60,000 Palestinians to Visit Israel as Tourists

(Ha'aretz) Anshel Pfeffer - More than 60,000 Palestinians are expected to visit Israel as tourists by the end of 2011, at least twice as many as last year, an Israeli defense official said. The permits are issued mainly to schools and summer camps wishing to take children to visit beaches and mixed Jewish-Arab cities in Israel. In 2010, 28,000 Palestinians were given permits to visit Israel. "We want Palestinians, especially young ones, to see another kind of Israeli, not only soldiers and settlers....Perhaps instead of demonstrating in September they'll go to the beach," the source said. Another popular destination is to see the wild animals at the Ramat Gan Safari Park, which has Arab-language tours.


2011-07-19 00:00:00

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