5,000-7,000 visit annually<\/h3>\n
In the midst of their decades-long struggle the Nassar family decided to make their land a place of cooperation and understanding in the West Bank. In 2000 they formed Tent of Nations<\/a>, bringing visitors from around Israel, Palestine and the world onto the farm for learning, understanding and reconciliation by hosting workshops, seminars and summer camps. Tent of Nations hosts between five and seven thousand visitors annually. They and thousands of others stay informed<\/a> via the Internet.<\/p>\n For more than 10 years, undergraduate, alumni and seminary groups from EMU have made the farm a regular stop on their Middle East tours.<\/p>\n \u201cVisiting Tent of Nations is the crown jewel of our study tours,\u201d said Dorothy Jean Weaver<\/a>, professor of New Testament at the seminary<\/a>, who has led eight tours to the farm<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s the bright, little gem in all of the places we visit. I think most of our students leave there inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n Linford Stutzman<\/a>, seminary professor of culture and mission, has made the Tent of Nations farm a stop on the last eight cross-cultural study tours he and his wife, Janet, have led to the Middle East<\/a>. Over the years about 300 EMU students have spent a day at the farm, often planting trees. Stutzman said that alumni who previously visited Tent of Nations often donate money to buy trees for future students to plant.<\/p>\n \u201cOn my first visit to Tent of Nations I was impressed with their authenticity and their commitment to not only save their land, but to use their land as a vehicle for working towards peace,\u201d said Stutzman. \u201cThe family chooses to stay there so that they can continue to work towards what needs to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Bshara, a great grandson of the original purchaser of the land, currently lives in the United States, where he advocates for the Palestinian people and seeks to open a museum in Washington D.C. that chronicles the nakba<\/em>, an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe.” It refers to the uprooting and diaspora of more than 700,000 Palestinians from the newly founded state of Israel in 1948.<\/p>\n \u201cAt EMU I learned that peacebuilding is about building personal relationships and that is what we are trying to do with Tent of Nations,\u201d he said. \u201cIt made me more certain that this was what I should be doing. Conflict transformation<\/a> is my passion and I do that through advocacy, by sharing the story of the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n The struggle for the 100-acre farm near Bethlehem, purchased by Bshara\u2019s ancestor in 1916, has gone on for nearly a quarter century. In 1991 the Israeli government declared the land to be state owned. This started a legal battle in the Israeli military courts that continues to this day and has cost the family nearly $150,000. The history of Palestine in the 20th century is one of occupation and this is reflected in the Nassar family\u2019s documentation of their land ownership. Their original paperwork from 1916 is from the Ottoman Empire, followed by documents from the British and Jordanian governments that controlled the West Bank area before the Israelis occupied the area following the Six Days War in 1967.<\/p>\n Bshara’s uncle, Daoud Nassar, directs the Tent of Nations and is the usual family spokesperson, as seen in recent 23- <\/a>and 3-minute<\/a>\u00a0videos.<\/p>\n In his Spring 2013 newsletter<\/a>, Daoud wrote of trying to water the farm’s trees, in the absence of access to running water (reserved for Israel’s settlements): “During the winter months, we managed to collect water in our cisterns to be used in the dry summer. We managed also to plant 1,253 olive and other trees.<\/p>\n “With this investment in agriculture, our aim is to make the farm self-sufficient. Now there are thousands of trees growing on the farm. We are continuing cultivating land towards the valley, planting it with more trees and making it green. In the summer months, we are all busy in watering the hundreds of trees that were planted in the winter months.”<\/p>\n A year after these words were written, the family received a warning that their trees were on state land. The destruction came unexpectedly, while their legal appeal was still pending, with trees uprooted and their meticulously terraced fields destroyed. It is not the first time the farm\u2019s orchards have been threatened. In 2003 members of the family stood in front of bulldozers attempting to make a road across the farm. In May the bulldozers came in the morning before anyone was aware of what was happening.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been struck by the depth of the family\u2019s faith and their commitment to non-violence,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cThey are people who live in the most perniciously difficult circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur situation is hard but my family has decided not to give up and leave,\u201d Bshara said. \u201cWe have chosen not to act in a violent way, but to act in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n Because Tent of Nations has hosted visitors from around the world, the destruction of the trees quickly brought international attention, with stories appearing in news outlets from Al-Jazeera<\/a> to the BBC<\/a>. Supporters in the United States started an online petition<\/a> to representatives in Congress and Secretary of State John Kerry, protesting the treatment of the Nassar family\u2019s farm.<\/p>\n In a Facebook post on May 27, 2014, Bshara thanked those supporting Tent of Nations, adding:<\/p>\n I have a dream that one day we will have a truth-and-reconciliation committee and the soldiers who did it will confess and apologize for their acts. And they will be invited for a cup of tea at the same piece of land they destroyed and we will all plant trees together. Until then, let\u2019s all work for justice, equal rights and planting love instead of hatred.<\/em><\/p>\n As their case continues in the courts, the Nassar family is already making plans to rebuild their orchards. They are seeking volunteers who will help them replant. Stutzman said that on the next cross-cultural trip he and Janet lead<\/a>, EMU students will once again plant trees on the Nassars’ farm.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope the new trees will not be in danger after the international attention brought on by the bulldozing of the original trees,\u201d Bshara said. \u201cBut there are no guarantees. Living with no guarantees is what life is like for a Palestinian in the West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\nFarming as vehicle of peace<\/h3>\n
![\"Bshara](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/Bshara-Nassar-300x199.jpg\")
Ottoman-era land title<\/h3>\n
Not giving up<\/h3>\n
Replanting the trees<\/h3>\n
Editor’s note: On Sept. 1, 2014, just as this article was being published, CNN reported<\/a> that