Seeing Is Believing in the End': Solidarity Tourism in Palestine

On Christmas Eve 2019, National Public Radio (NPR) reported record numbers of tourists visiting Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity alongside a public opinion survey in which “Palestinians [express] record levels of depression” amidst waning hopes for peace and independence (Estrin 2019). International tourism is a powerful and growing force in Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank, yet scholarship on the topic has tended to focus on the experience of the tourists rather than the consequences for the Palestinian community. This paper analyzes politically engaged tourism in the West Bank through the lens of the local civil society actors adapting to this changing landscape. While scholars have tended either to reduce tours of conflict zones or poverty-stricken areas to voyeurism and exploitation or to laud the possibilities of peacebuilding and development through tours, my research indicates that the situation for Palestinians is more complicated than either of these perspectives. Analyzing interviews with 12 Palestinians working for local NGOs that offer lectures or tours to international visitors, I argue that Palestinians navigate a complex web of political, economic, social, and religious dynamics in order to achieve both local and international goals.