Welcome to Palestine The Peculiar Case of the Palestinians and their International Visitors
Master’s thesis Julius Weise 10451390 Cultural & Social Anthropology GSS Supervisor: Anne de Jong Annelies Moors & Dina Zbeidy Word count: 29760 Amsterdam 26-06-2017
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Formulae on Plagiarism
I have read and understood the University of Amsterdam plagiarism policy I declare that this assignment is entirely my own work, all sources have been properly acknowledged, and that I have not previously submitted this work, or any version of it, for assessment in any other paper.
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Abstract
This research engages with political tourism in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. Palestinians have little chances in advocating their political agenda due to their limited freedom of movement and the one sided media coverage on the region. By educating tourists Palestinians try to make their story heard. Therefore, in the Oslo Peace Process with Israel, tourism was meant to play a leading role – as an instrument for peace – and regional tourism was expected to valorize regional exchange and sharing. However, Israel tries to stop any tourism development in Palestine for economic and political reasons. This research focuses of the everyday reality of the still ongoing tourism industry on the West Bank of Palestine. For this thesis I conducted a fieldwork, research period of three months on the West Bank. Through participant observations and qualitative interviews I have tried to grasp this social reality looking at both the tourists and the Palestinian hosts. In this paper I argue that tourism in Palestine is to be understood as a form of everyday resistance. The Palestinian instrumental use of their international visitors entails both long-term (advocating the Palestinian story) and short-term (Join demonstrations or human shield against attacks) effects. The concept of political tourism may seem clear, but the way both Palestinians and the tourists perceive and experience it, is rather ambiguous. The ambiguity of this social reality is what it makes so interesting. Political tourism can namely be perceived as thrill seeking, a process of commodification of violence, supporting a continuity of the conflict or rather as the only way towards change within this complex political reality.
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Table of Contents
Introduction 5 - Research question 10 - Theoretical framework 14
Chapter 1 – First encounters 20 - Traveling to Palestine 21 - Traveling from Palestine 23 - First encounters in Palestine 27
Chapter 2 – Tourism under conflict 34 - Hostel in Ramallah 36 - Tent of Nations 42 - Conflict or Occupation? 47
Chapter 3 – Transformations 49 - Palestine fever 50 - Tourist to activist 52 - ‘Just get by’ 55 - Commodification of violence 60
Chapter 4 – Politics in the everyday 64 - Sumud, resistance or resilience? 65 - Political tourism as an ambiguous concept 69 - Role of the tourist 70
Bibliography 83 Appendix - List of abbreviations 86 - Map 86
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“In 1968 I was arrested and sentenced to twenty years of which I served seventeen. This means I was sentenced in the beginning of 1968 and released in 1985 in the large exchange of prisoners between the Palestinians and Israelis. Why? As a member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine headed by a Palestinian Christian called George Habash, I placed a bomb at Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. It exploded and nine Israelis were injured. We did this because on the day before, Israeli planes bombarded a Jordanian city. Many civilians were killed. […] Today the best way to go on with the struggle is by working as an alternative tour guide. And by trying to increase the political awareness of outsiders about what is happening in Palestine. The only way to understand what is really happening over here is to come and see things through your own eyes. I always say that my work today is more effective than the bomb I placed in 1968.” (Ali Jidda, Palestinian, Feb-2017)
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Introduction: Tourism & occupation It seems to be paradoxical, planning a holiday to an occupied and suppressed country like Palestine. Nevertheless, tourism to the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories is a regular phenomenon. Due to the complex political situation of Palestine however, tourism within this region is not anything like ‘ordinary’ tourism. To even enter the West Bank, for example, one has to cross heavily guarded Israeli checkpoints and the separation wall.1 Subsequently one passes impressive red signs indicating that by entering this part of the world, your life is at risk. It can therefore be argued that visiting Palestine is a political act. A so-called political tourism is offered and performed. This thesis focuses on this ‘political’ tourism in Palestine-Israel. Most of the literature written on tourism in Palestine focuses on macro-level and political aspects of this particular touristic destination. Scholars such as Isaac (2013), Suleiman and Mohammed (2012), Kobi Cohen-Hattab, (2004) and Al-Rimmawi (2003) mainly examine historical data and investigate the practical (political) aspects affecting the tourism industry. These scholars report influential factors on tourism in Palestine, demonstrating the significance of the political situation in relation to tourism. Nevertheless, another important aspect has to receive equal attention. I aim to contribute to this body of knowledge by prioritizing the everyday reality on the ground, especially the Palestinian experience. Looking at the everyday reality of political tourism from an ethnographic perspective is at the heart of my research. The central point of attention is the complex relationship between the agency of both the tourists and the Palestinians as well as the existing structures of a military occupation.
Tourism in Palestine Tourism is an essential element of the political struggle between Israel and Palestine since early beginning of the Zionist project. Kobi Cohen-Hattab argues that tourism is a political propaganda tool since the 1920s: "[…] tourism may be, and often is, exploited to create and export images that both correspond to and advance distinctive political and ideological goals. This was certainly the case in mandate Palestine where both Jews and Arabs utilized the tourist industry to promote their national ambitions, often at the expense of the other" (2004: 62). Kobi Cohen-Hattab concludes that during mandate
1 In June 2002, the Israeli government made a decision to erect a physical barrier, the so-called security fence, to separate Israel from the West Bank in order to prevent the uncontrolled entry of Palestinians into Israel. In this thesis I do not refer to this as a security fence but rather as a ‘segregation wall,’ following Isaac (2010). 6
Palestine, the Zionists regarded tourism as an area well worth investing in and fighting over, and not only for economic reasons. The Zionist movement considered tourism as a way to benefit politically in addition to being a source of revenue. Cohen-Hattab says: "A flourishing Jewish tourist industry, by presenting tourists with a positive image of Palestine's Jewish community could it was thought, pay invaluable political dividends. It would, for example, allow the Zionists to enlist tourists as ambassadors for their cause and no less importantly, prevent the Arabs from doing the same" (2004: 78). His article shows documents dating from the mandate era that discuss the Arab-Jewish competition over the country's tourist industry. These documents clearly show that the Zionist movement as well as Palestinians regarded tourism and ‘its role in ideologically oriented image-making' as an essential tool for advancing their political, national goals. The Zionists believed that tourism offered them an opportunity to promote the Jewish national endeavor and influence world public opinion in their favor (2004: 78). This process did not cease after the creation of the State of Israel; the birthright program is evidence of this nowadays. Over 500,000 people have traveled to Israel with this free program since 1999.2 The idea of tourists being important ambassadors for their cause is still present today in Palestine as well. This thesis primarily focuses on tourism to Palestine and the opportunity for Palestinians to advocate their side of the story. Tourism has an important influence on economic growth, notably in developing countries (Richie 2004). It is a source of economic development, savings, investment, jobs, and foreign exchange earnings (Seddighi & Theocharous 2002). At the same time, tourism can decrease economic inequality as well as increase understanding among countries. However, tourism is highly sensitive to political unrest (Hall 1994; Clements & Georgiou 1998). Palestine has experienced division and occupation for over 60 years with enormous regional effects on tourism. Isaac reflects: "Palestine represents a situation different from that of other countries in the aftermath of war because it is still in great part occupied and in effect wholly controlled by another state, which has major ramifications for tourism" (2013: 143). Throughout the occupation until 1993, Israel invested nothing into infrastructure, maintenance of historical and archaeological sites, or tourist facilities. Palestinian opportunities to develop a tourism industry were diminished by different policies, which Stein (1995: 17) has described as ‘forced underdevelopment.' This included disapproval to train and license Palestinian tour guides, the obligation of
2 http://taglitww.birthrightisrael.com/TaglitBirthrightIsraelStory/Pages/Our-Achievements.aspx
7 crippling municipal taxes, and a refusal to license any new hotel or hotel renovations or new developments in Palestinian areas (Stein 1995). In the article Holy Land Pilgrims: in search for living stones, Bush (1996) argues that the control of access to airports and highways for the thirty years before the peace process has given Israel the power to discourage Palestinians to enter this market. Consequently, Israel has sustained a "virtual monopoly over the tourism industry in the region, by exploiting Palestinian resources and heritage at the same time as excluding Palestinians from tourism's economic, political and social benefits" (Isaac 2013: 144). This process of exclusion is also apparent in the planning and implementation of separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians as well as in the separation wall, as these measures caused Palestinians to become nearly invisible to Israelis and their visitors. "The whole infrastructure of separation serves multiple interweaving symbolic and politico-economic functions and contributes further ‘to de- culture, ‘to de-nation,' and ‘to dis-identify' Palestinians" (Fisk 2005). These strategies have been put to place to cut the Palestinian lands such as fertile agricultural fields, isolating between the Palestinian towns and villages, the Palestinian communities in the enclave. These restrictions cause damaging health care needs of residents and cutting employments for Palestinians in the West Bank as well (ATG 2005; Sahin 2005; OCHA 2009). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared in July 2004 that the Israeli apartheid wall is illegal (Suleinan & Mohamed 2012). Palestine tourism could be an important tool as well if not for the restraint of the Israeli occupation policies. In the spirit of the Oslo Peace Process, tourism was meant to play a leading role – as an instrument for peace – and regional tourism was expected to valorize regional exchange and sharing. The problem however is that no attention was paid to the infrastructure, according to Palestine tourism expert Rami Isaac. So he rightly asks: “If so much value is put in the power of tourism to create new realities, how could tourism, within such an impossible context and unsatisfactory conditions, contribute to the peace process?” (2013: 145). As a result of the peace process with Israel the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Palestine followed, initiating the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA). Their main goal was to develop the tourism sector, which had been made nearly impossible for over 25 years. MOTA’s work primarily focused on developing the infrastructure necessary for tourism: “training and building the human capacity to support the sector, regulating tourism entities through registration, licensing, and promoting Palestine as a viable tourism destination” (Isaac 2013: 145).
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Today, the main obstruction the Palestinian tourism industry is facing is still a lack of accessibility and freedom of movement. All Palestinians living in Palestine face serious challenges to their freedom of movement when travelling through the West Bank (Burghouti 2000; Harker 2009; Weizman 2007). Access to Gaza is even restricted for most people trying to enter and for all Palestinians trying to leave. On the other hand, the West Bank is still accessible to most international people. Palestinians living in the West Bank have limited freedom to move around within the West Bank and even less possibilities to travel outside of it. The lack of freedom of movement is one of the striking aspects differentiating Palestinians from international tourists. The visitors coming to Palestine are mostly from Western European and North American countries. Their passports allow them to travel almost anywhere in the world. Whereas the Palestinian passport is one of the least useful travel documents in the sense that it takes months to apply for many international visas, if even granted one. Isaac states: “The lack of control over borders, the vulnerability to regular incursion and subsequent physical damage to tourism infrastructure, the lack of freedom of movement for Palestinians and tourists, the regular closures of Palestinian areas, and the Separation Wall, which cuts deep into Palestinian areas, are only some of the problems resulting directly from the Israeli occupation.” (Isaac: 146). Consequently, it has been impossible for Palestinians to develop their potential for tourism. Moreover, I argue that the insecure political context profoundly undermines planning for future development. As one of my research interlocutors put it:
"Tourism needs a long period of peace and calm. That's why each time you start building up the tourism it collapses again, and from our experience in Jerusalem, for people to forget and tourists to start coming back, it takes at least six years. Can you imagine? Things happening for one month or one week like war on Gaza or something. Directly 90% of the reservations you have start to be cancelations. Only after six years will it get back to its normal amount. Tourism really needs a safe and peaceful environment. Sadly we are not likely to have this so far” (Bubu, Palestine, April 2017).
Scholars such as Hall (1994) and Clement and Georgiou (1998) confirm that tourism is dependent upon political stability. They conclude that mobility, accessibility, and border controls are closely related and that they all form a threat to tourism in Palestine.
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Moreover, the restrictions on freedom of movement (mobility and accessibility) between not only Palestinian towns and cities but also between Israel and Palestine or between Palestine and other countries is not only a violation of human rights but also a liability for those involved in tourism. As stated earlier in this introduction, most of the above-mentioned articles written on the subject of tourism in Palestine focus on the macro-level forces. They provide useful insight into the complexity of the context and are therefore useful for this introduction. However, when reading these articles one can have the impression that tourism in Palestine is impossible and almost non-existent. My observations were quite different, as I encountered a lively tourism industry in which the broad range of Palestinian culture and sightseeing is highly appreciated by tourists. Obviously the tourism market still has potential to grow, taking into account that only a tiny proportion of visitors to Israel cross the border to Palestine. Still, today there is a whole world of tourism in Palestine to discover as an ethnographic researcher. My ethnographic observations are therefore the central source of data used for this paper. In this thesis, the term ‘Palestine’ refers to the West Bank of Palestine. Gaza, also an important part of Palestine and home to many Palestinians, is not part of my research. This is because tourism to Gaza is even more limited than the West Bank. Thereby my interlocutors, both Palestinians and the tourists, would say Palestine when referring to the West Bank.
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Research question The everyday experience of political tourism in Palestine is the focus of this thesis. Therefore the main question of this study is as follows:
How is the political in ‘political tourism’ conveyed, perceived, practiced, and experienced in the West Bank of Palestinian Occupied Territories?
Sub-questions With emphasis on ethnographic descriptions, sub-questions relevant to the research question are depicted below. The number behind the sub-questions refers to the chapters in which they are explored.
• How does tourism to Palestine differ from regular tourism? (1) • How do foreigners perceive Palestine? (1) • What is tourism like in an occupied country? (2) • What information do Palestinian (political) tour guides aim to convey during tours? (2) • In what ways does tourism serve the political interest of Palestinians? (2) • In which ways do transformations take place after spending time in Palestine? (3) • Within this strongly political field, is there such thing as an apolitical space? (4)
Research design The focus of my research is primarily on everyday life and experiences of Palestinians and their international visitors. This ethnography is based on three-month research immersed in the field, residing most of the time in hostels and therefore surrounded continuously by tourists and Palestinians working in tourism. By focusing on tourism in the West Bank I knew I had two advantages. First, there has been little written about this tourism aspect. As mentioned above, the articles related to this subject focus on macro-level problems Palestine faces in developing a tourism industry. Second, my focus facilitated being in touch with English-speaking Palestinians, an occupational trait of hostel owners, tour guides, and others working in tourism. In retrospect, the language barrier was even smaller than I expected. Many Palestinians in my research area appeared to speak at least a little English. Due to this possibility of
11 speaking English in the streets and markets, not only did the Palestinians working in tourism turn out to be relevant for this research but so too did all the ‘normal encounters’ in the streets. I therefore did not use an interpreter at all. Before beginning, I knew that my research plan required many different kinds of people, groups of people, and different locations. I was therefore faced with some decisions and dilemmas regarding locations and people. The choices regarding research setting (location) are addressed throughout this paper, but first comes elaboration on the diverse makeup of my research interlocutors.
Tourists Obviously I was not able observe all tourists visiting the West Bank. However, I soon made a broad distinction between two groups of tourists. On one hand are the tourists ‘just’ interested in seeing the Nativity Church in Bethlehem and/or the Dead Sea near Jericho and returning to Israel directly afterward. On the other hand, are the tourists intentionally exploring the West Bank. The first group would be an absorbing topic of research. I could argue that this group is also an element of ‘political tourism’ in Palestine. They deliberately choose to ignore the surrounding politics, as they are told to do so by their Israeli tour guides. This thesis however focuses on the second group: the tourists purposely travelling to Palestine. Their conscious intentions do not imply that they all have political connotations, but it is clear they want to spend time in this region to explore. The second aspect important to note concerning the tourists in this research is that I stayed in hostels instead of more expensive bed-and-breakfasts or hotels. This implies that most tourists I spent time with, observed, and interviewed were mostly young people travelling on a limited budget. According to the hostel owners, this group of so-called ‘backpackers’ is the largest group of tourists willing to ‘explore Palestine.’ There was roughly an equal amount of men and women within this group.
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Palestinians The Palestinian tour guides I followed and the hostel owners I befriended are all men and differ in age between 24 and 40. In total I interviewed five hostel owners and four tour guides. Most of the Palestinian encounters I used as data were with younger people, and all of them spoke some amount of English, from a little to fluent. Most of the Palestinians I befriended and regularly hung out with were men except two girls. They were all my age, between 22 and 26.
My position My appearance is quite different from most Palestinians. I have blond curly hair and pale skin. Due to this, I experienced being an outsider when walking around. This position helped me in this research as Palestinians regarded me as a tourist. They would, for instance, often tell me how important it was that I was there to see the situation with my own eyes. They did not say this in reference to my research but to me as a visitor just like any other tourist. Therefore, the encounters with ordinary Palestinians in public places often resulted in interesting data (as a ‘tourist’) beyond the organized interviews or participant observations. The fact that I am a man and 24 years old has undoubtedly influenced my research, though that realization did not strike me in the field. The access to the right people and the willingness of people to talk to me were both favorable. What I noticed is that both the tourists and the Palestinians in general were all open to connect, although it was generally more difficult to achieve contact with Palestinian women. This contact was sometimes met with reluctance from the women or their relatives. I felt uncomfortable with strong attempts to get in contact with women because I thought I was pushing the limits. I did not know the social rules, so to say.
Methodology For this research I used different methods to collect my data. I interviewed tourists, Dutch tour guides, Palestinian tour guides, Palestinian hostel owners and employees, and a couple of other people relevant to political tourism such as an employee of Alternative Tourism Group (ATG) based in Bethlehem. In total I interviewed 23 people. Moreover, I conducted participant observations on a daily basis. As mentioned above, most of the time I lived in hostels where I was always surrounded by tourists and Palestinians working in tourism. In order to expand my network and get to know my way
13 around, I spent the first ten days traveling with a Dutch organization called Ontmoet Palestina. Halfway through my research period, I guided my family through the West Bank for a week. Moreover, I worked as a volunteer on the Palestinian farm ‘Tent of Nations.' The way these different methods helped me collect new insights into the field is explained in the following paragraphs.
Ontmoet Palestina I spent the first ten days of my research travelling with the Dutch organization ‘Ontmoet Palestina' (OP). We went to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tent of Nations, Hebron, and Nablus. This trip enabled me to build a strong network of people in these different places. I met most of the tour guides, who eventually had an important role in this research, during these first ten days. Traveling so intensely with the Dutch youngsters gave me significant insight into how travelling through Palestine can impact tourists and how they discuss their experiences from their arrival until their departure.
