Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rule Keeping Tourists From Palestinian Territories Would Have ‘Very Real Cost’

New Israeli government restrictions on tourists staying in the West Bank could stifle an influential non-profit that brings American Jewish leaders to stay with Palestinians in Bethlehem and elsewhere in the territories.

Encounter, whose participants have included senior Jewish communal executives and prominent rabbis, says a new Israel laws could strangle its ability to run its programs.

“Participants in our program are striving to better understand the complexity of the current situation, and to do so with integrity, they need access to a range of voices, which they won’t have if such a law is enacted,” said Yona Shem-Tov, the group’s executive director. “My hope is the Interior Ministry will seriously reconsider not only the implications of the optics of such a law, but also the very real cost it will exact on American Jewish leaders seeking to be of service to Israel and their constituents by better understanding the multifaceted nature of this conflict.”

Israeli officials said in April that tour groups would not be allowed to take tourists to stay overnight in Palestinian-controlled portions of the West Bank, Haaretz reported. Israel has since postponed the implementation of the directive, but Haaretz reported on Thursday that it would be re-issued in the coming days.

Encounter participants stay overnight in Palestinian homes, usually in Bethlehem.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.