Preserving Culture and Sustaining Tourism

BU hosts Abraham Path Exhibition

The Abraham Path Initiative connects countries and continents by rocky paths, said Dr. Hamdan Taha, Deputy Director of the Palestinian Department of Tourism and Antiquities. The biblical Abraham traveled through parts of modern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, and the API offers travelers a chance to retrace portions of his journey.

The Abraham Path Exhibition, held at Bethlehem University on 3 December 2009, focused on the initiative’s contributions to the Palestinian tourism economy. An example of sustainable tourism, it involves rural areas that are usually excluded from the tourism economy, involves women and enhances cultural exchange, said Dr. Taha.

Bethlehem University is committed to help in the preservation of Palestinian culture, said Vice Chancellor Brother Peter Bray. As part of that commitment, the University’s Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism is beginning to train guides for the API.

The Palestinian path runs from Nablus, in the Northern West Bank, to Hebron in the South. Tourists may participate in a scheduled tour of the path, plan an individual tour, request day hikes as part of their tour packages or join an intercultural program in one of the towns along the path.

API materials note that, “The trail in Palestine travels through some of the most fabled historic sites and holy places in the world. At the same time, it runs through villages which are far from the beaten track and almost never visited by tourists.”

Over 250 people have walked the Palestinian path thus far, according to API country coordinator Frederic Masson.

Perhaps the most famous example of tourism on Abraham’s Path is the August 2009 visit by former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Palestinian guides Hijazi Eid and Areej Ja’fari (BU ‘07) showed Mrs. Carter the Solomon’s Pools site near Bethlehem and introduced her to community leaders from the area, including BU’s Brother Peter Bray; Brother Jack Curran, Vice President for Development; and Michel Awad, from the Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism.