PROFILE

Counter Tourism

Two women from Boston are stirring up anger and passions by leading trips to the West Bank that show young Jews what an Israel-sponsored outing won't.

BOLD STEPS Hannah Mermelstein, left, and Dunya Alwan in Alwan's Jamaica Plain home. The women reject Israel's Law of Return, which grants citizenship to virtually any person of Jewish ancestry, and with their West Bank tour are determined to show other Jews the hardships that Palestinians face. (Globe Staff Photo / Suzanne Kreiter) Globe Staff Photo / Suzanne Kreiter

By Benjamin Joffe-Walt

July 22, 2007

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It's pouring as Hannah Mermelstein and Dunya Alwan lead their tour group along the Israeli separation barrier in Bethlehem. The group gazes at the reinforced concrete wall, which rises more than 20 feet and is covered in graffiti: "I am not a terrorist." "We caged." "Bridges not walls." And, on a colossal closed gate: "We will open." The tourists stand ... (Full article: 1010 words)