Exploring a unifying approach to peacebuilding through tourism: Abraham and Israel/Palestine

Abstract

This work emerges from the encouragement of peace studies scholars to seek out commonalities that can unite rival sides in a conflict. Based on this call, I propose the unifying approach to peacebuilding through tourism as one where tourism initiatives use unifying points (such as figures, sites, stories and symbols) that help conflicting sides see commonalities and thus facilitate cross-cultural understanding. In particular, I look at how the story of Abraham (communal father of Jews, Christians and Muslims) appears to be used as a guiding fiction for the work of two tourism initiatives in Israel and Palestine. Based on mixed qualitative data, I use Creative Analytic Practice to present two semi-fictional stories that explore this use of Abraham, exposing the potential benefits and risks associated with striving for a unifying peace in an arena as charged as the Israeli-Palestinian context. These stories reveal that the unifying approach provides a valuable vocabulary of progress that challenges the dominant sectarian narratives of tourism in the region, yet simultaneously rubs awkwardly against the sharp divisions and imbalances of the Israeli-Palestinian context.