Here's the separation wall

”Here’s the Separation Wall”: Political Tourism in the Holy Land

Julia Chaitin

This article explores political tourism to Israel–Palestine that focuses onsupporting peace and social justice activities. These tours visit locationsof contention and meet with organizations working to end the conflictand social injustices. I provide an overview of thirty-one organizationsthat carry out political tours, and discuss sociopolitical issues and psy-chosocial factors that are important to address in such trips, providingexamples from tours. It is suggested that when tours take these issues intoconsideration, a potential is created to build a cadre of better-informedand culturally sensitive activists who can support the peace process.

Introduction

Israel–Palestine (the Holy Land) is the world’s center for the three monothe-istic religions. Because of its spiritual, historical, and archeological treas-ures, its diverse landscapes, its combination of Middle Eastern and Westerncultures, its extensive infrastructure for tourism, and its temperate climate,the area would appear to be an ideal destination for tourists.

Indeed, tourism is an important industry in the Holy Land. Accordingto the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“Economy: Sectors of the IsraeliEconomy,” April 1, 2008), in 2006, tourism brought in 2.8 billion U.S.dollars. There has been a steady rise of tourists, with between one and twomillion visitors to the country every year, and nearly 3,000,000 tourists in2008 (“Migration and Tourism,” Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009).Tourism has also risen in the Palestinian Authority: from 400,000 in 2006to 1.3 million in 2008. According to the Palestinian Minister of Tourism,new museums and thousands of hotel rooms are being built in order to

CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, vol. 29, no. 1, Fall 2011 39© Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the Association for Conflict ResolutionPublished online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.21036

increase tourism revenues in Palestine to 9 percent of the GDP as com-pared with 7 percent in 2008 (Themedialine.org, December 17, 2008). Inshort, tourism is on the rise in both societies.

However, there is another aspect to Israel–Palestine that makes it diffi-cult for many to consider it a holiday destination—the ongoing conflictbetween the peoples. Qassam rockets hitting Sderot, the Separation Barrierdriving concrete wedges between houses within Palestinian communities,and the destruction in Gaza from the last war do not make a convincingtravel brochure.

There are people, however, who are drawn to the region specifically forthis reason: due to their religious and ethnic belongings, or their politicalideologies, many people feel connected to the conflict and wish to under-stand it better. As a response to this need, and as a way for peace and socialjustice nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to showcase their work,and perhaps also increase their support, political or alternative tourism hasdeveloped. This tourism, one strategy among many used by peace andsocial justice activists (see ahead), shows visitors locations of contentionand the ways in which civil society addresses many aspects of the conflict.The overall aims of this tourism, then, are to expose visitors to complexi-ties of life on the ground and to convince visitors to advocate for and sup-port peace and social justice efforts on returning home.

After an introduction to peace activism and political tourism, this arti-cle has two main sections. The first section maps the political tours toIsrael–Palestine. The second section presents sociopolitical issues and psy-chosocial factors that, if acknowledged and addressed, can be useful whenplanning political tours that aim to support peace building and social jus-tice. I begin with conceptualizations connected to peace and social justiceactivism in the Israeli–Palestinian context, and then address politicaltourism as one strategy of such work.

Peace and Social Justice Activism:Conceptualizations and Strategies

Since there is not always consensus concerning definitions of peace, peacework, and social (in)justice, I will clarify how the terms are defined in thisarticle. I adopt Galtung’s definitions of peace and peace work: “Peace is theabsence/reduction of violence of all kinds. [It] is nonviolent and creativeconflict transformation. . . . Peace work is work to reduce violence by peace-ful means” (1996, p. 9). Political activism will reflect Burgess’s definition:

40 Chaitin

CONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/crq

“. . . activists or ‘advocates’ are people with a cause who are actively pursu-ing that cause through nonviolent . . . direct action” (2005, paragraph 1).Finally, social injustice is perceived as:

the violation of human rights . . . [and] systemic forms . . . [that] giverise to profound injustices. . . . Those in power sometimes use thestate’s legal and political systems to violate the political, economic, andsocial rights of subordinate groups. Political injustice involves the vio-lation of individual liberties, including the denial of voting rights ordue process, infringements on rights to freedom of speech or religion,and inadequate protection from cruel and unusual punishment. Suchinjustice . . . involves political systems in which some but not others areallowed to have voice and representation in the processes and decisionsthat affect them. [Maiese, 2003, paragraphs 1–3]

In this article, the term social justice activism reflects activities that aimto alleviate the infringements of the rights noted earlier in nonviolentways.

While elected leaders are responsible for reaching peace agreements,and for reducing legalized social and political injustices, essential work iscarried out by civil society: “ordinary” people and NGOs who engage inpeace and social justice building (Sarsar, 2005). In conflicts such as in theIsraeli–Palestinian case, political agreements alone cannot change the sta-tus quo; lasting peace is possible if undertaken over time by numerous peo-ple in government and in civil society working along multiple levels(Smyth, 2001).

