Published: 29 November 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
PALESTINIAN AHMAD NADER Alfararja always picks up the tourists when they come to stay at his home. While the 25-year-old is a very hospitable host, there are more practical reasons for this particular service. He lives in Dheisheh (near Bethlehem), where the streets literally have no name.
“Locals know them by the names of the families who live there or by the villages they originally came from, before they were displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,” he says. He pauses for a second. “Running Airbnbs in a refugee camp is not easy.”
Ahmad is one of a growing number of Palestinians in West Bank refugee camps who are listing rooms on the accommodation-sharing website, offering adventurous tourists a experience like no other in the Holy Land.
“My goal is to show foreigners how we live in Palestinian refugee camps, show the reality of this conflict from a completely alternative viewpoint,” the happy-go-lucky host says. “I initially rented out a separate apartment, but now we’re hosting in a room at our family home.
The guests enjoy staying with us more and love my mother’s cooking,” he says, smiling. (Ahmad lives with his parents and two sisters, renting out a room with an en-suite bathroom.)
FULL STORY The latest trend in conflict tourism: Airbnbs in Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank (Haaretz)
Photo: The entrance to Aida refugee camp in the West Bank. The large key is a Palestinian symbol representing the right of return (Reem Jarrar)
