[Al Arabiya Latest] For your next getaway, you might consider this: four nights and five days in sunny "Palestine: land of miracles."Yeah, I might. For, like,...maybe eight fuckin seconds.
It's a tough sell for a place that has become synonymous with Middle East violence, for a country not yet a country which does not even control all of its territory, let alone its major tourist attractions.
Yeah, tough sell. Maybe they could have Woody Allen come over and do some commercials for them or...sumthin.
And yet the figures are up for the third year running. Palestinian tourism ministry records show that some 2.6 million tourists visited the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2009.
Of those, more than 1.7 million were foreigners, just 1.2 percent fewer than in 2008 — a veritable miracle in itself at a time when the global economic slump has sent tourism plunging 10 percent across the rest of the region.
The fact that the Palestinian territories are part of the Holy Land accounts for a large part of the success.
Bethlehem, home to the Church of the Nativity built on what tradition holds to be the birthplace of Jesus, is the prime attraction. More than 80 percent of all tourists who come to the Palestinian territories visit Bethlehem.
"We do not have a sea or sport centers, we don't have oil or fashion or nightclubs. Visitors must come as pilgrims," said Bethlehem mayor Victor Batarseh.
Being a one-attraction destination has its drawbacks, however, and those who come do not spend either much time or money.
"Every day they come and visit our city, but just for 20 minutes," said Adnan Subah, who sells olive wood carvings and pottery to tourists. "They go from the bus into the church and then back on the bus," he said, gesturing forlornly at his empty shop despite its prime location near the church on Manger Square.
Lousy bastids...
More than just holy sites
Still, despite its "Palestine: land of miracles" slogan, the Palestinian tourism ministry says it has more to offer than just holy sites.
"Palestine: Come for the miracles, Stay for the gunfights"
Brochures tout the wonders of the Turkish baths of Nablus, the cosmopolitan coffee-shops of Ramallah and the archaeological attractions of ancient Jericho.
But the glossy pamphlets often also gloss over the complex reality of a highly volatile region.
Some call it dangerous. We call it "complex"...
The ministry's efforts are largely devoted to the myriad attractions of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state.
But all of Jerusalem is controlled by Israel, which captured the eastern part of the Holy City in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.
The Palestinian ministry leaflets also make no mention of Israeli army roadblocks or the West Bank separation barrier that includes an eight-meter- (26-foot-) high concrete wall that cuts off Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
Brochures even advise travelers to take in the sites of the Gaza Strip, renowned for its "relaxed seaside atmosphere."
Hey, Mahmoud, how old are these glossy phamphlets?
Oooooh, very old...
Today, tourists are not even allowed in to the isolated, war-ravaged enclave ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, which in 2007 violently ousted secular forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Since then, Israel and Egypt have imposed a strict blockade, allowing only basic humanitarian goods into the coastal territory.