Guiding my family One week in February my family visited me. My father, stepmother, brother, and sister all came to see me and to travel through Palestine-Israel. I showed them the places that I find the most interesting throughout the West Bank. We visited Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, and the Tent of Nations. My role during this week was quite different from my role with ontmoet Palestina. During the OP trip I was a tourist myself and passively following the guides. With my family I took on the guide role, showing my family around and sharing my recently gained expertise. I used this experience as a method to understand the position of tour guides on a deeper level. It was also an opportunity to gain insight into how guided tourists respond to shared stories and the reality around them. This experience of guiding my family is discussed thoroughly in Chapter 1.
Voluntary work at Tent of Nations Tent of Nations (TON) is a Palestinian farm near Bethlehem. The farm is a specific case of political tourism in Palestine. Through Ontmoet Palestina I was able to stay on the farm and meet the owner, Daoud. This case gives important insight into the Palestinian political struggle and the role tourism can play in it and is thoroughly examined in Chapter 2.
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Theoretical framework As an anthropologist, I aim to avoid providing a one-dimensional view on politics. Politics in political tourism does not only consist of physical objects like the separation wall, nor does it only exist due to institutions like parliament. This thesis approaches the concept of politics as a dynamic process. In the field I found that the everyday politics in political tourism could be captured with the following four aspects: conveyed, practiced, experienced, and perceived. This approach is chosen not only to take my interlocutors seriously but also because it allows a more in-depth analysis of concepts such as violence and resistance. To examine how politics in political tourism are conveyed, I look at the language used by tour guides and hostel owners, at the stories being told and those that are not. Thereby I explore the Palestinian instrumental use of tourism. To understand how the political is practiced I look at what tourists do and what places they go. The practices of going through border control at Ben Gurion airport, crossing the separation wall, checkpoints and the Israeli military are of interest here. At the same time I focus on the touristic attractions offered by the Palestinians, like demonstrations and political tours. Finally, politics can be experienced and perceived differently; this is the personal aspect of politics and has to do with people’s emotions, misconceptions, prior knowledge, and misinformation. It is important to stress that these different aspects of politics are often intertwined with one another. Throughout this thesis these concepts are discussed, and often a situation involves a combination of two or more of these concepts.
Violence and non-violence Violence is, unfortunately, highly influential in Palestine. Following Philip Bourgois and Nancy Scheper-Hughes, I argue that we should not just look at physical violence, even though this is what most of us think of regarding violence, but this concept has more complex ramifications. Bourgois and Scheper-Hughes argue:
‘Focusing exclusively on the physical aspect of torture/terror/violence misses the point and transformations the project into a clinical, literary, or artistic exercise, which runs the risk of denigrating into a theatre or pornography of violence in which the voyeuristic impulse subverts the larger project of witnessing, critiquing, and writing against violence, injustice and suffering’ (Bourgois & Scheper- Hughes 2004: 1)
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Bourgois (2001) differentiates between four types of violence: political, structural, symbolic, and everyday violence (see Chart 1). Palestine faces extreme forms of all four types of violence. However, in this essay I focus mainly on structural and symbolic violence. This is because I argue that these two types of violence are at the core of understanding tourism in Palestine. Political and everyday violence, however, form interesting topics for further study. Structural violence is according to Bourgois: “Rooted at the macro level in structures such as unequal international terms of trade and is expressed locally. Chronic, historically-entrenched political-economic oppression and social equality” (Bourgois 2001: 3). Looking at tourism, the structural violence Palestinians face is rather clear and can be seen for example in the limited freedom of movement. This limitation structurally violates the basic human right of movement and causes Palestinians to have difficulty achieving economic development as well as political and social unity. I use this concept to understand the conditions of the Palestinians working in tourism. This concept is mostly discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. Symbolic violence is a concept developed by Pierre Bourdieu to understand how domination works on a personal level, “via the misrecognition of power structures on the part of the dominated who collude in their own oppression every time they perceive and judge the social order through categories that make it appear natural and self- evident” (Bourgois 2001: 3). This internalization of violence is evident in Palestine among both tourists and Palestinians and can be seen for example in the way Palestinians behave around the wall or checkpoints. They deal with these violating procedures as daily practices because they have become part of the everyday reality. This concept is made relevant in all four chapters.
Normalization of violence Lori Allen explains that in Foucault’s notion of discipline, what he considered to be “the general formula of domination” in the modern era, power is a matter of gestures and mannerisms of the body, its comportment in space and regulation through time, and is produced within the body, beneath consciousness, as it is processed by state institutions and carried with precision in the home and workplace (Allen 2008; Foucault 1995: 137). Lori Allen however argues that a modern military occupation involves mass forms of discipline, domination, and brute force. According to Allen, physical violence develops
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“social and spatial instabilities” that make any “particularly precise organization of the body through space impossible” (Allen 2008: 475). This is the anti-discipline or even a form of resistance to the occupation. She states: “Even as these Israeli military strategies continue to terrorize, kill, and destroy, in however a hobbled fashion Palestinians persist not only walking, naming and narrating the swirl events stirring up their cities and lives, they also simply ‘get used to it’” (ibid: 475). This process of normalization of violence is present in the way Palestinians tend to deal with the occupation, as Allen argues. This notion of “getting used to it” goes hand in hand with the concept of symbolic violence (Bourdieu 2001; Bourgois 2001). The difference is the level of consciousness. This is discussed briefly in Chapter 2 and more thoroughly in Chapter 4. Thereby, I argue that the normalization of violence as described by Allen is also part of the transformation undergone by tourists. This is examined in Chapter 3. Chart 1
Resistance The different forms of violence have forced Palestinians to react in certain ways. One of the ways is the one Allen describes, the normalization of violence and the mentality of “we have to go on with our lives” and “we’ve gotten used to it.” Allen argues that “Although Palestinians sometimes consider their adaptations to the violence of occupation to be a form of political resistance, it was not always so intentionally signified” (Allen 2008: 457). Another way Palestinians tend to react is a national
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Palestinian concept called sumud, literally translated as “steadfastness.” It is the idea that continuing to live one’s life normally is a form of resistance. A Palestinian interlocutor states in an article by Rijke and van Teeffelen: “Sumud is continuing living in Palestine, laughing enjoying life, falling in love, getting married, having children. Sumud is also continuing your studies outside, to get a diploma, to come back here. Defending values is Sumud.” (Rijke & van Teeffelen 2014: 90). Sumud is not an easy concept to grasp, but it resonates within deeper layers of the Palestinian experience. The normalization of violence and the mentality of the Palestinians described by Allen are also part of Sumud. The concepts are closely related, but I argue that Sumud takes a bit more of an active stance and that normalization of violence is a passive way and Sumud an active way of looking at a similar phenomenon. I use these concepts in order to understand the everydayness of the struggle Palestinians face and their response/resistance. In Chapter 2, another form of resistance is examined—an even more active form of non-violent resistance in which tourism plays a key role.
Tourism Anthropology of tourism has expanded over the last few decades. Anthropologist Anna Stronza (2001) argues that tourism as a subject can be of relevance to many theoretical and real-world issues in anthropology. The problem is that the conducted studies neglect certain issues. According to Stronza, these studies are most of the time divided into two different approaches. On one hand are studies that seek to find the origin of tourism (focus on tourists), and on the other hand are contrary studies that concentrate on the impact of tourism (focus on locals). Stronza advocates a more holistic approach where the focus is on both the tourists and the locals and throughout the whole process. Stronza argues that this holistic perspective will help us explore the different manners alternative tourism can influence local communities socially, economically, and environmentally while also creating transformative acquaintances for the tourists themselves (Stronza 2001). I use Stronza’s holistic approach in order to explore political tourism in Palestine. This approach can act as a pathway to introduce social and political views, especially in Palestine where communications and media are seen as one-sided or lacking in balance to the rest of the world (Isaac 2009). In addition, I also examine the influence of tourism perceived by the Palestinians and the transformative acquaintances for tourists.
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This thesis therefore approaches tourism holistically, looking at both the tourist and the locals and understanding tourism as part of a complex system of globalization. Isaac states: “Tourism is not happening in a vacuum but is now a complex global phenomenon with political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and educational dimensions” (Isaac 2013: 157). He concludes his article with a call for academic action regarding this field of study. He argues:
“A response by the academic community is often a general inclination to withdraw from such reflections [political reality in Palestine], perhaps on grounds of potential bias. Comprehending the tourism context of Palestine demands an understanding of the political context and history. There is a need for academics and practitioners to address these ‘knowledge gaps’ or, more precisely, ‘situations of despair’ (Isaac 2011: 170). One result of this responsibility could be to establish a research agenda on the politico-economic difficulties in developing tourism in an environment effectively controlled by an external power, i.e. under occupation” (Isaac 2013: 157).
This research subscribes to Isaac’s observation and the aim to centralize political context and history. I achieve this not by primarily focusing on politico-economic difficulties in developing tourism but rather by looking at the everyday reality of tourism on the ground.
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Chapter outline The first chapter examines the first encounters of tourists, Palestinians, and myself, gaining contextual understandings from these first moments. These first encounters reveal much about the relation between tourism and politics in Palestine-Israel as well as much about the internalization of violence by Palestinians and the preconceived ideas of tourists. The chapter looks at the concepts of symbolic violence (Bourdieu 2001; Bourgois 2002) and freedom of movement (Burghouti 2000; Harker 2009; Weizman 2007). The second chapter explores the practices of tourism in Palestine. Looking at the two cases Hostel in Ramallah and Tent of Nations, I argue that indeed the politics in political tourism are practiced through the whole tourism infrastructure. Thereby the second chapter shows the important function of tourism for certain Palestinians, as a form of resistance. Through these cases the different forms of violence Palestinians face on a daily basis become clear (Bourgois & Scheper-Hughes 2004; Bourdieu 2001; Lori Allen 2008). Moreover, I argue that Palestinians’ instrumental use of tourism and tourists can be perceived as a form of active non-violent resistance. This instrumental use of tourists comes with a reciprocal relationship; the tourists genuinely feel they receive as much as they give. Finally, this form of resistance reveals a need for a paradigm shift in order to correctly describe the situation as it is on the ground. The usual description of conflict should change to occupation (Pappe & Chomsky 2015; de Jong 2012, 2017; Roy 2012). Travelling in Palestine results in different transformative acquaintances for international visitors. Their experience in the country often has a significant impact. These transformations are the central focus of Chapter 3. I argue that most tourists experience some sort of transformation. This is not a linear process however but rather is one with contradictions. Violence, resistance, and activism are the relevant social concepts in order to further understand these shifts (Bourgois 2002; Allen 2008). Moreover, I argue that tourism in Palestine as an entity has experienced a transformation of commodification (Jackson 1999). While each of the above present clear arguments, it is not my intention to portray political tourism as a fixed or rigid entity that one can simply understand. Chapter 4 therefore critically engages with the content of previous chapters.
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Chapter 1 – First Encounters
In any other context interested in tourism, starting with the first encounters in a place or country would make sense. Traveling to Palestine is different however, because for tourists willing to go to Palestine their first encounters are with Israeli security and Israelis. All access points (air, sea, and land) to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are controlled by Israel. Hence, international visitors and pilgrims wishing to visit Palestine must first pass through the Israeli borders, using entry points such as the Ben Gurion Airport, the Allenby crossing in Jericho, the Sheikh Hussein Bridge in Bissan, the Arava crossing in Eilat, and the Rafah crossing in Gaza (Isaac 2013: 147). Israel thoroughly checks everything and everyone moving into and out of Palestine. Therefore tourism to Palestine by definition implies travelling through Israel. The most common entry point is Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. From there buses are available to Jerusalem and from Jerusalem to most cities on the West Bank. The Israeli government discourages international tourists attempting to travel to the occupied Palestinian areas, and moreover tourists are hindered by the Israeli military from entering Palestinian cities and towns (Sizer 1999). Isaac argues:
"This situation will not change until the closures are ended to permit the free flow of people (including tourists) between Israel and Palestine, and between cities in the West Bank. Today Israel controls who can visit Palestine because every potential visitor must pass through Israeli territory and therefore must get an Israeli visa or permission, which is one of the obstacles to any viable tourism industry in Palestine” (2013: 147).
In this chapter I examine the experiences of first encounters for tourists, Palestinians, and myself. With these first encounters I seek to answer the questions: How does tourism to Palestine differ from regular tourists, and how is the situation in Palestine perceived by foreigners? The answers have different ramifications, but the most obvious answers are found in these very first encounters. This is illustrated in three different parts: 1.1 My experience of traveling to Palestine-Israel. An exploration of the procedures any tourist deals with when going to Palestine.
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1.2 The personal experiences of two Palestinians having traveled abroad are addressed. These first encounters in Europe show how politics is so intertwined in their lives, even when they escape their geographical, political reality. They were shocked to see how people in Europe are not informed about Palestine and its situation. At the same time, these first encounters abroad empowered them and changed their life afterward. 1.3 The first encounters for tourists in Palestine. With these first encounters I describe some of the realities in Palestine-Israel and their influences on its visitors. In addition, these first encounters illustrate the (practical) interconnection of tourism and politics through realities such as having to cross the wall, checkpoints, military, etc. These experiences are perceived individually, revealing the expectation of the visitor.
1.1 Travelling to Palestine Arriving at Ben Gurion on January 5th, 2017 for my research was not my first time visiting Palestine-Israel. In the summer of 2016 I joined an organization called IMSTAR on their annual summer trip. IMSTAR is a student organization run by students of the University of Amsterdam. The program was designed to inform students on ‘both sides of the conflict.'3 In this spirit half of the lectures clarified ‘the Palestinian point of view' and the other half the ‘Israeli situation.' After attending these ten lectures we left for the Middle East to spend exactly five days in Israel and five days in OPT. The board of the organization intended to be as impartial as possible, exposing both sides of the conflict. I was struck by this outspoken and obsessive aim to be impartial. It seemed to be an outcome of the ‘peace and conflict paradigm’ existing in the way most people talk and think about the situation of Palestine-Israel all around the world (de Jong 2017). This notion is discussed thoroughly throughout this thesis, especially in Chapter 2. The instructions given by the board of IMSTAR during the preparation of this trip were especially interesting. The board planned two briefings over Skype on how to act and what to say at the Israeli border control. One of the board members lived in Ramallah at that time, and she provided two Skype briefings on the do’s and don’ts dealing with the Israeli customs. We were told to avoid being transparent about the purpose of our visit and the places we wanted to see, as this could cause problems for the organization and our trip. They informed us to act like ignorant tourists. Loesje, one of the board members, instructed us: "Just tell the customs we came to Israel to have a
3 http://imstar.nl/
22 fun time, going to the beach, visiting religious sites and enjoying great food. Just pretend to be a little bit dumb!" This was the first time I experienced people desiring to be ‘ignorant tourists.’ Usually, anthropology students around me try not to be a typical or ‘stupid' tourist. The board emphasized to stay calm and to remember you are not doing anything offensive. These briefings undermined my sense of security and confidence and left me slightly tense and nervous about the trip. Before leaving I shared my confusion with my family: "Can you imagine? I am going to a country where one needs to receive two extensive briefings on behavior just to get in?" These briefings influenced my perception of Palestine-Israel as a dangerous and highly political region, where (even) tourists need to be extremely cautious in expressing their thoughts, beliefs, and intentions. This perception however changed over time as is discussed later in this chapter and in Chapter 3. For me, it was surreal to experience such intense measures before arriving in a country. By the time of my departure in January 2017 I had become quite nervous due to all these necessary precautions before. My supervisor Anne de Jong advised me to do the following:
“Regarding Ben Gurion, do not give the border police a real reason to deny access by telling lies. At the same time do not provide too much information when not asked for it. For example, if you’re requested to describe the object of your research give the following explanation: "anthropological study about tourism." Let them know Israel is the region you are interested in. When required to be more specific: state your interest in investigating what it is that attracts tourists to visit Israel as well as investing tourists’ expectations and their actual experiences.”
Anne de Jong was explicitly urged the avoidance of the terms political tourism, Palestine, and Ramallah at any cost. Passing the border into Israel with the plan to go to Palestine requires steady nerves and convincing acting. Nothing outrageous happened both times going into Israel through Ben Gurion. Overall the process at the border went quite well. Some of the group were asked longer and more difficult questions, but eventually we were all allowed in. For me, it was surreal to experience such measures before going to a country. However, when I traveled back through Ben Gurion after my research period I
23 was interrogated for 1.5 hours. Dealing with customs and the unpredictability of Israeli policies is representative of some of the many hurdles tourists encounter when going to Palestine. Struggles with Israel security are substantial when travelling to Palestine and take up a significant amount of the tourists’ time. Security checks, border controls, and checkpoints are a reality and lead to conversations of how to deal with the Israeli security policies. When tourists meet, they often tend to discuss the problems with security at the airport or the checkpoints and how to leave the country again. Their concern is the proper way to cross the border and how to behave at Ben Gurion. Many people asked me during my research period if they should tell the truth, their full story when leaving Ben Gurion. The unpredictability of the Israeli security forces is commonly known among tourists and the Palestinian tour guides/hostel owners. To illustrate this, sometimes one can cross the border without Israeli soldiers even looking at your passport, and other times one can be interrogated and even expelled from entering again. The briefings before departure as well as the concealment of truth by reframing the nature of one’s purpose of travel at the border control office demonstrate the first complexities of traveling to Palestine and by extension the political reality of Palestine- Israel. The perception I had of Palestine and Israel was influenced by these procedures, causing me to believe it was a dangerous and highly political place to be. I realized though that this impression is personal. For the whole IMSTAR group and me, crossing the security check was experienced as described above. For the other, mostly American people in the same waiting line, this experience was most probably quite different. It could be that this other group regards the heavy security measures as something positive and necessary for one’s safety. Politics, therefore, can be experienced differently among people. Finally, my fearful state when travelling into Israel-Palestine was definitely due to a lack of understanding of what to expect. This lack of knowledge is best understood by looking into Palestinian encounters abroad, which is the focus of the next paragraph.
1.2 Traveling from Palestine to Europe In this section the experience of Palestinians travelling abroad is examined. As mentioned above, Palestinians have significant limitations placed on their mobility and ability to travel within and outside the borders of Palestine (Burghouti 2000; Harker 2009; Weizman2007). Their movement is restricted within the West Bank, and going into Israel to the important places such as Jerusalem or Haifa is limited to only few
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Palestinians. Traveling to Europe is even more difficult, as the Palestinian ID card or the Jordanian passport are unprivileged travel documents. However, I met two Palestinians, who traveled to Europe separately from each and claimed their experience changed their lives. The next paragraph looks at the two stories.
