Our Day with the Palestinian Authority

Lisa and I meet with Abu Walid, head of the Palestinian Authority, Jericho

No trip to Israel is complete without a visit with the Palestinian Authority.

Of course, not many tourists to Israel would agree, which is really tragic.

Even though there are more than 3.5 million Palestinians in Israel, the vast majority of American tourists who come the country are almost completely isolated from them.

Too bad.

A little time spent in the West Bank might change a lot of American minds.

The last time I was here, organizations like Hadassah and the UJA used to organize bus tours to the Palestinian Refugee Camps.  The busses would pull near the camps and stop so that those inside could have a photo opportunity.  Then they would drive off.  I can only guess what they told the people on the bus, (never having been on one), but I would imagine that they would talk about how dangerous the camps were.

I can report the busses first hand because for some time I actually lived in a Palestinian Refugee Camp in Gaza.

So I saw it first hand.

My advice to my friends in Hadassah and UJA is to get off the bus.

Come into the camps.

Come and meet the Palestinians one-on-one.

They are not nearly so scary, dangerous or violent as you have been led to believe.

They are, you will discover, not so very different from you.

It is ignorance, more than anything else, that breeds fear.

Many, many years ago when I first came to Israel I encountered a Peace Corps volunteer on R&R from assignment in Africa.  We got into one of those endless discussions about Israel and the Palestinians.

Having grown up in a Jewish suburb of NY, I immediately gave him the knee-jerk holocaust, Israel must live response.

He turned to me and said, ‘Your problem is that you never met a Palestinian in your life. Why don’t you go to Gaza”.

So, I did.

And I moved into a Refugee Camp and stayed there for a month, living with a family.

And that changed everything.

Palestinians are not hard to find in Israel.

All you have to do is get off the bus.

And if you are going to travel, it’s a whole lot more interesting than the museum.

About the author

mrosenblum - For more than 20 years, Mr. Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital ‘videojournalist’ revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for videoliteracy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State’s Government’s broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the ‘VJ” paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on the “VJ” paradigm – 1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996).