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!
Download Flyer
Palestine Summer Encounter 2010 Flyer (Color)—
Click on the flyer below to begin the download. (Please allow a few minutes for the file to download).
Palestine Summer Encounter 2010 Flyer (Black and White)—
Click on the flyer below to begin the download. (Please allow a few minutes for the file to download).
Eight Reasons to Come to palestine
Not convinced yet that a trip to the Holy Land is for you? Here''s eight great reasons to come to Palestine this summer.
1. You''ll See The Situation Firsthand
There's only so much you can learn by watching the 6 o'clock news or reading history books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is why fact-finding missions to the Middle East are so important. Frequently, those who participate in Travel and Encounter programs describe their trips as "life-changing experiences." By visiting the region and seeing the situation firsthand, you will learn a tremendous amount about the daily life of Palestinians under Occupation. You'll also have the opportunity to meet with Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers: people who have devoted their lives to bringing peace with justice to the Holy Land.
2. You'll Serve As A Witness For Peace
Palestinians who have suffered through more than thirty years of Occupation often feel that the world has abandoned them. As more and more of their land is confiscated, more and more of their homes are demolished and more and more of their citizens are killed they wonder: why is no one standing up for us in the world community? This is why some Palestinians are cheered by the presence of international witnesses for peace, who are willing to live among Palestinians and learn from them. It reminds them that there are still people in the international community who believe that Palestinians should be able to live with freedom, peace, security and independence. It helps bring a small amount of hope into a situation that has caused an enormous amount of suffering.
A Smattering of Thoughts Around the West Bank
I have never been so proud of humanity as I have been in Palestine. Despite the overwhelming oppression and difficulty to survive here, there are people in the West Bank struggling not only to survive but thrive. I am in Café Sima now, owned by a Palestinian woman who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and has returned home to Bethlehem. No matter how silly it may seem, I swear that every cappuccino and dessert she serves is an act of resistance.
an occupation poem
little girl
all dressed up
with no place to go.
you’re smiling at us
and I don’t understand why
you choose to show that emotion
in this place of all places—surrounded
by memories of death and a feeling of being
trapped
in poverty and injustice
barricading you in—a Wall whose harsh, raw concrete
glares down at you and tells you that you are nothing.
but it does not reflect your spirit, somehow intact within.
if God has any mercy, may God somehow leave that
A Most Amazing Place
In traffic that can only be described cacophonous, I entered Bethlehem, the city of Jesus’ birth. And that’s the strangest part about coming here. In the most fleeting of times does it hit me that this is the place where it all went down - where the shepherds walked, where Boaz lived, and where the birth of the one who was to change the world came into humanity. Maybe one expects to feel different. To see the desert and the people and be flooded with the internalization of the story, and come to some sort of immediate epiphany. That doesn’t seem to be how it works. It’s slower than that.
A Summer Encounter Photo Essay
J.M. Stratford's Blog
Palestine Summer Encounter 2008
Well, I am sitting here in my bedroom in Beit Sahour wishing I were out watching the Euro tournament futbol game with my friends from the PSE program, but I signed up to write this blog a couple of weeks ago (and I’m already a few days late, having spent the weekend traveling instead of blogging). Keeping my own personal blog for family and friends back in the States, I’ve done about all the writing I care to do for a while. So instead of expressing myself through just a lot of words, I thought instead I could share, using something that I really enjoy—photography—through a “photo essay” of my experience with the PSE program thus far.Blog by JMS
Palestine Summer Encounter 2008
Each time I’ve explained to someone what I’m doing this summer, my explanation has included several key factors of the PSE program: I say that I am 1) living with a Palestinian host family in the Bethlehem metro area; 2) taking Arabic courses; 3) volunteering with a non-profit organization; and 4) taking trips and meeting with people of the region to gain insight into the conflict. Here is a little evidence and a little deeper explanation:
