Seeking Understanding in Israel/Palestine
A Two-Week Fact-Finding Trip
June 4-18, 2011
Organized by Friends of Sabeel-Colorado

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 ex-soldier from Breaking the Silence, the Israeli Human Rights organization B’Tselem, and a woman from Machsom Watch; visit the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
  • Visit a refugee camp and witness checkpoints and roadblocks; visit in the homes of Palestinians in the Beit Jala area.
  • Travel to Galilee to visit Nazareth, the Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, and spend two nights by the Sea of Galilee.
  • Learn about the many Palestinian villages that were destroyed in 1948, and the current struggle of "unrecognized Arab villages" in Israel.
  • Visit Nablus, a West Bank city completely surrounded by checkpoints.
  • 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 Qumran.

Tour Leaders:

  • Joy Lapp, teaches religion at Iowa Wesleyan College. She spent three years in the Middle East working with Mennonite Central Committee and serves on the Friends of Sabeel North America Steering Committee.
  • Arnie Voigt, is a Lutheran minister. Arnie has visited Israel/Palestine many times and has led numerous tour groups. This is the fifth trip that Arnie and Joy have organized together.

Cost:

  • $2200. Includes hotel, 2 meals per day, tour guide and entrance fees, transportation, and tips. Does not include airfare, lunch, souvenirs, personal expenses or travel insurance. Prices based on double-occupancy. Supplement for single room is $565. 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 and $100 payment needed by March 1, 2011.

Desert Foundation co-directors Fr. David Denny and Tessa Bielecki made this trip in 2007 and both the knowledge we gained and the friends we made have had a deep and lasting effect in our lives. Read Fr. Dave’s “Rooftop Oasis” and Tessa’s “Jerusalem, Jerusalem …” to learn more about our responses to this extraordinary journey.

For more information, contact
Joy: 319-219-9171 lappj@earthlink.net
Arnie: 303-798-7887 arnievoigt@msn.com
www.sabeelcolorado.org
Confirmation and $100 payment needed by March 1, 2011.

Sabeel Colorado
extends 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.