On this Spirit in Action, we'll get past propaganda and agendas by sharing first-hand Israeli & Palestinian stories of the Occupation.

Steve Chase did a major course correction about Israel/Palestine, a journey he shares in a 30-page pamphlet Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions? A Quaker Zionist Rethinks Palestinian Rights.

A clear-eyed, informative, powerful look at the reality of Zionism on-the-ground in the Middle East by Eve Spangler, associate professor of Sociology at Boston College. In Understanding Israel/Palestine - Race, Nation, and Human Rights in the Conflict she uses facts and experience to call us to the best framework for true peace in the Middle East.

Penny Rosenwasser is author of several books, including her latest, Hope Into Practice: Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite Our Fears, an activist's call to repair the world. Penny is a "life-long heartfelt, rabble-rouser for social Justice" with a Ph.D. in Transformative Learning & Change.

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta's book, Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation delves deep into sides of the conflict that most US media never approach, and does it through the words of Palestinian & Israeli workers for peace, plus a few people outside of the Middle East. There's both more reality and hope in this work than we've been led to expect.

Noa Baum is an Israeli-born woman now living in the USA who has found her avocation in telling stories, who came to my attention through her one-woman story-telling show called A Land Twice Promised, about the personal stories of people vying for or sharing the land variously called Israel or Palestine. Stories can change hearts and find a way forward in places where argument is powerless or counterproductive, so Noa's very personal sharing may light for us a more peaceful way forward in a very troubled world.

The Friendly Folk Dancers have been "Dancing the World Together" through international folk dance since 1986, and they toured in Cuba in 2010, Rwanda in 2008, Kenya in 1996, and many other place in other years. With a ministry of peace and connection, they've prayed with their full bodies and learned with each step. This program was recorded in Cuba in November 2010.

Project of the National Peace Foundation and the Islamic Society of North America, Reflections and Experiences of Religion and Society includes essays from the participants in the exchange program between Muslims, Jews & Christians between the Middle East & the US Midwest.

Judith Ann Wagener has been a School Sister of Notre Dame since 1961, a period that has seen vast changes in American society and in the Catholic Church. She started as a teacher but followed a leading into pastoral ministry over 20 years ago, for the last 9 with St James the Greater Catholic Church in Eau Claire.