The Next Evolution at the Visitors Centre

The Visitors Program Director (Rita Boulos) is always seeking ways to offer something new and different to visiting groups at the Oasis, whether they come for a few hours or for a longer stay.

Archaeology made simple. Here is one very special addition to the list of options for guests: WAS-NS resident Gideon Solimany, a professional archaeologist and social justice activist, will now be available to guide archaeological walking tours from the Oasis to the Latrun Monastery. The tour will include a stop at the Byzantine mosaic floor in the woods near the Oasis of Peace Village. Students of the Primary School uncovered the mosaic a few years ago, and the site is now an ongoing dig, supervised by Gideon. Participants will also visit the Latrun Fortress and hear about the history of this area - the conflict, the villages, and how people lived here, once upon a time.

Polishing up the brochure. Also being prepared is a new brochure for visitors center. The brochure will be available in English initially, and eventually in multiple languages, starting with Arabic and Hebrew. The program descriptions in the new brochure are also available on the WAS-NS website.

On the web site. Visitors to our web site will find detailed information about programs, ranging from lectures or discussions to study tours and story telling workshops. These could feature, for example, the bi-national and bi-lingual education offered at the Oasis of Peace Primary School (first of its kind in the country, now in its 24th year). Teachers, students of education, and others working in related fields can also arrange, in advance, to visit the school itself.

Customized programs. Any of the educational and outreach work done at WAS-NS can become the subject of a customized visitor program: School for Peace dialogue and encounter; Spiritual Center’s inter-religious and inter-cultural aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian encounter; a bilingual approach to early education - the possibilities are many and varied. Films and facilitator-led group discussions can supplement the lecture format. We also offer study tours to many parts of the country, emphasizing (like all our programming) a nuanced analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As always, all our programs cater to groups and individuals from all over the world. For more information, see under the Visit Programs section).