The Samaritan village on Mount Grizim recently opened a new museum that showcases the history and culture of this unique community. Now numbering just 740 people the Samaritan community has withstood millennia of invasions, forced conversions and dispersal. Samaritan Temple on Mount Grizim Part of the ancient Israelite tribes, the Samaritans built their temple on […]
I came accross this video clip from Al Jezeera recently. It highlights the organized way that supporters of the West Bank Settlements are influencing Israelis and Jewish visitors to the country. These tours are the counterpoint to the tours we promote on this site. Their intention is to build support within Israeli society and forever […]
One of my highlights during April was hiking in the West Bank. A group of hikers was trekking the Nativity Trail from Nazareth to Bethlehem and I joined them for a day, beginning at the Huwara Checkpoint at Nablus to the hilltop village of Duma just a little North-east of Ramallah. It was about 20 […]
Back in the 1999s the tour buses clogged the parking lot of Sebastia in the Northern West Bank. Not any more. This ancient Roman city, and the adjacent modern Palestinian village are victims of Isreal’s encapsulation of Palestinian areas though hundreds of checkpoints, barriers, and restricted roads. The tourists used to come mainly from Israeli […]
Most tours to the Negev are pretty standard fare. However there is much more to the Negev than visiting a staged Bedouin tent where a dutiful Bedouin employee will serve tea. The vast majority of Bedouin have long since given up living in tents. Most of the 165,000 Nevev Bedouin now live in shantytowns, or […]
Yesterday’s visit to Kalkiliya was a fascinating window into life under Occupation. Kalkiliya lies at the westernmost tip of the West Bank, just 12 kilometers from the Mediterranean at the narrowest part of Israel. A small private group from England, organized by ToursInEnglish.com, spend most of the day in this beleaguered town of 45,000. After […]
The Taybeh OktoberFest was a great success with thousands of people attending the festivities. The guests included officials from the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations, and diplomats from various embassies. Palestinians came from all over the West Bank and Israel, and a large contingent of Israelis came from Tel Aviv. This was truly a great […]
Many tours of Jerusalem include a visit to the City of David in the Palestinian Neighborhood of Silwan. This is an important element in understanding the gradual takeover of Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem by Israeli settler organizations. In the case of Silwan, the Elad Foundation was contracted with Israeli government agencies to develop the archeological […]