"I was surprised about the reactions of people when I would tell them I am from Palestine and I was very surprised about how easy it is for Europeans to travel. For the first time in my life, I felt what freedom is like. I felt what freedom of traveling and movement actually is, you know? As Palestinians from Jerusalem studying in Jordan, we keep our ID at the border with Jordan. I was terrified every time I was moving that I would lose my ID. When you cross anywhere, in Jerusalem, you use your ID to give it to the soldiers otherwise you can't pass. So it becomes a routine thing that you do. I was so surprised in Europe that I was traveling all over Europe and I never had to show my ID to prove where I am from or what I am from. I never experienced that I was not allowed to cross to a certain area because I am a Palestinian or Arab. Here for the first time, I tasted what freedom is like. At the same time, it was painful as well. To see how ignorant Europeans are about Palestine. Most Europeans think it is a very dangerous place to visit, that it is very violent. Most people I have met did not know anything about Palestine! I remember once I was in Lisbon talking with regular guys in the streets and I told them I am from Palestine, and they were not joking when they answered me ‘Palestine does not exist,' you are kidding with us, it's only in the Bible. In another place, I was telling them I am from Palestine and they were telling me: ‘From Pakistan?' You know, it was ridiculous!” (Bubu, Palestine, April 2017).
Bubu is a 32-year-old man originally from Jerusalem. He is one of the owners of ‘Hostel in Ramallah,' the place where I spent most of my time during my research. An extensive description of this hostel, its activities, as well as the owners and volunteers is provided in Chapter 2. Bubu used to work at the Bank of Palestine as a financial advisor. He told me that even though it was perfect with a favorable salary, excellent facilities, and fantastic privileges, he always felt that he was not delivering the message that he wanted to deliver. Therefore he eventually decided to quit this job and started traveling with his brother Chris. The quote above is about his experiences traveling in Europe. The
25 encounters with the freedom in Europe and European people were both devastating and empowering for Bubu. It struck me that another hostel owner I met much later in my research, a young man from Bethlehem named Salah, told me a similar story.
Different person, same story During an interview with Salah, a hostel owner in Bethlehem, I was surprised about the similarities of his story and Bubu's. Salah, a 31-year-old man, has turned his bedroom into a small hostel. The small room is filled with four bunk beds. His office and the living room are all in the same twenty-squared-meter room. The first time I walked in it felt a bit dirty and uncomfortable. Behind two cheap curtains, a toilet and shower are hidden. A Dutch girl I met in Ramallah told me to go here. She stated she had a fantastic time, that the owner provided great political tours for free, and that the hostel is rated highest on Trip Advisor in Bethlehem. At first, I thought I was in the wrong place. This dirty little room could not be it, but after a while I started to greatly appreciate the place. After a couple of days in the hostel I got to know Salah better, and we began to talk about the hostel and his vision about what he is doing. When I asked him where he got the idea from to start a hostel, he told me a story remarkably similar to that of Bubu and Chris. After graduating from college, Salah decided he needed to find a job. Growing up in Bethlehem where thousands of tourists visit every month, he realized that the best opportunities to make a large amount of money would be in tourism. He wanted to stand out and therefore decided to learn the Polish language to be able to guide Polish pilgrims coming to Bethlehem. Salah's experiences in Poland and his travels across Europe made him change his plans. Just like Bubu and Chris, he was shocked by the lack of information Europeans have about the situation in Palestine. Initially, Salah went to Poland to learn the language in order to come back and begin to make money through guided commercial tours. After experiencing the lack of information on Palestine in Europe he changed his mind. He decided to start the cheapest hostel on the West Bank, costing approximately 10 euro a night, and he decided to offer free political walking tours around Bethlehem. He is aware of the fact that he could make significantly more money working in Pilgrimage tourism, but he prefers to spread the right message, just like Bubu. Salah explains his experiences and motivations:
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"It would make me a lot of money the whole year, but for me, I like this idea. I mean to see the lack of information people have around the world is terrifying. For example, somebody who is today a good friend of mine was trying to convince me that Bethlehem was in Israel. He kept on going, trying to convince me. Today he is a good friend of mine. I worked a lot on him to teach him about the situation. Can you imagine that someone would try to convince you that the city you are from and have lived your whole life is something else then you believe? Just imagine how hard it is, as a Palestinian to be walking around and when you say: I am from Palestine the response will always be: Ah from Pakistan? Even the name is not familiar because what people hear is: Israel, West Bank, and Arabs. They do not hear anything about Palestine or Palestinians. West Bank, Gaza, and Arabs that is what they know about Palestine. This was a big shock for me. As a young Palestinian guy who was a little bit involved in politics before, it just hurts you know? It is hurting. That is why I decided to be part of the change. That makes me so much satisfied to give the free tour, for the last two years I gave the tour almost every day. (Salah, Palestinian, April 2017)
For both Bubu and Salah, experiencing the freedom and possibilities of traveling in Europe gave them the opportunity to reflect on their situation. It was the first time they fully realized how badly their rights are violated in Palestine. The fact that they understood this only after leaving their own context is part of the symbolic violence Palestinians live with. Symbolic violence is defined in Bourdieu's work as: “the internalized humiliations of inequality and hierarchy ranging from sexism and racism to intimate expressions of class power. It is exercised through cognition and misrecognition, knowledge and sentiment, with the unwitting consent of the dominated” (Bourgois 2001; Bourdieu 2001). Bubu and Salah had internalized their situation of humiliation and legitimization of inequality. They had not fully accepted it, as they critiqued the situation before they left on their travels. They simply internalize the situation as their everyday reality. It is a coping mechanism compared to accepting the situation as it is. The experience of being abroad made them realize what it is like to have (and not to have) the freedom of movement and all the other rights granted to people in Europe. The lack of knowledge among Europeans regarding the Palestinian situation shocked both Bubu and Salah. It made them feel sad that so many people did not seem
27 to know anything about their country and its situation and most of all did not appear to care. Nevertheless, this lack of information also empowered them. By traveling in Europe, they realized that the whole world is not against Palestine or with Israel, which is a common thought among Palestinians, along with the idea that ‘the Jews’ control the world; how are they otherwise able to occupy Palestine without the world interfering? Through traveling they realized that for most people around the world it is simply a case of misinformation or lack of information. This empowered them to start their hostels in Ramallah and Bethlehem. For both of them this is a way of making a living, but more importantly they feel this is a way they can influence the Palestinian political situation. Their job provides them with gratification because of the message they share and the resulting impact they achieve. Now, working in tourism has become their way of trying to make a difference in correcting people’s misperception concerning the safety in Palestine as well as the role Palestine and Palestinians have in the political conflict. Here we see how tourism is already intertwined with politics and how it differs from conventional tourism. These misconceptions and the difficult political reality the Palestinians live in forces them to use tourism to convey their side of the story. Tourism is therefore still a propaganda tool, like Kobi Cohen-Hattab showed during the British mandate in this region (2004). Interestingly, Bubu and Salah use the freedom of movement of tourists as well as the endless mobility of ideas to overcome their limitations and convey their message.
1.3 First encounters with the occupation and with an occupied nation In this final section of the first chapter, the first encounters of tourists crossing from Israel to Palestine and their first moments in Palestine are central. These encounters are important to stress because they show the absurdity of traveling in Palestine-Israel, and they show how it is for any tourist to get into Palestine by crossing the wall, etc. Most importantly, these encounters and the first reactions of tourists arriving in Palestine reveal the discrepancy between their perceptions/expectations and the experience itself, which forms an important element of tourism in Palestine in general. For tourists, crossing from Israel to the West Bank often means the first live encounter with the occupation. Before they arrive, the knowledge of tourists widely differs concerning the situation. Some tourists have complete university courses about Israel-Palestine, while others came up with the idea to go to Palestine during their stay in Israel and therefore do not know much about the situation. Their expectations are
28 therefore also significantly different. Nevertheless, in my experience, it does not matter how much one has read about the situation; everyone who becomes exposed to the military presence, the wall, and the checkpoints for the first time will be emotionally moved. The following paragraph examines these first encounters of tourists with the occupation and afterward with the Palestinians.
Guiding my family: Crossing the wall My family came over for one week in February. My father, stepmother, brother, and sister all took a week off to visit me. I wanted to show them how I spent my time in the West Bank, let them meet my friends, and so on, but I especially wanted to guide them along the important places of the West Bank for them to learn about the situation. This is much like many tourists who explore the West Bank, visiting important cities and places to grasp an idea of the political reality. My father is quite a conservative man. Apparently, before departure to Tel Aviv, he told my siblings that he liked the idea of seeing me again but that he did not support my work on the Palestinian farm Tent of Nations. My grandfather, who lived during the Second World War and who felt ashamed or guilty for the holocaust his whole life, raised my father with the idea that the Israeli project is inherently good. When they arrived in Tel Aviv, I went to pick them up. At the beginning there was some tension between my father and me because of our different political positions. I decided that I was not going to try and convince him of anything myself. I just wanted to organize interesting tours by Palestinians who will tell their stories. ‘I am just the middle man between my family and these Palestinians’ is what I kept telling myself. Arriving in Jerusalem blew them away. The strange mixture between, on the one hand, a beautiful old city in which you feel the importance of its history everywhere, and on the other hand, the enormous tension due to the military presence. After two nights in Jerusalem we left by bus towards Ramallah. I was excited to show them my city and the ‘real’ Palestine. I noticed that my family is more stringent. When we reached Qalandia checkpoint, the biggest checkpoint in the West Bank situated between Jerusalem and Ramallah, their eyes grew big. I realized there and then how this had become normal for me already, and it worried me. Looking back at this, one could say that symbolic violence is at play here (Bourgois 2001; Bourdieu 2001). Indeed, the reactions of my family are considered more normal, but for me the checkpoints had become part of the everyday
29 reality. In Chapter 2 this process of internalization is discussed. It is important to note that this is not a process of acceptance but is rather a coping mechanism (Allen 2008). My brother and sister sat next to each other and were pointing at the wall, the watchtowers, and the soldiers. My father sat next to me and kept asking an endless amount of questions. "Since when is the wall built? Why does Israel let people go through? Can Palestinians go through here? Who controls these checkpoints?" Etc. Before we reach the checkpoint big red signs are welcoming: This Road Leads To Area “A” Under The Palestinian Authority. The Entrance For Israeli Citizens Is Forbidden, Dangerous To Your Lives And Is Against The Israeli Law (picture 1.1).
(Picture 1.1)
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My sister took pictures of the sign and asked me full of disbelief: “Why would they put these signs here?” I explained that I thought they served a goal to keep people out of the West Bank. I told her, “Israel does not want anyone to see what is going on at the other side.” When we reached the checkpoint three soldiers with large weapons stepped in and walked in a provocative way through the bus. Everyone had to display his passport, but they only checked those of young Palestinian men. We did not get checked; I saw how scared my sister and my stepmother were and I told them "it is all okay." The soldiers left the bus, and we could then cross the checkpoint. My whole family were breathing heavily and shaking their heads full of disbelief. These experiences of my family illustrate how all tourists enter Palestine, crossing the wall, all the soldiers, these scary large red signs and soldiers standing around and entering the busses. It is not a friendly welcome so to say. Israel makes it a intimidating procedure to go into Palestine. This is part of their intention to stop tourism from going to Palestine (Isaac 2013; Cohen-Hattab 2004; Sizer 1999). These Israeli barriers do their job, as visitors are discouraged from visiting the West Bank. Suleihman and Mohamed show in their quantitative research that these obstacles had negative effects on visitors' perception of Palestine. They differentiate three different barriers in their studies: 1. Israeli factor (Israeli checkpoints, siege and curfew, apartheid wall, control borders, Israeli operations in Palestine, Israeli settlements, security system); 2. travel barriers factor (media coverage of events in Palestine, Palestinian international image, etc.); 3. other barriers factor (visa application procedures etc.). The Israeli factor scored the highest; this means that tourists cited these barriers as a reason for not going to Palestine (2012). Their research shows the influence of tourists’ perceptions on their decision making and how Israel tries to influence these perceptions. One of my interlocutors said: "It [crossing the wall] feels so unreal and aggressive. I just cannot describe how it made me feel. It was just so unreal that it made me feel weak” (Karel, Dutch, March 2017). Besides physically keeping people away from Palestine, these barriers have another impact. They provide the tourists with a feeling of being unwelcome and a sense of danger. In conclusion, it is important to understand these emotions evoked by crossing into Palestine to understand how it is to arrive there.
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First encounters in Palestine At the other side of the wall, one enters a different world. The traffic is complete chaos, people walk through the traffic selling all kinds of things, the wall is covered with graffiti showing rock-throwing youth and a large painting of Yasar Arafat, and multiple garbage fires produce dark smoke. Getting through the traffic just behind Qalandia took a while before entering Ramallah almost directly. After a while, every time I crossed the checkpoint entering the West Bank I felt relieved. It felt as if I left the tension and the uncomfortable feeling behind with Israel and entered a place where I felt safe and at ease. When tourists arrive in Palestine after all these uncomfortable procedures and situations, they are often surprised with the encounters in Palestine. My stepmother was surprised about the large ads on a billboard from Coca-Cola. She was even surprised about the fact that there were normal shops in the streets. She said: “Look they even have toy stores here.” Her words said a great deal about what she perceived Palestine to be like. Most tourists I have spoken to were amazed about the welcoming and warm Palestinian people. The fact that the streets seem so safe and peaceful is mind blowing for many. Stepping out of the bus in Ramallah and walking for the first time through the busy streets is a unique experience. "Welcome, Welcome, Welcome," “Welcome to Palestine,” and "Palestine is your country," is what you hear everywhere from people in the streets. The atmosphere is indeed somehow positive and warm. The streets are often full of life. My family was blown away by their first encounters from the bus station to the hostel. “People are so friendly, open and positive. They seem so hospital, it is unbelievable,” my stepmother tells me. Mark and Elise are two students who studied abroad in Tel Aviv. Mark is from the Czech Republic and Elise from Norway. They came together for a weekend to A Hostel in Ramallah. I met them on the roof terrace when they just arrived. I was about to go for a walk along the fruit and vegetable market, a stroll I did almost every day, and invited them to come along. We walked from the hostel to the market with so many people welcoming us during the short walk. I was used to it, but still, it gave me a great feeling each time. I responded proudly and enthusiastically with my few Arabic words. Then I heard Mark and Elise telling each other how ashamed they were. The first time I ignored it, as I did not know them well and did not want to be rude. When they said it again, I decided to ask them: "What are you ashamed of? I don't understand." They told me they were so ashamed that they were in Tel Aviv already for more than six months
32 and had not been here. "Although I think I am an open-minded guy, still I had my preconceptions, and I just didn't expect Ramallah and the people here to be so lovely, friendly, and hospital," Mark told me. The concept of ‘Palestinian hospitality’ is something my research interlocutors say they enjoyed the most of their stay in Palestine. In general, everyone would say that the kindness of the Palestinians and especially the way they make you feel welcome in their country is what makes Palestine the special place it is. This also has to do with the perception people had before they came here. Palestinian tour guides are aware of this too. My father started to question his ideas after these first encounters. It confused him that Israel uses such humiliating, violating, and far-reaching military procedures to hide away such beautiful and friendly people. At this point, he was confused what to think about the whole situation.
Conclusion I have tried to show how tourism is still today intertwined with politics and an important aspect of Israel’s occupation policies. Through these first encounters, one can understand that tourism to Palestine is rather different than regular tourism in different aspects. Even these initial encounters make this is clear. The difficulties travelers face when they want to go to Palestine show how Israel tries to stop people from going there. The interrogations at the airport, the unpredictability of the Israeli security forces, and the big red signs at the crossing to area A are all telling examples of the far-reaching procedures trying to stop tourists from going to the other side of the wall (Isaac 2013; Kobi Cohen 2004; Sizer 1999). Due to their experiences of traveling abroad, both the owners of the Hostel in Ramallah (Bubu and Chris) and the hostel in Bethlehem (Salah) got the idea to start working in alternative/political tourism. This travel made them understand the level of structural violations they live with in Palestine. Moreover, they got to understand that many people in Europe are misinformed on the subject of Palestine. It had hurt them during their travels, seeing so much ignorance about their country, but it empowered them as well. They realized that the whole world simply does not know what is going on. They decided to start informing people about the daily reality in Palestine. Tourism in Palestine is therefore different from regular travel, as it is a propaganda tool. The way Palestine and the political situation are perceived beforehand as well as the influence of discussed practices such as crossing the wall and checkpoints are key to
33 understand first encounters with the reality in Palestine (Finkelstein 2003). Here we start to see how the experience, practices, and perceptions of the ‘political’ in ‘political tourism’ are intertwined. This results in a situation where the visitors often expect a somehow violent and dangerous situation. The first encounters with warm and welcoming people and a safe environment of the cities leads to a rollercoaster of emotions. The response to that surprised feeling often brings questions: How is it possible we are so misinformed? And how is it possible that reality is so different from what is being told? This would be an interesting topic, looking at image and reality. However, this thesis focuses on the reality of political tourism. That brings us to the question: What is that reality? Or in other words, what is tourism under conflict?
Chapter 2 – Tourism under conflict
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By looking at the first encounters of tourists, Palestinians, and myself, so far I have made three arguments. First of all, these encounters show how Israel tries to stop tourists from going to Palestine. Therefore tourism is still a political propaganda tool for the Israelis (Cohen-Hattab 2004). Here, the message with a strong political agenda Israel tries to convey, one of a dangerous and hostile Palestine, becomes apparent. Second, by looking at the first encounters of Bubu and Salah in Europe, two Palestinians who travelled there independently, I tried to show that their lives are indoctrinated by the political reality they live in. This travel helped them to better understand their political situation; by experiencing the freedom that in Europe is regarded as natural, they realized how badly their rights are violated in Palestine. Thereby, they realized that most people in Europe do not know the situation their country is in. The perception people have, when they even know Palestine at all, is one of a dangerous place with aggressive people. This shocked them and made them feel quite sad but at the same time empowered them to believe in change. They both separately got the idea of starting a hostel through this experience, and both Bubu and Salah do this to educate visitors about the situation in Palestine. Thirdly, through the first encounters of tourists entering Palestine, I argue that their expectations of a violent and dangerous place do not represent the reality. This differentiation moves the tourists emotionally. Here, their perception and their experience clash. They question, “How is it possible that I have been so misinformed? Why did I think so differently of this place?” This would be an interesting topic for further research. However, this thesis focuses on the reality of political tourism in Palestine. What this reality is, or in other words, what tourism under conflict looks like, is the topic of this second chapter. Therefore, in this chapter I explain more thoroughly how political tourism in Palestine comes to practice and discuss two important cases for political tourism in the West Bank.
