One tour guide, Eitan Rituv, wrote a scathing letter to Hirschorn, saying he was “embarrassed and ashamed” that the minister would allow PA Arabs who are not citizens of Israel to guide tours in Israel, and compete for work with Israeli tour guides, many of whom are unemployed.



Rituv said that having Palestinians guide tourists to Israel was like having Arab teachers from Hebron taking Israeli students for a hike to Massada or the Yad V’Shem Holocaust Memorial, or letting PA doctors, who work for lesser pay, identify the corpses of persons who died in terrorist attacks.



Rituv, who like other tour guides in Israel was required to pay thousands of shekels for courses to obtain his license, says it is patently unfair to allow non-citizen, hostile Arabs compete for business with Israeli guides.



Forty Palestinian tour guides have already been given permission to start work.



Rituv has asked Hirschson to refund the money he paid for his license.



In response, Hirschson said he was allowing only a “very small group” of Palestinian tour guides to work in Israel, and only in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.



Jerusalem is Israel’s most popular tourist site. Bethlehem, under PA control, is also a popular tourist destination.