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Five Week Interactive Virtual Trip to Palestine and Israel!

Tickets ($106.08) here [1].

A unique experience, allowing participants to hear the perspectives of both Palestinian and Israeli tour guides!

About this event

A trip with Mejdi Tours is a unique experience, allowing participants to hear the perspectives of both a Palestinian and an Israeli tour guide through the use of photographs, videos, and their own personal experiences. In addition, four of the five sessions feature an Israeli and/or Palestinian peace activist, to help us understand the joys and struggles of those who are working on the ground for peace, justice and equality. The Sisterhood has the following goals for you, our trip participants:

To understand the essence of the history of the region and of the conflict through a dual narrative approach, entering deeply into multiple versions of the story.

To learn about peacemaking efforts on the ground and how individuals in the US and Canada can be involved in supporting nonviolent means for achieving peace and human and civil rights for all Palestinians and Israelis.

Trip Participants: This trip is open to all women and men of all backgrounds who want to broaden their understanding of the history and narratives of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

TRIP DATES – EACH SESSION IS HELD ON A SUNDAY

1:00-2:30 P.M. EST/ET

January 2, 2022

January 9, 2022

January 16, 2022

January 23, 2022

January 30, 2022

Trip Cost: $100 per person*

*COST COVERS ALL 5 SESSIONS. INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. If you are unable to attend one or more sessions, a recording will be available to registered trip participants for up to two weeks following the session. We have a limited number of full and partial scholarships available to Sisterhood members. For more information, please contact nicole@sosspeace.org

As a bonus for Sisterhood members only, a private, optional 30 minute session will be held following each general session!

DETAILED ITINERARY

Session One: Sunday January 2, 2022

An Introduction to the Dual Narrative Approach Through the Lens of Jerusalem

Explore how to understand the past, present, and future of Jerusalem, as a way to understand a dual narrative perspective.

Led by tour guides Husam Jubran and Sharon (Morgie) Morgenstern

Recommended Reading / Viewing:

“Two Tour Guides—One Israeli, One Palestinian—Offer a New Way to See the Holy Land” [2]

“A compelling look, from two perspectives, at Israel’s complex history and life there today” [3]

Session Two: Sunday January 9, 2022

Hebron and Bethlehem

Explore the historical background of Hebron and Bethlehem through a dialogic approach, including: the Separation Wall, settlements, and checkpoints.

Led by tour guides Husam Jubran and Sharon (Morgie) Morgenstern.

Hosting: Hanna Barag from Machsom Watch

Recommended Reading / Viewing:

“Bethlehem: Rachel’s Tomb revelry for the Jews, Calamity for the Palestinians” [4]

“South Mount Hebron: the masters of the land have determined” [5]

Session Three: Sunday January 16, 2022

Women Activists & their Role in Making Change.

Each activist explores their perspective on the region, hopes for the future, how they envision resolving the conflict, and how individuals in North America can support their efforts.

Facilitated by: Sharon (Morgie) Morgenstern

Hosting: Huda Abu Arqoub of Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) and Orli Gold-Haklay of Women Wage Peace

Recommended Reading / Viewing:

“A Palestinian Woman Building Peace From the Bottom Up” [6]

Groundwork Podcast: Jerusalem [7]

“International Peace Day 2021 – Media coverage” [8]

Session Four: Sunday January 23, 2022

Gaza and Sderot

An interactive talk between tour guides Husam Jubran and Roni Keidar to understand the experiences of people living in Gaza and Sderot.

Facilitated by: Husam Jubran

Hosting: Roni Keidar of Other Voice

Recommended Reading/Viewing:

“It’s my pain that drives me to action:” Israelis and Palestinians Working for Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation [9]

Session Five: January 30, 2022

The Future

A virtual tour focused on possible solutions to the conflict. How can individuals in North America get involved and support peacebuilding on the ground?

Led by: Husam Jubran and Sharon (Morgie) Morgenstern

Hosting: May Pundak

Recommended Reading / Viewing:

A land for all? A glimpse into a shared future [10]

Biographies of Guides and Hosts

Husam Jubran serves as a Representative in Palestine and Jordan for the Middle East/North Africa Social Innovators Program and is based in Palestine. He has a Masters degree from the Eastern Mennonite University in Conflict transformation and Peacebuilding and a Diploma in tourism. Jubran works also as an interfaith tour guide in the Holy Land and provides training on Conflict Management, Crisis Management, and Nonviolence.

More about Husam: https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/husam-jubran/ [12]

Sharon (Morgie) Morgenstern has a degree in education. After teaching in formal education in the U.S and Israel, she moved to informal education where she has been working for the last 30 years. She has been a professional tour educator for 28 years, as well as a group facilitator. Her experience covers a wide range of groups, ranging from youth groups, Jewish community groups, Christian community groups, interfaith groups, political action groups, and family groups. She has also been the tour educator in Poland for over 20 groups studying the Holocaust. Morgie sees guiding as an excellent opportunity for raising awareness of the historical and social complexity of the land, which will hopefully allow us to hear the multiple narratives of this area.

Hanna Barag [13] has been a member of Machsom Watch since 2002. A retired political organizer, the mother of two and grandmother of four, she was born in Haifa and is now living in Jerusalem.