Two cases: A Hostel in Ramallah & Tent of Nations Focusing on political tourism in the West Bank brought me to many different, interesting places. A diverse group of tour guides and other Palestinians working in tourism became close interlocutors, and I could have chosen ten different cases that reveal something notably typical or special concerning tourism in Palestine. In the next section I want to answer the question: how is tourism in Palestine practiced and experienced? Here I look at the places where tourists stay, at what kind of activities the Palestinians offer, and at
35 how they experience these practices. I want to examine two of the many cases I have found to answer these questions. First comes ‘A Hostel in Ramallah’ (mentioned in both the Introduction and Chapter 1), and second comes the educational farm near Bethlehem called ‘Tent of Nations’ (mentioned in the Introduction). These two cases show, in their own way, that tourism in Palestine is highly particular and most of all exceedingly political. In this second chapter, the arguments made in Chapter 1 are reinforced by deeper ethnographic data. The second question is: what do Palestinians aim to convey to tourists? As we have seen briefly in Chapter 1, Palestinians do not work in tourism only to earn money. When looking into these two cases the problems they face become immediately clear. These ‘problems’ exist out of different forms of violence, as described by Bourgois (2001). These various forms of violence and the way Palestinians coping with this are examined. The owners of Hostel in Ramallah and Tent Of Nations use tourism and tourists to resist these violations. Tourism is therefore a form of resistance against the structural violence of the Israeli occupation. The message Palestinians often try to convey to tourists is double: 1) Palestine is not a dangerous place. 2) Palestine and Palestinians are victims of the political situation and not instigator. In conclusion, in this chapter I argue that this form of resistance using tourism shows that the whole situation between Israel-Palestine should be reexamined. It should not be referred to as a situation of conflict but rather as an occupation, just as de Jong (2017) and Pappe and Gramsci (2015) among others have already argued. The way the situation often is described as a conflict between two sides with the desire for peace is not value free but is biased for the oppressor, Israel (de Jong 2017).
2.1 Detailed Description: A Hostel in Ramallah During my research period ‘A Hostel in Ramallah’ (HIR) was my home base. The owners of the hostel are two Palestinian brothers, Chris and Bubu, who were introduced in Chapter 1. With their hostel Bubu and Chris were among the first entrepreneurs working in Political tourism. They started the first hostel (not a hotel) in Ramallah, the capital of the West Bank. This idea came as a result of their travel experience in Europe. They found that many people in Europe are deeply misinformed about Palestine. They started the hostel to give tourists an opportunity to have fun in Ramallah and learn something about the situation the country is in. They made the hostel into a place where politics are inevitably surrounding the guests at all times, but a positive and warm
36 atmosphere is also present. Since they opened their hostel in 2013, Bubu and Chris have inspired six other hostels to open a similar place spread over the region, from Hebron to Haifa.
2.1.1 A political hostel HIR is located on a small street off one of the main squares in the city center of Ramallah, the Yasser Arafat Square. A large wall painting on the wall next to the pavement awaits the guests. The painting looks like a Palestinian version of a pinball game and seems to be a critique on the limited chances Palestinians have. When entering through the gate and arriving at the front door, one has to ring the bell. Through an intercom, a password is asked. This is in order to know if the people at the door are guests of the hostel. The password is appropriately: ‘the wall must fall.' While walking up the stairs, the first thing you notice is a big drawing on the wall portraying a girl handing an olive branch to a man, and the man is holding a rose. The painting represents a symbol of peace and love, and it is a warm welcome into the building. The stair further up brings you to a beautiful wall painting of six important Palestinian cities. When entering the front door of the hostel, the interior is overwhelming. All walls are completely covered with written texts, drawings, and posters. Formal guests have written texts such as “Boycott Israel today” and “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Other small quotes such as “Respect existence or expect resistance” or “Free Palestine” are scattered all around. There is so much to see that one could not embrace it all at one time (Picture 2.1). In the far corner of the room and a little bit hidden stands a closet with four glass shelves. It is a display of ammunition used by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians and contains large gas bullets, rubber bullets, foam-coated bullets, and all kinds of different ‘life’ ammo (Picture 2.2). Life bullets are meant to kill someone hit. It is clear from the moment one enters that this is not a regular hostel. It feels like stepping into the political struggle itself. Nevertheless, the atmosphere is pleasant and positive. This hostel shows how tourism has everything to do with the political situation in Palestine, and as a hostel they form a conscious and strategic part of the Palestinian political struggle. The house rules of the hostel are illustrated with pictures of world leaders with funny word clouds. This is typical for the hostel in my opinion: they combine fun and humor with serious politics. The owners consciously combine fun and purpose to send
37 visitors a dual message: 1. Palestine is not a dangerous place to visit, and you can have tremendous fun; 2. Palestine remains in difficult political conditions and it is of great importance that international people try to understand this reality and share it when they get back home from their travels. The books scattered around in the common rooms and the small library are mostly about the conflict and history of the region. All the different books written by an organization called ‘Breaking the Silence’ are available. These books contain testimonies from ex-Israeli military members. As Chris puts it: “It is not just a place to stay. Yes it is cheap, we are charging the minimum, but it is more about giving people the chance to discover Palestine. It was not possible before.”
Travelers not tourists stay here I expected the hostel to be quiet this time of year. What I found was something else, with new people coming and going every day from the middle of January. On busy days we shared the cozy communal room and kitchen with up to 20 people. Most guests staying in the hostel are from Europe, USA, and Canada. Germany is the best represented by far. The formation of the groups of people coming here greatly varies. There are people travelling as a couple, some travelling alone, and others in groups. Not many families stay at the hostel in general. The reason for travelling to Palestine and the duration also varied widely among the guests. Some are there for particular art or NGO projects, others are traveling around for fun and learning, and others have spent most of their trip in Israel and use Ramallah as a one- or two-day experience on the West Bank. For many people, Ramallah and this hostel is their first (and sometimes only) place they visit in Palestine. As Bubu states: “We still do not have tourists staying here in the hostel, we rather have travelers. Our guests come here to understand, see, and experience Palestine. We do not have real ‘tourists,’ yet. People that just stay for a four-day vacation.”
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(Picture 2.1)
(Picture 2.2)
Activities In the city of Ramallah, the conflict is not as visible as it is in cities such as Bethlehem and Hebron. In Ramallah there are no important religious or biblical sites, and this
39 means there are no important touristic highlights. Indeed, in other cities, the conflict or visible outcomes of it form touristic attractions, like the wall in Bethlehem, the checkpoints, or settlements for example. War and conflict, as Grodach notes: “not only reshape historical and cultural sites but also have the ability to construct new ones” (Grodach 2002). Mcdowell argues: “As such, places marked by or commemorating war are transformed from ‘everyday mundane spaces,’ taking on ‘heightened symbolic meaning value and emotional significance,’ and consequently evolving as ‘heritage’” (Mcdowell 2008). These evolutions are not really present in Ramallah, except for the Arafat museum, so the hostel organizes tours to places where transformed, symbolic, and emotional significance is present. The hostel organizes activities almost every day, such as Friday’s ‘political tour’ and Saturday’s ‘Hebron tour.’ On Saturday, an early bus leaves the hostel to go to Hebron, where a free tour is provided by the Palestinian organization Youth Against Settlements4 about the desperate political situation within the old city of Hebron. South of Bethlehem, in Hebron 1,500 IDF soldiers guard 400 settler families perched on hills around and in the city. The city center has 101 checkpoints in one square kilometer of the old city (Menon 2010). This absurd reality makes Hebron the place were occupation is most visible for anyone. Every Friday, a bus leaves from the hostel towards the village Bil’in. The people from that community along with foreigners who feel solidarity with them have protested the separation wall and occupation every Friday for ten years.
Political tour The Friday tour to Bil’in is called ‘the political tour’ and is popular among the guests. All four times I joined the tour it was always around ten people or more. Bubu gathers all the guests who want to participate and explains that the tour consists of two parts: the first half is participating in the weekly protest of Bil’in, and the second part is a tour guided by Bubu through Bilin along the separation wall to Bubu’s organic farm. He always mentions that anyone who does not want to participate in the protest can stay behind or can announce that they changed their mind after the briefing. Bubu continues by demonstrating the bullets the Israeli army uses against the protesters. He shows the different types of canisters, how to recognize them and what to do when they are shot at
4 http://hyas.ps/
40 you. He starts with the more harmless teargas canisters and ends with bullets like the butterfly bullet, designed to leave the body after it enters, causing as much damage as possible. Every time, all the guests sit around and look with scared, open eyes towards Bubu without saying anything. Afterwards, he tells everyone what to do when arrested. At the end, Bubu explains that this briefing is for the worst scenarios. In recent months the protest has been relatively quiet, according to him. He finally tells everyone that after the demonstration they will go to his organic farm, which is next to the street of the demonstrations. There it is possible to have a discussion about the political situation.
Practices The discussed aspects of HIR show how political tourism comes into practice. As HIR was one of the first hostels in the West Bank, they set the standard for many similar places in the region. The way this hostel looks and feels, the way the Palestinian owners try to combine fun and purpose, and the politically embedded tours they provide for their guests are representative of many more cases of political tourism in Palestine. In the second part of this section the violations Bubu and Chris face and the message they want to convey to their customers are central.
2.1.2 Structural violence & resistance Earlier in this thesis I discussed how Israel tries to stop people from going to Palestine from the beginning at the airport and how Israel tries to scare tourists when crossing the wall (Isaac 2013; Kobi Cohen 2004; Sizer 1999). When I asked Bubu if they experience any pressure from Israel trying to stop their business he comes up with stunning examples. Recently, they go even further according to Bubu:
“Recently they [Israel] even try to oppress us electronically. So for example, if you want to log in from the West Bank to any website referred to tourism or for example central bus station in Jerusalem, you won't be allowed. If you have an IP from the West Bank, you will not be able to go to the website. Recently we had many complaints from different travelers that they are trying to book a place in our hostel and they could not find the site. The Israelis blocked it. That is very recent. There was an article a few weeks ago; it was in Haaretz, telling how much the tourism in Israel is under threat because of the high quality of services that
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the Palestinians are providing and the low prices. As well people are getting more and more aware of the safety, it is not insecure on the West Bank, so there is a movement of people coming here. Therefore I think, actually, more and more people are being interrogated to find out if they are going to the West Bank at the border control check. They are trying to move the tourism towards Israel and everyone that is mentioning that he is going to the West Bank or Palestine they might ban from entering for up to ten years. At the same time recently the Israeli parliament have been voting that anyone linked to BDS in one way or another are not allowed to enter and will be banned for five to ten years.5 So yes, they don’t want our economy to boost, and they don’t want anybody to see what’s happening here.”
These can be understood as some of the forms of the many expressions of structural violence present in Palestine. Bourgois described structural violence as: “Chronic, historically-entrenched political-economic oppression and social inequality, ranging from exploitative international term of trade to abusive local working conditions and high infant mortality rates” (Bourgois 2001: 3). These forms of political-economic oppression are making it difficult for people like Bubu to run a successful business like a hostel. Interestingly though, Bubu uses the hostel and the guests as a means of resisting the structural violence.
Resistance Mohammad is a young Palestinian guy who works in the hostel. He recently graduated from university with a bachelor’s in business economics. Besides studying and volunteering at HIR, he also helps his father in his paint shop. Mohammed is a busy and energetic young man. When I ask him if he normally goes into discussion with the tourists or if he is addressing them to the right people, he had an interesting reply:
“Sometimes I just send the guests to someone else; then I am too busy. Some other times I force myself and have the time and speak with them. It is my duty.
5 Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds
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It is the most important thing in my life. More important than my work with my father, more important than my university.”
“Why?” I ask him.
“Because as a Palestinian, like the first thing that we always think about is the occupation. This, what I am doing with the foreigners is like you can call it resistance. It is really amazing. For example, if I tell you something about Palestine, and you go back to the Netherlands, for sure you will speak about these things. People that heard you would tell this to others. So this is the best thing.” (Mohamed, Palestinian, January 2017).
Mohamed acknowledges his work in the hostel as a way of resisting the structural violence due to the occupation. This means that tourism in Palestine involves a political message that the Palestinians try to convey, but more importantly, working in tourism for Mohamed is his way to resist. Informing people about how Palestine actually is, a safe and hospitable country, and offering insights into the political situation is his form of resistance. For him, directly resisting the occupation is even more valuable than his college degree. Here we see how Palestinians use the tourists as ambassadors, and they hope this will lead to long-term change. The next case uses a similar strategy but goes even further in the instrumental use of their international visitors.
2.2 Tent of Nations Tent of Nations is a Palestinian farm near Bethlehem. It is one of the last Palestinian- owned farms on a hilltop, because these high geographic positions are strategic locations for Israel to claim for army bases or settlements. The farm is surrounded by Israeli settlements and the road to the farm is blocked. An enormous pile of large stones, smaller rocks, and sand make the road accessible only by foot. The Israeli army put this here ‘for security reasons.’ Every time the Nasser family, the owners of the farm, tried to move the roadblock a much larger one was placed the next day. Just by walking over this barrier, looking at the surrounding settlements, and hearing the loud noises of their construction work, you feel the political tension everywhere. The farm is an interesting case of political tourism as the owners have strategically changed the whole concept of the farm, using political tourists for different
43 means. They changed from a ‘regular' farm to an educational farm. This means that they have permanent international volunteers and visitors. This decision was a well thought- out strategy because the farm was under huge pressure from the Israeli government and the surrounding settlers. The farm is a widely spread piece of land with a beautiful view all around as it is on the top of the hill. The family produces all kinds of crops but mostly olives and grapes. The internationals that stay here are divided in two groups, the volunteers and the guests. The volunteers are people from all over the world who stay on the farm for periods varying from one week up to three months. They help during the day on the farm. The guests are groups of international visitors who only come for a couple of hours. They often have lunch on the farm, walk around, and listen to Daoud’s lecture. With this case, I aim to show how politics are practiced and conveyed through tourism. Thereby this case reveals an instrumental use of tourists for both long- and short-term political impact.
The violations against Tent of Nations & their coping mechanism Daoud is the head of the family that owns the farm. He has three brothers and one sister, and they all work on the farm. Daoud also organizes all the legal struggles, the coordination of the volunteers, and the contact with the international political level. He shares his inspiring and emotional story with all groups of visitors and all volunteers on the farm. The next paragraphs contains parts of Daoud’s story told to his volunteers:
“My name is Daoud; I’m member of the family Nassar. Of course, we appreciate your presence and your support in volunteering. I always start by saying that since we began to have international presence of volunteers, since 2002, until today we have not experienced any attacks from the settlers any more. So international presence here makes a big difference to this place. We own this land since 1916; we have the legal papers and documents, but as a family we are struggling to keep this farm since 1991. My family lived on the farm for years inside caves. The last one was my uncle. Since 1991 we face land confiscation although we have all the papers. Until today we have been in court all this time. So in total, 26 years we have been in court. We have spent $200,000 USD on legal expenses. This is one of the strategies that the Israeli authorities use to put us under pressure. Another form of pressure is an offer to
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sell the land. The offer was an open check: we could just write down how many millions we wanted for it. But of course for us – Palestinians – land is our identity. If you sell your land, you are selling your soul. So it doesn’t make any sense to live if you lose your soul. These are the non-violent ways they try to push us away, but because we do not want to leave they also use other strategies. The other struggle is a physical pressure. Between 1991 and 2002 we had many attacks from settlers, sometimes helped by the Israeli army. They came to the farm and cut our trees, they threaten us, and even burned parts of the farm down. They try to make us feel afraid and isolated. Through the roadblock, the wall, and all the restrictions on the ground with no electricity; no water, and we are not allowed to build.
How they cope Three typical reactions to such a complicated political reality according to Daoud are violence, resignation, or fleeing. Daoud’s family decided that none of these responses suited their ideas. They figured that there must be a fourth way of resistance in a non- violent way for people living in a difficult political reality, for people without any hope for the future. They created this fourth way from four pillars of principles:
“The four essential pillars for us are 1. We refuse to be victims. We had to lift us up from the victim mentality. 2. We refuse to hate. In a situation like this, it is easy to get frustrated and hate. We want to respect the people as people, but not accept their bad actions. We have to stand up and tell the other: what you are doing is unjust. 3. We are acting differently because this is what we believe in. So we have to believe in what we are doing. 4. We are people who believe in justice. After that, we were empowered. We created another way of resistance, a non- violent, creative and constructive way. We invest the frustration we have positively. Through creative workshops/projects all the negative energy people have is invested positively. This is an active way of non-violent resistance instead of a passive one. With this way, we started to see all our problems as very small obstacles. No water? No problem, we collect rainwater. No electricity? No problem, we install the solar power system. It is the first in Palestine but has a demolition order. We are not allowed to build on the ground? Okay, let’s build
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under the ground. So all the frustrations we have is invested. All the frustrations we have are invested in another way. It is a therapy you know?”
This is the family's way of reacting to the difficult political reality and they opened the farm for people to come and see. This is the best form of education, according to Daoud; it simply does not work to send an email with information, for example. People need to see it with their own eyes.
Tourism as tool of resistance The Tent of Nations farm faces direct political, structural, and everyday forms violence (Bourgois 2001). By transforming the conventional farm into an educational farm with the constant presence of international volunteers, the owners strive to resist these forms of violence in a non-violent, active, and constructive way. It took them 12 years to receive the first volunteers. No one wanted to come. Now they have had hundreds of volunteers and endless guest groups. In this case, we recognize a similar usage of tourism as with HIR, namely educating tourists to transform them into ambassadors for the Palestinian case back home. This can be both on a personal or political level. Different politicians of various European countries have visited the farm. Daoud says: “We do not want the people to go back home being frustrated. We do not want the people to see just the negatives. We want to show them the positives; some people believe in change and act differently. Then you will go back and say that there is still hope. Because there is still hope!” This is a long-term effect. This is not the only way the Nassar family benefits from their international visitors. Due to their presence at the farm, the family benefits from a stronger position in the legal struggle against the Israeli government. In order to make any progress in such difficult cases, according to Daoud you need international support because the moment Palestinians are isolated and try to fight legally, no one will hear them. Therefore international presence forms what I call a ‘human shield’ against settler attacks. Like Daoud said, since the arrival of international volunteers they have not been attacked anymore. These forms of non-resistance through tourism have a more short-term or direct effect.
