SAN ANTONIO — Tourists from San Antonio and around Texas are having to shelter in place in Israel as the war intensifies.
George Mason, a Baptist pastor from Dallas, helped plan a trip to the Holy Land to learn about the history, cultures, tension and what can be done to bring peace.
Now, he and 11 others including two people from San Antonio were forced to flee to safety.
“I do feel like we were an eyewitness to history here, not a history that we're proud of, but a history that we need to bear witness to,” Mason said.
Mason founded the group, Faith Commons in 2018 to provide a safe space for people of all religions. It is led by Mason and a Dallas rabbi.
The two were helping lead the trip that was organized by a Florida tourism company, Mejdi Tours. The company’s co-founders have Palestinian and Jewish backgrounds and offer tour guides who are expertise in both historical backgrounds.
Mason had been near Bethlehem for a few days prior to the group’s arrival, attending a conference at a Palestinian University. On Saturday, the day they intended on starting the pilgrimage, violence broke out. Some of the group arrived in Jerusalem.
But not everybody made it, including the rabbi, since flights were already being cancelled.
“We were hearing rockets coming into Jerusalem, but the security system called the Iron Dome was demolishing them before they could land,” Mason said.
Mason and his group felt safe at first, but the attacks intensified. On Monday, they were advised to travel up north out of the war zone.
“There are people who are dying, there are people who a grieving, there is a country that is traumatized,” Mason said.
Mason said after being caught in the middle of a war, he believes now more than ever, it is important to promote peace.
"The bottom line is violence is violence,” Mason said. “We can't just cheer for our home team; we've got to care for the humanity of people that we consider even to be our enemies."
The group plans to travel to Jordan Tuesday and are hoping to get a flight back to the United States by the end of the week.