One-sided border tourism sites develop adjacent to borders that are still closed and fortified and are yet to be opened to passage. These sites usually constitute an attraction for observation and for becoming acquainted with the physical space of the border areas under contention (Fig. 6.2). Tourism attractions of this type have developed in a number of places in the world, such as the borders between North and South Korea, the former Soviet Union and Finland during the cold war, and Israel and its borders with Syria and with Lebanon. In
a case study of the symbolism evoked in visitors by one-sided border tourism sites in Israel, Gelbman (2008) found that the most prominent characteristic is the duality in interpreting the landscape. This is reflected in suspicions and fears originating from residues of the past, and hopes for peace and the removal of boundaries in the future. The duality model at border tourism attractions (Fig. 6.3) reflects the diametrically opposed reactions of visitors to the existing geopolitical situation, resulting from past memories. The model describes a situation in which observing a closed and fortified border arouses thoughts and hopes for a new and different reality, one of peace and cooperation. In contrast, when observing a border of peace, visitors may be Fig. 6.2. The duality of the symbolic landscape at border tourism attractions (after Gelbman, 2008).
Fig. 6.3. Remnants of weapons that were turned into environmental sculptures on the bunker serving as a tourist site on Mount Bental.
beset by fears and suspicions arising from memories of the past when the same border was closed and hostile.
The Bental Mountain is an example of a geopolitical site on only one side of the border close to the fence that is still not the established border between Israel and Syria but rather a ceasefire line or a de facto boundary. Furthermore, no mutual relations or peace treaty exists between the two neighbouring states.
This case study represents a typical one-sided border tourism site in Israel because it is located adjacent to the international border with Syria as well as with Lebanon and its main attractive power to tourists is the border. There are only a few border tourism sites in Israel whose main attraction is the borderland itself, and this case study deals with one of the most prominent of them (Gelbman, 2008).
The tourist site on the summit of Mount Bental, located in the north of the Golan Heights at the foot of a volcanic mountain, offers a spectacular panoramic view of Syria, Lebanon and northeast Israel. The extensive Israel Defense Forces bunker system located there has been turned into a tourist attraction. The wars of 1967 and 1973 have made the Golan Heights a highly strategic borderline area. Between 1948 and 1967, when Syria controlled the Golan Heights, the area was used by Syria as a military stronghold. On the site are tank and weapon remains and the highest coffee shop in the country, 1165 m above sea level. Visitors to the area and those walking through the bunkers, can look out at the landscape beyond the borders with Syria and Lebanon, be impressed by the remains of the tanks and weapons, which have been recycled in part as works of art, and hear or read a history of the borders and battles in the Golan Heights (Gelbman, 2008).
Tourists are attracted to the site to relive and view testimony about the battles that were fought on the Golan Heights. The view of the borders from within the reinforced bunkers on Mount Bental, from the very places in which soldiers fought, serves to recall in strong detail the apprehensions and fears that suffused inhabitants of the area in the past. This sharp contrast with the transformation the bunker has undergone into a tourist site where children frolic in the military trenches and outposts may also generate a feeling of hope and optimism for a different future. Remnants of the abandoned tanks at the foot of the mountain serve as a reminder of the fierce tank battles that were conducted in the northern Golan, but the conversion of a tank into a historic monument beside and astride which tourists take photographs toggles the memory of things past mixed with hope that it will not recur in the future.
Remains and parts of various types of weaponry dot the Mount Bental site as interesting artistic sculptures which also generate mixed feelings among visitors;
the raw materials (relics of war) arouse fears of years past, but their transformation into museum exhibits also symbolizes hope for a positive change in today’s world (Gelbman, 2008).
The view from Mount Bental towards the closed and fortified borders of Syria and Lebanon, with the United Nations (UN) camp situated in no man’s land, transmits a message reflecting the balance of fear and hostility that prevails in the area. Looking out towards and beyond the border of the neighbouring state is a central part of the tourist experience of visiting border
sites. Tourists may experience the ambiguous feelings of fear of what was and hope for the possibility of peace treaties and the opening of borders in the future (Gelbman, 2008).