“People hear things about Palestine — that it is a war zone, it’s dangerous. People are expecting chaos. But then there are some who come and they are surprised. They just see people are living their lives.”
Tamer Halaseh, a 42-year-old Palestinian from Jerusalem and my tour guide, has seen a steady upturn of interest in the West Bank among Western tourists.
“People are now much more interested in the conflict,” he said, sipping coffee in the lobby of Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel. It’s located less than 100 metres from Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, but on the other side of the border wall, offering what he calls “the worst view in the world”.
“Then people hear things like: ‘Why do you want to go to the West Bank? It’s dangerous’. But when they get here they are surprised that it is not what they see in the media.
“They see people sitting in cafés and bars in Ramallah. They see people just getting on with their lives. The image [Westerners] have of us is that we are suffering, we live in a conflict. It is not like this.”
Our trip, run by Abraham Tours, took place in a week of renewed violence on the West Bank.
On December 9, Shira Ish-Ran, who was seven months pregnant, was among those hurt in a drive-by shooting while waiting for a bus outside the settlement of Ofra. Her baby son was delivered prematurely in hospital, but tragically did not survive.
Days later, two Israeli soldiers were killed in another shooting just a few miles down the road at Givat Asaf.
Four Palestinians died in subsequent IDF operations related to these shootings and an earlier one in October. More than 100 Palestinians were arrested.
But, save for a couple of Magen David Adom vans, there was not a hint of tension in the air in the streets of Ramallah, nor on the highways connecting it with Bethlehem and Jericho.
The border wall and the many watchtowers do have the power to shock even those well-versed in the politics of the conflict. But in the de facto Palestinian capital, Ramallah, the markets still bristle with life while the streets are clogged with midday traffic, as I suspect they are every day of the year.
The violence has simply been incorporated into daily life. As far as Mr Halaseh sees it, Palestinians have learned to compartmentalise it.
Our group — made up of two other Brits, an American, two Germans, three Aussies, a Dutch woman and a Czech — were greeted warmly, if loudly, by all.
The guide, who carries himself with the authority of a man much larger than his five-foot-five inch frame, shook hands with every trader, and stopped traffic dead with a wave of the hand.
He is held in the affections of locals as an anti-violence campaigner and political adviser. His strong English-language skills help to bring tourist dollars to the area, and he is also the son of a former leader of the Palestinian Communist Party during its 1970s heyday, .
Outside of the cities, the desert hills are stunning but incredibly sparse — and a world away from the other side of the Green Line.
“They’re fighting over this,” was the reaction of one of our number as we zoomed across the countryside.
The West Bank is not on the UK Foreign Office’s list of territories to avoid, but very few visitors come from Britain.
Israelis are banned from visiting the Palestinian territories but foreigners — including Jews — are not prevented from doing so. And former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur football manager André Villas-Boas was among those on a recent tour.
I was told diaspora Jews do join trips like these and are doing so in growing numbers, albeit from a low base. In our group there was only one other Jewish member: Ellen Tintner, a 61-year-old retired lab scientist from Miami.
“You hear what’s on the news, and it tells you that things are bad in the West Bank. People told me not to go,” she said. “You expect refugee camps, and terrible poverty — but it’s not like that.
“It was beautiful. I would absolutely recommend it. And also — it’s just important to go there and meet Palestinians. Otherwise, how are things going to change? It’s the only way you’re going to make peace and find a solution.”
According to Mr Halaseh, many of the Jewish visitors are those visiting Israel on Birthright tours: “They were complaining that there is one side and now they need to see the other side.
“People are expecting me to just to give them Palestinian propaganda. They are surprised I am balanced.
“We want more to come, explore the country, enjoy it, meet the people, and understand that the political situation, the conflict, is not in our heads and in our thinking 24/7. We are not victims.”
