Palestine Packages
VISIT PALESTINE
This year Mina Tours UK is offering two trips to Palestine. One is the Protective Presence Trip and the other is The Taste of Palestine Tour, which is run in conjunction with The Amos Trust. Both of these trips are timed to coincide with the annual olive harvest, usually around the end of October.
We’re sorry not to be promoting the usual visits to Palestine for olive harvest season, until the danger of transmission of COVID19 is clearly past, we do not want to risk taking the virus into Palestinian communities. Palestine has managed the risk to health relatively well so far, especially given the lack of health infrastructure and density of population particularly in refugee camps and in Gaza.
If you have already expressed an interest in either trip, we will keep you updated with news of future trips. We also hope to bring you news of the harvest via interviews, video clips and other ways to stay connected with the farmers we support, over the olive harvest season.
Please subscribe to the Mina Tours UK newsletter to be kept updated and hear more about the farmers we work with and other news from Palestine.
The Taste of Palestine Culinary Tour is a 10-day trip with our friends at The Amos Trust based in the kitchens, restaurants and markets of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Sebastia and Nazareth where you will begin to understand the issues over the kitchen table. Spend time picnicking by the Sea of Galilee, cooking with families, harvesting olives and standing in solidarity with the communities in the South Hebron Hills. From Wednesday 9th to Friday 18th October 2019, this trip is full board and includes return flights from London to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. CLICK HERE to book your place on the 2019 Taste of Palestine Culinary Tour.
The Protective Presence Trip is a chance for volunteers to spend a fortnight alongside the olive farmers in the groves and offer solidarity as they bring their valuable harvest home. Mina Tours UK works with the Friends of Madama and Burin to coordinate the teams’ placement within different villages in the Salfit and Nablus areas. All volunteers complete an initial application form, followed by a telephone interview and a training and assessment weekend in Britain before acceptance onto the team.
THE PROTECTIVE PRESENCE TRIP
Selection process
In the UK we ask interested volunteers to complete an application form which is followed up by a phone interview. A training and assessment weekend is later organised by the Friends of Madama and Burin where the team discusses the practice of non-violence in the specific context of Palestine and the cultural issues involved. In one or two cases the applicant may be considered unsuitable for the tour.
We start in Jerusalem where members of the group meet, staying at hostels or hotels at their own expense, before setting off the next day for the West Bank by public transport. The group is split into three or four teams, staying in different villages for the fortnight, with one day off. This gives time for side-trips to Nablus, Ramallah or Jericho.
Volunteers need to be fit, able to walk about 5 km a day, often uphill over steep, rough terrain, as well as harvest from early morning till late afternoon. Conditions are basic with shared bedrooms and washing facilities for which we pay a modest rent to the house-owner. Cooking facilities are rudimentary, but village shops are reasonably well stocked. Volunteers must be ready to share cooking and/or cleaning responsibilities in the house they stay in - a kitty system is set up for food.
It is not all tough though. The Palestinians are welcoming and appreciative of our presence as it means they have not been forgotten. Harvesting itself is sociable and fun, bringing friendships with the farming families and also between the volunteers. One of the greatest pleasures is sitting down for a sunny picnic lunch in an olive grove, sharing farmers' homemade food (laced with fresh olive oil) and our own contributions, and hearing their stories. Another is getting a tractor ride to or from the olive grove!
We offer solidarity to the farming communities who are most at risk from settler and army harassment in the West Bank. Settler violence and the military closure of olive groves and access routes have created severe problems for Palestinian farmers and families. The groves that are closest to Israeli settlements are most threatened. Although our presence usually deters attacks, volunteers have on occasion been targeted.
For the last few years we have been part of the Protection Cluster in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This is coordinated by OHCHR (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) to collate information about antagonistic settler activity; we register any incident that we witness, whether theft of olives, destruction of trees or actual physical attacks. This provides statistical evidence of settler violence and the lack of law enforcement and accountability by Israeli authorities. Participation in the harvest can be life-changing. The opportunity to witness at first-hand the conditions in villages of the occupied West Bank enables better campaigning against the injustices as well as an understanding of the value of olive oil in the fragile Palestinian economy. Just as importantly, however, are the friendships struck up by our visits, as these personal connections with the Palestinians bring authenticity and passion to the articles and talks we make on our return. We welcome applications from people of all ages, backgrounds and with differing levels of experience in NVDA and the Palestinian context. Below you will find more information in reports and photographs from past volunteers.
Please email us at Info@minatours.co.uk if you are interested in joining us in 2019 for two weeks of the harvest in Palestinian olive groves.
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