Political Tourism in the West Bank

The spotlighting of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the international media and the relative accessibility of contested areas in the West Bank have turned it into an interesting destination for foreign visitors. In the past decade such tourists have become an integral part of popular demonstrations and other activities in such localities as Bil'in, Boudrus and Sheik Jarrah. In many of these places, local committees have learned to utilize international visitors as a political asset in their battle against injustice, be it land confiscation or house demolition. These tourists display diverse degrees of political awareness and motives, but regardless of whether they arrive in the West Bank individually or as part of an organized political initiative, they represent a new form of political consumerism in the arena of international tourism. Based on ongoing fieldwork in the West Bank, this paper seeks to address three questions: Does the mobilization of tourists for political ends as seen nowadays in the West Bank constitute a new phenomenon, and if so in what way is it new? Does this mobilization succeed in achieving its aims? Does it always promote just causes?