5th Intl Young Adult Conference July 21-Aug 1

Sabeel’s 5th International Young Adult Conference

From the Belly of the Whale: A Palestinian Christian Cry for Justice

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT: INFORMATION FLYER ATTACHED BELOW

Our Vision: To provide young adults (18-35) with an alternative pilgrimage experience that emphasizes active engagement with both the people and the land.

July 21st – August 1st, 2010, Jerusalem -- 12 Days in Palestine and Israel

Total Cost: $1100. Does not include airfare or transportation from airport.

Details on program and registration will be posted here. For more information, contact Sabeel in Jerusalem at this email: youth@sabeel.org

Date: 8th of December 2009

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Sabeel! Four months after the 2009 Young Adult Conference, winter is descending on Jerusalem. We have entered the season of Advent, and as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we pray God will be with us in our 2010 Young Adult Conference, beginning July 21st. We are currently in the planning stages, recruiting participants and sponsors, publicizing the event, and organizing speakers and activities. This is something that we cannot do alone, so if you are interested, we would love to have your help!

The 5th Annual Young Adult Conference, titled “From the Belly of the Whale: A Palestinian Christian Cry for Justice,” is inspired by the Book of Jonah. In the story, the nationalist prophet Jonah travels against his will to preach repentance to his Assyrian enemies in the city of Ninevah. A story of mercy, compassion, perception and responsibility, the tale of Jonah and the Assyrians will serve as a springboard for this year’s conference.

The way we perceive truth, and in turn the way we express it to others, is as important at Sabeel as the truth itself, for the culture inherent in Zionism – be it Christian or Jewish – fosters not ignorance of the truth but a distorted lens for viewing it.

In the Jonah story, the Zionist lens is rejected. God forgives the Assyrians and rebukes the prophet for his blindness. As a result, the reader gains the ability to see what Jonah could not. The Assyrians are saved, not just in the story but also today in our world. We as readers and Christians are no longer permitted to understand a people through the paradigm of the enemy and the Other. The Assyrians, the Palestinians, the Kurds or the Native Americans can now be seen and engaged as human communities made up of thousands of faces, all created in the image of God.

This short chapter from the Old Testament gives new perspective to the Palestinian struggle, providing a humanizing lens for seeing reality that is grounded in both Jewish and Christian religious traditions. A perspective, however, is useless unless we as friends and sponsors of Sabeel can create a network of support and critical engagement to incorporate it in our struggle, in and between communities around the world.

As always, we must address the oppression that is so visibly destructive for Palestinians, but like in the story, we must also work to unmask the discourse that makes it invisible to others. For those conference participants who do not have the opportunity to return regularly, it is important to continue developing our discourse of liberation from abroad, transforming thought into practical action and advocacy.

We would like to invite you – or someone you know – to sponsor a participant, both financially and socially. We want to provide young applicants with the opportunity to travel to Jerusalem and experience the struggle first hand, but we also need people who know Sabeel and care about our mission to engage participants and encourage their education and advocacy both before and after the conference occurs.

We also need advocates to help publicize the event and recruit participants. You might help by putting up flyers, or publicizing the event at your school, organization, or workplace. If you know someone who might be interested, keep us informed and send them to the website where they can find information about Sabeel, the conference, or the Jonah story and our interpretation of it. The application and registration forms are available there as well.

If you have suggestions or ideas for how our conference can be more fulfilling and challenging, let us know! We hope to hear from you soon, and if you have questions email us at youth@sabeel.org

In love and solidarity,

Omar Harami
Young Adult Coordinator