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Responsible Tourism       Recommended Tours

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Living Stones Solidarity Tour
Led by Michael Spath, DMin, PhD

23 June - 6 July 2024
Contact the tour organizer:
Lmichaelspath@gmail.com
See a description from the last trip led by Dr. Spath:
https://indianacmep.org/come-and-see-solidarity-tour/

A transformative experience!"
"Unique and life-changing!"
"We spend quality time with the people, listening to their stories."
"Some of the most important Jewish, Christian, and Muslim peacemakers and justice activists"

LAND COST
$3895 (10-14 travelers) $3295 (15-19 travelers) $2895 (20+ travelers) COST EXCLUDES AIRFARE
You book your own flight to/from Tel Aviv (TLV)

The Tour Price DOES include:
Entrance fees to listed sites.
Hotels – Gloria, Old City, Jerusalem; Manger Square, Bethlehem, Ron Beach, Tiberias; all rooms double occupancy
27 meals (breakfast every day)
All tips and gratuities
Deluxe air-conditioned motor coach
Guide (Jericho, Qumran; Hebron; Al-Aqsa)

The Tour Price DOES NOT include:
Airfare to/from Tel Aviv (TLV)
Travel Insurance
Travel to/from airport – Dr. Spath can arrange for transport (pay directly)
13 meals; drinks with all meals
Souvenirs; personal items
Single room supplement, $1175
Optional early arrival, Sa, June 22 ($130/person, double room; Single, $210)

FEATURES
Dr. Michael Spath is Executive Director, Indiana Center for Middle East Peace; Fulbright Scholar (1998-99), Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, Amman, Jordan (under patronage of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal); 30+ trips to Palestine/Israel, led 16 “Solidarity Tours”

Pre-trip preparatory meetings discussing the people and places we’ll visit and the political, cultural, moral, and theological issues in the region

Meetings with internationally-known Jewish, Christian, Muslim religious and NGO leaders, peacemakers, and human rights advocates (see below)

We will visit major Holy Land religious & historical sites, including, pending approval, a guided tour of Dome of the Rock & Al-Aqsa Mosque

Gloria Hotel is in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, walking distance to Jerusalem holy sites Manger Square Hotel in Bethlehem is a 2-minute walk from Manger Square and Church of the Nativity Ron Beach Hotel is on the Sea of Galilee in the resort town of Tiberias, Israel
Sea of Galilee Boat ride – after dark on the last night in the Galilee

Sunday worship @ Christmas Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, and Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Jerusalem Old City; Devotions shared by tour participants; Communion Service on Mount of the Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee

Optional Pre-Tour
Arrive Saturday, June 22; June 23 day-tour in Bethlehem with Dr. Spath
Optional one-hour Debriefing Sessions throughout the tour to process travelers’ experiences, emotions, insights, questions
Free time scheduled throughout the tour, for personal exploration, shopping, rest, etc.
On June 30, travelers have an option during their free time: meet with residents of two examples of

Israel’s environmental injustices visited upon Palestinians: Battir, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Wadi Fouqin (with Usama Zoughbi as guide) - $650 split among participants

SITES
Bethlehem – Nativity Church; Milk Grotto; Apartheid Wall (surrounding Bethlehem)
Jerusalem – Holy Sepulchre; Wailing Wall; Mount of Olives; Paternoster Church; Garden of Gethsemane; Dominus Flevit; Al Aqsa Mosque & Dome of the Rock (tentative). Greek Melkite Patriarchate
Ramallah – Nelson Mandela Freedom Square
Nablus – Jacob’s Well
Judean Desert – Jericho ‘tel’; Hisham’s Palace; Qumran; Ein Gedi Kibbutz @ Dead Sea; Jordan River Hebron – Ibrahimi Mosque, Old Town souq, Shuhadah Street, Checkpoint 56, Hebron Glass Factory Galilee – Nazareth’s Annunciation Basilica ; Sea of Galilee; Capernaum; Tabgha; Mount of Beatitudes

PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS (tentative until confirmed)
- Abdelfattah Abusrour, Arrowwad Cultural & Theater Training Center, Aida Refugee Camp; “beautiful resistance” – Bethlehem
- African Palestinian community – Palestinians of Black African heritage (350-450) in African enclave near Bab al-Majlis, Muslim Quarter
- Issa Amro, Friends of Hebron, Youth Against Settlements - Hebron
- Sami Awad, Holy Land Trust – Bethlehem
- Sam Bahour, Palestinian-American businessman/ entrepreneur; - Palestine Telecommunications Company – Ramallah Banksy

-  “Walled Off” Hotel and Museum – Bethlehem
- Bedouin village: Khan Al-Ahmar (E-1), Massafer Yatta (South Hebron hills), or Al-Araqib (Naqab)
- Iyad Burnat, Bil’in Resistance leader; Five Broken Cameras film; and Bil’in Farm – Bil’in
- Diana Buttu, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer, former Palestine Liberation Organization spokesperson – Ramallah

- Jeff Halper, - Nobel Peace Prize nominee, founder, Israel Committee Against House Demolitions;
- One Democratic State Campaign – Jerusalem
- Jenin Freedom Theater and Canaan Fair Trade – Jenin
- Munther Isaac, Pastor, Christmas Lutheran Church – Bethlehem
- Daoud Nassar, Tent of Nations environmental peace and sustainability farm – Bethlehem
- Mazin Qumsiyeh, Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability – Bethlehem
- George & Najwa Sa’adeh, Rami Elhanan, Bereaved Parents Circle – Bethlehem
- Ayman Shaka’a, Aroub Jamleh, Center for Community Resource Development – Nablus Old City

- Zoughbi Zoughbi, 2011 World Vision “Peacemaker of Year”; Wi’am Conflict Resolution & Transformation Center – Bethlehem

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