Birthright Unplugged is an educational organization, designed as a response to the

Birthright Israel Taglit-Birthright Israel ( he, תגלית), also known as Birthright Israel or simply Birthright, is a not-for-profit educational organization that sponsors free ten-day heritage trips to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights for young adult ...

trips. The name "Birthright Unplugged" is a spin on the "Birthright Israel" program.

History and organization

According to Birthright Unplugged, it was founded in 2003 by Dunya Alwan and Hannah Mermelstein. Alwan serves as the organization's current director. In 2005, Birthright Israel filed a "cease and desist" complaint against Birthright Unplugged for trademark infringement, alleging "

unfair competition Unfair may refer to: * Double Taz and Double LeBron James in multiverses ''fair''; unfairness or injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situ ...

Activities

The Unplugged trip sought to expose mostly North American people to the Palestinian side of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through travel and conversations with a range of Palestinian activists. In six days, they visited Palestinian cities, villages, and refugee camps in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and spend time with Palestinian refugees living inside

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The organization ran a second program, Birthright Re-Plugged, which took

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

children living in

Palestine refugee camps Camps are set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian e ...

on field trips in Israel to see the villages left by their families in the

1948 Palestinian exodus In 1948 more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs – about half of prewar Palestine's Arab population – were expelled or fled from their homes, during the 1948 Palestine war. The exodus was a central component of the fracturing, dispossessi ...

. In two days, they visit

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, and the children's ancestral villages.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.birthrightunplugged.org/ Tourism in Israel Tourism in the State of Palestine