Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – The town of Bethlehem is geared up for the Christmas season. A net of lights strings from building to building, creating a canopy over the town’s famous Manger Square. An adorned Christmas tree with a life-sized nativity scene lies at the centre of the plaza. Groups of tourists and pilgrims go in and out of the Nativity Church to see the gold-plated star marking the spot where Jesus was born.
Palestinian tour guides sit in the corner of the square, drinking coffee, while some wander around the entrance of the church. Since a majority of tourists come in large groups organised by Israeli tour companies, these local guides are instead looking for individual tourists to show them around their hometown.
“How [do they] give Israelis permission to do tours in Bethlehem?” Matheos Alkassis, a licensed general tour guide from Bethlehem, asked emphatically. “Let them give us permission to guide in Israel.”
Alkassis studied the historical sites of the Holy Land for four years, took an oral and written exam, and received a license to guide throughout Palestine from the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
There are a select few Palestinian businesses that benefit from Israeli tourism [Megan Giovannetti/Al Jazeera] |
Differing greatly from the small shops tightly packed together near the Nativity Church in the Old City, the shops on these streets are large and visibly wealthy. The shops on Nativity street also tend to have an equally large charter bus with Hebrew writing on the side parked out front.
When asked if he has deals with Israeli tour companies, Almashash replied, “Everybody does, it’s business. Every shop on this street, they do the same.”
Along with inheriting the family business in 1991, Almashash also inherited contacts with Israeli tour companies. He made the claim that 95 percent of the tourists that come into his shop are brought to him by an Israeli company.
Struggle for visibility
A marketing representative at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, who wished to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera that the prevalence of Israeli tour companies is a huge issue for them.
Mainly because the ministry has virtually no control over the commissioned deals between wealthy Palestinians and Israeli companies, but they also have no control over what tourists see, or where they stay.
Tourists’ time is, “divided between the church and the souvenir shop”, the representative explained. Not only do Israeli tour guides control what is said, but they also limit opportunities for tourists to interact with locals and the Palestinian city in general.
If not already on a multiple day, an organised tour where everything is tightly scheduled for you, other advertised tours for the individual traveller are typically only half-day tours.
And “when people come to stay with Israeli tour agencies,” the ministry representative continued, “they sleep in Jerusalem.”
‘Israel’s idea about tourism is just marketing the state of Israel,’ Hilu said [Megan Giovannetti/Al Jazeera] |
A 2017 report published by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism details how the Israeli monopoly on tourism directly contributes to normalisation of the occupation.
The report states that up to 3,500 people visit the Nativity Church each day, yet less than 2,000 stay the night in Bethlehem despite there being 3,900 registered hotel beds throughout the governorate.
And when they do stay the night, “people stay in the hotel and don’t walk around”, because of what they’re told by their tour guides, says Hilu.
This is strategic in the marketing of Israel, Hilu explains. If people don’t engage with Palestinians, then they will never know what their reality is. That goes for tourists and Israelis alike, he continued.
“The main reason why they built the wall and put red signs warning Israeli citizens not to enter is to stop people from seeing [and] understanding each other,” Khmayes stated matter-of-factly.
After two cups of coffee and a pack of cigarettes on the rooftop of Singer Cafe in Beit Sahour – the starting point of his political tours and a wonderful place that most visitors do not get the chance to see – Hilu concludes, “The understanding of Palestinians does not come from Palestinians themselves.”
“We are represented by the Israeli propaganda machine.”
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS