On December 14, the Irwin Cotler Fellows journeyed north on their third field trip of the year, beginning their day ascending the winding roads of Mount Tabor, where they visited the Church of Annunciation and took in panoramic views of the Jezreel Valley, Megiddo plains, and distant Galilee hills.

From Mount Tabor, the Fellows continued to Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel with a population of almost 80,000, 70% of whom are Muslim and 30% of whom are Christian. The Fellows were led through Nazareth’s narrow old city streets, learning about Nazareth’s rich and diverse Jewish, Christian, and Islamic history and its troubled present. Weaving through the old city, the Fellows visited places like Mary’s Well, the Greek Orthodox and Catholic churches of the Annunciation, the White Mosque, and the Diwan of Zahir al-‘Umar, the 18th-century ruler in the area during the Ottoman era. The Christmas spirit was in the air as the city prepares to celebrate the coming holiday, a large tree and Christmas lights dotting the landscape while stores and shopkeepers sold Christmas decorations.

The final stop was in Nof HaGalil at Merkaza, the largest supermarket in Israel that was established by the Hamoud family from the Druze village of Yarka. Similar to Costco and Walmart, the commercial success of Merkaza and the Hamoud family’s contribution to Israeli society as a whole, and in the north in particular, is notable. Even more so are its efforts to promote cultural understanding and strengthen relations between its diverse customer base of Jews, Arabs, Druze, Muslims, Christians, and secular. When we visited, the store was filled with Christmas and Hanukkah decorations, and the holiday spirit in the air.