Alternative Tourism Group and Study Center (ATG) is a Palestinian NGO based in Beit Sahour ( Bethlehem ) that specialises in tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture, and politics of the Holy Land .
8-414: ATG was established in 1995 by the late Jamal Salameh, Majed Nassar, Rifat Odeh Kassis , Ghassan Andoni and Elias Rishmawi, and operates according to the tenets of fair trade and justice tourism — that is, tourism that holds as its central goals the creation of economic opportunities for the local community, positive cultural exchange between guest and host through one-on-one interaction, the protection of
16-625: A rehabilitation program in Chechnya targeting Chechen children who have been injured and traumatized in the war. In 1995, he co-founded the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), a Palestinian NGO specializing in tours and pilgrimages. In 1996 he left Palestine to work in Central Asia for several years, helping to develop the NGO sector there. In September 2000, he came back to Palestine to become
24-687: The Code of Conduct in the Holy Land. ATG is Member of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO). Rifat Odeh Kassis Rifat Odeh Kassis ( Arabic : رفعت عودة قسيس ) is a Palestinian human rights and political and community activist. He is an author and speaker. He has been arrested and imprisoned several times by Israel . Born in Beit Sahour to a Palestinian Christian family, he founded in 1991
32-728: The Executive Director of the East Jerusalem YMCA . As a response to the second Intifada he founded the "Keep Hope Alive Campaign" and founded and run the YMCA/YWCA Joint Advocacy Desk. In 2003, he co-founded the Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI), a network works on contributing to establishing a social movement and advocating on ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and
40-802: The Golan Heights. In 2005 he joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva to run the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). In 2008, he became a Member of the Board of Directors of Alternative Information Center (AIC). He is a co-author and the general coordinator of Kairos Palestine which is the Christian Palestinians’ word to the world about what
48-586: The Palestinian section of the international child rights organization, Defence for Children International (DCI) and in 2005 he was elected President of the international movement. In October 2008, he was re-elected President for another term. In 2014, he concluded his work as General Director of Defense for Children International Palestine and moved temporarily to Jordan to lead the Lutheran World Federation program there. In 1995 he helped to establish
56-587: The TO DO AWARD 2006 at Berlin's International Tourism Bourse for social responsible tourism . ATG published “Palestine & Palestinians” , the first comprehensive Palestinian guidebook to Palestine, including the occupied territories, Jerusalem, the 1948 territories and the Syrian Golan Heights. ATG initiated a network called the Palestinian Initiative for Responsible Tourism which published
64-400: The environment, and political/historical education. ATG encourages tourism operators to abandon exploitative mass tourism and to adopt practices that positively affect the host population in Palestine. Through these methods, ATG seeks to promote a positive image of Palestine and its people and to contribute to the establishment of a durable peace in the area. ATG's programs include: ATG won
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