Despite the current political stalemate between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, there are many grassroots efforts bringing Israeli and Palestinian people together for dialogue to pursue peace. It has been said that peace will come when Palestinians learn and appreciate the Israeli narrative and Israelis learn and appreciate the Palestinian narrative.
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For more information about “Seeking Peace in the Footsteps of our Ancestors: An Interfaith Pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine,” visit mejditours.com/open-tour/interfaithpeacepilgrimage/ or email Alan Edelman at .
The Peace Pilgrimage to the Holy Land will depart Kansas City on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020, and conclude Feb. 27.
Meanwhile, outside of Israel, movements on the political left and right are engaged in campaigns to tear down the other side. This only adds to the tension and does nothing to bring the two sides together.
A group of local interfaith leaders — a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim — have joined forces to sponsor a Peace Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to learn first-hand through faith-based eyes the possibilities for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In addition to people-to-people encounters, the “pilgrimage” will visit sites holy to the three Abrahamic traditions.
The tour organizers include Alan Edelman, local Jewish educator and former director of engagement and leadership development at the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. Edelman has led numerous study seminars to Israel for students, teachers, emerging leaders and Federation leadership. He has been active in interreligious, peace efforts since the early 1970s. He currently serves on a number of local, national and international boards of directors, including the Jewish director on the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council.
Matthew Silvers is a pastor at Lee’s Summit Christian Church (DOC) and has served that faith community since 2009. He has been a member of the People of Faith for Peace group since its inception and has participated in various interreligious gatherings across the city. He completed his Doctor of Ministry degree with his dissertation entitled “Tables of Peace: Constructing a Theology of an Interreligious Welcome Table.” He has participated in two Israel trips and believes in the importance of experiencing the wider world in order to break down preconceptions and bias. He currently serves as a director-at-large on the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council.
The third pilgrimage organizer is Inas Younis, co-founder of the first chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom in Kansas City, where she also serves as a national board member. She is an active participate in a number of interfaith initiatives. Younis was born in Mosul, Iraq, and immigrated to the United States as a child in 1982. An independent journalist and commentator, Younis writes on religion and politics. She is an alumna of the American Muslim Civic Leadership institute at the University of Southern California. She is currently a participant in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative, a unique program designed to build relationships of understanding, respect and trust between North American Muslim and Jewish communities, facilitated by Yossi Klein Halevi.
This travel experience, known as “Seeking Peace in the Footsteps of our Ancestors: An Interfaith Pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine,” is being coordinated through MEJDI, a full-service tour company dedicated to providing customized itineraries for diverse travel groups through exclusive access and authentic experiences — founded on the belief that tourism should be a vehicle for a more positive and interconnected world. A unique itinerary has been built by the local leaders with input from MEJDI. The seminar is a unique opportunity for people interested in encountering the Holy Land through the places and people who represent the possibility for peace between two peoples. Participants will have the option to engage in pre- and post-trip seminars as an addition to the tour and become ambassadors for peace in their circle of influence.