Arab tourism to Israel is still thwarted by politics and Palestine

The indigo festivalT near the seaside southern foot of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula sounded jolly enough. Its organisers promised five days of “psychedelic music, sun and sea” in a mood of peace and love. Yet the fiesta has proved controversial, largely because the show was being run by Israelis. The Egyptian branch of a global campaign to boycott and divest from Israel denounced the organisers as “racist Zionist occupiers”. After Israeli police recently clashed with young Palestinians near Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, the festival was axed. Israeli-Arab tourism is still blighted by politics and tensions over Palestine.Similar jamborees on Sinai’s southern coast, an easy drive from Israel’s border crossing at Taba, have become increasingly popular with Israelis, partly because they are cheaper than in Israel. Almost 700,000 Israelis visited southern Sinai last year. Tourists from Cairo and Tel Aviv rub along happily at the diving centres and beach resorts on the Red Sea. Some local Egyptian businesses advertise their wares in Hebrew and take payment in Israeli shekels. Visitors can buy -shirts that say “I love Dahab”, one of the most popular spots, in Hebrew.