The
Ethical Challenges of Managing Pilgrimages to the Holy Land
MCB
Global Internet Conference on Ethics in Tourism
1. Introduction
Israel and the Occupied Territories
comprise a unique location, born out of the ravages of war and the Holocaust,
it's 20,000 square miles of territory claimed by two peoples, the Jews and Palestinians,
its holy sites shared uneasily by three religions, Jewish, Moslem and Christian,
often in close proximity as at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or the Tomb of
the Patriarchs at Hebron. According to Barbara Tuchman, "more blood
has been shed for Palestine than for any other spot on earth" (1957:viii).
To Protestant England it was as Lord Curzon eulogised, "the holiest
space of ground on the face of the globe," not only the land of the
Scriptures and of the Crusades, but also the land "to which all our
faces are turned when we are finally laid in our graves in the churchyard"
(Tuchman, 1957:viii). It is the geographical junction between East and West,
the bridgehead between three continents, and throughout history the focal point
in the military strategies of succeeding empires. Few countries attract so much
media coverage, or arouse such intense religious feeling and political controversy.
The pilgrimage and tourist industry, which
brings just under two million people from around the world to the Holy Land
every year, is both a microcosm and perpetuator of these tensions and divisions.
In 1994 there were 300,800 visitors from Britain of whom approximately 20% were
pilgrims. In the period January-June 1996 there were 109,638 visitors from the
UK (Israel Government Tourist Office, 1995, 1996).
Sadly, the indigenous Church is largely ignored by the many thousands of Christian
pilgrimage groups whose itineraries involve visiting a predictable succession
of archaeological sites and Christian shrines, which vary only according to
the denomination of the group and number of days present in the land. That so
many Western Christians visit the Holy Land and yet have little or no contact
with the indigenous Christian community, is a serious ethical issue with important
theological implications not only for the unity and vitality of the church,
but also for its very survival in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
2. The Detrimental Impact of
Religious Tourism to Israel and Palestine
Many Western pilgrims appear not only
ignorant of recent Middle East history but surprised to find an Arab Christian
presence at all. Even where Christian visitors are aware of this fact, their
behaviour obliterates it. Worshipping with their own priest or minister in a
closed chapel, shrine or even hotel, their pilgrimage would be no different
if the oldest Christian communities in the world had been obliterated long ago
(Macpherson, 1993).
The ethical issues involved in promoting
pilgrimages to the Holy Land and their impact on the Palestinian Christian community
are therefore considerable (Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland (CCBI)
1992: 2-3). Typical Western perceptions of Orientals still appear to be based
on 19th Century colonial stereotypes, formed at a time when Europe controlled
85% of the world (Eber, 1993:2-3). These
are further reinforced and exploited by contemporary Zionist propaganda (Said,
1978:166). The Palestinians, whether Moslem or Christian are often branded
as terrorists because of their support for violent as well as non-violent opposition
to continued Israeli settlement of the Occupied Territories.
Western Christians have for a variety
of reasons tended to show greater sympathy for the state of Israel than for
the condition of the Palestinian people. At the same time, during the cold war
and subsequently, American and British foreign policy have consistently viewed
Israel as an important ally in the Middle East. With the demise of Soviet Communism,
the new enemy for both right wing religious Fundamentalists and politicians
alike is militant Islam. These perceptions inevitably exacerbate the vulnerability
of Palestinian Christians, since they are a minority among Moslem Arabs as well
as among the Jews within a Zionist state. For Moslem Fundamentalists who equate
"Arabism" with Islam, Palestinian Christians are an anomaly, guilty
by association with European imperialism dating back to the Crusades (Armstrong,
1988).
Contemporary pilgrimage research reveals
that in this Century there has been a gradual decline in the level of contact
between pilgrim parties and Palestinian Christians (Ekin, 1990:25).
This has in part been due to tighter control of the pilgrimage industry by the
Israeli Government Ministry of Tourism, especially since 1967, when the main
sites of biblical significance were appropriated by Israel from Jordan, along
with the registration of Palestinian guides, hotels and travel agencies (Bowman,
1992a:121-134).
