In October 2019, 23 congregants from UUCA and two from other UU congregations travelled with Rev. Terasa Cooley of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (UUCA) on a tour of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
https://www.mejditours.com/open-tour/uuca-ip-tour/
The tour began in Jerusalem with MEJDI’s industry-first, Dual Narrative Tour™ experience! This means that two local tour guides – one Israeli and one Palestinian – each provided their narratives and perspectives. In addition to the ancient holy sites of Jerusalem, the delegation from UUCA met Palestinian and Israeli people of today, including those on both sides who are actively working for peaceful and equitable solutions to conflict. There were three days of homestays with families in Bethlehem, visits to Hebron, to Nazareth in the Galilee, floating in the Dead Sea. This included a visit to a settlement, a Bedouin village threatened with demolition, and a visit in the home of a villager where weekly demonstrations occur as they protest the loss of land and their water spring. One of the tour’s final stays was at the intentional village of Neve Shalom in Israel which clearly illustrates that Jews and Arabs CAN live together and share their differing cultures, histories and languages in democratic union in which they differ but do so as a cohesive community. In English, Neve Shalom means “Oasis of Peace” in Hebrew; in Arabic, it’s called Wahat Al-Salaam. Israelis and Palestinians created the village some 40 years ago, and it is a beacon of hope for what can be the region’s future.