Machsom Watch was founded in February 2001 by a group of women. It includes 400 Israeli women– and only women– who observe, report on, and document events at the checkpoints in the West Bank and Jerusalem. In cases of gross human rights violations, severe intimidation, and restrictions on movement, Machsom Watch tries to intervene and, where possible, to prevent them.

She describes her role in Machsom Watch as a kind of a human-rights “diplomat” for the organization, liaising with all the relevant authorities, including the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) and the Civil Administration, in order to solve problems for Palestinians whose rightful freedom of movement is abused. Hanna has dealt with thousands of desperate situations caused by the Occupation and its draconic bureaucracy. Those who contact her know that if she thinks their case is plausible, she will try to bang on doors until a solution is found for their problems.

Huda joined ALLMEP as its first on-the-ground Regional Director in 2014. She has years of experience in conflict resolution, NGO leadership, and social change education and activism, as well as a life-long commitment to building strong people-to-people Israeli-Palestinian relations. She is a well-known speaker on issues related to Middle East politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After studying conflict transformation and peace studies as a Fulbright scholar, she worked as an executive director, a program director, and an NGO consultant to a number of organizations in the U.S., Israel, and Palestine. She is a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Education (CTE) and she has taught and trained hundreds of students in Israel and the U.S. She has long been an active leader in grassroots Palestinian initiatives focused on women’s empowerment and people-to-people diplomacy. Huda worked as a teacher, trainer and consultant for the Palestinian Ministry of Education for fifteen years. She earned her M.A. in conflict transformation and peace studies from Eastern Mennonite University and her B.A. in education for social change from Al-Quds Open University in Jerusalem.

Huda is the oldest of twelve children, the daughter of respected Palestinian educators. Born in Jerusalem, she has traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East, lived for sic years in the U.S., and now resides in Hebron.

Women Wage Peace was founded in the summer of 2014 in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge. It is the largest grassroots movement in Israel whose purpose is to promote a political agreement, involving women in the process (in the spirit of UN Resolution 1325). Today the movement has more than 44,000 members.

Their goal is to bring about the resolution of the Israeli Palestinian conflict by means of an honorable, non-violent and mutually acceptable agreement, with the participation of women from diverse groups of the population in Israel.

The movement is not affiliated with any political party and its members include women from diverse communities within Israeli society: right, center and left; religious and secular; Jews, Arabs, Druze and Bedouin; young women and older women; women from the center of the country and from the periphery. The movement does not support any one particular solution to the conflict.

Orli is a Journalist and Content writer, she has a blog in the “Times of Israel” and leads the PR, relations and marketing at the Ben Gurion University. Orli is currently a member of External Relation committee of Women Wage Peace, active in re-establishing Women Wage Peace Student Cell at Ben-Gurion University.

Women Wage Peace was founded in the summer of 2014 in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge. It is the largest grassroots movement in Israel whose purpose is to promote a political agreement, involving women in the process (in the spirit of UN Resolution 1325). Today the movement has more than 44,000 members.

To bring about the resolution of the Israeli Palestinian conflict by means of an honorable, non-violent and mutually acceptable agreement, with the participation of women from diverse groups of the population in Israel.

The movement is not affiliated with any political party and its members include women from diverse communities within Israeli society: right, center and left; religious and secular; Jews, Arabs, Druze and Bedouin; young women and older women; women from the center of the country and from the periphery. The movement does not support any one particular solution to the conflict.

Roni lives in Moshav Netiv Ha’asara near the Gaza border and has 5 children and 15 grandchildren.

Her academic training is in education and she worked as a teacher for many years. Between 1979-2009 she gave talks to groups visiting her moshav (village) where she lived in the Northern Sinai – young people living on agriculture in the desert, and in her new place after the evacuation from Sinai in accordance with the Peace Treaty with Egypt.

After spending over 4 years in Egypt (1984-1989), where she learned the power of discussion – talking, listening and understanding – she looked for more people who believe that violence is not the answer. In 2009, she met people from Other Voice, people with different political affiliations, but in total agreement that talking is far more powerful than violence and she has been active in this organization ever since.

Roni helped to found an organization called Kol Acher or “Other Voice.” Along with other Jewish social justice activists in the region, she longs for the end of the violent conflict and believes that talking and listening are the principal conditions for achieving this goal. Other Voice continues to speak out on the need for a political settlement, and advocates for clean water and electricity in Gaza.

She has endured two decades of alerts and rocket barrages, including ones that killed her daughter’s best friend and her husband’s worker. But she has emerged more determined than ever to try to build peace from the ground up.

May Pundak is a feminist lawyer, activist and social entrepreneur. May serves as the CEO of A Land for All- Two States, One Homeland, an organization that seeks to advance a new vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a paradigm of partnership instead of separation in the form of a confederation.

In her previous role, May was the Director of New Generations and of the Israel Travel Department at the New Israel Fund in the US. In this context, May led campaigns for social change and worked to build a community based on a renewed relationship between American Jewry and Israeli civil society. May was the director of the Polyphony organization aiming to bridge the divide between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music. She assisted in the establishment of a legal team to support political struggles in East Jerusalem and co-founded an educational dialogue group program for Jewish and Palestinian for teenagers in West and East Jerusalem.

May is a graduate of the Mandel School of Educational Leadership and a graduate of Harvard University’s Leadership, Community Organization and Activism course. May holds a teaching certificate in civics and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in law in the field of public and international law, with an emphasis on human rights from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.