Pilgrims is hosting a conversation with Usama Nicola of Wi’am and Dr. Celene Lillie
If you are registered, you will receive a secure link. Check this site for the recording of the webinar to be held Saturday, October 31, 12 noon (Eastern Time) – a Webinar via Zoom. Usama Nicola, Celene Lillie, and Brenda Mehos were leading the October Pilgrimage now cancelled due to COVID-19. This webinar is an hour long “virtual hike” while we hope to reschedule the pilgrimage in May 2021.
Webinar Donations will be shared with Wil’am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center
Registration FULL for October 31 Zoom Webinar
“Resistance in Battir- Then and Now”
Walk with Us Through Time to the West Bank Village Battir, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Battir Valley is thick with presence, holding memories from ancient to modern times. The Roman road in the bowl of the valley, dotted with ancient tombs, weaves through ancient olive groves still tended by the nearby Palestinians. The village of Battir holds the remnants of the last stronghold of the Bar Kokhba revolt and the plaque commemorating the Romans who crushed it in 135 CE, while the terraced hills, predating that time, still flourish with the gardens of the people who live there.
In the not-so-distant past, the people of Battir drew on their amazing creativity to save the village during the war in 1948—and this creative resistance in the face of overwhelming forces that threaten their land continues to this day. Please join us as we learn together about the 2000 year history of this beautiful land and it’s amazing people who have much to teach us about the power of creative, nonviolent resistance.
Meet our Webinar Leaders, Usama Nicola and Dr. Celene Lillie
Usama Nicola is the Citizens Diplomacy Project coordinator along with Zoughbi at Wi’am in Bethlehem (The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center). Wi’am is one of our Peace Partner organizations and our West Bank tour planner. Since its inception, Wi’am has offered alternative tourist programs with opportunities for individuals and groups to visit the Holy places (Holy Stones) and the people (Living Stones) and as an introduction to the socio-economic and political conditions (Rolling Stones).
Celene Lillie completed her Masters of Divinity and Ph.D. at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and is a historian of early Christian texts. She currently works as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oklahoma, and The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. She lectures nationally, most often with the Jesus Seminar, and has recently been named as the inaugural Dean of the Westar Academy. Celene is the author of several books including The Rape of Eve: The Transformation of Roman Ideology in Three Early Christian Retellings of Genesis.
Register for October 31 Zoom Webinar
Click the Register button (above) for the October 31 Zoom Webinar and receive a secure registration and link for the event. Donations collected from the webinar will be split between Pilgrims and Wi’am: Palestinian Center for Conflict Transformation, Bethlehem, who is suffering greatly from the cancellation of tourism right now.