and heavily trodden tourist attractions. To begin, he deconstructs the entire country. The Holy Land has no history. I mean it. It is a land without any history at all, insofar as “history” can be said…

By Yuval Ben-Ami October 15, 2014

Tourists riding camels in Israel [illustrative] (photo: flickr / idovermani CC BY 2.0)

Sifting through the propaganda while touring Israel/Palestine

Tour companies operating in Israel often have a very specific political agenda and a deep impact on the perspectives of their participants. A critical approach is necessary to resist the propaganda that so often accompanies such tours. By Gary Spedding Quite often we hear Israel advocacy groups make the nefarious claim that if people would…

By +972 Magazine September 22, 2012

Haredi kids in Jerusalem (Photo: Flickr/yoavelad)

Are Israeli Jews avoiding Jerusalem?

For my column in the Jerusalem Report this week analyzing public opinion, I asked a sample of Israeli Jews a survey question: How often do they visit their beloved city, their holiest of holies, the eternal, undivided capital? After all, the majority of Israeli Jews reject the division of Jerusalem and proclaim everlasting love. But…

By Dahlia Scheindlin April 5, 2012