Updates

July 2021 “Save the Tent of Nations” Update

August 7, 2021/in Updates/by admin

July 2021

Dear Friend and Supporter of Tent of Nations,

You have been a supporter of Tent of Nations or are receiving this message from a friend or colleague who wishes to inform you about this urgent situation. As you know, Tent of Nations is a peace project located on a farm owned for over 100 years by the Nassar family, located 6 miles southwest of Bethlehem in the occupied Palestinian territories. Since 2001, Tent of Nations has been a place where “people from many different countries come together to learn, to share, and to build bridges of understanding and hope.” The Nassar family runs empowerment programs for women and children in the local area and welcomes thousands of international visitors every year, inspired by the courageous and steadfast stand of this family for justice and peace.

Recent events have raised the concern that the farm is at increased risk of destruction or confiscation. On May 21, 2021, more than 1,000 fruit trees were destroyed by arson. On June 9, 2021, the Israeli military entered the farm with vehicles and a bulldozer, destroying over 50 trees and damaging the terraced land. In the last few months, the Nassar family have been under increased pressure as the pace of settlement expansion, construction of roads for settlers that restrict the movement of Palestinians, and the use of checkpoints has accelerated. Taken together, these acts are intended to pressure the family to leave their home so that the land can be taken and incorporated into the adjacent Israeli settlement.

Of greatest concern at this time is the delay in the re-registration of the property. Since 1991, the Nassar family has been in the Israeli Military and Supreme Courts defending their land from demolition and confiscation. The process has been subject to continued delays on the part of Israel, requiring that the Nassars re-initiate the process multiple times. Finally, in 2019, the Nassars received confirmation that their re-registration application to establish ownership was complete. After two more years of additional delays, a meeting was held in February 2021 by the Israeli Registration Committee, the purpose of which was to determine and inform the family about next steps for re-registration. Despite repeated inquiries, the Nassars continue to await notification of the results of that meeting.

Given recent events, the delay in the land re-registration process exposes the Nassar’s farm to severe risk. It is critical that the re-registration process of the Nassar land be concluded without further delay and that no demolition or eviction orders are issued. Completion of the land re-registration constitutes Israeli authorities’ recognition of the Nassars as the private owners of this land and ends their legal struggle.

Your help is needed to exert pressure on Israel to stop issuing demolition and eviction orders and to complete the re-registration of the land.

Here is what you can do:

1. Sign this petition, which will be delivered to the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S. Embassy in Israel.

2. Contact your senators and representatives. Urge them to ask the State Department to question the Israeli government about the Israeli Military’s recent acts of destruction of Nassar property and the delays of the re-registration.

Click here for scripts to guide your phone calls and emails.
Click here to download a one-page backgrounder on Tent of Nations that you can send on to your representatives and to others.

Use these links to obtain the contact information for your elected representatives:

House of Representatives:

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Senate:

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy%253Dstate%2526Sort%253DASC

Thank you for your longtime support for the work of the Nassar family. You may forward this email to trusted others. We will keep you apprised of developments.

In solidarity,

Friends of Tent of Nations North America

Become a Volunteer

November 14, 2017/in Updates/by admin

Except for the COVID-19 pandemic time since March 2020, volunteers have always been needed for to help out on the Nassar family farm. As soon as travel is possible again, post-pandemic, international volunteers will be needed and welcomed again. Stay tuned for announcements when travel re-opens!

In addition to supporting the actual work carried out on the land, the presence of international volunteers helps keep the Israeli Military and illegal settlers off the land. Volunteers provide a cadré of possible eyewitnesses to any effort to demolish animal pens, trees, compost toilets, tents, etc.; you need to be both hard-working and observant. Visit the Tent of Nations website for information on volunteering.

The Tent of Nations website has a volunteer application form with detailed descriptions of the kinds of work needed. Volunteers are expected to help defray the costs of their time on the farm, which sounds like an oxymoron: Who pays someone for the privilege of volunteering? Well, it is a privilege in so many ways, but there is an expense present that the family is not yet able to cover. They are on their way to making the farm self-sufficient, but that time has not yet come. Meanwhile, fees from volunteers cover costs of food and water, laundry needs, bedding, transportation costs, etc. The fee is minimal and decreases for long-term volunteers.

The biggest benefits to volunteering on the farm come in small packages:

planting a tree and nurturing the roots as they take a strong hold in the rocky soil;
picking grapes and watching them turned into wine, raisins, jam;
hauling rocks and turning them into walls of support;
watching as a child at the Summer Camp smiles as he or she pets a donkey for the first time or swings high into the freedom of the open air;
learning about yourself and the wider world around you;
getting to know others from around the world;
giving back when you are given so much;
singing around an open campfire with friends and colleagues after a day of hard work;
picking olives or almonds or apples or figs, one at a time; and
sharing a glorious sunset in a part of the world you never expected to visit – the Holy Land.

