2010 Palestine Summer Encounter
The Palestine Summer Encounter is an extraordinary opportunity to experience life in the Palestinian Territories not as a tourist but as a guest and a participant in the community. As a participant you can join us for one, two or three months in the summer, live with a Palestinian Christian or Muslim host family, participate in Arabic classes and serve at volunteer assignment with one of over thirty five participating local organizations. Participants in the past have tutored English, designed websites, rebuilt homes, supervised kids at local summer camps, helped with administrative tasks at a human rights organization or nonprofit and provided other voluntary service to the local community in the cities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet with Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers to learn more about the roots, and solutions to, the present conflict.
Where to Begin:
Find out the Dates & Costs
Check out the Frequently Asked Questions
Read the blogs and browse through the photos of participants from previous summers.
Hear what former participants have to say about the experience.
Register for the 2010 Palestine Summer Encounter!
People, not ideologies
Coming from an environment in America of international apathy, it has been great to see such passion in so many people to support justice. Being in the holy land and the midst of this situation has allowed us to put a face, and a smile, onto these people who for so long, and for so many are nothing more than a headline. And what a reward it has been to experience such a rich and indescribably welcoming culture.
Building roads in Beit Jala
I have been living with a family in the small Christian town of Beit Jala for over a month now and I have become a fully integrated member of the family. My experience here so far has been extraordinary, the family has kind of adopted me, my host father now introduces me as his son whenever we meet people and my “brothers” and sister all show the same kind of care and affection.
For Dad
Tonight, as a part of my program’s weekly “cultural” experience, our group spent the evening in Azzeh Refugee Camp. A man named Mashour took us for a tour of the camp, fed us dinner, and then took us to meet with a 1948 survivor who was herded into the camp in 1948 as a part of the Diaspora of the Palestinians. The man, Abu Ahmid, described life as a refugee, the events of ‘48 from his personal experience, and his hopes for the future.
The little city of Bethlehem
I’ll be living in a refugee camp for the next month. It’s not what you may consider a refugee camp. It’s certainly not what I consider a refugee camp, and I wouldn’t consider the people living there to be refugees. Structurally, it is about the size of six American city blocks (2×3), with one main street, a little larger than the width of a car, cutting down the middle. There is a maze of 3-foot-wide alleyways cutting through thirty-foot concrete homes.
Winning Peace
It was our last weekend trip on Sunday, and it was a great reminder of what I should be taking away from this trip in relation to the conflict here. We all got up very early in the morning to head down to southern Israel... right next to the Gaza Strip. We visited the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, the cities that are in constant threat of Kassam rockets. There, we met a few people who each had very different opinions about the conflict.
The Writing on the Wall: A PSE Blog Testimony
From the Holy Land Trust website: Tuesday, 06 July 2010
How Palestine Summer Encounter led to a photoblog and new fabric designs for an artistic pair of travelers.
After having heard about the Palestine Summer Encounter program through friends, Jonathan and Amanda Apgar knew that they wanted to try coming to Bethlehem for a summer.
PSE 2010 Already at Halfway Point!
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” as they say, and this second session of Palestine Summer Encounter 2010 is certainly representative of that old aphorism. Somehow we have already completed the first half of the second session, which also means PSE 2010 is more than half complete!
Another week has just breezed by, full of constant programming, exposing PSE participants to the Palestinian culture and to the diversity of perspectives that occupy the minds of people living in the region.
Dabke
In addition to learning about politics, religion, the language – we also learn about culture… probably my favorite part- staying with the family, learning about the foods, traditions and yes, dance.
I don't dance. At all. I will normally find anyway I can to get out of a dancing, but I was willing to give it a try.
A "Divided City" or a "City Divided"?
Even before arriving in Israel/Palestine I was excited about visiting certain cities like Hebron, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. I have now well and truly settled myself into the pace of Palestinian life in Bethlehem for the last 12 days through working with a local refugee youth centre, living with a local family, attempting to learn Arabic, and interacting at a more personal level with locals in Bethlehem. So I guess you could say I have chosen "my side,” and I am very satisfied with it—although I do not like the idea of being boxed into a particular side and what it implies.
