How Can Tourism Promote Peace In The Middle East?

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Beyond Tolerance

About Aziz Abu Sarah's TED Talk

Social entrepreneur and educator Aziz Abu Sarah describes how he came to lead tours in which Jews, Muslims, and Christians cross contested borders to spend time in each others cultures.

About Aziz Abu Sarah

Aziz Abu Sarah is a National Geographic Explorer and a 2014 TED fellow. In 2009, he co-founded MEJDI Tours, a social enterprise that aims to foster peace in the Middle East. MEJDI Tours started by sending tourists to Jerusalem with two guides, one Jewish and one Palestinian, each offering a different history and narrative of the city. MEDJI has now expanded to Iran, Turkey and other regions experiencing cultural conflict.

He is a former executive director of George Mason University's Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution.

In 2013, Abu Sarah hosted Conflict Zone, a Web series for National Geographic. His writing has been published in The New York Times, Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post, Al Arabiya and others.

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