The tour is designed to allow all religious and ethnic groups living in the Holy Land to tell their stories and then to follow the Jewish narratives with Christian and Muslim Palestinians’ experiences, and finally the Samaritans, Druze, and Baha’i. We will explore how the devotees of the diverse religions of Israel and Palestine live together in a land where ethnic and religious differences are imposed on everyone.
Day one for the Peace Cycle Group: It has been very busy but extremely informative. We visited the Arab Association for Human Rights, based in Nazareth, and were given a very thorough overview of the situation for Arabs living in Israel - that is, in the '1948' areas (not the West Bank and Gaza). We began to understand far more about how Israeli 'democracy' is a complete farce. The indigenous Palestinians living in these areas are subjected to institutional racism and discrimination in so many areas of life. We then travelled to Haifa where we met with some very inspirational people from the Baladna Organization, who outlined this discrimination even more, especially in relation to the youth living in these areas, and how this impacts on their lives, and on society in general, in so many ways we would otherwise not have thought of.Sometimes it's difficult to find hope in such an entrenched system of injustice, but the people we met today spend their lives dedicated to working for change, and their energy and determination is infectious.We also fitted in a visit to the Basilica of the Annunciations in Nazareth, and the beautiful Baha'i Gardens and the Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa. Tomorrow, the group will begin their cycling tour around the Occupied West Bank.
Please Mark the Dates:
Now, 2000 years later, the modern-day city of Bethlehem - home of the Millennium - invites you to make a symbolic and historic journey commemorating that event by walking Palestine's Nativity Trail.
From 01 July – 31 August 2013