Many people would like first-hand exposure to and deeper understanding of the situation in Israel and the West Bank.  This delegation will give participants an opportunity to meet face-to-face with human rights, social justice and peace activists in Israel and the West Bank, to observe Israeli settlement and home demolition policies, to visit Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip most impacted by the ongoing conflict  between Israel and Gaza, to visit Palestinian communities waging ongoing nonviolent struggles against the "security barrier"/"apartheid wall,"  to consult with those working within Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to end the siege of Gaza,  and to better understand the roots and nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of the United States  in perpetuating that conflict. 

 The  delegation will visit Palestinian refugee camps, see first hand examples of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, spend Christmas Eve in Bethlehem and have Christmas Day free for visiting Jerusalem or pursuing other interests. Experienced delegation leaders and guides from the United States and Palestine will accompany the delegation. The delegation will be staying most nights in hotels in Bethlehem and several nights on home stays with Palestinian families in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The tour will be led by experienced local and international delegation co-leaders:

Scott Kennedy, Resource Center for Nonviolence, Santa Cruz, California
David Hartsough, Peaceworkers, San Francisco
George Rishmawi, Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies, Palestine

 

"To go there and see for yourself transforms the stranger into a relative, which is the ultimate form of witness." - Rev. Michael Battle, 2003 participant  

Photo: A 2006 delegation meets with Nobel peace prize nominee Jeff Helper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.