Israeli-Palestinian Archbishop and peace activist Elias Chacour at Berea College Nov. 5 – 7

Viewing education as essential to human dignity and justice, Archbishop Chacour started an education effort in the Israeli-Arab village of Ibillin 26 years ago, where now more than 4000 students – (K thru University) Christians, Muslims, Druzes and Jews can study together.   He has courageously stood against injustices of inequality and discrimination in the area of education in Israel.   Chacour is hailed as a challenging and inspirational speaker and a dynamic peace-maker.  He is the author of two best-selling books, “We Belong to the Land,” and his autobiography “Blood Brothers” which has been translated into several languages.
On Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m., in Phelps Stokes Auditorium, Archbishop Chacour will speak on “Hope beyond despair.”  The college has encouraged area churches to come to this event rather than hold their usual Wednesday evening services or meetings.  Special guests will include the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington, Most Reverend Ronald W. Gainer.  A short video will be shown prior to the Archbishop’s message.

On Nov. 6, Archbishop Chacour will lead the College’s annual college-wide symposium, addressing the question “Unity within Diversity:  Is it Possible in the Holy Land?”  The program is scheduled from 1:30 -3:30 in Phelps Stokes Auditorium and will include the inspirational choral music of Berea College’s Black Music Ensemble.
Both the Nov. 5 and the Nov. 6 programs are free and open to the public.
On Friday, Nov. 7 Archbishop Chacour will be the featured speaker during a limited-seating Middle Eastern dinner in the Woods-Penniman Building  Commons, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and should be reserved by calling 859-985-3452.
Archbishop Chacour’s visit is a highlight of Berea’s “International Focus on the Middle East” during 2008-09, sponsored by the Francis and Louise Hutchins Center for International Education.

Elias Chacour was born November 29, 1939 in the village of Biram in Upper Galilee in Arab Palestine to a Palestinian Christian family, members of the Melkite Catholic Church, an Eastern Byzantine Church in communion with Rome.
At the age of eight years, he was evicted, along with his whole village, by the Israeli authorities and became a deportee and a refugee in his own country, the Palestine of his birth.  Because he remained in the country he was granted citizenship of Israel when the state of Israel was created in 1948.

When Archbishop Chacour came to Ibillin as a young priest in 1965, he saw the lack of educational opportunities for Palestinian youth beyond the 8th grade.  In 1982, he founded the Prophet Elias High School in Ibillin – a school that would not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity.  The school began with 80 students and grew into the Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI), which now boasts more than 4,000 students from kindergarten through the university level.

Archbishop Chacour has become an ambassador for non-violence and someone, who not only preaches, but lives the Sermon on the Mount.  He travels very often between the Middle East and other countries around the world. In addition, hundreds of groups of visitors, fact-finding missions, and pilgrims have visited and continue to visit with him in Ibillin.  He has received many International peace awards in addition to being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions.  In 1994, Archbishop Chacour received the prestigious World Methodist Peace Award that has been presented in the past to such pilgrims for peace as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the late Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat.  In 2001, he was awarded the international Niwano Peace Prize in 2001.

Coming Up:
Dec. 1, 7 p.m., Woods-Penniman Building Commons

David Neunuebel, “Moving the Rock: Advocating a Just Peace in the Middle East”
Neunuebel is a financial adviser turned activist and film maker.  He is founder and CEO of the non-profit educational NGO “Americans for a Just Peace in the Middle East” and has produced several documentaries, including “Behind the Mirage:  the Face of Occupation.”

The Francis and Louise Hutchins Center for International Education (CIE) at Berea fulfills its mission to foster understanding of and respect for “all peoples of the Earth” through International student and scholar services;  education (study) abroad;  curriculum and faculty development, and international campus programming.  For more information about “International Focus on the Middle East” programs, email Richard Cahill (richard_cahill@berea.edu) or call (859) 985-3451 or (859)985-3452 (CIE office).  For more about the CIE, visit www.berea.edu/cie

(859) 985-3452 or richard_cahill@berea.edu