Israel Tourism Minister assures tourism development in West Bank

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Promising to make West Bank settlement construction a top priority, the Tourism Minister of Israel’s new hardline government said he would channel resources to promote tourism in the West Bank. Haim Katz made the comments days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government took office.

He said, “We will invest in areas that may not have received sufficient support to date. For example, our local Tuscany in Judea and Samaria.” He used the biblical term for the West Bank favored by religious and right-wing Israelis.

A small tourism sector has come up in The West Bank areas with hotels, bed and breakfasts and wineries. Israel considers these industries to be part of the country’s broader tourism sector, while international human rights groups have said they deepen control of occupied territory.

Airbnb in 2018 said it would bar listings in the Israeli settlements, but it quickly backed down under heavy Israeli pressure. Last year, Booking.com said it was adding warnings to its listings there.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built dozens of settlements that are now home to roughly 500,000 Israelis. The Palestinians claim the entire area as part of a future independent state and consider the settlements illegal — a position that is widely shared by the international community.

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