This problem is compounded by semantics
and propaganda. Is the "Holy Land" Palestine or Israel, and if Israel,
which Israel? Neutrality is a rare luxury, and difficult to sustain, linguistically
or ethically, given the Palestinian's demand for justice and Israel's need for
security, more so since language is both a subtle indicator of presuppositions
and a powerful tool of propaganda.
3. Types of Protestant Pilgrimage
Within the very broad diversity of Christian
tradition, three particular types of Protestant pilgrimage may be discerned
(figure 1).
Types of Pilgrimage | Emphasis of the Tour | Effect on Indigenous Church |
Evangelical | Biblical Sites of the Past | Indifference and ignorance |
Fundamentalist | Eschatological Signs of the Future | Antipathy and antagonism |
Living Stones | Human Significance in the Present | Empathy and solidarity |
Figure 1. Types of Protestant Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Evangelicals go essentially to visit the
sites of biblical significance on what are primarily educational tours. These
in themselves will only perpetuate and reinforce a pietistic faith rooted in
the 1st Century, without addressing either the present Middle East conflict
or necessarily engaging in theological praxis. The presence of an ancient and
Oriental Christianity is either ignored, misunderstood or even criticised for
desecrating the archaeological sites with what are often regarded as pagan shrines.
Fundamentalist pilgrims visit the Holy
Land for similar reasons but with the added eschatological dimension, believing
themselves to be witnessing and indeed participating in the purposes of God,
at work within Israel in these 'Last Days'. They believe they have a divine
mandate to support the state of Israel.
The third, most recent and smallest category
of pilgrimage to emerge is associated with the term 'Living Stones'. These pilgrimages
in contradistinction seek to counter the ignorance of many Evangelicals and
the harm caused by Fundamentalists, by engaging in acts of solidarity with the
Palestinian church. These pilgrimages include opportunities to meet, worship
with, listen to and learn from the spirituality and experience of the indigenous
Christians.
4. Categories of Holy Land Tour
Operator
Four categories of Pilgrimage Tour Operator
emerge: First, a small number of secular companies offer what are really religious
tourist package holidays; second, the majority of companies offer biblical-educational
tours; third, a small but influential group of Zionist or Israeli owned companies
concentrate on the Jewish dimension to the Christian faith; and fourth, only
a handful of Operators actively encourage contact with the Palestinian church.
In terms of comparative influence, if the first group are benign, and the second
blind, the third appear bigoted, and only the fourth offer any genuine dialogue
or intercourse between pilgrims and Palestinian Christians (Figure 2).
Based on a series of interviews, the majority of Operators appear ignorant of
the ethical issues implicit in their business; fail to recognise how they are
manipulated by the Israeli authorities; or see how detrimental their trade is
to the indigenous Christian community. Based on this evidence it is not surprising
that so few pilgrimage groups ever meet with Palestinians.
Types of Tour Operator | Nature of Tour Offered | Effect on Indigenous Christians |
Secular | Specialist Package Holiday | Irrelevant |
Christian | Biblical Archaeology & Sites Experience | Ignored |
Israeli or Zionist | Bible from Jewish Perspective PerspectivePerspectiveDimension | Antagonistic |
Living Stones | Encountering the People PeopleEncouraging Contact | Encouragement |
Figure 2. Categories
of Holy Land Tour Operators
5. Consequences for the
Indigenous Palestinians
The consequences of the ignorance or indifference
of British Christians and Tour Operators results in significant detrimental
effects felt by Palestinians living in the Holy Land and especially the Christian
minority (Figure 3).
The Deleterious Consequences Experienced by Palestinians
Figure 3. Deleterious Consequences of Traditional Pilgrimages for Palestinians
These cumulative consequences have led to a seriously diminished Christian presence that now threatens their very survival in the Holy Land.
6. Deficiencies Inherent in Most Protestant Pilgrimages
The deficiencies inherent in the majority
of Protestant pilgrimages undertaken to the Holy Land appear essentially threefold
(Figure 4).
