Guidelines for Presbyterian-related Trips
to Israel and Palestine (Download PDF)
Developed by the New Jersey Israel/Palestine Education Group, a state-wide Presbyterian task force:
1. Overarching framework
- Presbyterian Religious Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
- Visiting key biblical and historical sites
- Peacemaking, reconciliation, respect for narratives of all involved, and advocacy for faithful justice and nonviolence
- Presbyterian initiatives that welcome participants from ecumenical partners
2. Intended Outcomes
- Increased knowledge of biblical and historical dimensions of vital Christian faith
- Deepened faith in God, heightened sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit, and increased commitment to following Jesus Christ
- Develop awareness of Presbyterian history and contributions to the region
- Initiation or strengthening of partnerships and solidarity with the churches in Israel and the Palestinian Territories
- Appreciation for the complex range of Palestinian and Jewish narratives and development of ability to articulate those narratives in a way that can facilitate dialogue with Jewish and Arab partners in the U.S. context
- Commitment to participating in a national network of Presbyterians who have participated in a Presbyterian-related trip and to support efforts to educate and advocate for a just and durable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Identification of a potential partner(s) with whom to enter into a longer-term relationship or partnership
- Commitment to the things that make for peace with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the PC(USA) and with members of legislative and executive branches of U.S. government
- Commitment to educate U.S. Presbyterians about “on-the-ground” from local perspective and to deepen the peace and justice witness of individual Presbyterians, congregations, presbyteries, and the General Assembly
3. Operating Principles
- Seek out multiplicity of views
- Experience home stays with both Palestinian and Israeli families
- Develop significant exposure to the Palestinian Territories
- Share in fellowship and worship with Christian communities and their leaders
- Integrate worship and prayer into daily group life
- Converse with PC(USA) contacts on the ground (whenever possible)
- Meet with ecumenical partners
- Keep costs within range of affordability (e.g. $2,500-2,700 for 10 days on the ground)
- Prepare adequately (especially through study of religious, historical, and political dimensions of the situation)
- Commit to provide interpretative and advocacy leadership to churches and other groups upon return
4. Resources
A. Connections
B. Suggested Books for Preparatory Study
Primary Reading List (Don’t leave home without having read these!):
Chacour, Elias. Blood Brothers (Chosen Books, 2003)
Cohn-Sherbok, Dan and Dawoud El-Alami. The Palestinian-Israeli Conflct: A Beginner’s Guide (Oneworld Publications, 2003 rev. ed.)
Presbyterian Church (USA) documents on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (see especially: http://www.pcusa.org/worldwide/israelpalestine/gastatements.htm.
Tolan, Sandy. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2006)
Wiesel, Elie. The Night Trilogy (Hill and Wang, 2004).
Secondary Reading List:
Ateek, Naim. Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation (Orbis, 1989)
Ben-Sasson, Hayim. A History of the Jewish People (Harvard University Press, 1985)
Burge, Gary. Whose Land? Whose Promise?: What Christians are not Being Told about Israel and the Palestinians (Pilgrim, 2003).
Carter, Jimmy. Palestine Peace not Apartheid (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006)
Cragg, Kenneth. The Arab Christian: A History in the Middle East (Westminster John Knox, 1991)
Feuerverger, Grace.Oasis of Dreams: Teaching and Learning in Jewish- Palestinian Village in Israel (RoutledgeFalmer, 2001)
Gorenberg, Gershom. The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of Settlements, 1967-1977 (Owl, 2007)
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples (Warner, 1992)
Idilby, Ranya et al. The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew – Three Women Search for Understanding (Free Press, 2007)
Lynd, Staughton, Sam Bahour, and Alice Lynd. Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (Olive Branch Press, 1994)
Morris, Benny. Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001 (Vintage, 2001)
Pappe, Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Oxford: Oneworld, 2006)
________. The Modern History of Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (Cambridge, 2006)
Patterson, Richard North. Exile (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2007)
Raheb, Mitri. I am a Palestinian Christian (Augsburg Fortress, 1995)
Rosenthal, Donna. The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land (Free Press, 2003)
Scheindlin, Raymond. A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood (Oxford, 2000)
Shipler, David K. Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in the Promised Land (Penguin, 2001 rev. ed.)
Tessler, Mark. A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Indiana University Press, 1994)
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