On Wednesday Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Board Room, a slideshow, “What I Saw During 28 days in the West Bank of Palestine” will be presented.
Bill McGrath will speak about his experienes while he was living with an Arab family in 2007. He worked as a journalist, studied Arabic and walked around in Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Jenin, Nablus, Hebron, Jericho and the Negev Desert of southern Israel. Discussion will follow and Bill also will provide some tasty Middle Eastern food.
From July 20 until Aug. 19, 2007, Bill lived with a Palestinian Christian family in Beit Sahour, two miles from Bethlehem. Every morning, he learned some Arabic at Bethlehem University. Every weekday afternoon, he worked as a volunteer journalist at the International Middle East Media Center. On weekends, he would venture into different areas of the West Bank of Palestine.
“I talked to local people and took pictures,” said McGrath. “Now I am giving slideshow presentations. So far, I have given my talk to 44 groups. I have several others scheduled, including churches in the Twin Cities.” His purpose in giving these talks is to persuade Americans to visit the West Bank. It is all too typical to see Americans traveling abroad to Spanish countries or to far east Asia or western Europe—hardly does one ever consider traveling anywhere remotely close to the middle east.
“Since Israel began its military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the United States has tended to support the Israeli side of the conflict,” Senior Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Chemistry major Laura Secor has said of the current conflicts in Israel.
“The undercurrent of violence, abuse of human rights and disregard for international law (by both the Israeli government/military and the Palestinian authority) is prevalent. As with most conflicts, neither side is unequivocally ‘right,’ but the Israeli side of the story is often treated more generously.”
“Our Amnesty International chapter, as a group, decided it was important for Gustavus students to have an opportunity to see what Palestine seems like to someone from Minnesota. We are a human rights advocacy group, and an important part of advocacy is simply raising awareness.”
It is highly encouraged to go see the slide presentation McGrath will be giving. After the presentation, questions and discussion will be encouraged. McGrath will also provide Midle Eastern food.
“Everything that happens somewhere else has the potential to eventually affect us here in the United States. The most important thing people can do is educate themselves on the issues, even if they don’t take a stand,” Senior Health Fitness Major and Co-Chair of Building Bridges Conference Shanda Kirkeide said. “Students needs to know what is happening in the world around them, because one day they will be in that real world and their choices will have the power to impact many people.”
McGrath worked as a journalist and a salesman and even owned his own publishing company. Now retired, he lives in Northfield with his wife and uses his free time to travel and speak.