The NET Forum

 

The social and ethical impacts of tourism

 

Adapted from a paper by The Revd. Dr. Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Virginia Water, Surrey, England:

The Ethical Challenges of Managing Pilgrimages to the Holy Land
MCB Global Internet Conference on Ethics in Tourism

1. Introduction

 

Israel and the Occupied Territories comprise a unique location, born out of the ravages of war and the Holocaust, it's 20,000 square miles of territory claimed by two peoples, the Jews and Palestinians, its holy sites shared uneasily by three religions, Jewish, Moslem and Christian, often in close proximity as at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or the Tomb of the Patriarchs at Hebron. According to Barbara Tuchman, "more blood has been shed for Palestine than for any other spot on earth" (1957:viii). To Protestant England it was as Lord Curzon eulogised, "the holiest space of ground on the face of the globe," not only the land of the Scriptures and of the Crusades, but also the land "to which all our faces are turned when we are finally laid in our graves in the churchyard" (Tuchman, 1957:viii). It is the geographical junction between East and West, the bridgehead between three continents, and throughout history the focal point in the military strategies of succeeding empires. Few countries attract so much media coverage, or arouse such intense religious feeling and political controversy.

The pilgrimage and tourist industry, which brings just under two million people from around the world to the Holy Land every year, is both a microcosm and perpetuator of these tensions and divisions. In 1994 there were 300,800 visitors from Britain of whom approximately 20% were pilgrims. In the period January-June 1996 there were 109,638 visitors from the UK (Israel Government Tourist Office, 1995, 1996). Sadly, the indigenous Church is largely ignored by the many thousands of Christian pilgrimage groups whose itineraries involve visiting a predictable succession of archaeological sites and Christian shrines, which vary only according to the denomination of the group and number of days present in the land. That so many Western Christians visit the Holy Land and yet have little or no contact with the indigenous Christian community, is a serious ethical issue with important theological implications not only for the unity and vitality of the church, but also for its very survival in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

2. The Detrimental Impact of Religious Tourism to Israel and Palestine
 

Many Western pilgrims appear not only ignorant of recent Middle East history but surprised to find an Arab Christian presence at all. Even where Christian visitors are aware of this fact, their behaviour obliterates it. Worshipping with their own priest or minister in a closed chapel, shrine or even hotel, their pilgrimage would be no different if the oldest Christian communities in the world had been obliterated long ago (Macpherson, 1993).

The ethical issues involved in promoting pilgrimages to the Holy Land and their impact on the Palestinian Christian community are therefore considerable (Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland (CCBI) 1992: 2-3). Typical Western perceptions of Orientals still appear to be based on 19th Century colonial stereotypes, formed at a time when Europe controlled 85% of the world (Eber, 1993:2-3). These are further reinforced and exploited by contemporary Zionist propaganda (Said, 1978:166). The Palestinians, whether Moslem or Christian are often branded as terrorists because of their support for violent as well as non-violent opposition to continued Israeli settlement of the Occupied Territories.

Western Christians have for a variety of reasons tended to show greater sympathy for the state of Israel than for the condition of the Palestinian people. At the same time, during the cold war and subsequently, American and British foreign policy have consistently viewed Israel as an important ally in the Middle East. With the demise of Soviet Communism, the new enemy for both right wing religious Fundamentalists and politicians alike is militant Islam. These perceptions inevitably exacerbate the vulnerability of Palestinian Christians, since they are a minority among Moslem Arabs as well as among the Jews within a Zionist state. For Moslem Fundamentalists who equate "Arabism" with Islam, Palestinian Christians are an anomaly, guilty by association with European imperialism dating back to the Crusades (Armstrong, 1988).

Contemporary pilgrimage research reveals that in this Century there has been a gradual decline in the level of contact between pilgrim parties and Palestinian Christians (Ekin, 1990:25). This has in part been due to tighter control of the pilgrimage industry by the Israeli Government Ministry of Tourism, especially since 1967, when the main sites of biblical significance were appropriated by Israel from Jordan, along with the registration of Palestinian guides, hotels and travel agencies (Bowman, 1992a:121-134).

