Olive tour destination

Alternative Information Centre

The AIC is a joint Palestinian-Israeli organisation conducting and disseminating research and writing on all aspects of the situation in Palestine. www.alternativenews.org

Alternative Tourism Group

ATG is a Palestinian NGO which was founded in 1995 as a non-profit organisation promoting critical tourism in Palestine. More information www.atg.ps

Al-Yasmeen Hotel & Souq

The Al-Yasmeen is a renovated building in the heart of the Old City of Nablus which serves a hotel and indoor market. www.alyasmeen.com

Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

B’tselem was established in 1989 by Israeli academics, lawyers, journalists and parliamentarians to document human rights abuses in Occupied Palestine and to inform the Israeli and wider public about them.
www.btselem.org

Ibdaa Cultural Centre

The Ibdaa Centre at Dheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem, supports a Women’s Collective which provides Olive with hand-made embroidery. The Centre also gives the camp’s residents computer access and houses a dance troupe. www.dheisheh-ibdaa.net

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

ICAHD is a non-violent protest movement against the Occupation. It provides guided tours around the Jerusalem area, including the Separation Wall and Settlements.
www.icahd.org/eng

Project Hope

Project Hope is a volunteer organisation based in Nablus which provides educational and recreational activities for Palestinian children and opportunities for international volunteers.
www.projecthope.ps

Windows for Peace

Windows is a group of Jews and Palestinians from both sides of the Green Line, working to bring young people together through education, art and media.
www.win-peace.org

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. www.icahd.org/eng

Meeting with the Parents Circle - Families Forum, a grassroots organisation of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians. www.theparentscircle.com

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”. www.btselem.org

Visit to Holocaust Memorial Museum Yad Vashem. www.yadvashem.org

Tel Aviv

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. www.phr.org.il

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

Jenin

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

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

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. www.alternativenews.org/aicafe.html

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. www.alhaq.org

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. www.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. www.sharek.ps

Nablus

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

Logistics

Travel around the West Bank and in and out of Israel is complex due to the wall, settlements, and checkpoints.  The itinerary will need to be arranged around this.

Travel will be by using hired minibuses, to be arranged by the guide(s).  If there are more than nine people in the group, two guides will be provided so that people are not travelling without a guide.  The minibuses usually seat 10 people.

Please note:

The groups listed above are possibilities, confirmation will be provided when the itinerary has been agreed.

The tour price will also be provided when the itinerary has been agreed.  Seven or eight nights is likely to be around £650.

Tour prices include your Olive tour guide, all local travel, accommodation, breakfasts, some dinners and donations to groups visited. Prices are exclusive of flights and airport transfers.

Olive tour guides monitor the situation on the ground to assess local circumstances.  All itineraries are subject to change. We ask our customers to read our Travel Guidance Notes before joining one of our tours.  See www.olivecoop.com/tours/guidance-notes.

Olive Cooperative has 5 years experience running tours to Palestine and Israel, and extensive knowledge of a broad spectrum of civil society organisations. Some tours are built around a theme or topic, but all are suitable for anyone with a general interest in the region.