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Finally, the Nassar family aims to empower their visitors in a more spiritual way so that they may encounter their challenges in life differently. They are successful in this, and this creates a form of reciprocity. As Daoud says:
“Bringing people here is crucial. Not only to tell them what is happening, but also to empower them. We are also trying to motivate you [volunteers and guests]. We hope you will copy our way of thinking and take it to your life. You will be facing challenges someday in your life. How should we respond to our challenges in our life? In a negative way, by accepting them as they are and become a victim or should we run away? No! The fourth way is the way you need to face your challenges. Many times when people come here and see how we face our challenges it empowers them.”
As a reciprocal process, people like Daoud give the tourists something in return. He makes them feel important just for being there. Thereby he tries to empower them by showing them ways to deal with difficult situations. This often lets the visitors feel like their problems back home are miniscule. In this form of reciprocity, I argue that there is not a straightforward power relation, with one ‘helper’ and one help seeker. I think the relation between Palestinians and tourists is therefore quite balanced.
2.3 Two cases with two similar conclusions With these two rather different cases I have tried to illustrate how political tourism is put into practice in the West Bank and what Palestinians try to convey through tourism. HIR and TON are representative of political tourism in Palestine. The way the hostel and the farm are combining fun and purpose is because of the message they wish to share. The message Palestinians try to convey to their international visitors is often twofold: 1. Palestine is not a dangerous and hostile place, and Palestinians are actually welcoming and warm people. 2. Palestine is a victim of an unjust system of occupation ruled by Israel. This means that Palestine is not the cause of an ongoing conflict with Israel as it is often portrayed. Most tour guides however deliberately argue that they do not want to convey a direct propaganda story. They aim to take the tourists and let them experience the difficult situation themselves. Isaac argues: “By drawing attention to the alleged injustices perpetrated by Israel, tourists can see – and perhaps judge for themselves” (Isaac 2010).
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In commenting on political tours conducted in the West Bank town of Hebron, Clarke observes:
“These tours differ from classical models of propaganda and ideology in that they are based in practice. Groups of people are led around the city, to be exposed to the reality of the situation. They are encouraged to imagine what it must be like to live here, to appreciate the proximity of the other side and to take these experiences home with them to tell others. In this sense, they are similar to other forms of ‘experimental travel’, which offer the chance to see for yourself.” (2000: 18)
Witnessing these realities of the situation makes foreigners often feel important just for being there. Many Palestinians express their gratitude to visitors for coming and seeing their situation. This makes tourists feel like their travel has a deeper purpose. This is something unique in comparison to regular tourism destinations. I have experienced this uniqueness in the form of reciprocity. I felt so good helping the family Nassar on their farm, and I have seen that all the volunteers share this positive feeling. In conclusion, this chapter has examined how tourism becomes a form of resistance for people like Bubu, Chris, Daoud, and Mohamed. The different forms of violence they face daily have caused them to react in a non-violent way by using tourism as a tool of resistance for long- and short-term impact—long-term by educating tourists to become ambassadors of the Palestinians case when they return home, and short-term by using tourists, for example as a human shield on the farm, as a means of leverage for a legal struggle or as participants in demonstrations.
2.4 Conflict or Occupation? The instrumental use of tourism as a tool of resistance against the structural violence opposed by Israel made me think: To resist against what? How come a Palestinian talented young man like Mohammed regards volunteering in a hostel more important than his college degree? Why is resisting in a non-violent way his duty? Compared to tourism in Israel the atmosphere is completely different. The Israeli hostels are more like any regular hostel I have been around the world. The regular backpacker's atmosphere includes fun, drinking a lot, and going out without many serious discussions. Politics is often kept out of the conversations. This is, as discussed in
48 this chapter, strikingly different in Palestine. Understanding political tourism as an important tool of non-violent resistance for Palestinians shows something crucial about the unequal relationship between Palestine and Israel. All Palestinians working in tourism argue that they do not strive to make sure tourists are pro-Palestine. They argue that they are pro-justice, and when people are pro- justice they are against occupation. Daoud says to all his guests: “We are people who believe in justice, that is why we are empowered.” (Daoud, Palestinian Feb. 2017). He consciously uses the term justice rather than peace, and by believing in justice,he and his family feel empowered. Salah concludes his tours by saying: “I never ask people to be pro-Palestine or pro-Israel. I want people to be pro-justice, pro-human rights. Because that is the message, if you are pro-justice and human rights, you are against occupation, automatically”. Anthropologist Anne de Jong conducted research among non-violent activist groups in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and found that they indeed stand against peace and for justice (de Jong 2012). She shows that the participants of the joint non-violent struggle do not merely strive for peace but rather aim to transform the perception of the contemporary situation from a binary conflict into a ‘classic’ human rights struggle (de Jong 2012: 204). Different scholars like Anne de Jong (2012; 2017) and Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky (2015) have argued that we need to change the way we speak about this situation. De Jong argues that, “The largely unquestioned perception of the contemporary situation in Israel and the Palestinian Territories as ‘binary conflict’ with the desired solution ‘peace’ between the two sides entails a paradigm that encourages binary categories which hold little reflection on the ground; distorts (unequal) power relations, and; sanitizes the ontics – lived experience – of violence and oppression” (2012: 195). This is evident in the case of political tourism. The fact that international visitors form a tool of resistance to stop settler attacks from a farm, for example, shows that this perception of a binary conflict is not representing the reality on the ground. Thereby the Palestinians in tourism also strive for a paradigm shift from a binary conflict to a human rights struggle. They ask their international volunteers to be pro-justice and not think in a two-sided ‘peace and conflict’ paradigm.
Chapter 3 – Transformations
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In Chapter 1 I made three arguments by looking at the first encounters of tourists, Palestinians, and myself. First of all, these encounters show how Israel tries to stop tourists from going to Palestine. Therefore tourism is still a political propaganda tool for the Israelis (Cohen-Hattab 2004). Here we also see how the message Israel tries to convey, one of a dangerous and hostile Palestine, carries a strong political agenda. Second, by looking at the first encounters of Bubu and Salah in Europe, two Palestinians who traveled there independently, I tried to show how their political reality indoctrinates their lives. This travel helped them to better understand their political situation; they became conscious of their internalized violence back home (Bourgois 2002). They discovered that the perception people have of Palestine is one of a dangerous and hostile place with aggressive people. This was a sad discovery but at the same time empowered them to believe in change. Both Bubu and Salah started a hostel to educate visitors about the situation in Palestine. Third, through the first encounters of tourists entering Palestine I discovered that their expectations of a violent and closed-minded Palestinian people do not represent the reality. This difference shocks and touches the visitors’ emotions. Their preconception and experience clash and result in an emotional encounter.
In Chapter 2, by looking at the two cases Hostel in Ramallah and Tent of Nations I have tried to show the ways politics are practiced and conveyed through tourism. These cases show where the tourists stay, what they do, what they talk about, and what Palestinians offer as touristic attractions. Second, the Palestinians working in tourism try to convey to their guests a strong political message: Palestinians are not aggressive people and Palestine, politically, is the victim of occupation and not the instigator to conflict. Eventually, studying these two cases revealed that working in tourism is a form of non- violent resistance. This work in tourism provides these Palestinians with a feeling of purpose. At the same time, the tourists are tools of resistance resulting in long- and short-term effects. Finally, by understanding the different forms of violence Palestinians face in their everyday lives (such as while running a hostel or a farm), the unequal relationship between Israel and Palestine becomes clearer. The fact that tourism and tourists become tools of resistance and the fact that Palestinians working in tourism do not strive for
50 peace but rather for justice supports the idea that a paradigm shift is needed. The situation between Israel and Palestine is one of occupation and not conflict.
Introduction Tourists often encounter the injustice that comes with the situation of occupation in the West Bank and regularly results in transformative experiences. The acquaintances they make and the stories they hear are impactful. In this chapter I want to focus on different transformations I have explored. It is not my intention to claim that tourists change from a to b as a linear process. I have instead found many transformations during my research period that differ from each other and I aim to show their complexity. This chapter shows how a tourist can become intrigued by the political situation and even transformed into political activists. At the same time, a longer period of time in Palestine can make a tourist less hopeful and therefore less interested in politics and cause a normalization of violence (Allen2008). Finally, I argue that tourism in Palestine in itself has been transformed due to a process commodification (Jackson 1999). There is an ongoing debate I try to examine concerning this commodification. This chapter answers the sub-question: how is the ‘political’ of ‘political tourism’ experienced?
3.1 Palestine fever The general idea of political tourism is that international visitors come and see the situation in Palestine and become intrigued. The Alternative Tourism Group (ATG) is a Palestinian NGO specializing in tourism that presents a critical look at the culture, history, and politics of Palestine and its complex relationship with Israel. ATG was founded in 1995 when many Palestinians felt that their contemporary culture and the political realities in which they were living did not find adequate expression in conventional pilgrim-oriented tourism (Isaac 2009; Alternative Tourism Group 2006). In a conversation with one of the board members of the ATG, this general idea of tourists transforming into political ambassadors becomes clear:
“The idea, when we started, in 1995 was to bring internationals who can live with Palestinians in order for them to understand the reality on the ground. To experience how Palestinians are living. Once they would be finished living or staying in Palestine, for a week, month, or year, they would go back to their countries and become ambassadors for the Palestinian situation. We believe that
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it does not matter how anti-Palestine you are, when you come to Palestine and witness the reality on the ground you can never go back continuing to be anti- Palestine. Things will completely change for everyone who comes here.” (Mohammed, ATG, Palestinian, 03-2017)
This transformation Mohammed describes by saying: ‘things will completely change for everyone’ who comes to Palestine is a common thought among Palestinians working in tourism. Mohammed, a volunteer at Hostel in Ramallah, said in one of our conversations:
“When people come here that do not know a lot about Palestine, they always like it and say: ‘wow we did not expect this. People in the streets that repeat welcome, welcome to Palestine.’ Palestine has become for many one of their favorite places, just by accident! These people are most touched by what they found here in Palestine, because they did not expect it.” (Mohamed, Palestinian, Feb-2017)
According to these two men who have worked in tourism for a while, tourists tend to transform to Palestine ‘fans.’ This reminds me of two young men from the Netherlands I met in Ramallah. When I first met Sander and Max, I had the idea that they were different than the tourists I had seen before. Sander said directly: “It was not my idea to go to Israel, I did not want to come here at all. I thought it was very dangerous.” Max explained that they were going to fly from Cairo to Bangkok and so he decided to go through Israel before that. They did not think of going to Palestine at all, but as they did not like “the Israeli people,” they decided to give Ramallah a chance. Eventually, Max and Sander joined both the political and the Hebron tour organized by the hostel and were intrigued by the political situation and the Palestinian hospitality. A combination of their perceptions, the practices they witnessed, and their experiences transformed them in a way. They decided to stay in the hostel for four days, and every time they came back to the hostel they started asking me question about how and why things are the way they are. Max and Sander went on travelling across the world but are still asking me questions about Palestine every once in a while on Facebook. A similar transformation was also evident among the participants of the travel with Ontmoet Palestina (OP). Although the trip with OP was designed to meet Palestinian locals and learn about their ‘normal life’ and was less focused on
52 understanding the political situation, the political struggle became a significant part of the travel. Even the people that joined the organization to discover Palestinian cuisine or dance could not get around the occupation. They were intrigued by the absurd political reality and eager to know more about it, and at the end of each day we would discuss this for hours on end. This shows how people in Palestine can transform from not interested in politics to being intrigued by it. The combination of the negative perception and expectations with the positive surprise when people actually get to Palestine, along the strong feeling of solidarity after seeing the political reality, makes many people highly fond of the country, an effect that could be called the Palestine fever.
3.2 From tourist to activist For some tourists, this transformation does not stop at being merely intrigued with the political context of Palestine, as some instead actively try to support any sort of change or resistance. Many touristic activities are also designed as such. These activities such as demonstrations and the Bethlehem marathon are examined later in this section. Firstly, I want to discuss the one person who went through the most significant transformation I have witnessed, my father. As mentioned in Chapter 1, my conservative father was moved emotionally by the first positive encounters in Palestine and disgusted by the aggressive way the Israeli military controls the borders and checkpoints. The further our week progressed the more he got involved. I arranged many different tours in the various cities and during all of them my father was in front asking many questions. He caught the Palestine fever, so to say. At the end of the week we arrived at the Tent of Nations and by then his opinion was completely changed. Before his departure he was outspoken about not supporting my voluntary work at the Palestinian farm, but when we got there he wanted to help wherever he could. My father was genuinely touched by his experience on the West Bank. His preconceptions, the upbringing from his father, and his strong political beliefs did not prevent him from understanding that something is wrong. The way his father spoke about Israel and the way Palestine-Israel is discussed in the Dutch media and politics does not reflect anything he had seen ‘on the ground.' He was most shocked by the similarities of the Israeli apartheid regime, as he called it, and Nazi Germany before the holocaust. This comparison is not further examined in this research but serves as an example of how my father's perception had changed.
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For my father this did not stop at being intrigued by the Palestinian situation and people. When he arrived back home in the Netherlands, he watched hours of debates online in order to form a grounded opinion. He then wrote to the big television shows in the Netherlands, like De Wereld Draait Door,6 saying that we should talk about Palestine more often in the public debate. He went even further and tried to convince his friends of his new findings. This resulted in a hard-lined debate that caused him to cut contact with them for quite a while. This is the translated text my father wrote after his return:
"In the plane back to the Netherlands, many thoughts went through my mind. First of all, how incredible it is to have a son who is able to open your eyes to such problems. In addition, my thoughts went to Greta Duizenberg, who my friends and I made fun of in the past. We thought she was a hysterical and left wing person. I could not stop it to write my friends while sitting in the airplane: ‘She was right, but she was not able to bring the message in the right way, something Jimmy Carter did better during that same time.’ For some of my friends I had become an activist.” (Marc, Dutch, 02-2017)
Over time my father has lost this overwhelming passion and is not as actively concerned with the situation. Whenever someone asks me about my time in Palestine though, he gets involved in the discussion and passionately relates what he had experienced. My father went through a transformation from being critical of Palestine to an active Palestinian solidarity supporter. One could say this is a transformation from tourist to activist. This is a process that I have witnessed often, and various (touristic) activities are designed to have this effect. Two demonstrations worth noting were the weekly demonstrations in Bil’in (discussed in Chapter 2) and the 8th annual ‘Open Shuhada Street’ protest. Palestinians encourage the visitors to attend these demonstrations and the internationals seem to be curious and willing to go along. In the attached Appendix I have written a vignette on one of my experiences at such a demonstration. By taking an active part in these protests the tourist take a political stance and transforms into another role. They transform from being a tourist, someone simply concerned with understanding the surroundings, to a political activist. I have experienced this as well. It felt ‘natural’ to take part in these
6 De Wereld Draait Door is a famous Dutch TV show, aired on national television five days a week. https://dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl/ 54 demonstrations and I would carry a flag and sing along with the songs, even though in the Netherlands I had never been to a demonstration in my life. A different way people are actively involved in the Palestinian political situation and try to be of influence is through Facebook and other social media. Many people I met during my research are now friends of mine on Facebook. Most young Palestinians are active on this social media and post almost daily updates of the situation in their cities or anywhere in Palestine. I find it hard to see these posts as they are often about the most horrible realities, such as Palestinian kids killed by the Israeli military or other terrible stories. The internationals I met in Palestine are also active on Facebook. Some of them posted a story or small post of their experience such as Hanneke Kraaijvanger who traveled with Ontmoet Palestina:
“The inhumane way of life, continuously monitored, limitation in freedom of movement. Palestine, you have hit me.”(Hanneke Kraaijvanger, Facebook, Jan- 2017)
She posted this with an album of fifteen pictures. Other international visitors are active and post regularly about Palestine including when there are important events such as annual demonstrations, a certain political verdict, or the day of the Nakba on 15th May.7 This is the first part of a Facebook post from Marta Silva, a Portuguese girl I met in Ramallah:
Personally, 2016 was an amazing, challenging year. I had never been as scared, alone, permanently enraged or cynical before. I was shown what kind of society I don’t want to live in (looking at you, Israel!). On the other hand, I was never as happy, hopeful or felt as welcome and cherished (looking at you, Palestine!). 2016 made me truly realized how privileged I am. It showed me how human beings manage to live under the direst situations. How a whole population manages to create daily acts of resistance, by holding on to the keys of the houses they once
7 Nakba: meaning "Day of the Catastrophe" is generally commemorated on 15 May, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut). For the Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that preceded and followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.
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owned, through their own culture, their cuisine, their language, or simply by daring to exist and inhabit a land that they are continuously told is not theirs. (Marta Silva, Facebook, 31/12/2016)
Marta takes New Year’s Eve as a moment to write about the situation in Palestine-Israel (the whole post is in the Appendix). People write these posts for two reasons, to educate their friends back home that are not as informed, and to show solidarity to their Palestinian friends on Facebook. The idea of educating your friends back home in order to effect some sort of change is also perceived as a part of activism. This therefore also shows how tourists become activists. In Palestine there are multiple events that invite internationals to show solidarity or be politically active. One of these events is the Bethlehem marathon. A Danish group called Right to Movement organizes this marathon. They aim to bring people from around the world together with Palestinians to run a marathon to call attention to limits of free movement of Palestinians.8 I participated in this event during the last days of my research period. The marathon ran alongside the wall and through two different refugee camps in Bethlehem. People come from all over the world to run for equal rights for the Palestinians. Just by taking part in the marathon they are directly acting in a different role than that of just a tourist. However, some international participants just want to participate in this marathon, as it is an extraordinary place to run such an event. Here the first contradictions come to the fore. As explained in the beginning of this chapter, it is not my intention to claim that all tourists transform in the same way due to their time in Palestine. It would therefore be incorrect to state that all tourists transform into political activists. The next section focuses on different transformations.
