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Tourism in Jerusalem is intertwined with Israel’s occupation. However, while Israel’s Ministry of Tourism officially governs Jerusalem’s tourism industry, there’s a new, rising movement of alternative tourism initiated by Palestinian activists and guides who aim to counter the Israeli perspective. This type of tourism is known as justice tourism, political tourism, or alternative tourism.

Osama Resheq, a legal supervisor at Al-Quds University and a proponent of alternative tourism, explains the goal of the movement is to “turn the Israeli occupation into an exhibition”. Since the tourism sector in Israel is heavily regulated and only presents one side of the conflict, it is up to Palestinians in Jerusalem to share their own perspective and narrative.

Osama’s tours reflect his experience as a Palestinian living under occupation. “I show the colonial features of Jerusalem and how Israel restricts our movement,” he added.

“In 1972, East Jerusalem – mainly Palestinian – had 34 hotels while West Jerusalem – mainly Israeli – had 23. Over time, the division of hotels changed. Now East Jerusalem only has 133 rooms, compared with over 10,000 in West Jerusalem”

The attendees of Osama’s tours are often international academics or activists that are interested to know more about Palestine.

The Israeli occupation controls the tourism sector in Jerusalem. Foreign tourists typically arrive through Israeli-run agencies that direct them to Israeli-owned hotels and markets.

In 1972, East Jerusalem – mainly Palestinian – had 34 hotels while West Jerusalem – mainly Israeli – had 23. Over time, the division of hotels changed. Now East Jerusalem only has 133 rooms, compared with over 10,000 in West Jerusalem.

The Israeli Ministry of Tourism’s website provides a comprehensive list of over 6,800 certified tourist guides, including both Israelis and Palestinians. To obtain certification, these guides are required to undergo a two-year study of Jerusalem’s history at Israeli universities and institutes.

Abdullah Salameh is among these certified guides. Abdullah told The New Arab that the majority of tours are typically organised by Israeli tour operators. “Tourists who come from Israeli agencies have a pre-arranged plan and the tour route cannot be altered by the guide,” Abdullah explained.

As a result, Abdullah often partners with Palestinian tour operators to highlight Christian sites in Jerusalem. This is particularly important to him as a Christian with in-depth knowledge of Christianity and its historical significance in the city.

According to Abdullah, Israeli tourism agencies are required to hire Palestinian tourist guides for cities under the control of the Palestinian Authority, such as Bethlehem, which is a top destination for Christian tourists.

However, these Palestinian guides who offer alternative tourism experiences are not officially certified and may face scrutiny and apprehension by Israeli police. To avoid any issues, they often claim to be spending time with friends without accepting payment for their services.

Osama argues that the Israeli schools where the certified tourist guides receive education follow curriculums that present a biased, one-sided narrative, often centred around biblical content. He also points out that alternative tourist guides are remunerated with lower wages compared to their certified counterparts, “but this doesn’t matter, because our goal is to raise awareness about the Palestinian cause, not anything else.”

One of the leading organisations of alternative tourism in Jerusalem is Grass Roots in Jerusalem. Administrative and Financial Manager Yazan Jawad says the organisation aims to give an accurate narrative about the history of Jerusalem and Israel’s occupation.

“Besides our political tours of Jerusalem, we provide maps and infographics about the history of Jerusalem as an Arab city, and how Israel attempts to erase this. Even if you ask Google to lead you downtown in Jerusalem, they will take you to Jaffa Street in West Jerusalem, not East Jerusalem’s Old City – the real centre.”

In November 2018, Human Rights Watch reported on the violations of Airbnb and Booking.com, popular housing and hotel reservation websites. They were found to list apartments located in illegal Israeli settlements.

“The business activity that Airbnb and Booking.com conduct helps make West Bank settlements more profitable and therefore sustainable, thus facilitating Israel’s unlawful transfer of its citizens to the settlements,” the report stated.

In 2018, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report highlighting tourism-related activities “ensure the sustainability of residential settlement communities” and “contribute to the profitability of the settlements”.

