We’re ramping things up for our public television special, “Rick Steves’ Holy Land: Israelis and Palestinians Today,” which is airing all over the country. I’ll be giving talks around my state (and in Dallas on Oct. 1 at the AT&T Performing Arts Center), and I enjoyed doing an interview with Dave Ross on Seattle’s KIRO Radio. I thought you might like to listen in, so here is our entire 19-minute conversation, uncut.
If you’ve seen the Holy Land show in your city, please let me know your thoughts. If your public TV station has yet to run it, please call them and ask when it’ll air. Thanks.
(By the way, you can find more of Dave Ross’s extended interviews here.)
This fall, I’m excited to travel with you through the Holy Land during an hour-long public television special. We’ll meet the people, explore the sites, and listen to both the Israeli and Palestinian narratives with open eyes and honest curiosity.
We can travel there together thanks to public broadcasting. Stations across the country will air Rick Steves’ The Holy Land: Israelis and Palestinians Today beginning in September and throughout the fall. Check your local listings or contact your station directly to inquire about airdates. Shalom, salam…and thanks!
A few months ago, after a year with lots of travel in Palestine and Israel as I scouted and filmed my upcoming TV special on the Holy Land, I gave a talk about the region in my hometown of Edmonds, Washington. I enjoyed a very enthusiastic audience — both in person, and watching the streaming lecture online. Since many were unable to attend or view my talk, by popular demand, we’ve post-produced it to offer it here on our blog page.
This was my first time giving this talk, and it was a fun challenge to deal with contentious issues in a balanced way. While this video is fairly long, it’s packed with lessons. These issues are important, and (as with my Iran project a few years ago) I am so impressed by how little most Americans — myself included, before this trip — really know about the Holy Land.
I’d love your comments on this talk…but only after you’ve actually watched it. When the topic of the Holy Land is raised, many of us just spout off our preconceived ideas. And many of these ideas we hold very strongly, even though they are a result of American media rather than actually visiting the region in person. Our challenge is to hear both narratives and understand the context of the region’s challenges and the baggage of the people who live there. I hope this talk helps do exactly that.
The TV special I produced, “Rick Steves’ Holy Land: Palestinians and Israelis Today,” will air on public television stations across the USA this fall.
(By the way, the streaming of talks like this one is a new era for us as travel teachers. In the spirit of this talk, we’ll be streaming nine hours of travel talks — five of which I’ll be giving personally — for free this Saturday, March 22nd, starting at 9:00am Pacific Time. Learn more on our Live Webcast page.Don’t miss it!)
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Refugees are a big issue in the Holy Land. In 1947, after the Holocaust and the end of WWII, the United Nations helped found the modern state of Israel. And Jews, long dispersed throughout the world, returned to their ancient homeland. In the process, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced. (Some Jews were displaced, too, but far more Palestinians were.) And to this day, both peoples struggle to find an equitable and peaceful way to share what they each consider to be their rightful homeland.
Among the many refugee camps in the West Bank, the biggest — with over 20,000 people — is Balata, just outside of Nablus. The original ten-foot-by-ten-foot platting — marking where tents were pitched in 1948 — survives. Only now the tents are gone, replaced by multistory cinderblock tenements.
This gate welcomes you to the biggest refugee camp in Palestine. The world is full of refugee camps, and wandering here, it’s hard to imagine life with such a dense population, being a parent with high-demand kids and no money, and the lack of privacy.As you can imagine, an American TV crew with a big camera was big news to the kids of Balata. For over 60 years, the United Nations has kept a calming and helpful presence. When the UN-run-and-funded school lets out, the streets flood with children happy to practice their English with a rare tourist venturing into their world.On my scouting visit, I saw a little boy drop by the chicken shop, chose a chicken, and watch it killed, drained, de-feathered, gutted, washed, and popped into a bag for the boy to take home for dinner. Returning with our camera, I wanted to duplicate that cute little scene. We chose a boy after a quickie audition on the street and let him re-enact the chore for our show. It was great TV, our little star enjoyed the attention, and he walked very proudly home, chicken swinging in its plastic bag, with a heck of a story to tell his mom.Balata is at the edge of the city of Nablus. Nablus is famous for its fighting spirit (and, consequently, has been hard-hit in recent flare-ups and wars). The city is encrusted with posters honoring young men killed in the struggle (men most would call “terrorists,” but many here would call “freedom fighters”). I first visited Nablus on a Friday (Muslim holy day), and the city was closed up tight as a drum. Without any people or open shops, the martyr posters decorating the empty streets seemed much more prominent. With this visit, it was a regular workday, and the city was vibrant and a treat to explore. In fact, of all the cities we visited in Palestine, Nablus is the one I was most charmed by.
I’ll continue this Holy Land series until November 21st. Then, to celebrate my homecoming, I’ll give a live, free slideshow lecture on Thursday, November 21st at 7 p.m. P.S.T. in Edmonds, Washington. You can attend in person (registration required)…or watch the live webcast from anywhere in the world (no registration required). Learn more at Rick Steves – Holy Land: Israel and Palestine Today.
