抄録
From the perspective of tourism as a force for peace, this paper attempts to identify reasons for creating Community-Based Tourism (CBT), with reference to the Network of Experiential Palestinian Tourism Organization (NEPTO). The paper explores five issues to establish a “community”, geographical and conceptual connection: 1) Principle and belief; 2) Ethnicity and tradition; 3) Settlement and Separation Wall; 4) Nature and environmental protection; and 5) Economic support. While Palestine suffers with the world's highest unemployment figures and poverty and inequality are both considered region's “destabilizing” factors, CBT offers support for community development, supplementary sources of income, and human resource development for youths and female headed households in areas but especially in Area B and C of the West Bank where the social services of the Palestinian Authority are difficult to reach. Concurrently, tourists enjoy new discovery and attraction of both Palestine and Israel through CBT, or an alternative path in which to pursue peace and stability.
