TOUR FEATURES & CONDITIONS TRAVEL NOTES TOUR PRICE – double-room occupancy PLANE TICKETS: Individuals should make their own round trip ABRAHAM’S CHILDREN • $1990/person for 28 participants flight arrangements. To join our tour bus to the hotel, please book IN CONTEMPORARY • $2160/person for 24 participants tickets to arrive between noon and 4:00 PM on July 21. • $2350/person for 20 participants Departing flights may be scheduled any time after 11:00PM on ISRAEL AND August 2. • $2500/person for 16 participants July 20 – AUGUST 3, 2015 • $2900/person for 12 participants PASSPORTS: The expiration date of all passports must be at • $3300/person for 10 participants least 6 months after the end of the tour (February 4, 2015) or you Single room supplement: $550 will not be permitted to enter Israel. If you do not have a valid Since larger groups are given better rates than passport, please apply immediately. Visas to Israel are free and smaller ones, participants can lower the tour price by issued in Israel when one is permitted to enter. helping to enlist fellow travelers. The final price will be determined by June, 2015. RESERVATIONS, DEPOSITS AND FINAL PAYMENT DEADLINES: To assure your place on the tour, please complete and submit the SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFER: Reservations and Reservation Form, along with your deposit check to Linda Kateeb deposits received by February 20, 2015, will at 8933 Beacon Court; Orland Hills, IL 60487. Make checks receive a $100 discount on the final payment. payable to FOSNA (Friends of Sabeel – North America). Submit your $500 deposit early – and save! Reservations are not complete until deposits have been received. TOUR PRICE INCLUDES: (No credit cards.) To guarantee group rates, reservations are due by April 20, 2015. Final payment is due by June 20, 2015. • Accommodations in tourist class inns and hotels Co-sponsors with private facilities; TRAVEL INSURANCE: Do you need travel insurance? Some • Breakfast and either lunch or dinner; individuals choose to purchase a special insurance plan that can Sabeel–North America (FOSNA) • Services of experienced and licensed guides, cover the cost of lost baggage, medical emergencies, and trip Middle East Task Force (PCUSA) fluent in English, & Hebrew; cancelations and interruptions. MH Ross is one such company that Siraj Center for Holy Land Study (Palestine) • Sightseeing and entrance fees, service charges, provides a wide spectrum of travel insurance options. Its Asset and local taxes; and Plus plan is especially well suited for international trips, but there Co-leaders • Honoraria for speakers and organizations. are others. One common feature for all their plans is you must Paul Parker, Linda Kateeb & Inam Haq purchase a plan within 15 days of your initial trip deposit. You TOUR PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE: may contact them at www.mhross.com or 800-423-3632. • Airline tickets; This unique listening tour allows participants to hear • Tips for the guide, bus driver, and hotel staff; CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS: A refund of the full deposit the contemporary life stories of Palestinian and • One meal per day; and (less $100 administrative fee) will be made up to April 20, 2015. • Passport fee, travel insurance, and personal Cancellations by May 20 incur a fee of $500; and cancellations Israeli , Christians, Muslims, Samaritans, Druze expenses. by June 20 incur a fee of $1000 plus unrecoverable expenses. and Baha’i. Our trip will focus on understanding There are no refunds after June 20, 2015. 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 doctrines. Participants will hear the claims and class hotels, guesthouses, or convents with private facilities. 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 religious ideology and its followers are legally and/or credit cards to withdraw shekels from ATMs for shopping; privileged. Come, listen, learn, grow, and explore Dr. Linda Kateeb, [email protected] one meal/day; and tips for the guide, bus driver, and hotel staff. the six religions of Israel and Palestine. Mobile Phone: 708-207-6272 Please do not bring travelers checks.

