See more photos of the visit
A 10 day program in Palestine was organized by the JAI, from the 26th of September to the 6th of October 2018, for 30 students of the Global Safari class, plus their teacher and the school headmaster, at a JAI partner YMCA-YWCA Norway related Sunnmøre Folk High School.
Their visit included guided tours in various areas and spots in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the Israeli wall-settlements-bypass roads in the Bethlehem area, old cities of Hebron and Jerusalem where their witnessed the closures, settlements and harassments Palestinians are subjected to.
Visits were made to Walaja village, west of Bethlehem, where they met two of the Palestinian families whose building was demolished by the Israeli occupation forces 4 weeks ago. Another visit and tour was also made inside Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, where they also met and chatted with refugee youth, who performed some Dabkeh Palestinian Folklore Dance to them.
At Nabi Saleh village, near Ramallah, they met with people from the popular resistance committee, and listened to the stories of the young Janna Tamimi and Nour Tamimi. At one of the early mornings, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) made them a guide tour outside and through the Israeli checkpoint, from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) took them in a guided tour around Jerusalem with briefing about Israeli activism against occupation.
A visit to Bethlehem University, with meetings and chattings with the students, was also organized, as well as a visit and tour at the Tent of Nations threatened land in Nahhalin. In one evening, the Norwegian students met and had ice-breaking games and sub-groups chattings with some YMCA youth in Beit Sahour, including dinner together.
The Norwegian students were introduced to the JAI work, with it Olive Tree Campaign following a geopolitical background, the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) Campaign by Omar Barghouthi in Ramallah, and the ongoing displacement of Palestinians-refugees-right of return by Badil Center, the Palestinian Kairos Christians Initiative by JAI manager Nidal AbuZuluf, as well as the geopolitical situation in Hebron by the Temporarily International Presence in Hebron (TIPH).