3.3 ‘Just get by’ Lori Allen describes in her article how violence has become routine in Palestine: “this occurs in storytelling, in visual culture, in the naming of places, and in moving through spaces in a certain way”(Allen 2008: 456). The different forms of violence, Allen argues, are designed to force Palestinians to leave. In that context, the Palestinian ability to adapt and ‘just get by’ becomes crucial (Allen 2008). This ‘just get by’ mentality is also present among tourists who stay for a longer period of time. For some of them, their way of
8 http://righttomovement.org/about/
56 transforming is similar to the way many Palestinians cope with their situation: ‘by just getting by’ (Allen 2008). Jonas and Nayomi, for example, are two volunteers at the hostel in Ramallah. They are in Palestine mainly to study Arabic. Jonas is from Germany and Nayomi from the United States. They are both passionate about Palestine and have spent a few weeks in Jordan together to be able to come back to Palestine and stay for another three months. The maximal duration for a tourist visa in Palestine-Israel is three months. Jonas and Nayomi stayed in Jordan to try and receive a second three-month visa. I noticed that despite their passion for the country, they would not talk much about the occupation or politics. In comparison to the other tourists their conversations would more be around ‘regular’ topics like what they did that day, what to cook for dinner, or laughing about their Arabic language skills. For them, their time in Palestine did not primarily center on the struggle and they did not necessarily aim to realize any form of change or influence. Instead, for a big part of their life there, they just ‘go on.’ They would still join a demonstration sometimes and they definitely feel strongly connected to the Palestinian cause, but this was less visible in their daily life. Personally, I experienced a similar transformation. Building my relationships with Palestinians at the beginning of my stay was mostly accomplished through talking about politics. After a while, when I got to know my interlocutors better and some became my friends, the political situation was not discussed continuously anymore. With some guys I had great relationships built on mutual interests and humor. Because we had so much fun in the coffee shops, driving around in their cars, and playing football, at a certain point it became almost uncomfortable to talk about their difficult reality. At the same time I felt guilty living this ‘normal’ life, enjoying my time without always thinking of the occupation. This is how many Palestinians also deal with the situation. People simply have to go on with their lives. Lori Allen states: “In these conditions where the routine and assumptions of daily life are physically disrupted, purposefully and as part of the political program of Israeli colonialism, everyday life in Palestine – in its everydayness – is itself the result of coverted, collective production” (Allen 2008: 456). This is visible in the way Palestinians and tourists relate to the obvious, practical aspects of the occupation such as checkpoints, the army, the separation wall, and settlements. Palestinians, most of the time, seem to have internalized these matters. When crossing a checkpoint for example, I am allowed to stay in the bus. The Palestinians between 14 and 60 years have to get out of the bus. They do this as a routine without apparent opposition. Allen argues
57 accordingly that there is something ‘beyond political motives and awareness that inspire the incorporation of disorder into an everyday order’. She says: “The necessities of survival and the physical and psychological capacities that people have to learn and adapt to sustain themselves in changing circumstances also feed into a kind of agency that is no doubt quite prevalent in situations of ongoing violence” (Allen 2008: 457). The same goes for tourists. The way visitors speak about these practices and about events happing transforms over time. This process of internalization does not mean that neither the Palestinians nor the tourists accept these checkpoints, but it should rather be understood as a coping mechanism.
Losing hope Spending a longer period of time in Palestine can also result in losing hope in political change. Instead of the transformation from tourist to activist, this loss of hope can cause a less activist approach to the situation. Meta, a 45-year-old woman from the Netherlands, now lives permanently at the Tent of Nations farm. For fifteen years she has been coming here frequently. This year she decided to stop going back and forth and live on the farm year round. In the Netherlands she used to work in a hospice. In a conversation we had, she compared the situation of Palestine to a hospice. When I ask about this in an interview she explains it as follows:
“I regularly compare Palestine to a hospice. You know the people will die, but let us enjoy the moment when people still live, with each other. I have this feeling regularly, it is not the dominant feeling because otherwise it will be depressing. The political context as it is now, is only going backwards. You currently only see Palestinian farmers losing their land and Palestinians emigrating to foreign countries, more and more Palestinians are becoming depressed. So the situation in recent years so far is only going backwards. And I see no reason, no light point in that sense, with Trump out there now. […] Also that example that we just discussed about the UN report that has been withdrawn.9 I think there is very little reason or no reason for positivity and optimism. Still it is very important for people to come here, just like a hospice. To show the people they are not forgotten.” (Meta, Netherlands, April 2017)
9 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un-settlements-idUSKBN15S1BD?il=0
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For Meta, her experience in the West Bank made her less optimistic. She has seen how far Israel and their occupation policies can go without being stopped. Therefore, she has less confidence in a radical change and this made her feel less confident that she can realize any change herself. What she can do is show the Palestinian people she cares about them and that she will never let them go. This is similar to her job in the hospice.
3.4 Contradictions As explained in the beginning of this chapter it is not my intention to argue that all tourists experience the same transformations. The transformations by Meta, Jonas, and Nayomi already show some different transformations than the two main transformations noted: Palestine fever and tourist to activist. However, other tourists have not transformed in any of these matters, as some tourists also enjoyed the excitement of violence. A young man from England named Alex stayed in the hostel told me before they left for the demonstration: “I am quite excited, is that bad? That is quite weird isn’t it?” He was reflective about his feelings. Many others I talked to after they came back from the demonstrations were excited because they found it a thrilling experience. Some people were disappointed because no teargas was shot or because the Israeli army did not “even” come out. Mike, a 28-year-old man from Canada, was most outspoken on this subject. He openly said that he loved being tear gassed. After he attended an annual protest in the city of Hebron, he enthusiastically told me how much teargas was shot and how ‘crazy’ the situation was. He showed video clips of how close he got to the soldiers and there was one picture he was most proud of (Picture 3.1). The picture shows how he ran away from the teargas with a big smile. Kahneman and Tversky (1979) classify in their “Prospect Theory” two types of tourists: psychocentrics and allocentrics. Psychocentrics are people that tend to avoid risks; they are likely to choose a travel destination perceived as safe. Allocentrics are risk seekers who are likely to show less concern about choosing destinations based on safety factors. Mike would probably fit into the second category and important to note is that these motivations are also present among many tourist, being in Palestine provides a certain adrenaline rush. Mike is, with the respect, extreme in this aspect. Political tourism is an ambiguous concept, as there are so many different aspects. This will be further discussed in Chapter 4.
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A Dutch girl named Merel also told me about her experience at one of the Bil'in demonstrations. She showed me a picture she was very proud of. It was a picture of her with a kufiya around her neck and a teargas canister with a flower in it in her hand.10 She was standing in front of the separation wall and a lot of barbed wire. What made her so proud of that picture? Did she want to use that picture to try and realize any change in the political situation? Or was she proud of it as a sort of commodity of the conflict? Without devaluing Merel’s intention, one could state that this picture is a souvenir rather than a political means. Here the first contradictions of political tourism start to become apparent. When the occupation functions as a touristic attraction for souvenirs and interesting pictures, the purpose of political tourism (educating people, resisting the occupation, striving for change and justice) can be questioned.
(Picture 3.1)
10 Kufiya is a traditional Middle Eastern headdress fashioned from a square scarf, usually made of cotton. The Kufiya in black and white represents Palestine and became a political symbol since Yasser Arafat.
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3.5 Commodification of the occupation To understand the concepts of commodities and commodification, the inevitable starting point is Marx’s first volume of Capital (1867). At the beginning of this volume he argues that: "A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing." (Marx 1867: 163). He continues exploring the ramifications of "commodity fetishism" within capitalist forms of exchange. Jackson explains that Marx "showed how commodification involved the conversation of use values into exchange values as, for example, when goods are produced for sale rather for purely personal use (Jackson 1999: 96). In other words ‘commodification' refers to the process in which goods and services turn into commodity that were not previously commodified. The extension of free market ideology into areas that were previously regarded as relatively ‘uncommodified’, such as education and healthcare, are clear examples of commodification processes (ibid: 1999). I argue that the occupation of Palestine is going through a similar transformation. During a stay in a hostel in Jericho called Auberg-Inn, I encountered for the first time a different view on the concept of political tourism. This caused some sort of personal transformation for me. Mustafa, the owner of the hostel, told me how all of a sudden Palestinians realized that with the label ‘political tourism' a lot of money could be made. He says:
“My father learned perfect English just by selling rosaries in the streets of Jerusalem to tourists. The way you learn is, by exploring which word works well, and which does not. You just figure it out. Think of this process, a few years back people figured out ‘political tour' is that key word. The key word to make a lot of money."(Mustafa, Palestinian, Mar-2017)
According to Mustafa, the owner of the hostel, political tourism is a problematic concept; should rather be called community-based tourism. He explains:
"When you make [the occupation] into an industry, it is bad, because people live off the conflict. You do not have to go and watch a demonstration to understand the politics behind our region. You can talk to a family and they can tell your personal stories. You do not have to see people throwing stones." (Mustafa, Palestinian, Mar-2017)
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He argues that when people make a living off the occupation, these people will in the end want the occupation to stay in place. Another argument he makes is that by calling it political ‘tourism’ implies that people go and "enjoy other people’s misery for leisure." Because I conducted most of my research among tourists and Palestinians working in tourism, I obtained a one-dimensional view of the debate around political tourism. The people I was surrounded with were all positive towards the fact that international visitors would join demonstrations or tours to political places such as Hebron or the wall in Bethlehem. Bringing internationals here is their job and they believe it can make a difference. The commodification process of the occupation was therefore not really discussed. Nevertheless it can be that the occupation and the political situation in Palestine are undergoing a process of commodification.
Different scholars have written about the paradox of societies promoting conflict sites and symbols as a significant part of tourism in post-conflict years (Grodach 2002; Mcdowell 2008; Thompson 1999). According to McDowell, who writes on political tourism in Belfast, Northern Ireland:
“The manipulation and commodification of these landscapes [sites and symbols of conflict] for tourist consumption is problematic and has serious political, social and economic ramifications. […] Across the globe disputant societies promote tourism to further their political goals. By conditioning outsiders to interpret and remember conflict in a places like Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and Sri Lanka the production of ‘political’ tourism can be understood to be contributing to a broader process of external legitimization for localized sectarian politics and geographies.” (McDowell 2008: 418)
She goes on by arguing that therefore, political tourism contributes to the idea of a continuing conflict. She says: “The ‘imagined’ conflict needs sustenance in the construction of symbols, which remind the public that the conflict is not far away.” (Ibid: 419). McDowell states that commodification of a conflict by offering political tourism helps the conflict to continue. Commodification of social processes generally comes with strong ethical opposition. Jackson (1999) shows how different scholars have provided critique on commodification processes, such as Constance Classen (1996). McDowell argues that the
62 commodification of sites and symbols of conflict through promoting political tourism continues the conflict. This argument is somehow different in the case of Palestine, as Palestine is not in a state of post-conflict like Northern Ireland but exists in a state of occupation. Although political tourism in Northern Ireland can cause an ‘imagined’ conflict according to McDowell, the political struggle in Palestine is real. I argue that without international visitors coming to understand the situation and seeing the practices of occupation with their own eyes, the situation would stay like it is. This means that the occupation proceeds.
Mohammed, board member of ATG, introduced earlier this chapter has a different perspective on political tourism. He argues that is Palestine would not have alternative or political tourism, there would not be any tourism at all. All tourists would come for the Nativity church and these historical and biblical sites and return back to Israel directly. He states that nothing can be done in Palestine without understanding the politics behind it. He explains:
“You cannot hike from Nazareth to Bethlehem without having to show your passport maybe three times, because you have to cross checkpoints. A lot of the time as a tourist you will be faced with soldiers or settlers, so I say to any Palestinian, that if we do not advertise political/ alternative tourism then really we would not have anything. Politics is always involved no questions asked. (Mohammed, Palestinian, Mar-2017)
He acknowledges that it is a sad reality that people make money off the occupation, but it is simply the reality according to him. He concludes: “We [ATG] indeed give lectures about how sad the wall is, but at the same time we take tourists to see it. The tour guide makes money-showing people around. This is unfortunate, but it is reality.” Mohammed however, does not agree with Mustafa as he is confident that any Palestinian working in political tourism today would give up his job directly when the occupation can fall. Mohammed explains: “The day thought that the occupation would be gone they would do something else, show people the beach or Gaza. People being dependent on political tourism does not mean the occupation stays in place, but is rather a mean to change the situation.”
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Conclusion The influence that travelling in Palestine has on its visitors has different ramifications. It is striking that many tourists experience some sort of transformation during or after their time in Palestine. The most common transformation tourists experience is the shift towards being intrigued and passionate about Palestine and its politics. The combination of the tourists’ perceived ideas before departure and the actual experiences together with the feeling of solidarity on the political level, results often in something I have called the Palestine fever. Even the people that go to Palestine for a reason other than politics find themselves discussing politics at the dinner table. Another transformation that goes hand in hand here is that some tourists become political activists. They join demonstrations, for example, through which they try to change the political reality. By doing so, their position as tourist changes. This sometimes continues when they return home. When he returned to the Netherlands, my father actively wrote to different TV shows to make them aware of their biased opinions on the Palestine-Israel situation. Others use social media to try and raise awareness and ask for political actions. Although these transformations are similar to each other and are indeed an indication of how certain tourists experience Palestine, they are not a rite of passage that all tourists go through. Instead, this chapter shows that there are tourists who go through contrary transformations. Meta is one example, who lost hope in a real political change and regards her work on TON as similar to working in a hospice full of dying people. She feels that her presence is important to show Palestinians that they are not forgotten, but she is convinced that internationals have no other impact. Other international people who stay in Palestine for a longer period of time go through another type of transformation. Their behavior and their way of talking become increasingly similar to the way Palestinians behave. Their way of dealing with the occupation is to ‘just go on with it.’ This relates closely to Allen’s conceptualization of the normalization of violence (Allen 2008). Finally, this chapter addresses the perception that tourism in Palestine can be perceived as a process of commodification. The occupation has become a business, which brings a debate to the fore.
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Chapter 4 – Politics in the everyday
So far I have argued that tourism has become an important aspect of the Palestinian political struggle. The first encounters of tourists in Israel and Palestine as well as Palestinians in Europe discussed in Chapter 1 reveal how foreigners perceive Palestine and how Palestinians try to change this perception through the education of tourists. As such, foreigners’ first encounters with Israel already show that Israel tries to stop anyone from going to Palestine. In Chapter 2 the practice of political tourism in Palestine was examined. I argued that tourism can be seen as a form of resistance. The tourists themselves are often given responsibilities to impact the Palestinian political situation both long- and short-term. Thereby, these everyday forms of resistance and the fact that Palestinian tour guides strive for justice instead of peace substantiate to the argument that a paradigm shift is needed: from conflict to occupation. Chapter 3 looked into how traveling in Palestine influences its visitors. I argued that most tourists experience some sort of transformation. These transformations vary from being intrigued and active with the Palestinian political struggle, to ‘getting used’ to the situation (Allen 2008), to losing hope in political change. Finally, in Chapter 3 I argued that tourism, despite the best intentions, can also be perceived as an ongoing process of commodification.
Introduction After understanding the harsh political reality of the Palestinians, it would be logical to plea for them and their cause. However, as an anthropologist it is important to avoid approaching any group of people or social context as one-dimensional. Therefore this last chapter tries to show the ambiguity of political tourism and the politics in the everyday present in Palestine. During my research period I felt constantly confused regarding the boundaries of the political. Looking for the political and the apolitical frequently kept me busy. Considering the overwhelming hospitality from most Palestinians, for example—is this to be understood as a cultural tendency or a result of concerted, collective production (Allen 2008)? This search for the political void is the center of this following chapter. The sub-question to be answered is therefore: Within this strongly political field, is there such thing as an apolitical space?
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4.1 Sumud, resistance or resilience? In Chapter 2 we saw that Palestinians working in tourism, such as Mohammed Wassef in HIR or Daoud in TON, regard their work as their form of resistance. This seemingly ‘regular’ work in a hostel or on a farm is for them actually a political act. The tourists play key roles in this form of resistance, as ambassadors for the long-term and as an ‘international presence’ for different short-term effects. However this idea of non-violent resistance with daily life practices goes even further for many Palestinians. Different people have explained that normal life itself, having fun with family and friends and going to the market and their jobs, should be perceived as a form of resistance. Alexandra Rijke and Toine Van Teeffelen (2014) and Lori Allen (2008) among others have described this idea of resistance by Palestinians as ‘Sumud.’ Mustafa, a tour guide from Nablus, finishes his tour, for example, with the following words:
“We have big problems coming in the near future, but when I read the history of Palestine, I see the hope. The history is a circle, no one will be strong forever, and no one will be weak forever. This country has been under occupation many times. Even under stronger powers than the Israeli, but we survived. Since thousands of years we were here and I think for another thousand years we will be here. This was Palestine, this is still Palestine, and it will be a free Palestine. The only way to get there is to resist. Even our existence is resistance. Being here is resistance, live here is resistance, love, marry, work, are actions of resistance in our lives. Any human action that we do here is a kind of resistance. Laughing, enjoying doing all these thing is resistance. Our food, our culture is resistance because we keep on doing it. They want to stop it, but we keep doing it. They make our life harder and harder, but we enjoy our life, every moment. Living here is resistance; it is making them lose. When they see us smiling and welcoming people, loving people they know, they are losing. Love here is very hard and so precious, but also action of resistance.” (Mustafa, Palestinian, 02- 2017)
Although Mustafa does not use the word Sumud, this is precisely how Rijke and Van Teeffelen describe the concept. As a national Palestinian concept, sumud, literally translated as ‘steadfastness,’ carries the meaning of a strong determination to stay in the country and on the land (Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014). The authors describe how this
66 concept emerged over time in their article To Exist Is To Resist: sumud, Heroism, and the everyday. They show how the applications of sumud have changed dependent on time and place and how they have been shaped by communicative situations including various purposes and audiences involved. Sumud then is not only a tool to strengthen the symbolic national unity or to think of community strategies but also a window to communicate Palestinian humanity to non-Palestinians. It helps Mustafa to have a voice and a story that international people understand and feel strongly connected to, and above all it shows the human aspect of the Palestinians contrary to the international image constructed by the media. Rijke and Van Teeffelen state: “In the context of non-violent resistance, sumud, emphasized the ‘small’ contributions of people’s resistance to occupation in daily life. Addressing an international audience, the concept served to present a human image of Palestinians in a stereotypes global media discourse.” (Ibid: 91). There is a debate concerning whether sumud must be understood as passive or active forms of resistance. Rijke and Van Teeffelen however argue that this debate is disconnected from the reality on the ground and from the experiences of the Palestinians. For Palestinians, according to them sumud is actively resisting the occupation by going to demonstrations, but to stay actively present in Palestine with all its pressures “or to keep Palestinian identity within the diaspora” is expressive of sumud as well (ibid: 91). Acts of resistance such as openly celebrating dignity, identity, and life have been categorized by different scholars such as James Scott (1985) and Lori Allen (2008) as essential, though ignored, manners of coping with structures like occupation. Small acts like Mustafa mentions of enjoying life, appreciating Palestinian food and culture, and welcoming visitors express a strong sense of agency. Allen explains: “In these conditions where the routine and assumptions of daily life are physically disrupted, purposefully and as part of the political program of Israeli colonialism, everyday life in Palestine – in its everydayness – is in itself partly the result of concerted, collective production” (Allen 2008: 456). Sumud therefore serves as a more inclusive notion of resistance. Resistance is not just the job of the men and women who engage in ‘active’ movements such as demonstrations. As Rijke and Van Teeffelen put it: “Resisting the occupation is also part of life for people focused on going forward and keeping their hope in a more just and human future alive” (2014: 92).