Different strategies are employed by grassroots efforts, ranging frommore passive strategies (such as signing Internet petitions), to more activestrategies, such as acts of civil disobedience. Peace- and social justice–buildingstrategies characteristic in the Palestinian–Israeli context include: (1) dialogueand encounter groups that bring together Jews and Palestinians to learnabout one another and to connect on the people-to-people level (e.g.,Halabi and Sonnenschein, 2004; Kupermintz and Salomon, 2005); (2) nonviolent demonstrations, protests, and vigils in which people protestthe Occupation, wars, military incursions, and so forth (Berkowitz, 2003);(3) women’s groups that integrate feminist and peace agendas (Berkowitz,2003; Weinberg, 2007); (4) direct action that aids Palestinians in the terri-tories, for example, by helping to rebuild a Palestinian house demolished by the Israeli government (Halper, 2007); (5) lobbying and advocacy work

Political Tourism in the Holy Land 41


in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and in the international community(Weinberg, 2007), for example, in support of the cultural and academicboycott against Israel (Documents and Source Material, 2005); (6) projectsthat focus on improving the joint environment, helping communities, andso forth (Kronish, 2008); (7) educational programs that teach Palestiniansand Israelis about each others’ history, religions, culture, and language(Glazier, 2003; Kronish, 2008); (8) refusal by soldiers or conscripts to servein the Israeli army, especially in the Occupied Territories (Kidron, 2004);and (9) use of Internet technologies (e.g., Internet Peace Ambassadors,n.d.; Mepeace.org, n.d.), e-mail listservs, and Facebook to create virtualplatforms for peace and social justice activists.

To this list we can also add the strategy of political tourism. I now pres-ent some conceptualizations connected to tourism in general, and thenfocus on political tourism.

Tourism: Some Basic Conceptualizations

Tourism is defined here as “travel for leisure that is supported by a multi-layered global service industry” that comes in “all shapes and colors”(Salazar, 2006, p. 323). People go on tours to experience something out ofthe ordinary of their daily lives (Satani, 2004). While tourism is generallythought to be good for the host country, there can also be negative socio-cultural impacts (Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism, United NationsEnvironment Programme [UNEP], n.d.). Negative impacts noted by theUNEP, relevant for this article, include:

1. Standardization: When planning trips, tour operators strive to meetvisitors’ desires for the unfamiliar. However, tour planners must becareful not to introduce things that may be too new or too strange,since this can cause visitors to feel uncomfortable. This quandary canlead to a bland standardization that does not reflect the richness andcomplexities of the region being visited.

2. Loss of (or staged) authenticity: When cultural manifestations areadapted to the tastes of tourists, this can result in “staged authen-ticity.” Tourists may not have the patience or time necessary forgetting an in-depth look at local life. In such a case, staging will occur,and the experience will not reflect what life is really like.

3. Culture clashes: Tourism creates social relations between people whowould otherwise not meet; therefore, cultural clashes can be expected

42 Chaitin


concerning values, lifestyles, dress, and so on. This may causeanimosity between local peoples and tourists, for example, if visitorsfrom Western societies (such as the United States) tour traditionallocales (such as Arab-Bedouin rural villages) and dress or act in waysthat are either perceived by the hosts as being culturally inappro-priate, or are misconstrued by the hosts.

While tourism can have negative impacts, it can also be quite positivefor the host country. Tourism often boosts the economy and creates workand markets; it helps develop infrastructures, giving residents secondarygains such as better roads, airports, shopping centers, recreation facilities,and so forth; and it provides a currency flow into the country, since mosttourists come from richer countries to poorer ones (Satani, 2004).

In sum, whereas tourism can bring together peoples from differentplaces, give visitors new knowledge, and support the economy of the hostcountry, there are also potentially harmful consequences of tourism that mayactually exacerbate problems. In the case of political tourism that focuses onsocieties in conflict, such as in the Israeli–Palestinian case, these potentialpitfalls could become even more dangerous.

Political or Alternative Tourism

The roots of political or alternative tourism1 can be first traced to PresidentKennedy’s understanding that travel could hasten world peace. More thantwenty years later, the first global conference on tourism for peace was held(Khamouna and Zeiger 1995; Salazar 2006). Over the years, politicaltourism has sprung up in former and ongoing conflict zones, such as Cuba(Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of Peoples, n.d.), NorthernIreland (Anson, 1999; Thornton, 2005), South Africa (van Amerom andBuscher, 2005), Egypt–Israel (Milman, Reichel, and Pizam, 1990), Northand South Korea, and Cyprus (Timothy, Prideaux, and Kim, 2004).

Whereas there is an intuitive belief that tourism can aid peace, there islittle research on this issue. Studies have shown that tourism may be a con-sequence of peace, but not its cause (Litvin, 1998). Var and Arp (1998),who studied the relationship between peace building and tourism, notedthat although tourism can promote cross-cultural exchange and under-standings, their survey did not find that tourism unequivocally encouragesworld peace. Furthermore, although there is much rhetoric concerning thecontribution of face-to-face encounters that take place in alternative



tourism, research has shown that high-level political activity has greaterinfluence on reaching peace than civil society efforts (Salazar, 2006).Therefore, while there is a wish to believe that tourism can aid peaceefforts, more research is needed to know whether this is indeed so.

I now turn to a mapping and description of alternative tours carriedout in Israel–Palestine. The sources for this information came from thewebsites of the organizations and from personal experiences I have hadwith these tours, as a participant and as a tour planner. Therefore, it isimportant to stress that the information provided does not reflect researchconcerning whether these tours actually accomplish what they say they do,but rather provides an overview of the programs currently available.

Alternative Tourism to the Holy Land

My search revealed thirty-one political tours, which run from a few days toa few months, all of which are publicized on the Internet. All but four ofthe organizations (Alternative Tours, Green Olive Tours, Jerusalem RealityTours, and Seti Tours) are either religious or not-for profit enterprises. Thismeans that the majority of the organizations are not running tours as abusiness, but rather as a strategy for marketing their messages of peace orsocial justice. In twenty-three of the cases, these ventures are merely part ofthe organizations’ overall projects, and not their main activity. In otherwords, eight of the organizations specialize in political tourism while therest have a variety of activities connected to peace and social justice andundertake alternative tours as one strategy toward realizing these visions.

