Written by our Volunteer Jade from Belgium.
When you’re about to travel to Palestine, you most certainly will see the worries on people’s faces. They ask themselves: isn’t it too dangerous to go there? And this is not surprising if you watch the news about Palestine abroad, especially in the Western world. When Palestine is mentioned, it will often be about violence, about a shooting or a bombing and the use of language is often full of negative connotations and stigma. It’s very hard to imagine how it will be here, because even if you want to look it up, the mentioning of Palestine often goes hand in hand with the word conflict.
This makes it hard to find out how everyday life is here and how (un)safe it really is. And when you only hear the negative stories and see the news, it is natural to wonder if it’s worth coming to Palestine. But I can give you the answer and it is an easy one: yes, it’s definitely worth coming here. If you wonder how dangerous it is, I can tell you, after seeing it with my own eyes, that it is safe.
There are hundreds of thousands of tourists that visit Palestine each year. Palestinians are one of the most friendly and hospitable people I’ve encountered. When you travel within Palestine, you will not feel unsafe at all. Especially as a foreigner, we have the luck to have the freedom to go where you want to go within Palestine and Israel and in between. It is not only safe to visit Palestine, the Palestinians will also welcome you to their country and invite you into their homes for coffee and tea. And the worries you had before will disappear.
The next question and prejudice that probably arises is if it is safe for young women to travel to. It is a question that is asked often to female travelers, and so for many countries around the world. It is an understandable question and it is always useful to find out about the culture and customs of the country you go to. Especially if you go to more conservative areas, like Hebron, it is best to dress appropriately.
But as a female solo traveler that travelled to over twenty countries, I can confirm that the answer to this question is also yes. There wasn’t a moment I felt unsafe. It is even safer than a lot of European cities, also for women, if you compare for example criminality on the streets. This is due to the great sense of community, and this makes Palestine a great country to visit as a first time solo traveler.
Even if you don’t have any experience travelling by yourself, and it feels daunting to go, everyone is so helpful here, so that you will not feel alone. I travelled with the local buses, I went to the local places and I walked home every day without any issues. Moreover, you will experience that everyone is inclined to help you find whatever you are looking for, even if you don’t speak any Arabic. You can manage to get around with simple words and phrases.
After saying all of this, let’s not ignore the fact that there is an ongoing conflict here. The everyday life for Palestinians is not easy, they can’t travel freely, not even within their own country. In the Palestinian controlled areas it feels very safe, but the areas with Israeli settlements and the areas where the Israeli police have control, it is not safe for them. That is the hard truth. As a foreigner, you can’t grasp or understand how it must be to feel unsafe to be who you are in your own country, to be distrusted all the time, to be excluded and have a lack of freedom because of your nationality.
For the Palestinians, it is part of their life. They can not go where they want and cannot do what they want, but this doesn’t stop them from living their life. And this shouldn’t stop or even make you doubt travelling to Palestine, if anything, it should do quite the opposite, it should give you all the more reasons to travel here. You can witness the reality here with your own eyes and spread the word and counter the negative stories.
You have the advantage of being a foreigner, to travel freely and easily from Israel to Palestine and within the different areas without encountering troubles. Therefore, it is not only safe to travel to Palestine, I would also highly recommend it, if not only for its beauty, but also the fact that it is packed with history and that it is the most welcoming country.
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