Tours

If you want to learn a bit more about Israel/Palestine

Of course, the best thing you can do is… go there yourself!!

Travel in Israel/Palestine is safe, it’s interesting and it’s a powerful experience. It also doesn’t cost a lot. I went on a two week tour in 2011 and it cost me about $4,000 including the airfare. Check out the Lonely Planet and you’ll see it’s possible to go on your own.

(If you do go on your own, make sure your tour includes contacts with both Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians WANT contact with people from the outside. They want contact with foreigners so show them what they are living with.)

Many Israeli tour companies (and unfortunately, many “Christian pilgrimage type’ tours), only visit Israeli sites and usually have Israeli guides. Travellers are often warned that travel in East Jerusalem or in the West Bank is ‘dangerous’. That is not what the Lonely Planet says, nor was it my experience. Ask questions, nose around. If you want some suggestions for tours that view things from the Palestinian perspective, let me know. I can make some suggestions.

If you are already there for other reasons, here are three companies which will organize one or two days tours for you from Jerusalem or Bethlehem.