Organizations Originating Tours from Outside Israel–Palestine

Given that religion is connected to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, it is notsurprising that there are faith-based organizations that run such ventures.For other organizations, however, peace and social justice ideology is whatdrives their tours. Table 1 presents the organizations and tours categorizedaccording to these two divisions.

There is almost an equal split between the faith-based and sociopoliti-cal organizations that run trips to Israel–Palestine (eight and nine organi-zations, respectively). Two of the faith-based groups are Jewish (Encounterand Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism) and the rest are Christ-ian. The oldest organization was established in 1979 (the New Israel Fund)and the youngest in 2009 (Middle East Justice and Development Initia-tives); most were established within the past ten years and most are based

44 Chaitin


Tab

le 1

.O

rgan

izat

ion

s B

ased

Ou

tsid

e o

f Isr

ael–

Pale

stin

e

Year

Org

aniz

atio

ns a

nd W

ebsi

tes

Esta

blis

hed

Mai

n G

oals

of T

rip

Hom

e Ba

se

Bha

kti H

ouse

of D

evot

ion—

2004

Cre

atio

n of

spir

itual

ity a

nd c

omm

unity

; act

iviti

es w

ith d

iver

se p

eopl

esN

orth

Am

eric

aht

tp:/

/bha

ktih

ouse

.org

and

gras

sroo

ts o

rgan

izat

ions

; usi

ng y

oga,

med

itat

ion,

art

, mus

ic

Chr

isti

an P

eace

mak

ers T

eam

—19

84C

halle

nge

stru

ctur

al v

iole

nce

of O

ccup

atio

n th

roug

h no

nvio

lent

N

orth

Am

eric

aw

ww

.cpt

.org

wit

ness

, wor

k (o

ver

mon

ths)

wit

h Pa

lest

inia

ns

Ecu

men

ical

Coa

litio

n on

Tou

rism

—19

82G

ain

know

ledg

e of

Pal

estin

ian

cultu

re, h

istor

y, tr

aditi

ons,

and

relig

ions

Wor

ldw

ide

http

://w

ww

.eco

tonl

ine.

org

Enc

ount

er—

2005

Show

Jew

ish

Dia

spor

a le

ader

s Pa

lest

inia

n lif

e in

Bet

hleh

em, H

ebro

n,U

nite

d St

ates

http

://e

ncou

nter

prog

ram

s.or

g /h

ome.

htm

lan

d E

. Jer

usal

em; p

rovi

de fr

amew

orks

so

part

icip

ants

can

cre

ate

conn

ecti

ons

acro

ss li

nes

of e

nmit

y, e

xpan

d pe

rson

al a

nd p

olit

ical

unde

rsta

ndin

gs

Inte

rfai

th P

eace

-Bui

lder

s—20

01E

xpos

e A

mer

ican

s to

har

sh r

ealit

ies

of th

e O

ccup

atio

n fo

r Pa

lest

inia

ns;

Uni

ted

Stat

esht

tp:/

/ww

w.if

pb.o

rgle

arn

from

Isr

aeli–

Pale

stin

ian

hum

an r

ight

s ac

tivi

sts

Mid

dle

Eas

t Fel

low

ship

—?

Trip

s fr

om o

ne to

thre

e m

onth

s of

fer

Am

eric

an u

nive

rsit

y st

uden

ts

Uni

ted

Stat

esht

tp:/

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w.p

ales

tines

umm

er.o

rgim

mer

sion

and

soc

ial s

ervi

ce in

Pal

estin

ian

cultu

re, l

angu

age,

and

life

(in

conj

unct

ion

unde

r oc

cupa

tion

wit

h H

olyl

and

Trus

t—

Pale

stin

e)

Ope

razi

one

Col

omba

(Ope

rati

on D

ove)

—19

92Se

nd y

oung

-adu

lt vo

lunt

eers

to h

elp

safe

guar

d Pa

lest

inia

ns s

uffe

ring

Ital

yht

tp:/

/ww

w.o

pera

zion

ecol

omba

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/ fr

om th

e O

ccup

atio

n; w

ork

wit

h lo

cal p

opul

atio

ns; s

uppo

rt p

eace

acti

viti

es

Rel

igio

us A

ctio

n C

ente

r of

Ref

orm

19

96E

duca

te A

mer

ican

Jew

s ab

out p

eace

and

soc

ial j

usti

ce c

ause

s; s

tatu

s U

nite

d St

ates

Juda

ism

—w

ww

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.org

of

Isr

aeli

min

orit

ies;

mee

t peo

ple

who

suf

fer

ineq

ualit

y, a

nd c

ivil

soci

ety

grou

ps a

nd r

elig

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lead

ers

wor

king

aga

inst

dis

crim

inat

ion;

build

cad

re o

f act

ivis

ts

(Con

tinue

d)

Tab

le 1

.(C

onti

nued

)

Year

Soci

opol

itic

ally

Bas

edEs

tabl

ishe

dM

ain

Goa

ls o

f Tou

rH

ome

Base

Am

einu

—ht

tp:/

/ww

w.a

mei

nu.n

et

2003

Exp

ose

Prog

ress

ive

Zio

nist

Jew

s to

div

erse

asp

ects

of t

he c

onfli

ct in

Uni

ted

Stat

esor

der

to b

e be

tter

info

rmed

; wor

k fo

r tw

o-st

ate

solu

tion

Com

pass

iona

te L

iste

ning

—?