This problem is compounded by semantics and propaganda. Is the "Holy Land" Palestine or Israel, and if Israel, which Israel? Neutrality is a rare luxury, and difficult to sustain, linguistically or ethically, given the Palestinian's demand for justice and Israel's need for security, more so since language is both a subtle indicator of presuppositions and a powerful tool of propaganda.

3. Types of Protestant Pilgrimage
Within the very broad diversity of Christian tradition, three particular types of Protestant pilgrimage may be discerned (figure 1).

 

Figure 1. Types of Protestant Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

Evangelicals go essentially to visit the sites of biblical significance on what are primarily educational tours. These in themselves will only perpetuate and reinforce a pietistic faith rooted in the 1st Century, without addressing either the present Middle East conflict or necessarily engaging in theological praxis. The presence of an ancient and Oriental Christianity is either ignored, misunderstood or even criticised for desecrating the archaeological sites with what are often regarded as pagan shrines.

Fundamentalist pilgrims visit the Holy Land for similar reasons but with the added eschatological dimension, believing themselves to be witnessing and indeed participating in the purposes of God, at work within Israel in these 'Last Days'. They believe they have a divine mandate to support the state of Israel.

The third, most recent and smallest category of pilgrimage to emerge is associated with the term 'Living Stones'. These pilgrimages in contradistinction seek to counter the ignorance of many Evangelicals and the harm caused by Fundamentalists, by engaging in acts of solidarity with the Palestinian church. These pilgrimages include opportunities to meet, worship with, listen to and learn from the spirituality and experience of the indigenous Christians.

4. Categories of Holy Land Tour Operator

Four categories of Pilgrimage Tour Operator emerge: First, a small number of secular companies offer what are really religious tourist package holidays; second, the majority of companies offer biblical-educational tours; third, a small but influential group of Zionist or Israeli owned companies concentrate on the Jewish dimension to the Christian faith; and fourth, only a handful of Operators actively encourage contact with the Palestinian church. In terms of comparative influence, if the first group are benign, and the second blind, the third appear bigoted, and only the fourth offer any genuine dialogue or intercourse between pilgrims and Palestinian Christians (Figure 2). Based on a series of interviews, the majority of Operators appear ignorant of the ethical issues implicit in their business; fail to recognise how they are manipulated by the Israeli authorities; or see how detrimental their trade is to the indigenous Christian community. Based on this evidence it is not surprising that so few pilgrimage groups ever meet with Palestinians.

 

Figure 2. Categories of Holy Land Tour Operators

 

5. Consequences for the Indigenous Palestinians

The consequences of the ignorance or indifference of British Christians and Tour Operators results in significant detrimental effects felt by Palestinians living in the Holy Land and especially the Christian minority.

The Deleterious Consequences Experienced by Palestinians

Dispossession of their land by quasi-judicial confiscation.

Pervasive racial discrimination inherent in an apartheid system denying basic human rights.

Invisibility, hidden from the touristic gaze of Western pilgrims.

Persistent misrepresentation through the Israeli exploitation of the media and propaganda.

Emigration and depletion of the Palestinian Christian community in Israel and the West Bank.

These cumulative consequences have led to a seriously diminished Christian presence that now threatens their very survival in the Holy Land.

6. Deficiencies Inherent in Most Protestant Pilgrimages
The deficiencies inherent in the majority of Protestant pilgrimages undertaken to the Holy Land appear essentially threefold.

Major Deficiencies Inherent in the Majority of Western Pilgrimages

A preoccupation with a pietistic religious experience based upon visits to locations of Biblical significance which perpetuates the separation of Christian faith from practice.

The absence of any contact with the indigenous Christian church reinforces the ignorance of, and stereotyping by, each community of the other.

The failure of pilgrims to question or challenge the causes of the deep suffering and injustice Palestinians continue to face in the very land where Jesus Christ came, contradicting his work of bringing peace and reconciliation to the world.

