Youth Inter-religious Retreat Christmas and Adha Feasts Rammallah, December 2006    One of the AEI-Open Windows fields of work is "Christian and Moslem Living Together". It applied that through discussion meetings and other activities (deeds) like the inter-religious retreat which the AEI organized on the occasions of Christmas and Adha feasts. On the 29th December 2006 the AEI administrators; Mr. Fuad Giacaman and Mr. Anton Murra accompanied the University and New Graduates and Young Employees groups to Ramallah at the Rocky Hotel, there were 27 participants. Two workshops were held; the first one, which took place on the first day, was about "Abraham's Sacrifice/ offering of Isaac in the Bible and Qur'an" by Mr. Ibrahim Neirouz, who is a Christian Religious studies lecturer at the Bible College and Bethlehem University as well as our coordinator for Ramallah school network of Living in the Holy Land: Respecting Differences project. Mr. Neirouz was very successful in his presentation. He started by showing the participants how to interpret religious texts, and analyze them in their old time not in our modern time. He also gave a simple introduction about how monotheistic religions meet and where they don't. For example, Abraham is a central personality, who is mentioned in Old and New Testament and Qur'an, however Virgin Mary is only mentioned in the New Testament and the Qur'an. He also introduced a book entitled "Al Jalalein in interpreting the Qur'an" written by Jala Al Deen AL Seyoti and Jalal Al Deen Al Mahalli. The participants read the story of Abraham Sacrifice from the Qura'n and from the Bible, and Mr. Neirouz analyzed the texts and gave interpretations with the participation of the youths. The youths learned new information from him, for example; that Adha Feast in Islam is connected with the story of Abraham's Sacrifice of his son Isaac. And that Ramadan and Al Fitter Feast are connected also with Abraham, according to Islamic theologians, who worked hard for long time to build Makka. And that Abraham had two sons; Ismael from the slave "Hajer" and later Ishaq from his wife "Sara" who was sterile, and Ismael was older than Isaac. The ram which was sent from heaven by Gabriel to be offered to God instead of Isaac is the same ram which Habeel offered to God as claimed by AL Bukhari. Abraham means the father of great nations; however the original name of Abraham was Abram which means a dignitary. The participants were later divided into two groups to discuss the following questions: 1.      What is the difference between the two sons of Abraham; Ismael and Ishaq? 2.      Where does the story of Abraham Sacrifice meet in the Old Testament and the Qura'n? 3.      Do you think that Abraham was aware of God's involvement in the right moment? The working groups were very interesting and they captured both the Christian and Moslem participants. The participants where very clever and critical in analyzing the two verses, and they showed maturity and respect to differences.  After dinner, the participants were involved in fun and social activities, like ice-breaking activities, dancing and other games. On the next day, and before breakfast a warming-up exercises were organized by Fadi Murra – New graduates group member, and Mila – Czech volunteer. These exercises were very important because the youth needed to refresh and move their bodies. After the breakfast the second workshop, entitled "Meanings of Christmas" was led by Mr. Fuad Giacaman – AEI Director General. In order to get into the atmosphere of Christmas, the youth started singing Christmas carols, and then they read the two verses of the Birth of Jesus from the Bible and Qura'n, and they were asked to point out the differences and communalities; like the virginity of Mary, annunciation, place of birth, Jesus vs. Issa, son of God vs. prophet. Mr. Giacaman talked about the spiritual meanings of Christmas, such as; the poverty, simplicity, joy, calm, closeness to nature, animals, cave, peace, hope, salvation. After Mr. Giacaman's interesting presentation, the youth coordinator, Mr. Anton Murra motivated the participants in a role-play activity about Christmas story, all the youth participated and they enjoyed this activity, and there were so much fun. After that, the youth wrote wishes for the year 2007, after pronouncing similar wishes sent by Pax Christi sections from all over the world. They wrote wishes on personal and national levels. Some read their wishes and shared them with the others, while others preferred not to. An evaluation meeting followed the second workshop; and here is a summary of the participants' remarks: There was not enough introduction between the university group and the new graduates and young employees group members Too short time Time of the retreat wasn't proper, because of Adha Feast and New Year, which resulted in less participation. Learned new things, like the story behind Abraham and his Sacrifice. Learned methods to study and analyze religious verses from the Bible and Qura'n. The comparison between Bible and Qura'n was very successful because it helped the youth know about one another. This retreat didn't only break down stereotypes but it also strengthened relations among the youths. The place/ Hotel was a good choice. Good facilities The workshops widened our horizon The fun and social activities were great, and the morning exercises were very much appreciated It would be great to organize joint activities with other organizations who work in the same field. Involve youth members in the preparations for such activities. Do such activities more often Organize tours to historical and religious places in Palestine Youth groups meeting are a bit boring and need to be developed and use new methods in organizing them After lunch there was free time, and some had social and fun activities while others went to tour Ramallah. At 4:30 we cam back to Bethlehem safe and glad.