For nineteen years, MECA has taken small groups to visit Palestine/Israel. On MECA's twelve-day delegation you will be taken on a geographic, political, historical and cultural tour of Palestine/Israel by two MECA staff people, and Yacoub Odeh, refugee, former political prisoner, and human rights worker.

We will travel by van to witness the impact of the Israeli occupation and visit organizations working for justice and equality. You will learn about refugees, land confiscation, political prisoners, women's initiatives, mental and physical health issues, civil rights in Israel, and the lives of children.

The group of eight to twelve people will stay at the guesthouse of MECA's long-time partner Ibdaa Cultural Center in Dheisheh Refugee Camp, near Bethlehem. Ibdaa is a lively place in the heart of the community with great food and comfortable accommodations.

Trip Cost: $1,800

Includes:
Shared room accommodation at Ibdaa Guest House and elsewhere
Local ground transportation
All meals
Honoraria for hosts, speakers, organizations

Highlights of the trip include:

Ibdaa Cultural Center in Dheisheh Refugee Camp, where we will meet the youth and children of the center and tour the camp. We'll learn about the origins of the Palestinian refugees and the Right of Return, and how it can be implemented.

The destroyed village of Lifta with Yacoub Odeh, born and raised in Lifta until his family was forced out in 1948.

Israeli refusniks who won't serve in the military and other Israeli-Jewish activists who are opposing the policies of their government and the inequality in their society. We will also visit organizations working on civil rights for Palestinians in Israel.

Hebron with a journalist whose family has lived in city for generations to see the impact of the Israeli settlers and army presence inside the city, and we will tour the settlement itself.

A Bedouin village inside Israel and the activists who are fighting forced removal from their lands. We'll see the conditions in Israel's "unrecognized villages" with the Regional Council of Unrecognized villages in the Negev.

The Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign on a tour of rural areas affected by the Wall to learn about its impact on the land, the economy, and the social fabric of the communities.

Guided tour of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, looking at settlement expansion, home demolitions, and the effects of the Wall.

Other towns, refugee camps, and MECA-supported projects