Tent of Nations is an educational and environmental farm covering 400 dunams next to the village of Nahalin, on a hill top southwest of

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

. The farm has been in Daoud Nassar's family since 1916 when his grandfather purchased the land known as Dahers’ Vineyard. The farm is now surrounded by the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. The Nassars are a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Christian Palestinian family.

History

The Nassar family purchased the farm in 1916, during a time when Palestinian Christians were beginning to emigrate. At the time the country was still under Ottoman rule. The property was registered with the British during the 1918–1948

British Mandate in Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The manda ...

. When the state of

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 ...

was founded in 1948, Bethlehem fell under

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian control—the family has papers from the Jordanians. After the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

, when many Christians left the country, Bishara Nassar began visiting nearby villages to sing songs and lead bible study in family homes. He thought music might deepen the faith of

's children and encourage them to stay. Bishara's children turned the farm into a center for "peace-building and

non-violent resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, const ...

" called the Tent of Nations. The family has held workshops on the farm for over 20 years. They run summer camps for local schools to teach Palestinian children about non-violent resistance. Amal Nassar believes these lessons are critical for a generation that has grown up in the refugee camps behind Israel's separation barrier. 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 ...

was occupied by Israel during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

in 1967 and in the 1970s Israeli settlers began to build on the hilltops of the West Bank. The hilltops around the Nassar family's farm became the Jewish settlements of

Neve Daniel Neve Daniel ( he, נְוֵה דָּנִיֵּאל) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in western Gush Etzion south of Jerusalem and just west of Bethlehem, it sits atop one of the highest points in the area - close to 1,000 meter ...

Beitar Illit Beitar Illit ( he, בֵּיתָר עִלִּית; officially Betar Illit; "Illit" is pronounced "ee-leet"; ar, بيتار عيليت) is an Haredi Jewish-Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, sout ...

Alon Shvut Alon Shvut ( he, אַלּוֹן שְׁבוּת) is an Israeli settlement located southwest of Jerusalem, one kilometer northeast of Kfar Etzion, in the West Bank. Established in June 1970 in the heart of the Etzion bloc, Alon Shvut became the ...

and

Elazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from cr ...

. These settlements are part of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

Ownership dispute

The family owns the 100-acre farm since 1916 and registered it during the British Mandate (1924–25). It was declared state land by Israel in 1991 but in 2005 the Israeli high court allowed Nassar to begin and register the land. On May 19, 2014 the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

bulldozed Dahar Nassar's orchard of 1,500 fruit trees. The Nassar family had filed an appeal on May 12 in response to a notice from the

Israeli Civil Administration The Civil Administration ( he, המנהל האזרחי, '; ar, الإدارة المدنية الإسرائيلية) is the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. It was established by the government of Israel in 1981, in order ...

. One week later, without a ruling from the appeal court, the land was bulldozed. There was significant international outcry from the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. The Presbyterian Church was accused of being motivated by "traditional

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

" in an article published in the conservative American Jewish magazine ''Commentary''. CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, said Christian activists were "passing on anti-Israel propaganda offered to them by Palestinian Christians in the West Bank as the gospel fact."

International support

The Tent of Nations project is supported by associations called "Tent of Nations friends" chartered in four countries: Sweden, Switzerland, United States and United Kingdom.

References

External links

Tent of Nations
homepage
Friends of Tent of Nations North America
{{coord missing, Palestine Bethlehem Governorate Populated places in the West Bank