For pilgrimage groups and organisers, to continue to ignore the presence of a local Christian community, is a perversion of what pilgrimage could and should be about. The lack of contact between Christians perpetuates ignorance and complacency for pilgrims and injustice and despair for Palestinians. It is ultimately to treat the Holy Land as nothing more than an entertaining religious theme park, and will only hasten the day when Palestinian Christians become extinct in the Holy Land, their heritage forgotten and their churches turned into museums.

The litmus test for distinguishing between different kinds of pilgrimages and religious tourism is, it is suggested, the attitude of the organisers and participants toward the presence of an indigenous Christian Church. Are they visible or invisible? Are they respected or repudiated? Visited or ignored?

Local Christians are caught in a degree of museumization. They are aware of tourists who come in great volume from the West to savour holy places but who are, for the most part, blithely disinterested in the people who indwell them. The pain of the indifference is not eased insofar as the same tourism is subtly manipulated to make the case for the entire legitimacy of the statehood that regulates it. (Cragg, 1992:28)

Probably as many as 95% of Christian pilgrimage groups visiting the Holy Land have a detrimental affect on the indigenous Christian community.

7. The Ethical Issues Encountered in Promoting Responsible Tourism to the Holy Land

The ethical issues and decisions encountered in promoting responsible tourism to the Holy Land are considerable and complex. They may, however, be broken down into two categories: those issues upon which Tour Operators and pilgrimage group leaders have little or no control due to the policies of the Israeli government; and those decisions over which they have some influence.

Ethical Issues Encountered on Pilgrimages Determined by Israeli Government Policy

Intensive questioning at British and Israeli airports by Israeli security personnel often occurs well beyond that required for flight security. Questions asked relating to travel plans and contact with Palestinians are probably designed to intimidate and gather intelligence. How far should tour groups comply or refuse to answer questions beyond those that relate to baggage, flight and airport security?

Restricted access by pilgrims to locations in the Occupied Territories, on the spurious grounds of security measures, e.g. travel to places like Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus and Gaza may be curtailed under locally imposed 'closed military orders'. Should Tour groups protest at these restrictions or seek to evade them by choosing alternative routes?

Tourist facilities at Banias in the Golan and Qumran on the Dead Sea are built on confiscated land within the Occupied Territories of former Syria and Jordan. Should pilgrimage groups make use of these facilities and become complicit by association?

Access to Christian Guides is severely restricted. Only a handful of Palestinian Guides have been trained and licensed since 1967 by the state of Israel. This means that invariably Christian pilgrimage groups will be led by an Israeli Guide. Should pilgrimage groups employ non-licensed Palestinian guides?

Restrictions imposed on the renovation or extension of Palestinian hotels in locations such as East Jerusalem means that the number of beds within the Arab sector has remained static since 1967 while Israeli West Jerusalem has benefited from Government subsidies and massive expansion. Should Tour Operators continue to use poorer quality Palestinian hotels or the better Israeli ones?

Guide books, maps and promotional literature provided by the Israeli Government Ministry of Tourism renders invisible the presence of an indigenous Christian community. Should Tour Operators use this free literature?

To a large degree acceptance of these restrictions and the orchestrated Israeli agenda for Holy Land pilgrimages is difficult to resist without causing inconvenience or anxiety to tour participants; endangering the future licensing and livelihood of Palestinian agents, guides or coach drivers; or the profitability of Tour Operators. For example, following the shooting of two British tourists near Eilat in southern Israel in August 1997, allegedly by an Arab, in what the British Foreign Office described as "a straight forward criminal act", the Israeli Embassy in London exploited the tension by claiming in advice to foreign tourists,

Entry to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is being very tightly controlled, and visitors are very strongly discouraged from trying to go there. Elsewhere normal rules apply. (Owen, 1997:2)

Subsequently it transpired that the attack was the work of an Israeli who had been a member of an undercover military team involved in the assassination of Palestinian political activists in Gaza.

