May 2010 Delegation

Voices of the Peacemakers: From Roots to Reconciliation

May 23- June 5, 2010

Delegation Leaders: Anna Baltzer and Cathy Sultan

Co-Sponsored with the National Peace Foundation

This delegation will explore Palestinian and Israeli efforts to achieve peace and a resolution to their conflict based on justice.  The delegation will feature meetings with Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers — leaders of civil society groups, grassroots organizers, religious leaders and more.  Given the current situation in the West Bank, the delegation will focus on learning about the current challenges facing nonviolent activists resisting occupation. May also marks the annual commemoration of Israel’s independence and the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) and the birth of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Your participation as an eyewitness to the situation will enrich your understanding of the conflict and empower your work back in the United States.

As with all delegations, you will meet with ‘ordinary’ Israelis and Palestinians, and people and organizations working for peace and justice. Delegates will confront and analyze the US role in the conflict and wrestle with ways to translate your experience to others when you return home.

To learn more about the standard components of all delegations, click here.

To express interest in this delegation and get updates and more information (leaders, co-sponsors, etc) as it becomes available, send us an email so we'll be sure to add you to the May 2010 delegation mailing list. Send an email to .

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until late March, 2010. Apply early to reserve and lock in lower airfares.

Download Application for the Delegation Here

Leaders

Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American Columbia graduate, former-Fulbright scholar, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer, author, and activist for Palestinian human rights. As a volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service in the West Bank, Baltzer documented human rights abuses and supported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Baltzer has appeared on television more than 100 times and lectured at more than 400 universities, schools, churches, mosques, and synagogues around the world with her acclaimed presentation, "Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos," and her full-color book: Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. In 2009, Baltzer received the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee's prestigious Annual Rachel Corrie Peace & Justice Award and a Certificate of Commendation from the Governor of Wisconsin for her commitment to justice in the Holy Land. She is a contributor to three upcoming books on the subject and serves on the Middle East committee of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom and the Board of Directors of The Research Journalism Initiative, Grassroots Jerusalem, and The Council for the National Interest.

Cathy Sultan lived in Beirut, Lebanon with her Lebanese husband and two small children from 1969 to 1983.  In March 2002, Cathy traveled to Jerusalem and the West Bank to better understand the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. She interviewed Palestinians in refugee camps, scholars, Israeli soldiers, teenagers, teachers, businessmen and peace activists.  Sultan sits on the Executive Board of the National Peace Foundation, an NGO in Washington, D.C., where she coordinates programs designed to educate NPF members about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She has published three books: A Beirut Heart: One Woman’s War, Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides, and Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006. Cathy has led two past IFPB delegations.

Logistics

The cost of the delegation will be $2100. This includes 13 days of the delegation, hotel and home stay accommodations, breakfasts and dinners, local transportation, guides, speaker/event fees, basic tips and gratuities. Partial scholarships may be available for those with demonstrable need.

The cost does not include domestic and international airfare. Interfaith Peace-Builders works with a local travel agent in Jerusalem to secure the best group rates for the delegation to travel together on the same flight from Washington, DC to Israel/Palestine. Therefore, delegates do not need to book their own international airfare.

Delegates will be expected make arrangements to be in Washington DC by 2pm on May 23, 2010.

Click here to learn much more about delegation specifics,
including who we meet, cost, application information