Exp

ose

part

icip

ants

to s

tori

es o

f Jew

ish

and

Pale

stin

ian

vict

ims

of

Uni

ted

Stat

esw

ww

.com

pass

iona

telis

teni

ng.o

rg

the

confl

ict;

refle

ct o

n th

e st

orie

s an

d re

ach

deep

er u

nder

stan

ding

s of

the

confl

ict;

supp

ort p

eace

eff

orts

Glo

bal M

ajor

ity—

2005

Prom

ote

nonv

iole

nt c

onfli

ct r

esol

utio

n fo

r re

gion

by

deep

enin

g U

nite

d St

ates

ht

tp:/

/glo

balm

ajor

ity.

org/

gmed

ucat

ion

and

trai

ning

, tea

chin

g ne

goti

atio

n, m

edia

tion

, and

an

d W

orld

wid

e ad

voca

cy te

chni

ques

netw

orks

Inte

r-A

genc

y Ta

sk F

orce

(IA

TF)

—20

05A

nnua

l tri

ps to

Isr

ael p

rovi

de k

now

ledg

e co

ncer

ning

maj

orit

y an

dN

orth

Am

eric

aht

tp:/

/ww

w.ia

task

forc

e.or

g/m

inor

ity

rela

tion

s; e

cono

mic

, edu

cati

onal

, and

soc

ial s

ervi

ce

wea

knes

ses

faci

ng A

rab

com

mun

itie

s; s

tren

gthe

n Is

rael

i coe

xist

ence

orga

niza

tion

s an

d Je

wis

h an

d A

rab

lead

ersh

ip; p

arti

cipa

nts

mee

t w

ith

priv

ate

and

publ

ic s

ecto

r, ci

vil s

ocie

ty a

ctiv

ists

Mid

dle

Eas

t Jus

tice

and

Dev

elop

men

t 20

09O

ffer

five

tour

s fo

r w

ide

vari

ety

of p

arti

cipa

nts

to P

ales

tine

–Isr

ael

Uni

ted

Stat

esIn

itia

tive

s (M

EJD

I)—

http

://m

ejdi

.net

fo

cusi

ng o

n ed

ucat

ion,

con

flict

res

olut

ion,

and

em

pow

erm

ent o

f bu

sine

ss p

eopl

e an

d so

cial

cha

nge

mak

ers;

aim

s to

em

pow

er I

srae

li an

d Pa

lest

inia

n “h

ones

t bus

ines

s pe

ople

” an

d so

cial

ly r

espo

nsib

le

chan

ge m

aker

sN

ew I

srae

l Fun

d—w

ww

.nif.

org

1979

Bri

ng p

arti

cipa

nts

toge

ther

wit

h so

cial

act

ivis

ts, e

lect

ed le

ader

s, a

ndU

nite

d St

ates

arti

sts

in s

ocia

l cha

nge

mov

emen

t in

Isra

el; p

rovi

de in

sigh

ts in

toan

d Is

rael

com

plex

itie

s of

Isr

aeli

soci

ety,

mee

t wit

h di

vers

e po

pula

tion

sSe

ekin

g C

omm

on G

roun

d—

1994

Show

teen

s an

d ad

ults

com

plex

itie

s of

the

confl

ict a

nd in

terg

roup

U

nite

d St

ates

ww

w.s-

c-g.

org

tens

ions

; exp

ose

part

icip

ants

to c

ivil

soci

ety

acto

rs a

nd o

rgan

izat

ions

(Den

ver)

wor

king

for

peac

e an

d so

cial

just

ice

Seti

Tou

rs—

http

://s

eti-

me.

com

20

04C

onne

ct v

isit

ors

wit

h cu

lture

s of

the

area

; aid

loca

l pea

ce e

ffor

ts a

ndU

nite

d St

ates

econ

omic

dev

elop

men

t; pr

omot

e cu

ltura

l exc

hang

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rviv

or C

orps

—19

97V

isit

and

hel

p vi

ctim

s of

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confl

ict l

ivin

g th

roug

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esti

ne

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ted

Stat

esht

tp:/

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w.la

ndm

ines

urvi

vors

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/an

d Is

rael

; spe

cial

focu

s on

vic

tim

s of

land

min

es, s

ecur

ing

righ

ts,

rebu

ildin

g liv

es a

nd c

omm

unit

ies

in North America, meaning that the tours tend to cater to individuals fromthat region of the world.

In general, the goals of the faith-based tours from outside of the regionare to provide in-depth views into the structural and everyday practices of the Occupation, the conflicts between Arabs and Jews within Israel, andthe complex aspects of the ongoing violence, while tying peace work toreligious ideologies and beliefs. The organizers of these tours want to createa better-informed international public who, after seeing what is happeningon the ground, will become more committed and knowledgeable peaceand social justice activists after returning home.

As with the faith-based tours, the nine sociopolitical organizations thatconduct tours are committed to showing visitors the workings of and activ-ities against the Occupation and other social injustices in the region. How-ever, whereas six out of the eight faith-based tours (all but the Jewishorganizations) provide opportunities for tourists to actively help Palestini-ans in the West Bank, such as guarding children from Israeli settlers whenwalking to school in Hebron, the tours in this category do not provideopportunities for visitors to engage in solidarity work with peoples in theregion. Based on this information, it appears that the Christian-based tripsthat emanate from outside of the region engage in more direct action thanthose from the nonreligious groups. Organizations that offer longer-termoptions for visits can also attract people less tied to a regular work sched-ule, such as students or pensioners, since they have the flexibility to comefor longer periods of time in order to undertake this solidarity work.

