PALESTINE - ISRAEL - JORDAN - SINAI

Off the beaten track tours • Visit sites • Meet locals • Discuss Human Rights & Politics

Memories of a Day in Bethlehem

by Neil GunnI was looking forward to my first visit to Bethlehem so it was particularly good, on that September morning, to leave my depressing Jerusalem hotel room and head off into the early sunshine. The Jaffa Road was coming to life and the ‘ting ting’ sound of the Jerusalem Light Railway could be heard […]

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Obamarama

By Miri – Tel Aviv is frequently referred to as “the bubble”, and rarely anything seems to be able to affect its integrity, its sense of an ideal world. Not even a visit by President Obama.Except for the indifferent Tel Avivians everybody else in the region seems to have gotten excited quite a bit by […]

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The Palestinian Costume – Embroidered HerStories

By Miri – One thing that keeps on impressing me about Palestine is its endless local variety, its heterogeneity. You can be in one village in the West Bank and hear people making jokes about the particular accent of the neighbouring village, which is not even a kilometre away. As someone whose Arabic is far […]

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And then there’s that Wall…

By Marianna Hillmer-Wiechmann – Marianna Hillmer-Wiechmann went on our Greater Jerusalem Tour and on our Hebron and Bethlehem Tour. In this article (for the German original see here) she puts her impressions into word and image. It does not take long to get from Jerusalem to the Wall. This huge wall, that Israel has built […]

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The Nativity Trail 2012

By Miri – If Mary and Joseph were to embark on their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in 2012 their experiences would obviously be very differently. Let’s trace their trail and see what they would discover today and which obstacles they would have to overcome in order to reach Bethlehem. The Separation Barrier around Jenin […]

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The Exodus of Palestinian Christians from the Holy Land

By Miri – Palestine/Israel is unquestionably the birthplace of Christianity. Documentation of pilgrimages to the Holy Land dates back to as early as the 4th century and still today Christians make up the majority of visitors to Israel. Since tourism constitutes one of the major sources of income of the Israeli state, the government is […]

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The Nakba in Israeli Society

By Miri Today, May 15th marks Nakba Day. Nakba means “catastrophe“ in Arabic and refers to 1) the events that took place during the war of 1947/1948, usually referred to by the Jewish-Israel discourse as the War of Independence, during which an estimated number of 750,000 Palestinians were expelled and/or fled from their homes and […]

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Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity – Beyond Holiness…

The Church of Nativity in Bethlehem is unquestionably one of the top tourist sites in the region, and obviously any holy land pilgrimage, any Bethlehem tour, but also other West Bank tours usually include a visit of the supposed birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.The relevance of the site to pilgrims is obvious, but also architecturally, historically, […]

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Talking Walls

By Miri Graffiti is not a phenomenon that came up with the emergence of hip hop culture. It is definitely not a Western or a modern appearance, in fact it is a global practice that can be traced back to ancient times. If you think about it, cave paintings can be considered graffiti as well, […]

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Al Jazeera features Green Olive Tours

Green Olive Tours had the pleasure to host an Al Jazeera television crew on a scheduled tour to Bethlehem and Hebron. It was one of the largest tours of 2011 with over 30 participants. An Israeli and a Palestinian, Fred Schlomka and Samer Kokaly guided the tour, which visited Abraham’s Tomb, the old city of […]

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Christians in Bethlehem

Today I received an email with an important question so I thought to share my answer here. I am confused. Why did the Christian Arabs living in Bethlehem leave?J.N. Before the state of Israel was established, about 20% of the residents of Mandate Palestine were Christian. Many of them fled or were expelled during Israel’s […]

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Letter from a friend

This email was received from Gaye Paterson (USA) who kindly gave permission to share her thoughts with you. Dear Fred, You are a very special person taking on this adventure. Sadly I see the politics of Israel getting more and more right wing and now this dangerous proposal of the “Loyalty Oath”. I loved your […]

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