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Everything is political During my research period of looking into the ‘political’ of ‘political tourism’ in Palestine, I became confused at different times. The line between the political and the apolitical, which is clear most of the time in the Netherlands, was not clear to me at all in Palestine. If we understand sumud, as the broad concept of resistance as mentioned above, then regular daily practices are part of the Palestinian resistance. This means that the overwhelming Palestinian hospitality tourists experience as well as the unique, “- Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Palestine” are part of sumud and signify resistance of the occupation and are all therefore part of the ‘political.’ The search for the political void in Palestine is therefore a never-ending pursuit. When people in the Netherlands ask me how my period in Palestine was and how life is over there, I always answer them in the same way and explain that 80% of the time life is ‘normal.’ I explain that the Palestinian people are in general unbelievably friendly, that going around is safe, and that I actually had a lot of fun living in cities such as Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron. I explain that reality only hits you 20% of the time, such as when you need to cross a checkpoint, see the military, the wall, or hear stories of killed or imprisoned family members of your friends. During my time in Palestine I felt guilty when I enjoyed my life too much. I told myself it was wrong to not think or talk about the occupations for a couple of days. Since I came back I started to realize that this ‘normal’ life is as important as the ‘active’ political activities. Thereby, this normal life is as much part of the political as any demonstration, political tour, or lecture. The fact that HIR and TON consciously combine fun and purpose, as discussed in Chapter 2, is also part of this political context. Providing tourists a good time may be considered a regular task for any hostel, but in this case providing tourists with a fun time is also important politically, as it shows the tourists that Palestine in not a dangerous place and that Palestinians are not aggressive people. Moreover, it is part of ‘going on with life’, this is something Israel does not want and tries to stop with various means (discussed in Chapters 1 and 2). Therefore having fun in the hostel or on the farm of TON is part of everyday resistance and thus part of sumud. Understanding regular daily practices as forms of Palestinians resistance shows that the way the situation between Palestine and Israel is often described, as ‘a conflict,’ does not match the reality on the ground. Sumud shows the unequal and unjust power relation between the two sides (De jong 2012; Pappe en Chomsky 2015). The paradigm of war and conflict with a desired solution of peace has to be understood as a
68 strategically advocated framework designed by early Zionist leaders (de Jong 2017). The situation should rather be described as an occupation in which Palestinians are striving to meet general human rights through everyday practices.
Hope and despair Looking at the social reality in Palestine and using the notion of sumud can create the image created of a sort of ‘everyday heroism.’ Understanding Palestinians as heroes is attractive after understanding the system of injustice Palestinians face on a daily basis, however it is a one-dimensional view. The following section focuses on the ambiguities I explored. The explanation of sumud examined above seemingly argues that the Palestinian way of ‘normal life’ is part of a conscious, active, and hopeful form of resistance. However, when I asked Chris in HIR what he thinks the reason is for people in the streets to be so welcoming towards foreigners, he interprets another layer. He explains:
“I mean it [these welcoming gestures] is obviously also part of our culture. It happens with locals, foreigners, and guests with everyone that is just passing by. People are generous and hospitable. I must say that people might see you as a foreigner, who will take this message to the world and say how we are in Palestine. I think they would go to the extreme to make sure, you are having the best image of us. You are the one that is going to tell this story somewhere else in the world. If you look at this psychologically I think you recognize deeper problems. You see how desperate these people are; they see a foreigner as a messenger. They catch you like a drowning person. They catch you and they say please help us. Tell the world that we are peaceful, that we are not dangerous. We deserve to live. Personally this is how I analyze it; people see you in the street as a helper someone who is going to chance their world because their world needs to be changed. They don’t deserve to live in this big jail. Preventing all the rights of existence as human beings.”
Understanding the social reality in Palestine solely through the concept of sumud can lead to a romanticized image of daily life of Palestinians. These gestures can be perceived as forms of resistance in which people still show hope for a better change. However they can also be perceived as signs of total despair in which people are in a state of drowning. It is therefore important to understand the ambiguity of these social concepts.
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4.2 Political tourism is an ambiguous concept Political tourism is an ambiguous concept. As we have seen it entails a process of commodification (Jackson 1999). This process awakens a strong debate: people arguing that this should stop as soon as possible while others say it is the only right way towards change. Political tourism deals with identity politics as well. Who speaks on behalf of the Palestinians? As Adam Kuper (1988) argues it is important to be critical on this aspect. Kuper criticizes the romanticizing of a "primitive people" or an indigenous people when it comes to Palestinians, because this is a one-dimensional simplification (Kuper 1988). The mistakes of a ‘blud and boden’ approach are easily made11. Therefore the right questions should be asked such as ‘what voices are heard?’ ‘who speaks on behalf of whom?’ and ‘who is not heard?’ This is highly relevant for the tour guides, hostel owners, and other Palestinians that tourists encounter. It would be false to say that these people speak on behalf of all Palestinians. It is important to stress that the Palestinians in contact with tourists and whose voices are heard in this thesis are overall progressive and middle-class people living in the bigger cities. The poor farmers or the more conservative Palestinians are often not heard by tourists. The places they bring tourists are also chosen with a reason, why do they take them here and not somewhere else? As my research time was limited, I was not able to answer these questions thoroughly, and with this section I aim to bring these issues to attention. Understanding the Palestinian cause through the concept of sumud tends to create an image of a heroic Palestinian people. By describing ‘the Palestinians’ as all being heroes surviving in the occupation is as one-dimensional as ‘all Palestinians are terrorists.’ This is dangerous and does not reflect the reality on the ground. Finally, understanding the Palestinian cause through political tourism and political tours can give the impression of a highly nuanced Palestinian position. It struck me that the tour guides and Palestinians working in tourism were nuanced in their explanations of the situation. More than once I heard someone say: “Well according to the Geneva convention, resisting an occupation is a human right.” Their English was often impressive and their historic knowledge about the region superb. Other Palestinians would demonstrate less nuanced opinions. A couple times taxi drivers told me that all Jews, which they use to refer to Israelis, are dogs. Through political tourism therefore a
11 Blood and Soil (German: Blut und Boden) refers to an ideology that focuses on ethnicity based on two factors, descent blood (of a folk) and territory. It celebrates the relationship of a people to the land they occupy and cultivate 70 general Palestinian position will never be provided. The guide, the hostel owner, the farmer, or the volunteer that encounters with the tourist always influences it.
4.3. Role of the tourist To see the situation ‘through your own eyes’ is of utmost importance according to most of my informants. Why is this so important? What is the role of tourists in Palestine? The role of a political tourist is ambiguous, as we have seen throughout this thesis. It can be perceived as the kind of work people do in a hospice, as explained in Chapter 3 through the example of Meta, the volunteer at the farm of Tent of Nations. Coming to Palestine is a way to show the Palestinians that they have not been forgotten. Coming here is therefore important ‘work,’ with a strong symbolic meaning but without further impact politically. Tourists in Palestine may be perceived as thrill seekers, enjoying the excitement of the occupation and the military presence. As Mohamed, the hostel owner in Jericho said: “The concept of political tourism is making someone’s misery into someone else’s leisure.” With all the respect, Mike a young man from Canada, openly admitted that he loved the rush of being tear gassed at demonstrations. Other tourists appeared more ashamed to admit that they were excited to go to the demonstrations or go through checkpoints. Being a tourist in Palestine can also be perceived as a way of supporting only a small group of Palestinians: those who are street smart and make money selling ‘political tourism.’ As Adam Kuper would question: What groups are represented and who are not? In this case, who benefits from political tourism and who does not? Political tourism, through the process of commodification, can be perceived as a business model with the aspiration to make a profit (Jackson 1999; McDowel 2008). This means that these tour guides, hostel owners, and other Palestinians working in this business are dependent on the occupation. Going there as a tourist and buying these services could mean that this helps the occupation remain as it is instead of helping to change it. At the same time, political tourism to Palestine can be perceived as one of the few ways actual change can be accomplished. Due to the limited freedom of movement for the Palestinians (Burghouti 2000; Harker 2009; Weizman 2007) and the stereotyped global media discourse (Rijke & van Teeffelen 2014), Palestinians are not able to easily convince the world of their cause. Educating foreigners who are willing come to Palestine can be one of the few ways of affecting a shift in public opinion. Being a
71 political tourist can be perceived as a way to best educate yourself through firsthand experiences before heading home and being influential where you can. This is what I call long-term influence. Political tourists can also have a more short-term effect in the sense of helping at demonstrations, being a means of leverage in court cases, or even being a human shield against physical attacks from settlers, as we have seen at Tent of Nations. Political tourists can be perceived as activists striving for political change using the means that they have. As discussed in Chapter 3, these means vary from social media to running a marathon and can be performed solely during the stay in Palestine or especially after returning home. My father experienced a transformation from being pro-Israel into a strong solidarity supporter of Palestine. Nevertheless, after returning home and the everyday responsibilities took over he lost part of his drive.
The role of tourists in Palestine includes these aspects. It is in the ambiguity that makes this social context is so interesting. This ambiguity shows that the ‘political’ of ‘political’ tourism is differently perceived, experienced, conveyed, and practiced from one person to another. There are many ambiguous ramifications concerning the concept of political tourism in Palestine, but one thing is for sure: even with the best intentions in the world tourists can never truly be in the ‘Palestinian shoes.’ Salah, the tour guide from Bethlehem, said that his customers were in the “real Palestinian shoes” because they were shot with tear gas. However, not even those gassed or interrogated or humiliated can grasp how it is to be Palestinian and living in the Occupied Territories every day, because international visitors always have the option to decide, to no longer care or to leave to any place in the world. My father showed how easy it is to be highly dedicated to help and then lose that dedication and go on with your life elsewhere. The relation between tourists and Palestinians is therefore not as linear as I described in Chapter 2, instead there is always an unequal power relation at play.
Military raid In this last vignette of this thesis I want to share the most personal experience I had during my fieldwork. This moment is telling for how tourism and politics are completely intertwined with one another and at the same time shows how desperate the situation is and how a foreigner can never fully understand how it is to be Palestinian. As it is exceedingly personal, I decided to include my early fieldwork notes in full in the Appendix.
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“Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my life.”
At the end of a busy day I sat in the tiny kitchen of the Tent of Nations. Earlier that day my family and I helped on the farm, we had lunch and a very emotional conversation with Daoud. In the afternoon my family left for Tel Aviv. The next day they were going to fly back to the Netherlands. I was all by myself on the farm, as the Nasser family departed to their house in Bethlehem (this was normal when international volunteers were present at the farm). While sitting in the kitchen with a feeling of satisfaction, I was proudly thinking about the past week with my family. It had all turned out as I wished for and I was flabbergasted by my father’s transformation. All of a sudden I heard the sound of gunshots. The dogs began to bark like I had never heard before. I went outside and saw different flares in the air, flying towards the farm. While I was taking pictures of one of the flares coming closest to the farm, I started to realize that the farm had not had any rain in a long time (Picture 4.1). The flare slowly floated down from the sky and landed on the farm. Within seconds a large fire erupted. With buckets of water I finally managed to control the fire. I was terrified and to me it was clear: this was an intentional attack on the farm. I called Daoud and in a complete panic I told him that the farm was under attack. Daoud told me to calm down and explain what was going on. With Daoud on the phone I walked across the farm, and when I reached the road I saw that it was completely filled with military vehicles and soldiers. Daoud told me to go back to the kitchen without using my flashlight. I was afraid and called my brother and sister who had left that day. While they were calming me down, I heard noises outside of the kitchen, so I walked out and looked around the corner. This is what I wrote down in my field notes concerning what happened next:
I hear voices from besides the kitchen, I look around the corner and then I see a big group of soldiers running at me. They are pointing their big automatic weapons and yelling loudly in Hebrew at me. I am very shocked; I throw my hands up like in the movies and start yelling English! English! English please, English! My phone is still in my hand and I hear my brother and sister screaming
Julius what is going on?! One of the soldiers starts talking to me while the rest are searching the kitchen and heavily communicating with walky talky’s. They question me in a very intimidating way. “Why are you here?” “Where is the
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owner?” “Are there any other people?” “Open up all the buildings now!” “Did you see someone before?”
After a while I became more relaxed and was able to calmly explain that I was alone and here to help the owners of the farm and that I had not seen anyone else. After a twenty- minute visit, these guests left and I called Daoud. He told me to walk to the sleeping cave, lock the door, and got to bed. I did not sleep much that night. The next day I woke up and saw Daoud had parked his car outside of the gate. I went to him and while getting closer I noticed he was very annoyed. When I got to the gate I realized why. The whole gate had been torn apart by the military last night. Daoud was upset because of the broken gate but mostly due to the fact that the Israeli military can come at any moment without permission, reason, or apology. After this incident, the Nasser family gave me a special feeling: they made me feel like I had saved their lives. Even the mother and aunts wanted to talk to me and hear my story. Daoud explained afterward why it was so important that I was there instead of them. If he would have been there he could have been arrested or even shot. This made the special feeling go away and left me with a feeling of sadness.
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(Picture 4.1)
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That day a group of tourists came to see the farm and listen to Daoud’s story like any other day. Their bus driver was a young Palestinian man I started to speak with. When I told him the whole story his response was unbelievable. He was sorry for me and told me that he could understand how scared I was. However, he said, this is our reality. He told me that he lives in one of the refugee camps in Bethlehem. He explained:
“Living in the camp I experience such raids three to four times a week. Last week I got back with my friends with the car and we were a bit drunk. When we got to the camp we were not allowed in by the military. We got out and told the soldier that we just wanted to go home. He talked with us for a while and finally he said it was fine. When we walked back to the car, the soldier shot my friend in the back of his knee. We had to rush him to the hospital with the car full of blood. It was crazy man. The army in my camp has a new commander, who does not want to kill us but shoot us in the knee. Seventy people of my camp got shot in the knee the past months.”
This personal and horrifying vignette and the even more terrifying response from the young Palestinian man are relevant to note at the end of this thesis due to multiple reasons. First of all, it shows the harsh reality of occupation in Palestinian everyday life. As I said before, life in Palestine consists 80% of the time of ‘normal’ day-to-day practices, and 20% of the time one gets hit in the face by reality. This thesis has not touched upon the worst cruelties of the Israeli occupation. I have done this deliberately as I wanted to show the everyday reality of political tourism, which indeed most of the time consists of less shocking stories than these. Nevertheless, this night raid by the Israeli army is something any political tourist volunteering at Tent of Nations could have experienced. The 20%, the unjust and difficult realities of the occupation, are constantly around the corner for any international visitor. Second, this story shows that being in Palestine as a foreigner can sometimes be of fundamental value. Daoud explains that this is one of the reasons that he needs international presence on his farm. If the army had raided the farm while he was there alone, they could have done much worse things to him than they did to me. I find this something almost unreal to imagine. A foreigner in your house provides more safety than you being at home yourself; this is something unthinkable in the Netherlands. During the whole event I was obviously scared, but I did not feel afraid that the army would do me any harm. This shows another aspect of the inequality between Palestinians
76 and their international visitors. The international tourist can come and see the separation wall, experience going through checkpoints, can go to demonstrations, or even experience a night raid by the Israeli army, yet never will they be able to truly understand how it is to endure such procedures as a Palestinian. Just because I did not look like a Palestinian and I had a Dutch passport I did not really had to fear for my life at any point in Palestine. I felt uncomfortable because I knew that the young Palestinian man from the refugee camp faces these measures multiple times a week, only with much more physical danger as well. So what is the role of the tourists if we can never really understand what such life is like and when our activism often stops after a while when we are home? Isaac states:
“In the midst of this ongoing tragedy and the constantly changing political perimeters, the memory of the Palestinian’s exile and the loss of their land are indelible in Palestinian minds. The conviction of many Palestinians is that this is one of Israel’s biggest fears. As long as there are those who remind the world of how it was (illegitimately) created and at whose expense, Israel can never fully gain recognition as a democratic and free state.” (Isaac 2010: 587)
Most Palestinians, in the end, try to show their international visitors the unjust system and inequality that they live with. They try to let the internationals experience it themselves in order to understand what Palestinian daily life is like. Although tourists will never be able to fully grasp what this is like, political tourism has effect to a certain extend. Many Palestinians hope that the experiences of the tourists can eventually have effect on their political reality in the long turn. At least they know that while people are aware of the situation as it is, Israel can never fully gain recognition as a democratic and free state.
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Conclusion
The tourism sector is one of the most important economic sectors of the Palestinian economy and would certainly play an important role in its recovery process following the end of the Israeli occupation (ATG 2014). In the spirit of the Oslo Peace Process, tourism was meant to play a leading role – as an instrument for peace – and regional tourism was expected to valorize regional exchange and sharing. The problem however is that no attention was paid to the infrastructure. Rami Isaac, rightly so, asks: “If so much value is put in the power of tourism to create new realities, how could tourism, within such an impossible context and unsatisfactory conditions, contribute to the peace process?” (2013: 145). This thesis has taken this notion as point of departure; Palestine has a great opportunity to develop a tourism industry that can influence their society economically, socially and politically. However, the difficult political context and the forced underdevelopment by Israel make Palestine tourism into a project far from the promised instrument for peace. Nevertheless, already today tourism in the West Bank is a regular phenomenon. This thesis has tried to examine the social reality on the ground of political tourism on the West Bank, providing an answer to the main research question: How is the political in ‘political tourism’ conveyed, perceived, practiced, and experienced in the West Bank of Palestinian Occupied Territories? The concept of political tourism seems clear for many Palestinians as they regard it as a powerful tool through which they are able to convey important information to the rest of the world. Tourists who visit Palestine and see the reality on the ground as it truly is, should be expelled from the one-sided media coverage and so change their opinions on Palestine and the Palestinian people (Palestinians are not all terrorists). Palestinians then expect that the international visitors take these lessons back to their countries and slowly change public opinion. As Ali Jida, quoted in the very beginning of this thesis, explains:
“Today the best way to go on with the struggle is by working as an alternative tour guide. Trying to raise the political awareness of the outsiders about what is happening in Palestine. The only way to understand what is really happening over here is to come and to see things through your own eyes. I always say that my work today is more effective than the bomb I placed in 1968” (Ali Jidda, Palestinian, Feb-2017).
