Ramallah Featured In The Travel Section Of The New York Times

There is a new image to Ramallah, one that has replaced the image of the Palestinian showing his blood-soaked hands to an approving crowd not so many years ago.

The news coming out of the West Bank is: Ramallah Attracts a Cosmopolitan Crowd

Though Yasser Arafat’s floodlit tomb loomed nearby, no one was talking about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at Snowbar. They were too focused on the music.

The barrier walls here are certainly intimidating, and Ramallah doesn’t have the holy mystique of Bethlehem, but this city on the West Bank has become a destination for thousands of young North Americans, Europeans and offspring of the Palestinian elite. Some work for locally based non-governmental organizations or new businesses; others are visiting. Many of the hot spots are set in restored Ottoman buildings, streamlined Art Deco houses that date from the British mandate, or atop new high-rises. Some residents say the scene is an undiscovered challenge to what Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Amman, Jordan — each a few miles but a psychological world away — offer young people in the Middle East.

Read the whole thing.

The reality of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is still apparent, but then again, this article from the New York Times appears in its Travel section--and includes a list of recommended restaurants and hotels.

Technorati Tag: West Bank and Ramallah.