Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Found: Apartheid in "Palestine"

Apartheid, that is, in an academic article about "Palestine".

About tourism in "Palestine".

This one:-

Factors Impact on Religious Tourism Market: The Case of the Palestinian Territories by Jafar Subhi Hardan Suleiman, Badaruddin Mohamed

It appeared in the International Journal of Business and Management and this is its abstract:-
Palestine, the home of the world’s three major religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Hence, is considered as the first center of tourism due to the coming of these three major world faiths flocking to Palestine to engage in sacred pilgrimages. Some of these sites which are frequently visited are Jerusalem, Nazareth, Jericho, Bethlehem and Hebron.

Palestine was for many centuries a destination of pilgrims and visitors of Muslims and Christians from all over the world. Unfortunately, Palestine after the 1948 War fell under the Israeli Occupation and was exposed to many catastrophes up until this time; all this led to the instability and the decrease in the number of tourists to Palestine; which had become a dangerous area which reduced the flow of tourism in general. At the same time, came the peace negotiations between the PLO (Palestinian liberation organization) and Israel in Oslo which was signed in Washington in 1993. In this period there was an economic recovery and tourism in the Palestinian Territories, especially in the West Bank and Gaza Strip started to once again flourish.

The Primary purpose of this paper is to show the significance of the religious tourism in Palestine and influence of conflict on Palestinian tourism; also indicated which factors impacts on Palestinian tourism as well. This paper concludes that Palestine is unique, due to its history, heritage, culture, geographic location, environment and religions. This study suggests to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Palestine to create new forms to protect the Islamic and Christian places in Palestine as well as to encourage more tourists to visit. Peace is considered as a vital strategy for enhancing the Palestinian tourism industry.

Is there an ombudsman for complaints on material appearing in academic articles?

First, "Palestine" as a country never existed. It was a Mandate territory and it was decided by a body with international law standing to become the reconstituted Jewish national home. And the Arabs consistently rejected all attempts at compromise, including yielding of territory in partition schemes, not to mention their political terror campaign beginning in 1920. And after 1948, Jordan occupied "Palestine".

If Israel, for these academics, is still "Palestine", and after all, Jordan was formerly TransJordan and formerly, "Palestine", as well, what is being presented, at least subliminally, is the eradication of Israel.

Secondly, since we know that the PA is intent upon reaching out to international bodies in an effort to supplant Jewish historical and religious sites with an Islamic identity (see the "follow-up" section here), this eradication is already at work. And if what concerns the authors are the Islamic and Christian places, well, that is apartheid to me.

Cultural apartheid.
Historical apartheid.
Religious apartheid.

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