Palestinians Pitching Tourism: Come for the Sun, Stay Because you Were Forcefully Converted....

I've always wanted to, and will someday, visit Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity, etc. But not in this climate, I value my life a little too much......

Rockets from the Gaza Strip, drive-by shootings in the West Bank and checkpoints on the edge of Bethlehem won't stop Khouloud Daibes from promoting the Palestinian territories as a great place for your next vacation.

"Our strategy is to tell the truth: You are not going to Jamaica," (No shit -ed.) says the Palestinian Authority's tourism minister. "It's more of a mission. You can have a unique experience while supporting the economy and the political process."

While sunbathing in the West Bank may sound like something out of P.J. O'Rourke's 1989 book Holidays in Hell, Daibes is trying to lure travelers. A year into the job, she's had some successes. Christmas tourists to Bethlehem tripled to 60,000 and she's won praise from Israel.

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ZIP

Comments

[Elric66]

"You can have a unique experience while supporting the economy and the political process."

Reason enough not to go.