Jewish occupiers are promoting tourism to draw Israelis who
might otherwise never set foot in the West Bank, an occupied area Palestinians
want as part of a future state.
Proponents hope that drawing visitors will help increase
support for retaining the territory, while critics say the tourism campaign,
like Jewish settlements, is a foothold that stands in the way of making peace.
The Binyamin region — named for the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin
— is a short drive from population centers in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; its
boosters call it “the heart of Israel.” Ancient ruins and wine routes line the
roads here leading to the Jewish settlements and Palestinian villages that
exist, uneasily, side by side.
The visitors center was established last August in response
to an increase in visitors to the region and with hopes of drawing more,
manager Yaela Briner said. Since then, Briner said some 5,000 tourists have
passed through, half of them Israelis.
Some of the 300,000 Israeli occupiers in the West Bank are
looking to tourism as a way to help normalize Israel’s hold on the territory it
captured in 1967. They tout the region’s proximity to urban centers, its
biblical history and its idyllic scenery as a way to paint a positive picture
for Israelis who might frown upon Israel’s settlement enterprise, the country’s
most divisive political issue.
“We have a moral interest for Judea and Samaria to be toured
by Israelis who for various reasons still don’t see it as a place to tour,”
said Dani Dayan, head of a settler umbrella group, referring to the West Bank
by its biblical names.
Attacks against Israelis still occur in the West Bank.
Most recently, Palestinian militants stabbed five family
members to death in their homes in an isolated settlement.
Still, the relative calm of recent years has made tourism a
possibility. The area offers a plethora of sites, many of them of biblical
significance. The settlement of Shilo, for instance, was a stopping point for
the biblical Tabernacle before it went to Jerusalem.
Natural springs and reserves dot the region and boutique
wineries are popping up, attracting both religious and secular Jews. While no
records are kept as to how many Israelis visit the West Bank, occupiers say the
numbers are growing, spurred by an aggressive marketing campaign.
Settler representatives attend tourism fairs and extol the
wonders of the region to travel agents. They have launched campaigns targeting
Israelis, appealing to the West Bank’s Jewish history. One project titled
“Every Jew’s Story” had billboards up in cities across Israel, depicting
grinning children dressed as famous biblical characters, urging Israelis to
return to their roots with a visit to the West Bank offering tours to different
sites.
For those Israelis uninspired by the biblical connection, occupiers
have appealed to adventure-seekers by installing a 400-meter-long zipline, or
to nature-lovers with greater access to springs. The Binyamin visitors center
tailors its tours to the interests of the traveler, focusing on history, wine
or nature.
The occupiers might be inspired by the example of the Golan
Heights, an area Israel captured from Syria in 1967. The nature reserves and
wineries of the Golan have made it a major tourist draw, and polls show a
majority of Israelis oppose a withdrawal there.
The Golan has been largely quiet for the past four decades,
but the volatile West Bank does not occupy a similar place in the Israeli
consensus. Polls show a majority of Israelis would cede most or all the area in
return for peace.
The Israeli government has also taken steps to promote
tourism in the West Bank, offering to protect certain historical sites there
and pledging to send schoolchildren on field trips to a disputed holy site in
Hebron, one of the West Bank’s most explosive flashpoints.
“They want people to think it’s normal there, that it’s
legitimate to travel there,” said Hagit Ofran, of the Israeli settlement
watchdog group Peace Now. “They want people to think that those areas are part
of Israel,” though it has never annexed the West Bank.
On a recent rainy morning, a handful of Israeli visitors
meandered around the Inn of the Good Samaritan, a museum housing dozens of
archaeological artifacts from around the West Bank.
Shoshi Leibovich, a secular Jew visiting from nearby
Jerusalem, said she seldom travels to the West Bank but was drawn by its
tourist attractions.
“Judea and Samaria is where our forefathers lived. It’s
interesting. It doesn’t need to be political,” she said, peering at a mosaic
extracted from an ancient synagogue floor.
Tourist infrastructure has expanded in order to accommodate
those visitors, said Dror Etkes, an anti-settlement activist, pointing to a
soon to be opened holistic healing retreat nestled between desert hills near
the biblical town of Jericho. Alongside the red-tiled roofs of scattered West
Bank settlements are a growing number of inns and restaurants — all which eat
into land desired by the Palestinians as part of a future state.
Palestinians say promoting tourism in the West Bank
complicates any future peace making.
“It consolidates the occupation and consolidates settler
presence in the West Bank,” said Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan
Khattib.
The Israeli Tourism Ministry said it doesn’t actively
promote the West Bank region as a tourist destination for Israelis, though
Christian pilgrims around the world frequently head to the Jordan River for
baptism ceremonies.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel supports
maintaining historical sites in the West Bank because “irrespective of one’s
political perspective, the fact is these are sites that are of great importance
historically and culturally.”