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Ali portraits the importance of political tourism for many Palestinians and the faith they have put in this long term tool for change. This notion seems straightforward, but as this thesis has shown political tourism is an ambiguous concept with various ramifications of opinions, perceptions and outcomes. The level of importance of ‘seeing the situation through your own eyes’ or in other words: ‘experience Palestinian daily life’ is something most Palestinian guides and many Palestinians in daily encounters would address to their foreign visitors. This thesis tries to explore: what happens when foreigners actually go and see the situation with their own eyes and why is it so important for Palestinians?
The paper has a somewhat logical construction; I have tried to follow the different steps of a tourist going to Palestine, while focussing on both the tourists and the Palestinian hosts, within the complex political context. Starting with first encounters through which many interesting and peculiar aspects about this particular touristic destination are to be found. Then the way political tourism comes into practice, where tourists stay, what Palestinians offer, and what Palestinians gain from tourism. Afterward, I focussed on the influence staying in Palestine has on the international visitors. Therefore, the way political tourism is experienced and how it often leads to transformative acquaintances is discussed. Finally, I have tried to show through the concept of political tourism, a better understanding of the complexity of Palestine. Being a tourist in Palestine leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions, while looking at the different ramifications of opinions and ideas by Palestinians on political tourism shows the ambiguity of this concept.
The first encounters of tourist in Israel and Palestine and Palestinians in Europe, reveal how foreigners perceive Palestine and how Palestinians try to change this perception through the education of tourists. I argue, that crossing the wall and arriving in Palestine often results in a situation where the expectations of the tourists and the reality they encounter, do not match. The first encounters with warm and welcoming Palestinian people and a safe environment of the Palestinian cities leads to a rollercoaster of emotions. This shows that Palestine and the political situation are perceived beforehand as a dangerous and hostile place. Practices like crossing the wall and checkpoints are influential for this perception of the tourists before arriving in Palestine. These practices are to be understood as strategic obstacles to stop tourists from going to Palestine, by Israel. Here we see that these first encounters already show that tourism to Palestine differs from regular tourism, as it is an important aspect of the political struggle between
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Israel and Palestine. The experiences of Bubu and Salah, traveling in Europe, provide a better understanding of the European perception on Palestine and the motivation of Palestinians to work in tourism. Being outside of their own geographical and political space made them aware of the structural violations they live with in Palestine. Moreover, they realized that many people in Europe are misinformed on the subject of Palestine. The perception people have, if they even know the name ‘Palestine’, is a dangerous and hostile country. It had hurt them during their travels, seeing so much ignorance about their country, but it empowered them as well. They decided to start working in tourism to inform people about the daily reality in Palestine. This motivation is represent for many people working in tourism in Palestine; they want to educate their visitors. The two, rather different, cases: Hostel in Ramallah and Tent of Nations, illustrate how political tourism is put to practice in the West Bank and what Palestinians try to convey through tourism. The way the hostel and the farm are combining fun and purpose is part of the message they try to convey. The message, in Palestine in general, is often double: 1. Palestine is not a dangerous place and hostile place and Palestinians are actually welcoming and warm people. 2. Palestine is victim of an unjust system of occupation ruled by Israel. This means that Palestine is not the cause of an ongoing conflict with Israel as it is often portrayed. Tourism is therefore a tool to pursue political change. The tour guides, however, deliberately argue that they do not want to convey a direct propaganda story. They aim to take the tourists and let them experience the hard situation themselves. Isaac argues: “By drawing attention to the alleged injustices perpetrated by Israel, tourists can see – and perhaps judge for themselves” (Isaac: 2010). I have shown that tourism is a form of resistance for Palestinians. The different forms of violence Palestinians face in their everyday lives have caused them to react in a non-violent way. The tourists themselves are often given responsibilities to be of impact on the Palestinian political situation both long-term and short-term. By using tourism as a tool of resistance for long-term and short-term impact Palestinians strive for change. Long-term, by educating tourists to become ambassadors of the Palestinians case when they are back home. Short-term, by using tourists, for example: as a human shield on the farm, a means of leverage for a legal struggle, or as participants in demonstrations. Thereby the hosts do not strive for peace, or to transform their visitors in “Pro- Palestine activists”, but rather strive for justice instead. The fact that tourism is a form of resistance against the system of structural violence and that within this resistance Palestinians do not strive for peace, but for justice provided me with an important
80 insight. I argue that a paradigm shift is needed: from conflict to occupation. The way the situation often is described as a conflict between two sides with the desire for peace is not value free, but biased for the oppressor, Israel (de Jong 2017).
Traveling in a country as Palestine influences its visitors in various ways. I argue that most tourists experience some sort of transformation. These transformations vary from being intrigued and active with the Palestinian political struggle to ‘getting used’ to the situation. In some cases people even tend to lose hope in political change, like Meta a volunteer at Tent of Nations who compares here time in Palestine to her work in a hospice in the Netherlands. The way international people who stay in Palestine for a longer period of time experience a transformation of ‘just get by’ is similar to the Palestinian way of living with the occupation. Their way of dealing with the occupation is to ‘just go on with it’. This relates closely to Allen’s conceptualization of the normalization of violence (Allen 2008). Finally, in Chapter three, I argue that tourism despite the best intentions can also be perceived as ongoing process of commodification. This process shows the first strong contradictions regarding political tourism, as some Palestinians question: should the occupation be transformed into an industry? Who actually profits? These contradictions and the ambiguity of the concept of political tourism is the last focus of this thesis. Travelling in a country like Palestine causes a lot of confusion. Questions that keep coming up for the international visitors are: am I doing the right thing? Is this the whole story? Why is the situation like this? Is it a bad thing that I enjoy my time here? How should I explain my stay there to people back home? Where does politics stop and culture takes over?
During my research period of looking into the ‘political’ of ‘political tourism’ in Palestine, I became confused at different times. The line between the political and the apolitical, which is clear most of the time in the Netherlands, was not clear to me at all in Palestine. This uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty regarding the political and apolitical space became less through the concept of sumud. When understanding sumud as a more inclusive notion of resistance as Rijke and van Teeffelen argue. According to them, resistance is not just the job of the men and women who engage in ‘active’ movements such as demonstrations. As Rijke and Van Teeffelen put it: “Resisting the occupation is also part of life for people focused on going forward and keeping their hope in a more
81 just and human future alive” (2014: 92). To understand sumud in this way, then regular daily practices are part of the Palestinian resistance. This means that the overwhelming Palestinian hospitality tourists experience as well as the unique, “-Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Palestine” are part of sumud and signify resistance of the occupation and are all therefore part of the ‘political.’ The search for the political void in Palestine is therefore a never-ending pursuit.
When people in the Netherlands ask me how my period in Palestine was and how life is over there, I always answer them in the same way and explain that 80% of the time life is ‘normal.’ I explain that the Palestinian people are in general unbelievably friendly, that going around is safe, and that I actually had a lot of fun living in cities such as Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron. I explain that reality only hits you 20% of the time, such as when you need to cross a checkpoint, see the military, the wall, or hear stories of killed or imprisoned family members of your friends. During my time in Palestine I felt guilty when I enjoyed my life too much. I told myself it was wrong to not think or talk about the occupations for a couple of days. Since I came back I started to realize that this ‘normal’ life is as important as the ‘active’ political activities. Thereby, this normal life is as much part of the political as any demonstration, political tour, or lecture. The fact that HIR and TON consciously combine fun and purpose is also part of this political context. Providing tourists a good time may be considered a regular task for any hostel, but in this case providing tourists with a fun time is also important politically, as it shows the tourists that Palestine in not a dangerous place and that Palestinians are not aggressive people. Moreover, it is part of ‘going on with life’, this is something Israel does not want and tries to stop with various means. Therefore having fun in the hostel or on the farm of TON is part of everyday resistance and thus part of sumud.
The role of the tourist in Palestine can be perceived in many different ways. As discussed in the last chapter this role is perceived as similar to working in a hospice full of dying people and as a way of supporting a process of commodification through which only a select amount of Palestinians profit from. Others perceive political tourists as thrill seekers who enjoy someone else’s misery. Many Palestinians working in tourism, however, regard the role of their international visitors with much more responsibility and hope. They argue that political tourism is one of the few tools they have to strive for (and believe in) political change. This ambiguity shows that the ‘political’ of political
82 tourism is differently perceived, experienced, conveyed, and practiced from one person to another.
There are many ambiguous ramifications concerning the concept of political tourism in Palestine, but one thing is certain: even with the best intentions in the world tourists can never truly understand living sumud. Not even those gassed or interrogated or humiliated or invaded by the Israeli army, can grasp how it is to be Palestinian and living in the Occupied Territories every day, because international visitors always have the option to decide, to no longer care or to leave to any other place in the world. Regardless of the different ramifications on opinions and the ambiguity of the concept of ‘political tourism’ I would like to agree with Rami Isaac. Therefore I end with his quote:
“As long as there are those who remind the world of how it was (illegitimately) created and at whose expense, Israel can never fully gain recognition as a democratic and free state.” (Isaac 2010: 587)
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List of abbreviations:
1. TON: Tent of Nations 2. HIR: Hostel in Ramallah 3. OP: Onmoet Palestina 4. ATG: Alternative Tourism Group 5. PA: Palestinian Authority 6. MOTA: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities 7. OPT: Occupied Palestinian Territories
Appendix:
Map:
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Chapter 1.
Personal connection with this region My first personal exposure to Palestine came about after connecting to an organization called Imstar. This Dutch organization run by students from the University of Amsterdam, organizes yearly trips to Israel and Palestine. A motivation letter and CV had to be submitted and approved and were mandatory to process of admittance. After acceptance to this program the participants first entered a module of ten lectures on this subject. The program was designed to inform students on ‘both sides of the conflict.'12 Therefore the lectures were divided equally: five around ‘the Palestinian point of view' and five around the ‘Israeli situation'. A few weeks later we left for the Middle East, to spend exactly five days in Israel and five days in OPT. The board tried to be as impartial as possible exposing both sides of the conflict. I was struck by this very outspoken and compulsive aim to be impartial. This seems to be a product of the ‘peace and conflict paradigm’ existing in the way most people talk and think about the situation of Palestine – Israel all around the world (de Jong: 2017). This notion will be discussed thoroughly throughout this thesis especially in chapter two, Tourism under conflict. The informative lectures and impressive tens days in this region inspired me tremendously. I noticed that the complex diversity of history, religion and politics on the one hand and the rich culture and incredibly friendliness of people had gotten under my skin. But after returning to the Netherlands, I experienced ignorance or indifference on this subject, my network did not seem to care about the whole issue, nor did they appear to know anything about the situation. By actually going there and seeing the situation with my own eyes changed a lot for me. Because of this experience, I decided to go back and do my three-month research period for my Masters thesis in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This experience of ‘seeing the situation with ‘my own eyes,' would turn out to be a central aspect of the conducted research and this thesis.
12 http://imstar.nl/
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Chapter 3
1) Vignette, Bil’in demonstrations 20-01-2017: People are quite nervous when the bus arrives in Bil’in and we have to wait for a bit until it is clear what we are supposed to do. I looked around and there were besides around 20 Palestinians, people from Israel, USA, Germany, Argentina, France and the Netherlands. Without the international presence the demonstration would have only existed of around 15 – 20 people. Now a double amount of people was attending. The protest started and all seemed quite peaceful. The Palestinian people who were leading the protest were giving us guidance. They made sure that we would stick with them and do not stand behind. This has more impact on the soldiers seems to be the reason. The Palestinian kids start to throw rocks from behind us and for a couple of moments people start to yell, it is unclear what is going on. We move to another side road to prosecute the protest. We get very close to the Israeli military’s and their huge tank like vehicles. I find it intriguing that the people that do this every week are also the ones that take pictures of everything. With the same banner they keep on asking to take pictures, every week. At least 5 or 6 people from the press are also attending and taking pictures of things that seem ordinary to me after so many years. At one point a very charismatic Palestinian farmer drives right through the soldiers barrier with his tractor. After a little while he comes back over the other road where we are standing at that moment. It is typical for the struggle is what I thought at that moment: a man without any weapon on a tractor against highly armoured vehicles and soldiers with big guns . When the protest seemed to be coming to an end, when whole ritual is done, we were told us not to leave yet. After a little while other men came walking up the hill with signs in their hand. They came from another protest. This was the day of Trump’s inauguration and therefore there were big protests near Jerusalem. It is a very interesting moment in history, as Trump gets into office. No one knows what this will mean for Palestine. In of his first declarations he states that the American embassy has to move to Jerusalem. This is a sensitive point for Palestine as this is considered their official capital. Finally an old Palestinian lady walks all the way up to the demonstration. She wears a typical colourful dress and her skin looks like paper, due to the sun and her age. She walks as closely to the soldiers as she can and it seems is not scared at all for the big guns (2.2). For me this picture says so much about the conflict; it is enormously complex with
89 interests from many international parties, but on the ground it is so often back to this situation: Palestinians without any means against Israeli unending power.
2) Facebook post by Marta Silva: Personally, 2016 was an amazing, challenging year. I had never been as scared, alone, permanently enraged or cynical before. I was shown what kind of society I don’t want to live in (looking at you, Israel!). On the other hand, I was never as happy, hopeful or felt as welcome and cherished (looking at you, Palestine!). 2016 made me truly realized how privileged I am. It showed me how human beings manage to live under the direst situations. How a whole population manages to create daily acts of resistance, by holding on to the keys of the houses they once owned, through their own culture, their cuisine, their language, or simply by daring to exist and inhabit a land that they are continuously told is not theirs. The immediate future might seem daunting and overwhelming, and in a world where Trumps, Netanyahus, Le Pens, Farages, Temers, and so many others seem to flourish and gain momentum, it is hard to keep perspective and maintain hope. In these circumstances, 2017 shouldn’t be that different from 2016 or any other year. When facing racist, xenophobic, sexist or any other divisive discourses we fight back, and we keep resisting. We shall do it any way we can. By boycotting brands, services, artists or countries as a whole; by sharing alternative narratives or sources of information; by showing up for demonstrations; by donating our time and/or money to causes, movements or organizations; by intervening whenever others deal with public harassment; by being academically committed to uncover structures of oppression and refusing simplistic descriptions that try to tell us “that’s the way the world works”; by ignoring when someone tries to accuse us of being permanently unsatisfied, terribly pushy, and “why must we point out all the bad things all the time?!”.
Most important of all by being attentive and reaching out to those groups and individuals which are historically dominated, oppressed, marginalized and neglected, and who are much more vulnerable to the scary changes brought to us this past year. Their struggles (be it against economic exploitation, austerity, ethnic and/or religious discrimination or persecution, nationalism/patriotism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, or any other power
90 structure) are real and legitimate struggles, and we are enough to tackle all of them. It’s time to do so.
Wishing you a happy 2017!
Chapter 4
1) Fieldnotes on invasion at the tent of nations
It is the day my family left back to Holland. We say goodbye at Ten of Nations, where I decide to stay for a couple more days by my self. Daoud and Daher leave, like any other day, back to Bethlehem just before dark. I am sitting in the kitchen feeling happy and proud about how the past week with my family was a big success. I sit there, just enjoying the moment, without music or my phone. Nothing seems to be going on. Until I hear a sound that I cannot recognize and the dogs from the farm start barking like never before. I want to know what is going and step outside. What I see confuses me because it is bright outside. I can see shadows from the tree on the floor, while it should be completely dark. When I look up and see two flairs crossing each other in the sky right above the farm. It seems that one has been fired from one settlement and the other from another settlement across the valley. My first reaction is telling my self: do not panic. I tell myself that the settlers are probably enjoying the weekend or a marriage and I go back inside. After a little while, I hear more ‘shots’ fired and think it would be good idea to film what is going. This way I can show Daoud the next day. While I am filming a flair that slowly comes down from the sky, attached to a small parachute, I realize that this one stays lit longer than the others and comes much closer to the farm. All of a sudden the flair lands on the farm and directly a big fire erupts. In a flash thousands of thoughts go through my mind, but one thing is clear. This is an attack by the settlers, they have seen that I am alone on the farm and they try to burn the whole thing down (like they have tried to do mutual times before). I start running to the place of the fire and telling my self out loud: “I am being attacked, I am being attacked!”. When I arrive at the fire it is already too big to kick out with my feet. I sprint back to the kitchen, get two buckets and fill them with water. Filling them feels like it takes forever. Constantly thinking: “will this be enough? Should I start running before it the fire is out of hand?” With the bucket filled I run as fast as I can back to the fire. With the water and my feet I
91 am able to control the fire. At that point I directly call Daoud and tell him in complete panic: “Daoud, Daoud, Daoud, they are attacking us! There are fires on the farm! They are attacking us. He response: “Calm down. Calm down Julius. Tell me what is going on. Tell me what you see. Are there still fires on the farm?” I explain that I managed to get this fire out and that I see another orange light quite far away. He tells me to go and see what it is. When I get close to the light I realize that the light comes from an army truck and that the whole street below the farm is covered with Israeli military. At this point I am still on the phone with Daoud and I tell him: “Daoud, the army is here”. He response by saying: “Do not go there. Go back to the kitchen, do not use your flashlight, I will call you back in five minutes”. In the meantime I am almost at the gate surrounding the farm and I saw a lot of soldiers and some Palestinian looking man walking and standing in front of the front lights of the vehicles. I listen to what Daoud told me and I return to the kitchen. I call my brother and sister because I feel the need to talk to someone. They are in a hotel in Tel Aviv. They left the farm that day so they understand the situation I am in. I tell them how I really thought I was being attacked and how scared I was. At this point I was sure that the whole situation was done. I am sure the army is just dealing with these Palestinians in the street and it has nothing to do with the farm. My brother and sister react shocked, they cannot believe what they hear and we talking through the phone very loud. Then I hear noises outside. I stop talking and walk outside very slowly. I hear voices from besides the kitchen, I look around the corner and then I see a big group of soldier running at me. Pointing their big automatic weapons at me and yelling in Hebrew. I am very very shocked, I throw my hands up like in the movies and start yelling English! English! English please, English! My phone is still in my hand and I hear my brother and sister screaming Julius who are there?! One of the soldiers starts talking to me while the rest is searching the kitchen and heavily communicating with walky talky’s. They question me very intimidating. “Why are you here?” “Where is the owner?” “Are there any other people?” “Open up all the buildings now!” “Did you see someone before” After a while I become more relaxed and I can explain normally that I am alone, I am here to help the owners of the farm and that I have not seen anyone else. After a twenty-minute visit of these friendly guests they leave, and I directly call Daoud. He tells me to walk to the sleeping cave, lock the door and got to bed. I did not sleep much that night.
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The next day I wake up and see that Daoud has parked his car outside of the gate. I go see him and while I am getting closer I start to notice he is very annoyed. When I get to the gate I understand why. The whole gate has been torn apart by the military last night.
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