According to Amnesty, Israel’s strategy of establishing a tourism industry centred on settlements coincides with a surge in visitor numbers experienced by the country. In 2018, Israel recorded a historic total of over four million visitors.

“Israel has constructed many of its settlements close to archaeological sites to make the link between the modern State of Israel and its Jewish history explicit. At the same time, Israel downplays or ignores the significance of non-Jewish periods at archaeological and historic sites,” Amnesty reported.

In 2021, the Lifta Boutique Hotel was inaugurated in the Palestinian village of Lifta, situated in Jerusalem. The village had its Palestinian presence erasure in the 1948 Nakba when the town was ethnically cleansed. However, On the hotel’s website, they described the location as “an abandoned village”.

Despite the rising of alternative tourism in Jerusalem as pro-Palestinian tourism, it still has many challenges. “We’re just individuals who are working against the system. We aim to expose the occupation for what it is,” Osama explained.

Yet Osama remains optimistic that the tours he and his colleagues can create a positive change among visitors: “The more tours we make, the more people are informed. We hope they will become ambassadors for the Palestinian cause when they return home.”

Abeer Ayyoub is a freelance journalist based in Amman

Source: The New Arab

Catherine Capon is a naturalist and adventurer who is passionate about responsible tourism.Thank you for joining us here at Justice Travel for our first Wilderness Week.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became an eco-adventurer?

My background is in ecology and zoology but I have always been interested in communicating science to non-scientists.  This desire has seen me working in wildlife filmmaking, sustainability consultation and conservation journalism.  However, it was my time working with Sam Branson at Sundog Pictures that really solidified the importance that tourism plays in the conservation of endangered species.  People travelling to see wildlife brings money into the local community and the residents therefore value wildlife more alive than dead (via poaching, bushmeat, illegal fishing or habitat destruction for agriculture).  I therefore decided to start a not-for-profit campaign to promote ecotourism and wildlife watching destinations around the world.  Rather than seeing ecotourism as something for middle aged couples with sandals and binoculars, I wanted to also excite the younger generation about the adventure activities that wildlife watching entails.  So far, I have shared the water with a green anaconda, rock climbed with marmosets, been metres from a Bengal tiger and swum with great white sharks!  I’ve just started a YouTube Channel to follow my adventures too.

You have just returned from India, what were your highlights?

My last ecoadventure was in India where I visited Ranthambhore National Park to see the tigers and Kaziranga National Park for the India Rhinos.  The two destinations differ vastly and it was great to have the contrast on a 2 week trip.  Ranthambhore is hot and dry in March which is perfect for tiger watching as they go to the watering holes to drink.  Each safari is hugely exciting as seeing a tiger isn’t guaranteed so tracking their footprints is a thrilling process.  We were also lucky enough to see three leopards during our stay which is very unusual as they are extremely illusive in the area.  Kaziranga is green and lush in comparison with far fewer tourists.  The Indian Rhinos’ story is a phenomenal conservation success.  In 1903, there were only 15 left in the area.  Now, the population is comprised of over 2,000 individuals and we saw countless rhinos on our ecoadventure.  Kaziranga highlights also included with Western Hoolock Gibbon which is the only ape in India and the incredibly rare Ganges River Dolphins.  If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you’ll see films of both destinations.

How do you choose your destinations?

As I’m looking to engage travellers who are new to ecotourism and wildlife watching, I tend to choose destinations with really charismatic animals.  The hope is that someone might be initially enticed by the orangutans in Borneo for example, but will then be moved by all of the other animals that live in the forests too.  With regards to accommodation, I look for sustainable businesses that use renewable energy, local products and employ local people.

What makes a great eco-resort?

For me, a great eco-resort is one that encapsulates life in the community that you’re visiting.  This may mean that tourists have to adapt to new types of food, accommodation and customs but you’ll definitely have a story to tell when you get home.  The resort should have as little impact on the environment as possible with local people benefitting from the business.

Do you have a favourite wildlife destination/s?

