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 elsewhere 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 14 - 27, 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.