Report Back from Palestine Village Wadi Foquin Protective Presence Trip

The Palestinian Village, Wadi Foquin is located in the Bethlehem District of the West Bank, and is threatened by land takeover with the presence and expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement of Betar Illit. With accelerated violence and military presence in the village during the last year, Friends of Wadi Foquin organized a "Protective Presence Trip" to the village in January 2025. Rev. Yoshii was among five persons who made the trip, and will provide a report back from the visit.

The Friends of Wadi Foquin support community development projects in the village, organize annual trips to the region, and provide advocacy on behalf ot the village.

Rev. Michael Yoshii is Pastor Emeritus at the Buena Vista United Methodist Church in Alameda where he served as Sr. Pastor from 1988 to 2020. He is also Co-Chair of the Friends of Wadi Foquin, a partnership initiated in 2009 at the Alameda church with the West Bank Palestinian village of Wadi Foquin. Yoshii's life experience encouraged him to work to support Palestine. During WWII, Yoshii's Japanese American parents were forced to leave their home and were incarcerated in a U.S.interment camp by the U.S. government until the war ended.

Genny Lim, the 9th San Francisco Poet Laureate (2025), opens the program with poetry. Lim is the first Chinese American given this honor in San Fancisco. She is co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940.

Noura Khouri will be joining the conversation with Rev. Yoshii on the present situation and beyond. Khouri is a U.S. born Palestinian human rights activist and community organizer based in Oakland, California. Over the past two decades, Noura has dedicated herself to advocating for Palestinian rights, serving as a campaign strategist and organizer. She has lived and worked in occupied Palestine and Egypt, gaining firsthand experience in the role and impact of US foreign policy on the region.

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