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Peace, pilgrimage and tourism

PEACE 2000

PEACE FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND

TOURISM FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE 

Statement of Hani Abu Dayyeh to the Ministers of Tourism Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Sustainable Development; Hyeres, France Sept. 21/23, 1993

As Palestinians and Israelis have taken the initial and courageous step toward peace, it is imperative that the concerned nations move further to help consolidate these peace efforts to be able to reach a full, comprehensive, just and durable peace.

 

In this spirit; the Palestinian tourist industry has been in contact with the concerned parties and the various religious leadership in Jerusalem, to declare the year 2000 as a year for international peace.

 

2000 years after the fact, the call for peace would again ring out from the city of the birth of the King of Peace - Bethlehem, from the city of the good tidings - Beit Sahur " The Shepherd's Fields", from Jerusalem, from Nazareth and from the rest of the land that brought forth the message of peace to the four corners of the world.

 

In response to our request, the churches in Jerusalem are taking now the first positive steps to prepare themselves for this event and during the winter of 1994 the first concrete initiatives will come out.

 

Being the center of the three monotheistic world religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and being an international crossroads and historical crossroads, the tourism routes and concepts are now unlimited.

 

THE RELIGIOUS ROUTES

 

  1. The Exodus that links Egypt, Jordan and the Holy Land.

  2. In the footsteps of Christ that link the Holy Land, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

  3. In the footsteps of St. Paul that link the Holy Land, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy.

  4. The flight of the Holy Family to Egypt that links the Holy Land to Egypt along the Via Maris.

  5. The Knights of St. John that connects the Holy Land to Malta.

  6. The blessing of the Moslem Hajj and El-Oumra that links the various Moslem countries from Saudi Arabia to the Holy Land via Jordan.

  7. Darb-El-Haj that links the countries of Northern Africa to Egypt, The Holy Land, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

 

THE HISTORICAL TRADE ROUTES

 

 

1.      The Via Maris that connects Syria, the Holy Land and Egypt

2.      The Kings Highway That connects Syria and Jordan

 

Between the two major historical highways lie several interconnecting highways such as the Spice Route. Historically, it was known that the key to power and wealth was to control the above routes and highways. Hopefully, these historical routes will be controlled again but through the medium of cooperation and in the spirit of peace between the nations of the region so that the dividends of power and wealth through tourism and commerce will again accrue to the peoples of the region.

 

The list of these religious and trade routes can go on and we can be sure that every country represented here has its own unique cultural, historical, religious or commercial connection to the land of Palestine.

 

I would like to throw the challenge to the concerned nations in general and to the countries of the region in the specific and within the context of the proposed establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Tourism Association (EMTA) not to preclude the Palestinians but to join hands in Project Peace 2000. This is not only a peace plan, but it can be a regional as well as a Palestinian tourism development plan par excellence.

 

This plan would necessitate the full cooperation and coordination of the members of EMTA to meet the challenge of the large potential of tourist flow for such a proposed significant event. The positive publicity generated will contribute to further tourism development as well as being a significant forum for peace.

 

The duty for us is that through tourism, we can meet the challenge inherent in the declaration of the Non-Aligned Nations in Algiers in 1973 "to transform the Mediterranean to a lake of peace, of stability and cooperation". This was reconfirmed in the meeting of the Non-Aligned Nations in New Delhi in March 1993 "to transform the Mediterranean into a zone of peace and cooperation in place of confrontation and conflict"

 

At this juncture we should be reminded by the Holy Father's message to the participants in the World Congress on Tourism, held in Vancouver, Canada October 23 - 27, 1988. 

       

 Tourism is born of peace and leads to peace. It responds to a desire to meet and to know other peoples and other countries. It presupposes conditions of economic, political and ideological freedom, which such human encounters with others possible and meaningful. It can and should lead to a better understanding and respect for ways of life different from our own. Tourism has a powerful potential for educational and cultural exchanges that broadens the horizon of human spirit to embrace the unity of the whole human family. By facilitating more authentic social contact between individuals, tourism can help overcome many prejudices and foster bonds of friendship and fraternity. In this way tourism strengthens unity and solidarity between individuals and between nations and so builds peace.        

 

We are now at the historical crossroads and we should ask for the ancient path of peace and ask our friends and concerned nations to assist us in the good way and we should courageously walk in it to find peace and development for our people.

 

In the end, I would like to conclude in our traditional Arabic manner.

 

AL SALA'AM ALAIKUM WA RAHAMAT ALLAH WA BARAKATUHU

 

PEACE AND GOD'S MERCY AND HIS BLESSINGS BE UPON YOU

 

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