There are, however, some ethical choices and decisions which Tour Operators and individual tour group leaders have considerable freedom to make, whether intentionally or by default.

Summary of Ethical Decisions Faced by Holy Land Tour Operators and Group Leaders:

Choice of airline carrier between BA and El Al, the State controlled and funded Israeli airline on grounds of commercial interest or on principle.

Wording of own promotional literature and maps. To include reference to Israel and the Occupied Territories or use the euphemism 'Holy Lands'.

To provide maps that distinguish or hide the Green Line.

Whether or not to accept Israeli Government Ministry of Tourism subsidies and promotional literature in advertising tours to Israel; e.g. State sponsored free glossy brochures which Operators may overprint with their own details come stamped with the controversial 'Jerusalem 3000' logo.

Choice of Israeli tour agents, guides, coach company and hotels. To choose Jewish or Palestinian services on grounds of commercial interest or on principle.

Content of itineraries promoted. To offer what is popular and avoids controversy or encourage tour group leaders to address the contemporary issues on their pilgrimages.

To encourage contact with the indigenous Christian communities or to leave it to individual tour group leaders to decide.

Level of payment made for local services and recommended amount for backsheesh. On the basis of market forces or what is fair. N.B. Palestinians tend to be paid much less than Israelis fulfilling the same role.

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8. Responsible Pilgrimages: Some Proposals
In addressing these complex and controversial ethical issues associated with managing and promoting pilgrimages and religious tourism to Israel and the Occupied Territories, what constitutes responsible tourism? In the light of this research, the following nine distinctive characteristics are offered as a basis for further discussion and investigation.

Summary of Distinctive Characteristics of Responsible Pilgrimages to the Holy Land

Preparation before visit with reading material on the historical and political background to the Arab-Israeli conflict, preferably including texts by indigenous Christian leaders.

Meetings with indigenous Christians and representatives during pilgrimage.

Visits to Christian projects within itinerary such as schools, hospitals and other agencies.

Worship on Sundays with local Christians avoiding travel where possible.

Employment of indigenous Christian Guides and Palestinian services whenever available.

Stay at Christian hospices and hostels or Palestinian hotels.

Meet with Jewish and Moslem representatives working for peace through justice and reconciliation.

Seek to develop long term partnership relationships with indigenous Christian communities and serving mission agencies.

Become advocates for the indigenous Palestinian Church on return from pilgrimage.

The essential task for those who aspire to promoting responsible tourism and religious pilgrimages to Israel and the Occupied Territories is to face the twofold challenge of discovering and then implementing the ways and means by which the tourism industry can bring benefit to the Palestinian economy and Christian communities. They need contact and work while we need local guides, hotels, and transport services. If we are to avoid the creation of a Christian Disney World managed by expatriates but devoid of indigenous Christians, it is imperative that these communities be given the opportunity to become self-sustaining, ensuring not merely their survival into the next millennium but also their growth and prosperity. Solidarity and partnership through responsible tourism is one answer.

For the majority of Christian pilgrims who travel to the Holy Land to continue to ignore the indigenous Church in such a troubled situation, where they are ignored and maligned, is not only deeply offensive to them, it is surely a contradiction of our faith, and ultimately immoral before God. It is nothing less than to perpetuate the evil of the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan who walked by on the other side. He should have known better.

About the Author
The Revd. Dr. Stephen Sizer is Vicar of Virginia Water, Surrey, England. He has been managing pilgrimages to the Holy Land for about ten years. He completed a Masters degree in 1994 and a Doctorate in 1997 which both involved research into the impact of pilgrimages upon the indigenous Christian community of Israel and the Occupied Territories. He is also a director and trustee of Highway Journeys, a Christian travel agency owned by a charitable trust committed to promoting responsible tourism.

Key Questions for Discussion

1. What parallels are there, if any, with ethical issues encountered in tourism to other countries experiencing political tension?

2. How can the cause of responsible tourism to the Holy Land be enhanced from the experience of those engaged in tourism to other countries?

3. What practical steps should be taken to enhance the Palestinian tourist economy?

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