Seeking Understanding in Israel/Palestine: A Two-Week Fact-Finding Trip May 16-30, 2009

May 16, 2009
May 30, 2009

Seeking Understanding in Israel/Palestine

A Two-Week Fact-Finding Trip

May 16-30, 2009

Organized by Friends of Sabeel-Colorado

Trip Objectives:

  • To visit with Palestinian and Israeli peace and human rights groups and individuals working for peace.
  • To see first-hand the reality of Palestinian life and the impact of the Israeli occupation - the wall, settlements, checkpoints, roadblocks, refugee camps, etc.
  • To consider what is needed for a just peace.

Trip Highlights:
  • Stay in the Old City of Jerusalem, within easy walking distance of the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Dome of the Rock. Explore the winding streets and bazaars of the Old City.
  • Tour the illegal settlements of East Jerusalem with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), stand with the Women in Black on Friday at noon, meet with an Israeli Refusenik, the Israeli Human Rights organization B’Tselem, and a woman from Machsom Watch; visit the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
  • Tour the Old City of Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity; visit a refugee camp, meet with the Badil Center for Refugee Rights, visit in the homes of Palestinians in the Beit Jala area, and learn about nonviolent resistance against the construction of the wall.
  • Travel to Galilee to visit Nazareth, the Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, and spend two nights by the Sea of Galilee.
  • Enjoy a feast in the Palestinian village of Ayn Hawd that was internally displaced in 1948, and learn about the struggle of the "unrecognized villages" within Israel.
  • Visit the West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah; meet with the "Stop the Wall Campaign."
  • Visit with a Jewish settler in a West Bank settlement, meet with the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron, and visit the Mosque of Ibrihim, honored by Jews and Muslims as the burial place of Abraham.
  • Swim in the Dead Sea and visit Masada.
Tour Leaders:
Joy Lapp, Instructor of Religion and Ethics, Metro State College of Denver. Joy spent three years in the Middle East working with Mennonite Central Committee, and is Chair of Friends of Sabeel-Colorado
Rev. Arnie Voigt, Retired Lutheran minister. Arnie has visited Israel/Palestine many times and has led numerous tour groups.
 
Cost: $2000. Includes hotel, 2 meals per day, tour guide and entrance fees, transportation, tips. Does not include airfare, lunch, souvenirs, personal expenses or travel insurance. Please let us know if you are interested in group travel possibilities. Prices based on double-occupancy. Supplement for single room is $475. Prices are based on a minimum of 20 travelers, and subject to changes due to circumstances beyond our control.
 
Travelers must have a passport that is valid six months beyond date of re-entry to U.S.
 
Confirmation needed by March 1, 2009
 
For more Information: Please contact Joy Lapp 303-494-2338, lappj@earthlink.net
 
We extend a warm invitation to join this cross-cultural encounter to view the holy sites, and to visit with people passionately involved in the effort of peacemaking today.
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