TOUR FEATURES & CONDITIONS TRAVEL NOTES TOUR PRICE – double-room occupancy PLANE TICKETS: Individuals should make their own round trip ABRAHAM’S CHILDREN • $2400/person, 18 participants flight arrangements. Please arrive by midday or early afternoon IN CONTEMPORARY • $2500/person, 16 participants on June 15. Departures should be scheduled after the Farewell Dinner on June 27. • $2650/person, 14 participants ISRAEL AND • $2900/person, 12 participants PASSPORTS: The expiration date of all passports must be at June 14-28, 2014 Single room supplement: $550 least 6 months after the end of the tour (December 28, 2014) or Lower fees can be negotiated for larger group tours, you will not be permitted to enter Israel. If you do not have a valid passport, please apply immediately. Visas to Israel are free which are priced lower than smaller ones. and issued when one is permitted to enter. Participants can lower their tour price by helping to enlist fellow travelers. The final price will be RESERVATIONS, DEPOSITS AND FINAL PAYMENT DEADLINES: Reservation forms may be submitted at any time by email to Paul determined by May 1, 2014. Parker at [email protected], or printed and mailed to Paul SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFER: Reservations and Parker, Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst, IL 60126. deposits received by March 14, 2014, will receive Reservations are not complete until deposits have been paid. a $100 discount on the final payment. Submit your Deposits of $500 are due by March 14, 2014. The balance of the $500 deposit early – and save! tour fee is due no later than May 14, 2014. TOUR PRICE INCLUDES: METHOD OF PAYMENT: Send your deposit check payable to • Accommodations in tourist class inns and hotels FOSNA and your reservation form to Linda Kateeb, 8933 Beacon Court, Orland Hills, IL 60487, so it can be forwarded to the Siraj with private facilities; Center for Holy Land Study (Palestine). • Breakfast and either lunch or dinner; Co-sponsors • Services of experienced and licensed guides, TRAVEL INSURANCE: Do you need travel insurance? Some Middle East Task Force (PCUSA) individuals choose to protect themselves with a special insurance fluent in English, & Hebrew Siraj Center for Holy Land Study (Palestine) plan that can cover the cost of lost baggage, medical • Sightseeing and entrance fees, service charges, emergencies, and trip cancelations and interruptions. MH Ross is Sabeel–North America (FOSNA) and local taxes; and one such company that provides a wide spectrum of travel Co-leaders • Honoraria for speakers and organizations. insurance options. Its Asset Plus plan is especially well suited for Paul Parker & Linda Kateeb TOUR PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE: international trips, but there are others. One common feature for • Airline tickets; all their plans is you must purchase a plan within 15 days of your initial trip deposit. You may contact them at www.mhross.com or • Tips for the guide, bus driver, and hotel staff 800-423-3632. (porters, waiters, front desk, and house This unique listening tour allows participants to hear cleaning); CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS: A refund of the full deposit the contemporary life stories of Palestinian and (less $100 administrative fee) will be made up to March 14, • One meal per day; and Israeli , Christians, Muslims, Samaritans, Druze 2014. If cancelation occurs between March 15 and May 14, and Baha’i. Our trip will focus on understanding • Passport fee, travel insurance, and personal 2014, a fee of $500 plus unrecoverable tour operation payments expenses. will be charged. There is no refund after May 14, 2014. these diverse religious peoples in their everyday lives rather than on political protests or religious FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ACCOMMODATIONS: All overnight accommodations are tourist class hotels, guesthouses, or convents with private facilities. doctrines. Participants will hear the claims and Dr. Paul Parker, [email protected] laments of those who live in a land where one Office Phone: 630-617-3559 PERSONAL EXPENDITURES: Individuals should bring their debit and/or credit cards to withdraw shekels from ATMs for shopping, religious ideology and its followers are legally Dr. Linda Kateeb, [email protected] one meal each day; and tips for the guide, bus driver, and hotel privileged. Come, listen, learn, grow, and explore Mobile Phone: 708-207-6272 staff. Please do not bring travelers checks. the six religions of Israel and Palestine.