You pay a small price for these memories; you reap huge personal rewards from your work.

Scholarship Funds:

Friends of Tent of Nations North America (FOTONNA) is looking for ways to support individuals who would like to travel to the farm and work there but who may not have the financial means to do so. There are two ways to seek financial aid through our Scholarship Funds: 1) If traveling by yourself, contact Andie Sweetman, a FOTONNA Steering Committee member, for information and an application form (andie.sweetman@gmail.com); you would also need to complete the general application form on the Tent Of Nations website. We are prepared to help with some of your travel expenses and all of your volunteer expenses for as long as you spend time on the farm, but you must stay for at least four weeks or longer; 2) If you travel with an Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) tour, you must agree to stay on at the end of the tour and volunteer on the farm for at least two weeks. We can help cover your travel expenses, if you qualify, and all of your volunteer expenses.

This is an evolving project for FOTONNA, and we are working out details as we go. We simply want to support as many people as possible as they reach out to become part of the solution and not be part of the problem. Who knows? Maybe your actions will be seen as part of what makes Peace in the Middle East possible.

Thank you for considering becoming part of an ever-growing group of individuals who love justice.

Robert Mertz Reflection

July 13, 2016/in Updates/by admin

Objectives of the Olive Oil Ministry

The objectives of the Olive Oil Ministry are to support the Palestinian people in their search for justice, for economic prosperity and defense of their rights, to help bring about a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and to raise awareness about the realities on the ground in the Holy Land.

Last year, together, our 18 churches sold more than one ton of Palestinian olive oil and olive products, valued at more than $43,000. The Cedar Lane Congregation was instrumental in this amazing achievement. About one-third of that money stayed in the Palestinian agricultural sector when we bought these products from Canaan Fair Trade in the West Bank. Canaan Fair Trade purchases the olives or olive oil from the farmers at an internationally certified “Fair Trade” price and sells Palestinian products to high-end world markets. It also has a suite of programs to upgrade agricultural practices and community welfare among those co-ops and their villages.

Another 40% of last year’s sales – $17,000 – was donated to Tent of Nations.

Why We Donate Funds to Tent of Nations

We donate our net earnings to Tent of Nations to support an organic farm and peace project near Bethlehem, owned by the Palestinian Christian Nassar family. This year the family is celebrating their 100th anniversary of ownership of the farm.

We believe that it is vital to support the Nassar family’s ownership of their farm for several reasons.

First, the family seeks to build peace with neighboring Muslim and Jewish communities and through international outreach. Their guiding principle is, “We Refuse to be Enemies”.

Second, their legal ownership of the farm is well-documented and has been confirmed since 1916 by Ottoman, British and Jordanian authorities, but not, so far, by the Israelis. Rather, there have been numerous and continuing efforts and harassment by the Israeli government and settlers to force them from the farm since 1991.

Third, they defend the 100-year ownership of their land by adhering strictly to non-violent principles and actions. We support the burden of their struggle.

Fourth, international support from many organizations and individuals, including the 18 Olive Oil Ministry churches, helps keep the Nassars from feeling alone in their struggle for justice and helps maintain the presence of a Christian Palestinian family on land in the West Bank, preserving the farm as a symbol of Palestinian independence and culture.

Finally, Tent of Nations reports annually to us on their worthwhile utilization of our annual donations, for example: planting or replanting trees, support for the Women’s Education Center in the nearby village of Nahalin, or its summer international and national Youth Camps. This year’s donation will be used for tree planting and care of their fruit orchards and olive groves. Cultivation of the land is an essential element in keeping the Israeli courts from declaring the farmland as State Land and confiscating it for settlement expansion.

*List of Participating OOM Congregations:

Annapolis Friends Meeting, Bethesda Friends Meeting, Bradley Hills Presbyterian, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, First Presbyterian Church (Arlington, VA), Frederick Friends Meeting, Friends Meeting of Washington, Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Grace Presbyterian Church (Springfield, VA),Little River UCC (Annandale, VA), Sandy Springs Friends Meeting, St. Albans Episcopal Church, St. Camillus Catholic Church, St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, St. John’s Norwood Episcopal Church, Trinity Episcopal Church (Washington, VA) and Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ. We are grateful for the dedication and support of the members of these 18 congregations throughout our region. If you have any questions and/or would like to join the Olive Oil Ministry and support its efforts in the VA/MD/DC area or set up your own OOM in your local area, please contact Robert at: Robert Mertz –ramertz@gmail.com. He can tell you all about

Updates

July 2021 “Save the Tent of Nations” Update

Become a Volunteer

Robert Mertz Reflection

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