I'm very glad I went on this tour because it was an awesome experience and I truly felt like I was getting two different viewpoints.
First off, I could swear I read that we would be taking a public bus to Hebron but instead, we were on a private bus which I liked better as it meant our Israeli Jewish guide could talk to us during the ride there, giving us context for what we would see. I learned a lot during the bus ride there! And on arrival, we had two tour guides for the two different areas, one where Jews weren't allowed to go and one where the Jewish settlers lived.
We saw the mostly Muslim side first. It's kind of funny that one of the first things we saw was the decided modern and large mall, but our guide really did seem very proud that something so modern and Westernized was in his city. We walked through a fair bit of the old city area afterward, hearing about what life was like from a Palestinian Muslim perspective. The Tomb of the Patriarchs was especially interesting, talk about a contentiously shared space!
I did prefer our Jewish guide more as he was a bit easier to understand (having been born in the US and having that accent) and he conveyed a lot more information about the context of the city and its people. He also was trying very hard to present his perspective of things while also pointing out countering views in a neutral manner. As he was an Orthodox Jew who took his faith very seriously I was impressed with how he was able to give us not just his view but also some neutral context on other views.
Visiting the Israeli settlement area was at the end of the day when I was pretty exhausted but one of the highlights. We talked with a woman whose father had been murdered a few decades ago and got her personal view on why the Israeli settlers were there. The emotion on all sides was clearly evident.
All in all this was my favorite tour of my trip through the Middle East and I feel like I learned a lot from it, and that I truly got to hear from different perspectives. It's an incredibly complex region with a lot going on and I really hope they can find a better way to live in peace some day soon. I have no idea how to 'solve' the problems, and I do believe it's a small minority actively stoking these conflicts, but really you have a single land where multiple groups have strong ties and with stoked nationalism that is making it very difficult to find a way for all groups to live together in peace.