WWW.MARGIESTRAVEL.COM ABOUT THE CO-SPONSORS ITINERARY for Ramallah with free time for individual reflection and Sabeel–North American is a grassroots movement June 14: Depart the United States for Tel Aviv on exploration. Visit Al Mukata, the nationally important and based in the Holy Land. It was founded in Jerusalem Saturday. Tour participants will make their own flight still controversial memorial for President Yasser Arafat. by working for a just peace in arrangement so that they arrive at mid-afternoon on Meet Christian Palestinian businessmen, leaders in Palestine and Israel. The name comes from an Sunday, June 15. Palestine’s struggle for human rights such as Al Haq and Arabic word, “sabeel,” which means “the way.” The June 15: Jerusalem—Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Mifta, officials in the Palestinian Authority, and researchers with the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs word can also signify a “spring” or “channel” of Aviv at mid-afternoon. Group transportation to Jerusalem Department. living water. Sabeel strives for a spirituality based will be provided in the afternoon followed by dinner and tour orientation. June 24: Nablus — Depart Ramallah for Taybeh to tour on justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation, and June 16–18: Jerusalem — Visit Israel’s Holocaust museum; the Taybeh Beer Brewery, the first brewery in Palestine. reconciliation. It also promotes a more accurate meet with representatives of Rabbis for Human Rights, the Then take a short drive to the municipality of Al-Mizra’a awareness of Palestinian Christians through its Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, Modern Al-Sharqiyyeh where the Seraj Library Project (a joint support of chapters in the US, Canada, and other Orthodox Jews, and a Jewish politician. Climb the US/Palestine NGO) has helped build a children’s library. chapters throughout the world . legendary Masada (or ride the cable car) and swim in the Continue to historic Nablus to visit the religiously . Then, begin to learn the story of Palestinian important and politically contentious site of Joseph’s The Middle East Task Force was appointed in fall of Christians with a bus tour of Deir Yassin and Ein Karen and Tomb and the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Photini 1974 by the Committee on Church and Society of the by way of a meeting with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation where Jacob’s Well is located and Father Pheloumenos Chicago Presbytery to implement the Theology Center. Explore the of Jerusalem (the was martyred. Visit the Samaritan Museum on Mt. recommendations of the PCUSA’s 186th General Western Wall, Al Aqsa Mosque, the , Via Gerizim to hear a Samaritan priest explain the religious Assembly that “presbyteries encourage study and Dolorosa, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher); meet with differences (and state enforced identity) of Jewish Israelites and Samaritan Israelites. foster dialogue in response to the current Middle Muslim scholars; and discuss the ecumenical Kairos Palestine June 25: Nazareth — Depart Nablus for the Golan East conflict.” This tour fulfills the purposes of the document with Christian leaders. June 19-21: Bethlehem — Learn about the contemporary Heights to meet Druze leaders of Majdal Shams where METF to serve as a support network to Christians in significance of the and hear from the we will visit the “Valley of Tears.” Dine on St. Peter’s Fish the Middle East; to achieve our educational support Imam of the Mosque of Omar. Tour Bethlehem University; for lunch at the Sea of Galilee en route to Nazareth. Visit and advocacy mission; and to work in tandem with meet Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Christian professor and human with Sufi Sheikh and Professor Manasra to learn about other organizations that share our commitment for a rights activist; visit the Tent of Nations to see how one Sufi contributions to peace and reconciliation. peaceful, just, and nonviolent resolution of the Palestinian family resists discriminatory laws; and learn June 26: Haifa — After visiting Nazareth’s stunning Middle East conflict. about the daily lives of from the Applied Church of the Annunciation with its elegant intercultural renderings of the Holy Family, depart for Haifa. Visit the ABOUT THE CO-LEADERS Research Institute of Jerusalem. world-famous Bahá’í Gardens and learn about the Dr. Paul Parker is a professor and the chairperson of Move from Bethlehem to to meet with the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee to learn first hand about beginnings of the newest “world religion” to call Israel its the Department of Religious Studies at Elmhurst the effect of Jewish settlers on the lives of Palestinians and home. Learn about the work of Adalah, an independent College where he teaches courses on Christian Social the Old City’s restoration. Visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs Palestinian human rights organization. And on the way, Ethics, World Religions, and Religion in America. He (Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and we will hear from the Druze of Galilee how they are has led this specific tour twice previously and has Leah) to experience the limits of religious freedom. Walk similar to and different from the Druze of Golan. experience leading adult tours and student courses in through the market of the Old City, visit the internationally June 27: Tel Aviv — Depart Haifa for Tel Aviv for a bus India, Turkey, , Israel, and Palestine. renowned Hebron Factory, and return to the Grotto in and walking tour of Old Jaffa. Check into the hotel, and Beit Sahour for dinner, argheela, and Dabkeh dancing. enjoy a free afternoon for reflection, conversation, Dr. Linda Kateeb is a literacy consultant with the June 22 - 23: Ramallah — Visit a Zionist settler in Efrat or packing, and swimming in the . The Chicago Public Schools and facilitator for the Tekoa and then Palestinian survivors in Aida Refugee concluding Farewell Dinner is always a celebration not to Chicago Area Writing Project at University of Illinois. Camp’s Alrowwad Cultural and Theater Center. Meet the be missed. The daughter of Palestinian Muslim parents, she has Melkite Christian, Dr. Charlie Abu Saada, to learn about the June 28: Prepare for a very early morning departure for participated in a variety of travel-study groups, experience of Christians across Israel and Palestine as Ben Gurion International Airport. Arrive in the US on Saturday afternoon, June 28. including 4 trips to Palestine and Israel. members of a religious minority. Depart Bethlehem