A BRIDGE TO BETHLEHEM

February 27th – March 6th 2009

Friday, February 27th : 10.15 am: Departure from ROME-Fiumicino. 14.25 pm: arrival in TEL- AVIV (local time, the flight is 4 hours). Welcome and first meetings in order to start feeling the experience of the trip. Silent walk for justice through the check-point and stops along the apartheid wall. Transfer and night in BETHLEHEM.

Saturday, February 28th: meetings and stories by the Bethlehem inhabitants. In the afternoon Rosary for the victims of oppression played together with the Nuns of Caritas Baby Hospital. Night in Bethlehem

Sunday, March 1st: DAY AGAINST THE WALL. Mass with the youth of Bethlehem and the Patriarch, Mons. Twal. Via Crucis through the places which are witnessing suffering and through the streets of Bethlehem. Night in Bethlehem

Monday, March 2nd : Departure for NAZARETH. Visit to the Annunciation Basilica and official meetings. Night in Nazareth.

Tuesday, March 3rd: Two different programms: in NABLUS or in the Galilee region of the destroid villages in 1948.

Wednesday, March 4th: Morning transfer to ABOUD. Meeting with the people of te village and Abouna Firas. Transfer to TAYBEH and RAMALLAH. Meeting with the authorities.

Thursday, March 5th: Visit to JERUSALEM. Visit of the old city and its holy places: the Temple Mount, Western Wall and Holy Sepulchre. Lunch in the suq. In the afternoon, official meetings and walk along the Wall, the illegal settlements and the refugee camps. Dinner and night in Taybeh.

Friday, March 6th:
Visit to Emmaus-Latrun destroid villages. Departure for TEL-AVIV airport. 15.35 flight from TelAviv to ROME. 18.25 arrival in Rome.

A BRIDGE TO BETHLEHEM – OFFICIAL MEETINGS with the Authorities
● In Ramallah, with the Mayor of the City
● In Bethlehem, with the Rector of University
● In Jerusalem, with a member of the Knesset
● In Nablus, with the Governor of the Region
● In Nazareth, with our partner Arab Human Rights Association
● In Jerusalem, with the Rabbi Roberto Arbib