It is also important to note that while three of the sociopolitical groupsthat offer political tourism are run by Jewish organizations (Ameinu, Inter-Agency Task Force, and the New Israel Fund) that mainly recruit Jewishparticipants, these tours do not stress the religious perspective, but ratherthe sociopolitical issues facing the Jewish state. Although these tours tendto focus more on the Israeli context than the Palestinian one (e.g., visitingJewish-Israeli grassroots organizations and learning about their work), theydo so from a secular standpoint and not a Judaic religious perspective.

Organizations Originating Tours from Israel–Palestine

As opposed to international organizations that offer political tours, thefourteen Palestinian and Israeli groups that organize tours for visitors fromabroad, and day tours for Israeli citizens, are mainly secular. The only faith-based organization found to carry out tours on a regular basis is the Pales-tinian Christian organization, Sabeel, though Holyland Trust has a strong



Christian basis as well. The youngest organizations that carry out politicaltours were founded in 2010 (Cultural Alternative Tours and JerusalemReality Tours) and the oldest in 1972 (Association for Civil Rights inIsrael). As in the case of the groups from outside the region that run tours,most of the organizations were created within the past ten years. Table 2provides an overview of these organizations.

Whereas the goals of the tours are to spotlight the injustices created bythe Occupation, there is also a focus on sociopolitical–economic life ingeneral. Six of the organizations are based in Jerusalem, concentrating theirtours in East Jerusalem and the Old City, which were annexed by Israel in1967. One of the organizations—NISPED—is based in the Negev, aregion that has a large Arab-Bedouin population and that is also geograph-ically close to Gaza. The NISPED tours tend to highlight the conflictscharacteristic of that region more than the other organizations. Zochrot isthe only organization that focuses specifically on Arab villages destroyedafter the 1948 war. Hence, these two organizations specialize in regions,peoples, and issues not covered by the other groups.

All but Alternative Tours and Sabeel combine Jewish-Israeli and Pales-tinian perspectives on the conflict and social injustices, and the work beingcarried out by civil society actors against these problems. As a rule, Israeliand Palestinian guides work together on the tours or the Jewish-Israeliorganizers provide tourists with many opportunities to meet with Pales-tinians in the Occupied Territories or in Israel proper.

Given that there are thirty-one organizations that offer political toursof the Holy Land, and that most of these tours have been running for atleast five years, it can be assumed that thousands of tourists have seen forthemselves the negative impacts the conflict has for peoples of the region—though research is needed to provide a verifiable statistic. Although a studyof the number of tourists and their backgrounds was not carried out forthis article, from my acquaintance with a number of the tours, and fromthe information published on their websites, these tours cater to a widerange of ages—from young adult to the elderly—and from a variety ofbackgrounds—students, professionals, and retirees.

Sociopolitical Issues and Psychosocial Factors Connected toPolitical Tourism in Israel–Palestine

In this section I discuss eight sociopolitical issues and five psychosocial fac-tors that are important for political tour designers to address, and present

48 Chaitin


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examples from tours in which I have participated or led. It is suggested thatbeing aware of and understanding these topics can help make trips suc-cessful in terms of their ability to educate and mobilize participants tobecome more experienced peace and social justice activists. The issues andfactors discussed in the following are based on scholarly work—mine and others’—and on my grassroots work in peace and social justice build-ing in the Israeli–Palestinian context.

Political tours to Israel–Palestine should be enlightening and cultur-ally sensitive and concretely supportive of peace- and social justice–building efforts (Khamouna & Zeiger, 1995; Salazar, 2006); there mustbe understanding that resolution of the conflict ultimately resides withthe people of the region (Zoughbi, 2002). Furthermore, trips shouldoffer experiences that challenge simplistic perceptions and help touristsdevelop empathy and respect for the Israelis and Palestinians they meet.This can be accomplished in part by providing experiences that are outof the realm of the ordinary for visitors, authentically represent life inIsrael–Palestine (Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism, United NationsEnvironment Program [UNEP], n.d.), and are based in an ideology ofpeace and social justice.

I now turn to the sociopolitical issues important for tours to address.The first is the barriers between the two peoples. These barriers include the physical borders created by the Separation Wall; the demarcations of the West Bank into areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority(out-of-bounds for Israeli citizens) and areas under control of Israel (out-of-bounds for Palestinians); the checkpoints; and the separate cities inwhich the people live.

The physical barriers lead to psychological barriers that further keep thepeople apart. Due to the governments’ imposed separation of the inhabi-tants, people from the two sides rarely meet in nonthreatening situations.This leads to the phenomenon of invisibility of the “other” (Chaitin, 2007),in which people from the different sides do not see one another, in all theircomplexity, since most of their knowledge comes from conflict situations—for example, when Palestinians come into contact with soldiers at check-points or when Israeli farmers who live near the border are attacked bysnipers from the Gaza Strip. The physical separation often leads to nonexistent or belligerent dialogue between the peoples (Maoz, Steinberg,Bar-On, and Fakhereldeen, 2002) and negative stereotypes that reinforcethe belief that separation from the “other” is indeed the only safe option(Bar-Tal and Teichman, 2005).



If tourists understand that there is little non-conflict contact betweenthe peoples, this can help them better understand why Israelis and Pales-tinians often fear and hate one another. Perhaps this understanding canalso help visitors develop empathy for peoples embroiled in the conflict(Chaitin and Steinberg, 2008), regardless of previously held ideas aboutwho is to blame.

The second issue relates to the diversity of the people and the cultureswithin each society: There is no one profile of “the Palestinian” or of “theIsraeli.” In order for tour participants to gain better understanding of the issues driving the conflict, it is important that they meet with peopleholding diverse perspectives and from diverse backgrounds.

In a tour that I led in 2006 for American graduate students, the partic-ipants visited Bedouin communities, Jews from an urban kibbutz inSderot, the Hebrew Israelite community in Dimona2 (Hare, 1999), Jewishwomen who immigrated from Ethiopia, and more. A few days into thetrip, one of the visitors noted: “I had no idea that there were so many dif-ferent peoples in Israel. I thought there were just Jews and Arabs. This is somuch more complicated than I had imagined.” The trip opened up theeyes of this student to the diversity that exists within each group. For exam-ple, he began to see that there were religious and secular Jews, who holddifferent notions of what it means to be a Jew or an Israeli, and how these different peoples view the conflict and its resolution.

A third issue concerns the internal politics and factionalism within eachsociety. Two major divisions include the Hamas-Fatah division in Palestine(Roy, 2003; Mishal and Sela, 2006) and the religious nationalisticright–Peace Now division in Israel (Pappe, 2004; Pelham, 2009). When vis-itors are exposed to the wide range of intragroup factionalism and opposingideologies, this can help break down stereotypes of “Israelis” and “Palestini-ans.” For example, when I speak to tourists, they are usually surprised tolearn of the separation of Palestinians in the West Bank from Palestinian cit-izens in Israel. Learning that Palestinians from the West Bank cannot travelto Gaza, and vice versa, helps illuminate the need to understand internalconflicts and their impacts on resolution of the larger conflict.

The fourth issue is the role that regional and international media oftenplay in (mis)representations of Palestinians and Israelis, and the conflict.Media reports frequently present the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as irresolv-able, with “good guys” and “bad guys” (Campbell, 2004). As Sharvit andBar-Tal (2006) state, Israeli media tends to paint the Palestinians as intran-sigent, with a proliferation of terrorists and their supporters. Allen (2002)

52 Chaitin


notes that Palestinians see people engaged in the armed struggle in a muchdifferent light: they are respected and publicly memorialized, often in theelectronic media (“Anniversary of Assassinating Seikh Salah M. Shehada,”Al Qassam, n.d.). For many Palestinians, these are “freedom fighters” whohave sacrificed themselves for their people’s freedom.

The first time that I participated in a tour to the Hebron region, whichwas led by Breaking the Silence, we passed through checkpoints, talked tosoldiers about what it was like for them to serve in that area, met withPalestinians, and were hosted by a Palestinian family in their home inHebron. These experiences helped clarify for me how the often frighteningmedia portrayal of Palestinians and Israelis is far from the Palestinian resi-dents and the Israeli soldiers we met during that day. I also saw firsthandinstances of settler violence toward Palestinians who live in Hebron, whichwere not reported in Israeli mainstream media.

A fifth issue relates to the ways in which ethnic- and religious-based per-spectives of claims to the land inhibit peace-building trajectories (Tessler,1994). Alternative tours that provide expert knowledge on these opposingclaims can help participants grasp the ways in which the different ethnicand religious groups perceive their rights. Connected to this is the sixthissue of the opposing historical narratives of the peoples (Adwan and Bar-On,2004) and the collective memories of the peoples (Halbwachs, 1992; Tint,2010a), which, unfortunately, are rooted in perspectives of victimization,trauma, and oppression.

According to Tint (2010a), collective memories—memories held bysocial groups—are socially constructed and are influenced by perceptionsof present-day social reality. As Tint writes, memory is an active process,much more than the remembering of historical facts. Collective memoriesare very complicated in conflict situations: transmission of memories andgroup narratives of a peoples’ past also include values, emotions, and beliefsintricately associated with the memories. In the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,these memories also often contain blame of the enemy, creating nationalnarratives that further political aims of each side. As Tint notes, the tiesbetween collective memory and conflict influence people’s sense of iden-tity, and often strengthen feelings of nationalism, which can exacerbateintergroup conflicts.

Tint’s study (2010b) of Jewish and Palestinian young adults living inthe United States, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories found that the pastwas of deep significance for 85 percent of her interviewees. The Palestini-ans saw the past as significant for their people living under Occupation and



for their own sense of cultural belonging and identity, and their interviewshighlighted the ongoing suffering of their people. The Jewish-Israelisfocused on their ties to their Biblical past and on the centuries-long perse-cution of their people, connecting this past to their sense of identity. Tint’sstudy showed that collective memories, even of young adults who may nothave suffered the traumas of the past, influence their emotions and per-ceptions of present-day realities.

An example of how addressing these issues is relevant for politicaltourism comes from a tour that I led for Jewish, Christian, and Muslimprofessional women from the United States. I invited Israeli and Palestin-ian teachers to lead a workshop on a textbook they had jointly written,which presents dual opposing narratives of nine historical events (Steinbergand Bar-On, 2009), for use in high schools. During the workshop, thewomen saw how Israeli and Palestinian teachers work together, in spite oftheir different beliefs concerning “facts.” Instead of arguing over what wasthe correct history, the teachers had produced a text that could help highschool students see that there were different legitimate memories of thepast, and that in spite of these differences, Palestinians and Israelis did notneed to be at war with one another. Many of the women purchased thebook to use for seminars that they would lead upon their return home.

