Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The emergence of alternative Jewish tourism

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13507486.2011.543577

1469-8293

Caryn Aviv,

Diaspora, migration, transnational identity

Abstract This article explores the emergence of ‘alternative Jewish travel’ to the West Bank and within Israel. One programme, aimed at diaspora Jews, reframes religious, cultural, and ethnic Jewish identity to include non-violence and solidarity with Palestinians as part of what it means to be Jewish. Another programme, aimed at Israeli citizens (both Jews and non-Jews), reframes Israeli national identity to include post-Zionist solidarity with Palestinians, but is not necessarily Jewish in any religious or ethnic sense. Alternative Jewish travel programme tours explore complicated questions of justice and nationalism in different ways that reflect their simultaneously local and global positions, who organises them, and how they define Jewishness differently. Keywords: tourismdiasporaglobalisationnationalismZionismidentity Notes 1. See CitationCohen-Hattab, ‘Zionism, Tourism, and The Battle For Palestine.’ 2. See CitationKadushin, et al., Being a Jewish Teenager in America: Trying to Make It, and CitationKelner's ‘The Impact of Israel Experience Programs on Israel's Symbolic Meaning.’ 3. For a critique of birthright Israel/Taglit and March of the Living International, see CitationAviv and Shneer's New Jews. 4. See CitationChazan, ‘The World of the Israel Experience,’ and a more recent, comprehensive insider analysis of birthright in CitationSaxe and Chazan's Ten Days of Birthright Israel: A Journey in Young Adult Identity. 5. See the recent articles ‘Beyond Distancing: Young Adult American Jews and Their Alienation from Israel,’ by CitationSteven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman, published by the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, and available for download at http://www.acbp.net/About/PDF/Beyond%20Distancing.pdf, and CitationSasson ‘Mass Mobilization to Direct Engagement: American Jews’ Changing Relationship to Israel.’ 6. A fascinating line of inquiry, beyond the scope of this project, might investigate and theorize the politics of memory and commemoration by comparing how Jewish and Palestinian alternative tourism refers to and constructs the contested meanings of the Palestinians Nakba (‘catastrophe’ in Arabic – how Palestinians remember the war of 1948) and the Jewish (global and Israeli) commemorations of the Shoah (‘catastrophe’ in Hebrew – how many Jews refer to the Jewish experience of the Second World War). 7. CitationDouglas Pearce discusses the scholarly debates about alternative tourism in ‘Alternative Tourism: Concepts, Classifications, and Questions.’ 8. There are other forms of alternative Jewish tourism, beyond the scope of this chapter, which address important justice issues such as workers’ rights, environmental pollution, poverty and development – within Israel and in other areas such as Nepal. See, for example, the recently established Israeli non-profit Tevel B'Tzedek at tevelbzedek.org. 9. Alternative Jewish tours are open to anyone (Jewish or non-Jewish), but the tours I analyse in detail in this chapter are primarily aimed at North American Jews in leadership positions (Encounter Programs) or Jews with Israeli citizenship (Zochrot). 10. See for example, CitationBrin's ‘Politically Oriented Tourism in Jerusalem,’ CitationZerubavel's Recovered Roots, and CitationBronstein's ‘Restless Park: On the Latrun Villages and Zochrot,’ found at www.zochrot.org.il 11. See CitationShoshan and Bronstein's ‘Reinventing Lifta.’ 12. See, for example, CitationBar-Tal and Salomon's ‘Israeli-Jewish Narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Evolution, Contents, Functions, and Consequences.’ 13. CitationRichard Clarke discusses an interesting form of political tourism in Hebron in ‘Self-Presentation in a Contested City.’ 14. CitationRebecca Stein uses post-colonial theory to analyse the relationships between travel, tourism, and power among Israeli Jews and Palestinians in Itineraries in Conflict. 15. The word ‘intelligibility’ might be construed here as an Orientalist approach to studying tourism. However, that is not the case, as Rebecca Stein's work (and my own) draws directly on post-colonial critiques of identity and nationalism. 16. For example, see a sample itinerary from www.birthrightunplugged.org, which is open to anyone, but particularly to ‘people who come to their work with an anti-racist framing and are well positioned within their community/ies to work for justice upon return.’ The first few trips of Birthright Unplugged were mostly comprised of Jews, and the demographic composition of trip participants has slowly changed over time (personal communication with Hannah Mermelstein, October 2007). 17. Interview with Melissa Weintraub, 18 January 2008. 18. Personal communication with Executive Director, Melissa Weintraub, on 19 June 2009. Some of Encounter's funders include: the Alan B. Slivka Foundation, the Dorot Foundation, Steven Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation, and the Nathan B. Cummings Foundation. 19. Interview with Eitan Bronstein, 4 Oct. 2004, retrieved from www.zochrot.org/testimonies. 20. Although Eitan Bronstein is male, the organisational name strategically and deliberately uses the feminine Hebrew plural for its name, but does not necessarily incorporate any feminist analysis into their critique of Israeli hegemonic narratives about the war of 1948. Also, for a brief biographical description of founder Eitan Bronstein, see the American Friends Service Committee website at http://www.afsc.org/ht/d/ContentDetails/i/3588. 21. There are several conflict resolution, reconciliation and co-existence projects that use narratives, stories and testimonials to convey human suffering in the Israeli-Palestinian context. See, for example, Jerusalem Stories at www.jerusalemstories.org, and the multimedia non-profit Just Vision at www.justvision.org. 22. See CitationNurit Gertz's Myths in Israeli Culture. 23. In 2007, Zochrot's roster of supporters listed philanthropies from across the European Union, Britain, Christian charities such as the Mennonite Central Committee, and international relief organisations such as Oxfam Solidarity. See http://zochrot.org/images/Zoc_AR07eng_final.pdf, page 25.