Article - Tourism and Israel's Settler Colonial Project: Seeking Ethical Alternatives

The role of tourism in advancing Israel’s settler colonial project dates back to the arrival of Zionists in Palestine.

Today, it is most clearly articulated through religious tours that legitimize the Israeli regime’s continued theft of Palestinian land and oppression of the Palestinian people.

How does religious tourism in Palestine serve the Israeli regime’s colonial aspirations? How does it obstruct Palestinian economic self-determination and liberation? Which alternatives exist for those who wish to visit Palestine ethically? In our final policy lab of 2020, analysts Halah Ahmad and Marya Farah address these questions and explore possibilities for ethical tourism in Palestine.

Al-Shabaka Halah Ahmad

Halah Ahmad

Halah Ahmad is a policy researcher, writer, and policy communications expert. Most recently, she led legislative affairs as VP for Policy at the Jain Family...
More From This Author
With: Marya Farah
(2020, December 13)
In this article
View PDF

Latest Analysis

Explore All Analysis
Policy Brief
 Politics

Christian Zionism in the Global South: The Case of South Africa

European empires used Christian missions to legitimize conquest in Africa and advance imperial interests, laying the groundwork for a political form of Christian Zionism. British evangelicals were central in transforming Christian Zionism from a theological belief into an imperial strategy by promoting Jewish resettlement in Palestine as a means of extending British influence. This fusion of religious ideology and imperial ambition endures in contemporary Christian Zionist movements, which frame modern Israel as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and recast Palestinian presence as an impediment to a divinely ordained order. This policy brief shows how these narratives and their policy effects have taken root in the Global South, including in South Africa. In this context, Israeli efforts increasingly rely on Christian Zionist networks to weaken longstanding solidarity with Palestinians and cultivate support for Israeli occupation.
Al-Shabaka Fathi Nimer
Fathi Nimer· Dec 7, 2025
Policy Memo
 Politics

Trump’s UNSC Resolution 2803: Repackaged Colonial Rule

On November 17, 2025, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2803 endorsing US President Donald Trump’s twenty-point plan for Gaza. The vote, pushed through after weeks of US pressure, establishes two supposedly “transitional” bodies to take control of Gaza: a Board of Peace tasked with overseeing aid delivery, reconstruction, and day-to-day administration, and an International Stabilization Force to take over security and disarm Hamas. Notably, the resolution does not refer to the genocide of the past two years, nor does it address accountability for it. Instead, this policy memo shows how the resolution repackages colonial control over the Palestinian people in Gaza, rewards the US—a co-perpetrator of genocide—with control over Gaza and its potentially lucrative reconstruction process, while simultaneously relieving the Israeli regime of all of its responsibilities as an illegally occupying power. Rather than advancing justice, the UN has once again undermined its own legal principles under US pressure.
Al-Shabaka Yara Hawari
Yara Hawari· Nov 20, 2025
Roundtable
 Refugees

Palestinian Camps in Lebanon: Disarmament, Rights, and Return

Lebanese officials have revived calls to disarm Palestinian factions inside refugee camps, presenting it as part of efforts to curb “illicit weapons” and reinforce state sovereignty. Yet for many Palestinians and regional observers, the refugee-camp disarmament initiative signifies an attempt to recalibrate the region’s security landscape. It also revives traumatic collective memories of earlier disarmament campaigns that left camps exposed to massacres. 
Al-Shabaka Jaber Suleiman
Jaber Suleiman,Wesam Sabaaneh· Nov 12, 2025

We’re building a network 
for liberation.

As the only global Palestinian think tank, we’re working hard to respond to rapid developments affecting Palestinians, while remaining committed to shedding light on issues that may otherwise be overlooked.

Meet Our Policy Network & Contributors