I’m often asked which is my favourite wildlife destination and it’s the hardest question to answer.  However, Madagascar exceeded all of my expectations and I’d visit again in a heartbeat.  Due to its evolutionary history, the flora and fauna on this island are like nowhere else on the planet.  With 107 species ofLemur (20% of the world’s primates), Baobab trees straight from a fantastical Disney animation, mysterious Tenrecs that resemble an otter-hedgehog hybrid, and the world’s smallest species of reptile; wildlife watching here is a truly unique experience.

However, 30,000 hectares of forest are being cut down each year in Madagascar and, if this rate continues, there will be no forest left within 25 years.  Ecotourism is a viable way to make the forests worth more to the local people than turning them into agricultural land.  If the Malagasy people can make a good living from guiding tourists through the forests and showing off the besotting animals it hosts, they are far more likely to protect them for many more generations.

Why is responsible ecotourism important?

People have and will always travel.  Travelling itself has consequences for the planet but if you compound that impact with staying at an environmentally unfriendly mass tourism resort then a 2-week holiday has a big impact on the local area and the wider ecosystem.  Choosing sustainable accommodation and immersing yourself in nature during your time off work will mean that you’ll have a much deeper respect and understanding of the place that you’re visiting.  At its best, ecotourism provides employment for local people and puts a real value on areas of outstanding natural beauty.  Ecotourism has also been scientifically proven to benefit wildlife conservation.

Where can we expect to see you next?

During my campaign so far I’ve travelling far and wide but I often get asked to explore ecotourism options within the UK.  I’m heading to Alladale Wilderness Reserve in the Scottish Highlands next for a weekend of hiking, biking and wildlife watching.  This reserve is reintroducing species that have previously been removed from the area like the Red Squirrel and the European Wildcat.  The owner of the reserve, Paul Lister, also hopes to reintroduce wolves back into the United Kingdom after a long absence due to being hunted to extinction.

Catherine Capon – Bio

“Having always been bewitched by wildlife, I studied ecology and zoology at Imperial College London where I was fascinated by the theories but yearned to see these exotic creatures in their environment. My first wildlife expedition was to study bats in Honduras.

I slept in a hammock and waved goodbye to all the ‘necessities’ that I’d become accustomed to living in London. I learnt to live a very simple life in that cloud forest. It was here that I experienced my first moment of pure awe – sitting on a smooth rock in the centre of a clear stream with the midnight forest singing around me. Fireflies and bats were dancing over my head and the sheer happiness that I felt moved me to tears. That moment changed my life forever and I became fiercely protective of that forest. I became an ecoadventurer.

My life since university has seen me working in wildlife filmmaking and sustainability communication. Throughout this journey, I have kept the sense of purpose that overcame me in Central America. At every opportunity, I have travelled to a new corner of this planet to see the wildlife and how the people interact with the environment around them.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit places so beautiful that no photograph can truly capture them, and along the way, I’ve tried to encourage my family and friends to join me.

It was these travels, through work and pleasure, that inspired my mission to write about and photograph the top wildlife hotspots on the planet.

I hope that by doing this, other awe-seekers and ecoadventurers will awaken and unite to live more consciously with our planet.

The hard earned cash that you spend on your wildlife holiday makes those animals worth more alive than dead. At its best, ecotourism provides employment for local people and puts a real value on areas of outstanding natural beauty.”

With one rhino dying by the hands of poachers every seven hours, there isn’t time to waste, and with everyone’s help, the #JustOneRhino campaign might just make a difference.

2015 is set to be an incredible year for the endangered rhino. The largest blogger-driven fundraiser ever assembled has started making waves in the fight against poaching. Two organizations, Travelers Building Change (founded by Jeremy Scott Foster) and Justic Travel have teamed up to raise money for Rhinos Without Borders through 2015. Rhinos Without Borders was developed to save rhinos by translocating them from South Africa to secret locations in Botswana with the hope of providing a safe haven for them to thrive in. RWB’s conservation goal for this year is to raise five million dollars and translocate 100 rhinos out of harms way. This project was started by National Geographic Explorers In Residence Derek and Beverly Joubert, founders of the Great Plains Foundation.

