Category: Living Stones Pilgrimage

2019 Living Stones Pilgrimage Registration is open!

Join Pilgrims of Ibillin to meet today’s Peacemakers in 2019
in Palestine and Israel! View a sample itinerary.

Mar Elias High School English class, teacher, and pilgrimage guests
  • If you’re more interested in meeting people than exploring ancient ruins (though you’ll do both);
  • if you want to walk where Jesus walked but also meet descendants of his neighbors and relatives;
  • if you want behind-the-scenes exposure to the Israeli/Palestinian situation, beyond what you see in mainstream media coverage; PLEASE JOIN US!

Click here for full itinerary and registration information for May 13-26 trip,

and click here for October 15-28 info and registration. Register now for  Living Stones Pilgrimages.

This tour is active and strenuous, and the schedule keeps us busy. Participants should be comfortable walking on uneven walkways with lots of hills, sometimes for an hour or more. (Use of walking poles or canes is fine, but be prepared for a few times when rest stops might be an hour apart.)

Questions? Please email or call or text Joan Deming, the tour leader: jdeming7@gmail.com or 608-235-1046.

Violence against the Peacemakers, Bethlehem 2015

How Wi'am's yard used to look - before being fire-bombed
How Wi’am’s yard used to look – before being fire-bombed

Sharing concern for our partners/friends at Wi’am, the Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center in Bethlehem:

Yesterday, 7 December, the Israeli Defense Force’s response to stone-throwing children caused terrible damage at Wi’am. Stone-throwing and IDF response are daily occurences, but this damage is by far the worst. Outdoor lights broken, electricity into the Wi’am building damaged, seating destroyed, a shade and its frame burned beyond repair, another garden shade torn down, dozens of tear gas and sound grenade canisters littering the Wi’am garden and yard.

We have shared events in this yard with Palestinians and an array of international friends at Wi’am twice this year for significant community events. The first was during our May pilgrimage: a communion service with Pax Christi International, a very moving service of unity and bridge-building. The second was a women’s ecumenical prayer service, late October, to pray for peace.

Wi’am is one of our Pilgrims of Ibillin peace-building partners, and this yard is part of our home in Bethlehem. Share this! People need to know how bad the situation has become. And if you want to contribute to Wi’am to help them recover from the damage, gifts to Pilgrims of Ibillin (designated “Wi’am”) will go 100% to Wi’am. You can give through Pilgrims’ website: www.pilgrimsofibillin.org.

Wi'am yard, immediately next to ground zero for protests in Bethlehem. IDF claims Wi'am damage is just collateral result of stone-throwing.
Wi’am yard, immediately next to ground zero for protests in Bethlehem. IDF claims Wi’am damage is just collateral result of stone-throwing.
This table is a survivor.
This table is a survivor.
Wi'am staff members survey the damage
Wi’am staff members survey the damage
Shredded and burned "shade" from Wi'am yard
Shredded and burned “shade” from Wi’am yard

 

Meet the Living Stones of Israel/Palestine with Pilgrims of Ibillin!

Registration is open for two pilgrimages led by Pilgrims of Ibillin in 2015: 

If you’ve read Blood Brothers by Father Elias Chacour or followed the unique Mar Elias Schools he founded in Ibillin, Israel, don’t miss this opportunity!   For a study tour that’s more than a tourist experience of Israel/Palestine, please join us! Contact the tour leader at jdeming7@gmail.com or 608-241-9281. Click on either date for a full itinerary and registration information.

Pilgrimage Group after tree-planting at Mar Elias
Pilgrimage Group after tree-planting at Mar Elias

~Stay 4 nights in Ibillin on the campus of the Mar Elias Educational Institutions (located between Haifa, Akko, and Nazareth). Walk where Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, but get to know his brothers, sisters, and neighbors in today’s Galilee as well. Visit Abuna Chacour’s native village of Biram, and Jesus’ native “village” of Nazareth. Meet with Abuna if his schedule permits. Talk with students in Mar Elias classes and over meals together in the Guesthouse.

~ Share an overnight with a family in Zababdeh and visit upper West Bank programs (Canaan Fair Trade Olive Factory, St. George Melkite Church ministries in Zababdeh) and holy sites (Sebastia, Jacob’s Well, Church of the Ten Lepers).

~ Stay 6 nights in Bethlehem and visit sites in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron, and the Dead Sea. Meet leaders of Wi’am, the Diyar Consortium, B’Tselem, OCHA, ICAHD, and the Tent of Nations. Experience the Holy Land as “the Fifth Gospel.” Visit Ramle, meet Dalia Landau, co-founder, and leaders of The Open House in Ramle (story found in The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan).

~ Leave with new stories to share, realities to ponder, and Facebook friends to keep!

 Click here for a full brochure for May pilgrimage.  This pilgrimage will begin in Ibillin and end in Bethlehem.

Click here for a full brochure for October Pilgrimage.  The fall pilgrimage will begin in Bethlehem and end in Ibillin.