A seventh sociopolitical issue is the role that civil society organizationsand actors have in peace-building efforts (Saunders, 1999; Chaitin, Obeidi,Adwan, and Bar-On, 2004). On my political tours, I schedule two to fourventures every day focusing on peace and social change. We always meetwith members of the Israeli–Palestinian Bereaved Families Circle—anNGO composed of people who have lost a family member in the conflictand who work together for peace and reconciliation. These encounters arealways powerful for they show visitors that people who have lost the mostcan become the strongest advocates for reconciliation.

Meeting with representatives from NGOs provides visitors with rolemodels for peace and social justice activism, and also helps them widentheir network of organizations and people. Being aware of the grassrootswork makes it possible for visitors to spread the message at home that thereare partners for peace in Palestine and Israel.

The role of elected leaders in the conflict (Brown, 2003; Sarsar, 2005) isthe final issue. As Sarsar states: “National leaders on both sides . . . are sub-stantially to blame for conflict protraction. . . . They speak of peace butfew practice it or are serious about it” (p. 74). When all is said and done, itis up to the elected leaders on both sides to formally bring the peace.

54 Chaitin


Therefore, it is important, where possible, to arrange for tourists to meetdecision makers and to ask them questions about things they have learnedduring their tour.

In a trip that I led for South African political leaders in 2008, they metwith the vice mayor of a large Israeli city and with the Israeli Minister ofWelfare and Social Services. During the meeting with the Minister, whichtook place toward the end of the trip, the participants asked questionsabout internal conflicts they had learned about during the journey. Theyfelt the time they spent with him was very productive, much more than thesuperficial meeting they had anticipated. The meeting with the vice mayorlasted for three hours, in which he also showed them social change projects.From their feedback about the entire trip, we learned that the combinationof meeting formal leaders and civil society activists gave the participants amuch fuller picture of Israeli society, and about the programs being under-taken for social change, than they held before they came.

Psychosocial Factors Connected to Political Tourism inIsrael–Palestine

Before looking at five psychosocial factors connected to political tours, itshould be noted that tours that deal with the previously noted issuesrequire not only time, but also the willingness of tour organizers to exposeparticipants to a diverse range of sites and stories and of participants toundertake the psychological work that they will need to do to contain theoften difficult sights and stories that can also challenge previously heldbeliefs. It is extremely important for political tour organizers to allot timefor participants to reflect on what they are learning, as their visit unfolds, sothat they can digest their experiences and think about concrete ways theycan support the peace process—manifest aims of the alternative tours.

I recommend addressing the following five psychosocial aspects: First,there is a need for tour operators to create safe spaces for open and honest dia-logue that allow for the voicing of different and opposing perspectives(Chaitin, 2004). Such dialogues between participants and their guides,among the participants, and between participants and the people theymeet during the trip encourage reflection and the creation of complex per-spectives. It is best if these dialogues take place during the visit, but it is alsoimportant to try to continue them after the visitors have returned homeand continue to reflect on what they learned and share their experienceswith others.



On my tours, I set aside a few evenings for group reflection on what wehave experienced. One good way to facilitate such reflection is to sit in acircle, or to break into smaller groups depending on the number of partic-ipants, and have each person share the most powerful and positive or diffi-cult encounter that they have had so far. It is good to have the participantsrelate this in a narrative form, in which they tell the story of the specificexperience. Then the group members can reflect together on their newunderstandings and get prepared for upcoming sights and sites. It is alsoimportant to leave time on the final day for group reflection and for rais-ing ideas about what participants will do with the insights they have gainedon returning home. This can give the program a more lasting effect.

The second issue relates to the overuse of psychological defense mecha-nisms. During the trip, visitors are apt to engage in defensive behavior,especially people who have a close connection to the conflict (e.g., a touristwho has family living in the region). Therefore, alternative tour plannersshould be sensitive to participants who exhibit recurrent use of defensemechanisms, such as intellectualization, rationalization, repression, anddenial. These defense mechanisms can shield participants from lookingdeeply into and reflecting on the difficult sights, sounds, and stories theyare exposed to during the trip, and they signal anxiety that might closetheir minds and hearts to the people they meet along the way (Chaitin,2008). While tour planners do not need to be psychologists to run suc-cessful political tours, if they are aware that people tend to use psychologi-cal mechanisms as a defense for dealing with new knowledge that rattlespreviously held notions, then the tour operators can help participants seewhere these defenses may be hampering their ability to get the most out oftheir trip.

One example comes to mind: during the previously mentioned tour forwomen from the United States, we visited Yad Vashem.3 As we entered themuseum, one of the Muslim women asked loudly: “Why are we spendingthree hours here? That’s so long! Why aren’t you taking us to see the Sepa-ration Barrier [the women had been there the day before]? Why can’t wespend the time learning about today instead of dragging up old history?”

While it was not easy for me, as the tour director, as a Jew, and as aresearcher of the long-term psychosocial effects of the Holocaust, to listento her outburst, I understood that her words most likely came fromextreme unease, and not necessarily from disrespect for the suffering of theJews during World War II. I explained to the woman that the Holocausthad a pivotal role in history and influenced present-day relations between

56 Chaitin


the peoples. I told her that without grasping better what this genocide stillmeant for Jewish-Israelis today, even young people, it would be very diffi-cult to understand why the conflict persists as it does. By recognizing heruse of defense mechanisms, and not becoming defensive myself, I couldrespond in a way that made it easier for the woman to participate in thetour of the museum. After our talk, she did not complain about “the wasteof time,” as she had in the beginning.

Another important psychosocial aspect connected to perpetuation of theconflict is us-versus-them thinking—the notion that whoever does not believein “our” side must be our enemy (Waller, 2002). When people engage in thisthinking, they assume simplistic perspectives that cannot further peaceefforts. Therefore, tours that do not focus on who is to blame have betterchances to make strides toward successful peace and social justice actions.This point connects to the example given earlier in which tourists partici-pated in a workshop on the joint Israeli–Palestinian history book.

A fourth psychosocial factor connected to overcoming despair con-cerning the peace process is the understanding that peoples in the regionare resilient and have many abilities. By relating to Israelis and Palestiniansas active, healthy social agents who have the ability to cope with the diffi-culties they face (Cwikel, 2006), as opposed to relating to them as “vic-tims” unable to help themselves, the participants can help support thesechange agents in a respectful manner.

During the trip noted earlier for political leaders from South Africa, wevisited Sderot—a town that has suffered massive amounts of Qassamrocket attacks since 2001. During their visit, the group met with youngleaders who originally hailed from the Caucus Mountain region in the for-mer Soviet Union. These young adults are volunteering to bolster theircommunity—one often discriminated against in Israel. The volunteers alsorun after-school and enrichment programs for interested youth and youngadults and are considered to be Sderot’s best-and-brightest.

The South Africans were outwardly very moved by this encounter: theysaw hope, resilience, action, and movement toward the creation of a moreequal and just society in this city. One of the black mayors noted: “Meet-ing these young people helps me reconnect to my roots and remember howidealism and hard work for your community can make a difference. I tipmy hat to them. . . .” By being able to connect the social justice work ofothers to his own life, the mayor was able to see the connections betweenIsrael and South Africa, and to re-strengthen his feeling that social changeis possible when people commit to helping their communities.



Finally, political tours to the Holy Land can make a deep impact on theunderstanding of visitors from abroad if they have opportunities to learnabout the intergenerational and long-term aspects of the conflict. Theseaspects include two main phenomena: (1) collective memory that is oftenrooted in a sense of victimhood, is intricately tied to the sense of collectiveidentity, and carries deep emotions (Adwan and Bar-On, 2001; Tint,2010a, 2010b); and (2) traumas and fears connected to years of war andconflict (Chaitin, Awwad, and Andriani, 2009).

In order to address this issue, tour operators should schedule visitswith people of different ages whose lives have been affected by the conflictand sociopolitical injustices. For example, by providing opportunities tomeet Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war, Jewish-Israelis who foughtin that war, Palestinians born after 1967, Jewish-Israeli young adults whohave served in the army, and so on, the long-term effects of the conflictcan be better understood and perhaps better addressed in peace-buildingefforts. Such personal encounters complement historical and politicalinformation and help tourists connect to the people behind the facts andthe statistics.

All of the alternative tours bring their visitors into contact with “ordi-nary” Palestinians and Israelis. To give an example: when I spoke to a Com-passionate Listening tour this year, I was impressed to learn how manydifferent voices they had heard, Palestinian and Israeli, young and old. Theparticipants appeared to have a good grasp of the long-term negative effectsthat the conflict was having on generations of people from the region, andwas planning to incorporate this knowledge into their own future peaceactivities.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that we have much more to learn about the ability ofpolitical tours to enhance peace and social justice building in the HolyLand. The tours presented in this article (1) expose visitors to a wide vari-ety of nonviolent direct actions aimed at ending the Occupation, workingtoward coexistence, and eliminating social injustices; (2) provide supportfor Palestinian and Israeli civil society peace and social justice activists; and(3) stress the importance of using knowledge gained to become more com-mitted peace activists on returning home. In this way, political tourism tothe Holy Land is not a passive tourism, but an active strategy to strengthenand create additional cadres of peace and social justice builders.

58 Chaitin


It is not easy to create high-quality political tours. Tour designers need totake into account many sociopolitical realities and psychosocial factors thatexplain the persistence of the conflict and to acknowledge and sensitivelyaddress them on the tours. Therefore, it is crucial for tour operators to care-fully plan itineraries and to also critically evaluate what their tours accom-plished. After each tour, they need to ask themselves questions such as:

“Did the tour expose the participants to a wide diversity of opinions andperspectives in the time we had?”

“What site visits were especially significant for the tourists? Which oneswere less so?”

“Did the participants have time to reflect on what they were learning?”

“What concrete lessons can the tour participants take home with themthat are relevant for their own peacebuilding work?”

Answering questions such as these can help tour planners refine theiritineraries and provide visitors with trips that will have a long-term impacton their lives, and also hopefully be of real service to peace and social jus-tice efforts.

It is still too early to assert that travel can hasten world peace, let alonepeace in the Israeli–Palestinian context (Khamouna and Zeiger, 1995;Salazar, 2006). Much more research needs to be undertaken that evaluatesthe effects of political tours in the Holy Land. Although we know whatorganizations aim for, we do not yet know what they actually accomplishand what visitors take away with them—on the cognitive, ideological, andemotional levels. Given the growing phenomenon of political tours toIsrael–Palestine, it is worthwhile to evaluate and analyze the programsbeing offered, learning what works, noting where there are gaps or unnec-essary overlap, and seeing whether and how the political tours are influ-encing peace and social justice processes. By becoming more expert in theactivist strategy of alternative tourism, we open up new avenues for mak-ing a real change for people on the ground, who deserve lives of dignity andwell-being.

Notes

1. These terms will be used interchangeably in this article.2. The Hebrew Israelite Community is comprised of African-Americans whosefirst members came in the early 1970s. This community, who believes that they



are the descendants of the ancient Israelites, have rarely been accepted by Israelisociety.3. Yad Vashem is the main Holocaust memorial in Israel, located in Jerusalem.

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