On 28 July 2010, Riziq Salah and his family celebrated, together with Holy Land Trust, the inauguration of their newly rebuilt house.

July21-22/2010, Holy Land Trust partnered with the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development for two days in order to train graduates, professionals, and house wives in conflict resolution and non-violence.

As the third session began this month, we were sad to see several of our new friends go, and at the same time, very excited to greet our new participants. Altogether we are now 25 people, including new people from the United States, Norway and Canada.

Aaron from Toronto reflects on his experiences with Holy Land Trust. 

Coming to Bethlehem through the Holy Land Trust was a life changing experience for me. As a Canadian Jew, I felt that it was important to see firsthand what life was like for Palestinians in the West Bank. Setting everything up was very straightforward. Through an email correspondence with the HLT offices I arranged a two-week stay with a host family living in Bethlehem and decided to volunteer with Al Kul Television, assisting with video editing.

On Monday, July 12, Right to Play partnered with Holy Land Trust’s nonviolence department and began brainstorming and developing a focus group for conflict resolution and peace building. The group encompassed a variety of different people like educators, parents, students, and educational advisors. The focus group aims to build new strategies for conflict resolution and building peace inside the schools and the surrounding communities.

Mariam spent the early summer working with Holy Land Trust as part of her master’s program in peace studies.  Although back at home, she is already missed. 

It’s been just over a week since I got back from the West Bank and the beautiful town of Bethlehem. It’s amazing how 6 weeks can totally destabilise 23 years of a way of life. I’ve had the strangest time trying to readjust and as one friend put it, am probably in culture shock.