Note:  Most trips to Israel and the Holy Land open to Americans involve travel in Israel, with very short and sanitized trips to "Holy Sites" like the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.  Seldom do American travelers actually observe the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank under Israeli Military Occupation, or observe the disruptive nature of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the "Israeli Only" roads that link these settlements to the State of israel.  The Neighbors East and West trip of 2011, described below would be labeled as an "alternative tour", since it included visits to many places in the West Bank and in Israel that are not on a typical agenda, and meetings and experiences that demonstrated more fully the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

Presently NEW does not have a similar trip "in the works", but we recommend that anyone traveling to the "Holy Land" take a similar alternative tour.

 Sabeel, a Christian organization in East Jerusalem  maintains a list of such tours, that can be found  at this link

Pilgrims of Ibillin,  is sponsoring a program, October 25 - November 7, to Israel and parts of the West Bank.  This trip uses the Mar Elias  College as a base for travel in Galilee.  For a pdf description of this program click here. This program will be led by Joan Deming.  She can be reached at   608-­‐241-­‐9281, or by email at jdeming7@gmail.com. Infromation on this trip  may also be gleaned from Pilgrims of Ibillin website.
 
Links to many other alternative travel programs, catalogued by AFSC, can be found here.

The Travelers to Palestine and Israel are Safely Home

For and account of the trip, by retired AFSC  worker Jim Matlack.
follow one of the links below:

The Plight of the Palestinians (HTML web page)
The Plight of the Palestinians (PDF Document)

Sam Neff has posted a sort of blog on the trip here

Shirley Harryman produced this guest opinion in the
Kalispell Daily Interlake
(Mr. Reed Yeater of Polson wrote this response)

This article was submitted by David Reese to the
Kalispell Daily Interlake, and then rejected

Here are links to Ted Lollis' very thorough account of
our trip, and reference to places he visited after most
travelers had returned home:

http://peace.maripo.com/trip_2011_part_1.htm
http://peace.maripo.com/trip_2011_part_2.htm

Ted has  now made available a two-part lecture which he has given recently to a group from the University of Tennessee

His lecture is titled:  
find an on-line version at this link: http://peace.maripo.com/e_03jan12_1.htm

Will Boland has given a slide show at the Helena MT Public Lirary
See an introductory article here:PalestineTripStuff/BolandArticle.html

Follow this link for an introductory article and photos the NEW trip
to Palestine and Israel, which is the first in a series to appear in the
weekly paper, Valley Views

For Background Material on the Palestinian - Israeli conflict,
we recommend this list of materials:

Reading List


Rabbi Brant Rosen of Evanston, IL, has recently led a group of
Americans to Palestine, engaging in activities similar to those
which we are planning.  To learn of that trip, and many reactions
of the participants, read the entries on Palestine at this link (be sure to look under 'older posts':

http://rabbibrant.com/category/palestine/

Here is one of those posts by Marge Frank:

From the Side of the Oppressed: A Guest Post From Palestine