Policy Lab

Tourism and Israel’s Settler Colonial Project: Seeking Ethical Alternatives

by Halah Ahmad, Nur Arafeh on December 13, 2020

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 join host Nur Arafeh to address these questions and explore possibilities for ethical tourism in Palestine.

Nur Arafeh

Nur Arafeh is a Fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, in Washington DC, where her work focuses on the political economy of the MENA region, business-state relations, peacebuilding strategies, the development-security nexus and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. She previously served as Al-Shabaka's Palestine Policy Fellow between 2015 and 2017, worked as an Associate Researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), and as a Visiting Lecturer of Economics at Al-Quds Bard College. Nur has also consulted for several Palestinian and international organizations, on issues related to development policies, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and socio-economic policy analysis. Her commentaries have appeared in English, Arabic and French in The Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al-Jazeera, and Al-Akhbar, among other outlets. Nur holds a doctorate in International Development as a Rhodes Scholar from the University of Oxford, a Master’s in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge, and a dual-BA degree in Political Science and Economics from Sciences Po Paris and Columbia University.”