With 100 percent of donations going directly to the project, over 120 of the world’s top travel bloggers have joined the Jouberts’ cause to save #JustOneRhino. Over 20 sponsors have also signed up to give away more than $30,000 worth of travel prizes, such as resort stays, tours and exciting adventures in dozens of countries. According to a recent press release posted by supporters of the #JustOneRhino campaign, “Every donor to the TravelersBuildingChange.org site earns chances at winning incredible prizes, including a safari in South Africa, a Galapagos Islands cruise and stays at luxury resorts in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. The Jouberts are also offering #JustOneRhino donors additional incentives, such as origami rhinos and downloads of their wildlife photos.” The campaign ends March 1 and even though the #JustOneRhino hashtag has already reached nearly 4 million people on Twitter, there is still much more that needs to be donated.

Even with so much left to do, Jeremy Scott Foster was able to spare a few minutes to answer our questions about the campaign and what it would take to save the African rhino.

Why spearhead a campaign like #JustOneRhino?

The idea behind Travelers Building Change is to support the communities which have nurtured people on their travels. Last year we raised money for elephants in Thailand and this year we’re supporting rhinos in Africa. Both places have been highly affected by tourism and, with so much to lose (we’re talking about an entire species, here), we knew that rhinos had to be the focus of our campaign this year.

Was there a personal reason that prompted your interest and involvement?

I actually began working on this project for some more personal reasons. I was feeling entirely overwhelmed by the amount of kindnesses that I was experiencing, time and time again, on my travels around the world. When nobody ever asked for anything in return, I knew I had to take it into my own hands in order to pay these kindnesses forward. So I started a charity project and, over the past three years, it has evolved into what you see today.

Why does it cost so much to translocate a single rhino? What does the process involve?

The translocation process is actually quite involved. After a lengthy process of identifying and selecting a rhino for relocation, a crew arrives by helicopter and darts and sedates the rhino. Blood samples and other information about the rhino are collected and the strength of each rhino is assessed to ensure it is strong enough to make the trip. Finally, it is loaded into a container and driven to a quarantine enclosure. After a six-week quarantine period, the rhinos are airlifted and distributed to a secret, remote location in Botswana. Once the rhinos are on the ground, teams assess their health and set them free. In total, the whole process costs $45,000.

What makes Botswana so much safer than South Africa? What is stopping poachers from moving there and doing the same thing?

Much of the relocation has to do with “spreading the risk.” Moving rhinos to another location makes it much harder for poaching units to come in and hit large numbers of animals at one time. Not only does South Africa hold 80% of Africa’s rhino population, but they have some of the most liberal poaching laws on the whole continent. The translocation helps to spread the assets and into areas where poaching is a much more difficult undertaking.

There are extremely stringent anti-poaching laws in Botswana, which do not exist in South Africa. The anti-poaching units, who operate on the ground in Botswana, function under a shoot-to-kill policy in which any uncooperative poacher is treated as an aggressive military threat. This should be a major deterrent to any poachers hoping to hunt in Botswana.

What kind of progress has #JustOneRhino seen so far? What will it take to become a reality?

The #JustOneRhino is a smaller project in a much larger fundraising effort. We still have a ways to go before we meet our goal of raising $45,000 to translocate #JustOneRhino, but every dollar counts. Rhinos Without Borders, the organization that we are raising money for, is hoping to raise $8 million toward the relocation of 100 rhinos in the year 2015. By the end of 2016, they’re hoping to have moved 500.

Apart from donating to causes like this one, what else can travelers do to fight against poaching?

The truth is that donations are the only thing that will help right now. The rhino situation is critical and, although raising awareness is extremely valuable in its own right, there simply isn’t enough time for that to be our only recourse. One rhino is being killed every seven hours. 50 years ago there were 500,000 black rhinos in Africa, and now there are only 5,000. If there isn’t drastic intervention, the end of the rhino is a very real possibility and it takes place within our lifetime.

If you are interested in being a part of the #JustOneRhino campaign, visit TravelersBuildingChange.org. No donation is too small.