Prof. Inamul Haq, [email protected] Mobile Phone: 630-617-3485 ITINERARY ABOUT THE CO-SPONSORS July 28-29: Ramallah — Take time for individual July 20: Depart the United States for Tel Aviv on Friends of Sabeel North American is a grassroots reflection and exploration. Visit Al Mukata, the nationally Saturday. Tour participants will make their own flight important and still controversial memorial for President movement that supports the Sabeel Ecumenical arrangement so that they arrive at mid-afternoon on Yasser Arafat. Meet Christian Palestinian businessmen Liberation Theology Center based and founded in Tuesday, July 21. and organizations in Palestine’s struggle for human rights, Jerusalem by working for a just July 21-24: Jerusalem—Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel such as Al Haq and Mifta, officials in the Palestinian peace in Palestine and Israel. Sabeel strives for a Aviv at mid-afternoon. Group transportation to Jerusalem Authority, and researchers with the PLO’s Negotiations spirituality based on justice, peace, nonviolence, will be provided in the afternoon followed by dinner and Affairs Department. Meet with Mustafa Barghouti, Sam liberation and reconciliation. tour orientation. Visit Yad Vashem. See the Bahour and Military Court Watch. Visit the Taybeh Beer Scrolls at the Israel Museum. Meet with Rabbis for Human Brewery, the first brewery in Palestine The Middle East Task Force was appointed by the Rights, the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, June 30: Nablus — Take a short drive to the municipality Committee on Church and Society of the Chicago Jewish Zionist activists and Jewish politicians. Climb Masada of Al-Mizra’a Al-Sharqiyyeh where the Seraj Library Presbytery to “encourage study and foster dialogue (or ride the cable car) and swim in the Dead Sea. Then Project (a joint US/Palestine NGO) has helped build a in response to the current Middle East conflict.” This begin to learn the story of Palestinian Christians with a bus children’s library. Visit the religiously important and tour fulfills the purposes of the METF to support tour of Deir Yassin and Ein Kareem and by way of a politically contentious site of Joseph’s Tomb and the meeting with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Christians in the Middle East; to educate; and to Greek Orthodox Church of St. Photini where Jacob’s Well Center. Explore the of Jerusalem (the Western is located and Father Pheloumenos was martyred. Visit work with other organizations that are committed to Wall, Al Aqsa Mosque, the , Via Dolorosa, the Samaritans at their museum on Mt. Gerizim to hear a a peaceful, just and nonviolent resolution of the and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher); meet with Muslim Samaritan priest explain the religious differences (and Middle East conflict. and Christian scholars; and discuss the ecumenical Kairos state enforced identity) of Jewish Israelites and Palestine document with Christian leaders. Tour the Abu Samaritan Israelites. End the day with a walking tour of The Siraj Center is an award winning innovator of Jihad Museum of the Prisoner Movement, Al Quds Old Nablus’ shops, soap factories, kanafeh stands, and Palestinian tourism and a leading advocate for University. martyr’s memorials. ethical standards in the tourist industry. It is the sole July 25-27: Bethlehem — Learn about the contemporary July 31: Nazareth & Golan Heights — Meet Druze nonprofit organization licensed by Palestine’s significance of the and the Mosque of leaders of Majdal Shams where we will visit the “Valley Omar. Tour Bethlehem University; meet Dr. Mazin Ministry of tourism. of Tears.” Dine on St. Peter’s Fish for lunch at the Sea of Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian Christian professor and leading Galilee en route to Nazareth. Visit with Sufi Sheikh and ABOUT THE CO-LEADERS human rights activist; visit the Tent of Nations to see how Professor Ghassan Manasra to learn about Sufi Dr. Paul Parker is a professor at Elmhurst College one Palestinian family resists discriminatory laws; and learn contributions to peace and reconciliation. Stop at Sabeel where he teaches courses on Christian Social Ethics, about the daily lives of from the Applied Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation with its World Religions and Religion in America. Research Institute of Jerusalem. elegant intercultural renderings of the Holy Family. Move from Bethlehem to to meet with the Hebron August 1-2: Haifa & Tel Aviv — Visit the world-famous Dr. Linda Kateeb is a literacy consultant with the Rehabilitation Committee and learn first hand about the Bahá’í Gardens and Shrine of the Bab to learn about the Chicago Public Schools, facilitator for the Chicago effect of Jewish settlers on the lives of Palestinians and the beginnings of the newest “world religion” to call Israel its Area Writing Project at University of Illinois, and the Old City’s restoration. Visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs home. Learn about the work of Adalah, an independent daughter of Palestinian Muslim parents. (Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Palestinian human rights organization. Hear from the Leah) to experience the limits of religious freedom. Walk Druze of Galilee how they are similar to and different Prof. Inam Haq is an imam, professor of Islamic through the market of the Old City, lunch with a Palestinian from the Druze of Golan. Studies at Elmhurst College and Catholic Theological family, visit the renowned Hebron Factory, and return In Tel Aviv, learn about Zochrot’s efforts to build an to the Grotto in Beit Sahour for dinner and dabkeh dancing. Union, and serves on the Boards of the Chicago inclusive multicultural democracy. Take a bus and walking Visit a Zionist settler in Efrat or Tekoa and Palestinian tour of Old Jaffa. Check into the hotel, and enjoy a free Committee of Human Rights Watch and the Interfaith survivors in Aida Refugee Camp’s Alrowwad Cultural and afternoon for reflection, conversation, packing or Committee of the Bernadine Center. Theater Center. Meet the Melkite Christian, Dr. Charlie Abu swimming in the . The concluding Saada, to learn about the experience of Christians across Farewell Dinner is always a celebration not to be missed. All three tour leaders have led multiple tours in Israel Israel and Palestine as members of a religious minority. August 3: Tel Aviv — Depart Tel Aviv for the US. and Palestine.