Headquarters Oakland, California Budget $27,286 | Director Dunya Alwan | |
Motto "turning knowledge into action" Formation 2003; 14 years ago (2003) Website birthrightunplugged.org | ||
Birthright Unplugged is an educational organization, designed as a response to the Birthright Israel trips. The name "Birthright Unplugged" is a spin on the "Birthright Israel" program, whose name and organization are founded upon the idea that Jews have the right to visit Israel.
Contents
History and organization
According to Birthright Unplugged, it was founded in 2003 by Dunya Alwan and Hannah Mermelstein. Alwan, serves as the organization's current director.
In 2005, Birthright Israel filed a "cease and desist" complaint against Birthright Unplugged for trademark infringement, alleging "unfair competition".
Activities
The Unplugged trip seeks to expose mostly North American people to the Palestinian side of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through travel and conversations with a range of Palestinian activists. In six days, they visit Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank and spend time with Palestinian refugees living inside Israel.
The organization runs a second program, Birthright Re-Plugged, which takes Palestinian children living in Palestine refugee camps on field trips in Israel to see the villages left by their families in the 1948 Palestinian exodus. In two days, they visit Jerusalem, the Mediterranean Sea, and the children's ancestral villages.