Olive tour destinations

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Jerusalem

  • Tour with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, to see the Wall, roads and tunnels that connect to Jewish settlements while isolating Palestinian neighbourhoods, and sites where Palestinian homes have been demolished.

  • Meeting with the Parents Circle – Families Forum, a grassroots organisation of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians.

  • B’tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It “endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel”.

  • Visit to Mount of the Olives

  • Visit to Holocaust Memorial Museum Yad Vashem.

  • Meeting with trade union activist from Palestinian Open University in East Jerusalem.

  • Visit to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA), an Arab non-profit institution that “seeks to present the Palestinian Question in its national, Arab and international  contexts through academic research, dialogue and publication”.

Tel Aviv

  • Windows – Channels for Communication. Windows is a non-profit, joint organization of Jewish and Palestinian citizens from Israel and Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian territories. Windows believes that both Palestinians and Jews have the right to live with equal and comprehensive human rights. Established in 1991, Windows promotes acquaintance, and understanding between both peoples, as well as empowerment of the youth with whom we work through educational and cultural programs, media, and art.

  • Physicians for Human Rights, a non-partisan, nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of all resident of Israel and the Occupied Territories.

  • The Salon Mazal social centre, cafe and activist centre. See www.salonmazal.org.

  • Meeting with Israeli refuseniks.

  • Meeting with Anarchists Against the Wall.

Tulkarem

  • Windows project

Jenin

  • The Palestinian Fair Trade Association. The PFTA’s annual Olive Harvest Festival will happen on Friday, 6th November. The festiv For more information see http://www.palestinefairtrade.org/harvest-festival.html

    • The PFTA have a broad range of programmes, such as Trees for Life, which gathers sponsorship worldwide to provide Palestinian farmers with new olive trees in areas that trees have been destroyed or to farmers that have lost land. They also have a women’s microfinance project, an access to education project, and have an organic and Fair Trade certification programme for olive oil. Annual Olive Harvest Festival in November, which “gathers PFTA’s farmers, members of olive producing cooperatives, representatives from PFTA’s regional cooperatives, European and American fair trade distributors, and international volunteers helping Palestinian farmers in the olive harvest activities”.

  • The Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp. Provides opportunities for the children of Jenin to develop skills, self-knowledge and confidence through performing art. See www.thefreedomtheatre.org

Bethlehem

  • Half day tour with the Alternative Tourism Group, a Palestinian NGO specialising in tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture, and politics of the Holy Land.
    • Tour to visit the Church of the Nativity; the Ibdaa Cultural Centre in Deheishe refugee camp and meeting with the women’s embroidery co-operative; the UN school in Deheishe refugee camp. Possibly other areas of interest such as Shephard’s Field, Solomon’s Pool and the Cremasin Monastery.
  • Permaculture Project, Bustan Qaraaka (the Tortoise Garden). Established by internationals, this project carries out environmental education activities with local youth and aims to address and combat the degradation of the Palestinian environment, and to actively pursue the conservation of native Palestinian species.
  • The Alternative Information Centre AICafe. The AIC is a Palestinian-Israeli organisation which disseminates information, research and political analysis. Their cafe in Beit Sahour, Bethlehem aims to foster political information, and to advance ideas, which may start alternative ways of knowledge and communication in order to achieve awareness in all spheres of daily life, such as politics, economics and international issues. Evening activities such as film showings and talks.

Ramallah – the seat of the Palestinian National Authority

  • Al Haq – an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based. Established by Palestinian lawyers in 1979 to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, regardless of the perpetrators. See www.alhaq.org.

  • The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC), which promotes agricultural development in Palestine and supports Palestinian farmers.

  • Stop the Wall – The Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign is a coalition of Palestinian non governmental organizations and popular committees that mobilize and coordinate efforts on local, national and international levels. These efforts are focused upon stopping and dismantling the Apartheid Wall, and resisting Israeli occupation and colonization. See stopthewall.org.

  • Sharek Youth Forum – aims to contribute to the development of youth through designing and implementing creative youth initiatives, programs and projects and supporting youth by giving them the opportunity to determine their needs and have their voices heard. The organisation operates throughout the West Bank and Gaza and has an excellent youth centre in Ramallah. See www.sharek.ps.

  • Birzeit University – Right to Education Campaign. Calls on organisations throughout the world to support students, teachers and education in Palestine.

The Jordan Valley

  • Tour of the Jordan Valley, an area of stunning scenery, but where Palestinians live in extreme poverty alongside massive Israeli agro-industrial settlements.

  • Visit a women’s food production co-operative outside of Jericho.

  • Visit to the Dead Sea.

  • Visit and possibly overnight stay in the Almog Kibbutz, near the dead sea. Thought to be a mixed Jewish and Palestinian Israeli Kibbutz. More research needed.

  • Masada – Ancient palaces and fortifications overlooking the dead sea.

  • Tour of Masada and the dead sea with the Alternative Tourism Group.

Hebron

  • Tour of the Old City by the Alternative Tourism Group, to hear how the presence of settlers and soldiers in Hebron affects the lives of the Palestinian residents. Visit to Ibraimi Mosque and Tomb of the Patriarchs, a mosque and a synagogue sharing the same building, a building with great significance to both faiths, and soldiers and checkpoints separate the two sides of the building. Possible meeting with Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Nablus

  • Project Hope, a non-profit volunteer organisation whose goal is to provide a participatory, educational space for Palestinian youth and children. See www.projecthope.org

  • Old city tour by Project Hope

  • Turkish Baths in Nablus Old City

  • Al Najah University

Salfit

  • See how the Wall, settlements checkpoints and settler-only roads have carved up Palestinian territory and hear about the environmental effect of Israeli industrial settlements in the region.

  • Permaculture project in Marda

  • Visit to Masha to see house completely surrounded by the Wall and fences and to meet a family who continue to live there.

  • Hear about Palestinian and Israeli non-violent resistance to Wall in the area.

  • Meeting with Palestinian women’s organisation, Women for Life.