Greetings from Jerusalem! I’m here to prepare APN’s Israel Study Tour, which will be November 12-17, 2016. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve met with Israelis and Palestinians, and discussed plans for the tour with my friends at Israel’s Peace Now movement. 

I grew up in Jerusalem, spent most of my life in Israel, and usually travel here twice a year. Still, I’m always amazed at how much I learn each time I come here, particularly when I accompany an APN Study Tour group. Israel is incredibly dynamic. It’s full of contradictions. It’s ever-changing. It’s both exhausting and comforting. It’s troubling and inspiring. It's both emotionally and intellectually provoking. At APN, we try to pack this complexity into five overloaded days of tours and meetings with Israelis and Palestinians throughout Israel and the West Bank.

Our tours typically end with a meeting with Peace Now’s young activists. I had a chance to meet with seven student activists at Peace Now’s Tel Aviv office. They came in for a briefing and left with “activist kits” – t-shirts, flags, stickers and more -- to use on campus (I snapped a photo of a couple of them on their way out). Some will march today, Thursday, in Jerusalem to show solidarity with participants at Jerusalem’s Pride and Tolerance Parade, to protest the homophobic violence that led last year to the murder of 16-year-old Shira Banki, a Jerusalemite high-schooler, who marched in solidarity with her gay friends and was stabbed to death by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish zealot.

I spent several hours with Peace Now’s young activists. There’s nothing better if you’re looking for a dose of inspiration and hope for Israel’s future. 

I can’t wait for our November 12th-17th tour. I hope you’ll join us. We know that, as usual, it will be an engaging, fascinating tour. And as you'll see below, our home base, the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, offers the chance to unwind in the heart of this unique city.

Please feel free to write to me or to my colleague David Pine with any questions you may have about the tour. Below are links for more information and how to reserve your spot. We’d love to see you in Jerusalem in November.

Ori Nir
APN Director of Communications and Public Engagements

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Go HERE for more about the Study Tour, and HERE for a working schedule of this year's trip.

To secure your place on this unique, small-group tour experience, print out and complete this FORM and return to APN by mail or email with the deposit (payable by check or credit card). Deposit deadline is August 31, 2016, after which we will be able to accept participants if space allows.