Major Deficiencies Inherent in the Majority of Western Pilgrimages
Figure 4. Three Essential Deficiencies of the Majority of Protestant Pilgrimages
Local Christians are caught in a
degree of museumization. They are aware of tourists who come in great volume
from the West to savour holy places but who are, for the most part, blithely
disinterested in the people who indwell them. The pain of the indifference is
not eased insofar as the same tourism is subtly manipulated to make the case
for the entire legitimacy of the statehood that regulates it. (Cragg, 1992:28)
Probably as many as 95% of Christian pilgrimage groups visiting
the Holy Land have a detrimental affect on the indigenous Christian community
(figure 5).
Figure 5. The Cumulative Effect of Traditional Pilgrimages
7. The Ethical Issues Encountered in Promoting Responsible Tourism to the Holy Land
The ethical issues and decisions encountered in promoting responsible tourism to the Holy Land are considerable and complex. They may, however, be broken down into two categories: those issues upon which Tour Operators and pilgrimage group leaders have little or no control due to the policies of the Israeli government (Figure 6); and those decisions over which they have some influence (Figure 7).
Ethical Issues Encountered on Pilgrimages Determined by Israeli Government Policy
Figure 6. Ethical issues determined by Israeli government policy
To a large degree acceptance of these restrictions and the orchestrated Israeli agenda for Holy Land pilgrimages is difficult to resist without causing inconvenience or anxiety to tour participants; endangering the future licensing and livelihood of Palestinian agents, guides or coach drivers; or the profitability of Tour Operators. For example, following the shooting of two British tourists near Eilat in southern Israel in August 1997, allegedly by an Arab, in what the British Foreign Office described as "a straight forward criminal act", the Israeli Embassy in London exploited the tension by claiming in advice to foreign tourists,
Subsequently it transpired that the attack was the work of an Israeli who had been a member of an undercover military team involved in the assassination of Palestinian political activists in Gaza.
There are, however, some ethical choices and decisions which Tour Operators and individual tour group leaders have considerable freedom to make, whether intentionally or by default (Figure 7).
Summary of Ethical Decisions Faced by Holy Land Tour Operators and Group Leaders
Figure 7. Ethical Decisions Faced by Tour Operators and Group Leaders
8. Responsible Pilgrimages: Some Proposals
In addressing these complex and controversial
ethical issues associated with managing and promoting pilgrimages and religious
tourism to Israel and the Occupied Territories, what constitutes responsible
tourism? In the light of this research, the following nine distinctive characteristics
are offered as a basis for further discussion and investigation (Figure 8).
Summary of Distinctive Characteristics of Responsible Pilgrimages to the Holy Land
The essential task for those who aspire to promoting responsible tourism and religious pilgrimages to Israel and the Occupied Territories is to face the twofold challenge of discovering and then implementing the ways and means by which the tourism industry can bring benefit to the Palestinian economy and Christian communities. They need contact and work while we need local guides, hotels, and transport services. If we are to avoid the creation of a Christian Disney World managed by expatriates but devoid of indigenous Christians, it is imperative that these communities be given the opportunity to become self-sustaining, ensuring not merely their survival into the next millennium but also their growth and prosperity. Solidarity and partnership through responsible tourism is one answer.
For the majority of Christian pilgrims who travel to the Holy Land to continue to ignore the indigenous Church in such a troubled situation, where they are ignored and maligned, is not only deeply offensive to them, it is surely a contradiction of our faith, and ultimately immoral before God. It is nothing less than to perpetuate the evil of the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan who walked by on the other side. He should have known better.
About the Author
The Revd. Dr. Stephen Sizer is Vicar of
Virginia Water, Surrey, England. He has been managing pilgrimages to the Holy
Land for about ten years. He completed a Masters degree in 1994 and a Doctorate
in 1997 which both involved research into the impact of pilgrimages upon the
indigenous Christian community of Israel and the Occupied Territories. He is
also a director and trustee of Highway Journeys, a Christian travel
agency owned by a charitable trust committed to promoting responsible tourism.
Key Questions for Discussion
1. What parallels are there, if any, with ethical issues encountered in tourism to other countries experiencing political tension?
2. How can the cause of responsible tourism to the Holy Land be enhanced from the experience of those engaged in tourism to other countries?
3. What practical steps should be taken to enhance the Palestinian tourist economy?
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