Please register whether you intend to attend in person or on zoom.
Here's the link to register: https://forms.gle/SruqxUdZefS8sRKL9
Farmington Scipio Regional Meeting's Winter Gathering will be held
January 20, 2024
at
187 Co Rd 8, Farmington, NY 14425
Here's our schedule:
9 am Breakfast snacks and bagels and cream cheese
10 am Program--see below for description and preparation materials
12 noon Lunch
1 pm - 3pm Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
"My grief is beyond healing, my heart is sick within me.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved."
from Jeremiah 8:18-20
Israel/ Palestine, Gaza: finding our way through the unspeakable catastrophe, trauma and the certainty of next steps
Join Deb First for a period of presentation, questions, conversation and small-group dialogue.
Bio notes: Deb and Ted First have, annually for the past 28 years, engaged on the ground in and with organizations through board service, planning and creating programs (Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam; Friends International Center in Ramallah/ Friends of Ramallah Friends Meeting; Go Palestine (under the care of Ramallah Friends School); Hope Flowers School (Bethlehem/al-Khader) and with individuals from all walks of life. Recent conditions prior to the war made it impossible for us to return to Gaza, but we have continued to connect as we all can and do- via personal and conference calls.
We have a 20 year-old Jewish grandson who, in the middle of the summer and along with his girlfriend, went to Israel and remains in the north somewhere.
"Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains ,
and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness
because they are laid waste so that no one passes through
and the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.”
from Jeremiah 9:10
From Deb First:
Dear Friends,
The following sampling of regional maps is just that- a sample. I strongly suggest that you consider the proposition that every nation’s map is a political statement-either by the national government, the map maker, the organization that pays for it….This seems to me to be a reasonable thing, since every nation has a presentation that it has decided is the best expression of itself. Every nation also has a variety of maps (topographical, political, transportation, etc) for a range of purposes.
The four samples here are intended to assist in your own visualization of the Palestine/Israel region including those items that appear to be stable and those that are without question in conflict.
I welcome our conversation at Winter Gathering, anchored in our prayerful presence and our search for a bit of clarity.
1. ISRAEL/WEST BANK/PALESTINE changing map with brief summaries from 1948-present from Washington Post (To view this article, if you do not have an account with the Washington Post, you only need to enter your email address, you do not need to create an account.)
Six maps explain the boundaries of Israel and Palestinian territories
2. GAZA-very current map from OCHA (UN Office for COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS)
3. WEST BANK and ISRAEL RECENT showing settlements, settler roads, the wall from OCHA
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/west-bank-access-restrictions-may-2023
4. ISRAEL TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS