Sharing Jerusalem

Sharing Jerusalem USA was conceived in early 2006 by Jim Vitarello, a long-time activist for Middle-East peace. It seeks to mobilize the Christian community to work toward changing American foreign policy so that a just and timely solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be achieved. The name of the organization reflects the importance of Jerusalem to both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to all three Abrahamic faiths. It has been stated many times over that there will never be peace in Israel-Palestine without a shared Jerusalem that is the capital of both states. For our organization, the goal of sharing the “City of Peace” is both real and symbolic. While sharing Jerusalem stands for sharing the city itself – both religiously and politically – it also stands for sharing the larger Holy Land and achieving a just and peaceful solution that can end the ongoing violence and bring peace to the region.

The Sharing Jerusalem campaign began with a series of regional workshops designed to introduce individual church members to the campaign, educate them about the conflict, and help them organize and strategize on how to get their churches educated and involved. Between mid-2006 and late 2007, we held four regional workshops that involved nearly 130 Christians – in addition to Jews and Muslims – representing eleven different church denominations in the Baltimore-Washington (B-W) area. From this base of support, we organized a regional Church Action Network [add link to CAN] (CAN) designed to combine and leverage the power of churches to influence this important issue and hired a facilitator to provide support to Sharing Jerusalem members and member churches and facilitate their interactions with one another. We have also been engaged in educational efforts in local churches, district chapters of the United Methodist Women in the B-W Conference, the Virginia chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and the School of Christian Missions of the B-W Methodist Conference.

As part of our intial campaign activities, we:

developed original movement music [add link to Music] that includes both our lovely Sharing Jerusalem theme song in the three Abrahamic languages and Spanish (available on CD or as a download), as well as a set of rousing protest songs (downloadable from our website)
created prototype banners for hanging inside or outside churches
designed bumper stickers for spreading the word as individuals
developed a comprehensive Sharing Jerusalem workshop kit, as a resource for those who don’t have access to our local workshops - they can use this kit, together with assistance from us, to plan and host their own Sharing Jerusalem workshops with the goal of getting their churches educated and involved.

As part of our new 2008 “Give Peace a Chance” campaign in support of the Annapolis peace initiative sponsored by the United States in December 2007, we are:

hosting and facilitating a year-long calendar of non-violent actions – both our own and those of other organizations working to achieve peace in the Middle-East.
creating as one of our actions a street theater event that includes an Israeli checkpoint to simulate what Palestinians experience daily as the result of Israeli occupation and an Israeli bomb shelter to simulate what Israelis experience as the result of Palestinian missile attacks.
developing a “street theater kit” for those who would like to participate in this non-violent action and stage similar street theater events, with detailed instructions for how to build and stage both the checkpoint and the bomb shelter.

We have recently updated our website to support our 2008 campaign activities and facilitate the efforts of both our CAN members and other fellow Middle East peace activists and groups. In addition to our new updated look and improved content, we now have a photo gallery where you can share pictures of simultaneous non-violent campaign actions across the region and the country, a blog where you can communicate with one another and with us, and a store where you can get information on how to order hanging banners and buy CDs, bumper stickers, and t-shirts, caps, bags, and mugs with Sharing Jerusalem logo.


		Mission Statement History Why We Care Church Action Network Affiliated Organizations Board of Directors			Sharing Jerusalem USA was conceived in early 2006 by Jim Vitarello, a long-time activist for Middle-East peace. It seeks to mobilize the Christian community to work toward changing American foreign policy so that a just and timely solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be achieved. The name of the organization reflects the importance of Jerusalem to both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to all three Abrahamic faiths. It has been stated many times over that there will never be peace in Israel-Palestine without a shared Jerusalem that is the capital of both states. For our organization, the goal of sharing the “City of Peace” is both real and symbolic. While sharing Jerusalem stands for sharing the city itself – both religiously and politically – it also stands for sharing the larger Holy Land and achieving a just and peaceful solution that can end the ongoing violence and bring peace to the region. The Sharing Jerusalem campaign began with a series of regional workshops designed to introduce individual church members to the campaign, educate them about the conflict, and help them organize and strategize on how to get their churches educated and involved. Between mid-2006 and late 2007, we held four regional workshops that involved nearly 130 Christians – in addition to Jews and Muslims – representing eleven different church denominations in the Baltimore-Washington (B-W) area. From this base of support, we organized a regional Church Action Network [add link to CAN] (CAN) designed to combine and leverage the power of churches to influence this important issue and hired a facilitator to provide support to Sharing Jerusalem members and member churches and facilitate their interactions with one another. We have also been engaged in educational efforts in local churches, district chapters of the United Methodist Women in the B-W Conference, the Virginia chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and the School of Christian Missions of the B-W Methodist Conference. As part of our intial campaign activities, we: developed original movement music [add link to Music] that includes both our lovely Sharing Jerusalem theme song in the three Abrahamic languages and Spanish (available on CD or as a download), as well as a set of rousing protest songs (downloadable from our website) created prototype banners for hanging inside or outside churches designed bumper stickers for spreading the word as individuals developed a comprehensive Sharing Jerusalem workshop kit, as a resource for those who don’t have access to our local workshops - they can use this kit, together with assistance from us, to plan and host their own Sharing Jerusalem workshops with the goal of getting their churches educated and involved. As part of our new 2008 “Give Peace a Chance” campaign in support of the Annapolis peace initiative sponsored by the United States in December 2007, we are: hosting and facilitating a year-long calendar of non-violent actions – both our own and those of other organizations working to achieve peace in the Middle-East. creating as one of our actions a street theater event that includes an Israeli checkpoint to simulate what Palestinians experience daily as the result of Israeli occupation and an Israeli bomb shelter to simulate what Israelis experience as the result of Palestinian missile attacks. developing a “street theater kit” for those who would like to participate in this non-violent action and stage similar street theater events, with detailed instructions for how to build and stage both the checkpoint and the bomb shelter. We have recently updated our website to support our 2008 campaign activities and facilitate the efforts of both our CAN members and other fellow Middle East peace activists and groups. In addition to our new updated look and improved content, we now have a photo gallery where you can share pictures of simultaneous non-violent campaign actions across the region and the country, a blog where you can communicate with one another and with us, and a store where you can get information on how to order hanging banners and buy CDs, bumper stickers, and t-shirts, caps, bags, and mugs with Sharing Jerusalem logo.

					© 2008 Sharing Jerusalem site design by silvervisiondc.com