Israel Matzav

Tourism, Yesha style

Back in the late 1970's, my parents wanted something to do while they were visiting me in yeshiva. Since they had 'already seen everything,' they signed us up for a tour of Jewish towns in Samaria. We went to see Ofra and Shilo - which were then two new 'settlements.' Our guide was Shilo's Mayor who had been my counselor in camp in 1966....

Today, the Judea and Samaria Council is taking much more sophisticated tourists than my parents and me on tours of Samaria (and Judea). And those tours are having a real effect.

The tours are neatly tailored to suit the character of each group. Most of them begin at Bruchin, where guests are told that while the settlement was established in the wake of a government decision and had received most of the required permits, it was still termed an (illegal) "outpost" by the official report authored by Talia Sasson. Visitors continue to a tasting at the Tura Winery in Rechalim, where they receive a bottle as a gift, intended to show them the high quality of life on the other side of the Green Line. From there they go to the Giv'ot Olam (Hills of Eternity) organic farm of Avri Ran.

In the past, Ran's farm was synonymous with violence against Palestinians and hostility toward journalists. These days, visitors are invited to sit with Ran's children, drink homemade yogurt and eat omelets made from organic eggs and bread baked on site, while listening to tales of local agriculture and settlement. Dagan has managed to attract many government ministers, as well as media personality Avri Gilad, poet/columnist Menachem Benn and the former head of the Israel Bar Association, Shlomo Cohen.

Following his visit, Benn moved to the Nofim settlement, where he pays NIS 2,800 a month to rent a seven-room house. Gilad, a radio presenter for 25 years, suddenly discovered the West Bank. The day after his visit, he said on Army Radio: "I went on a tour that revolutionized my awareness of settlements in Samaria. I visited places I was raised to detest. I returned in a state of confusion: confused about the injustice done to citizens who were called on by the state to settle, given building permits and then frozen out. I was surprised to meet people with whom I had a lot to talk about, with great warmth and intimacy. Most of the discussion [about settlers] on the left is hatred. What really surprised me was the proximity - 23 minutes and you are deep into the area."

Israel's media and entertainment types are notoriously hostile to the revenants. If changing their mind is this simple, I wish it had been done sooner. It cannot happen fast enough.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:27 PM