Register Now for Interfaith Pilgrimage 2026
(Si solo hablas español y estás interesado, ponte en contacto con la oficina en office@im4humanintegrity.org )
On May 9, 2026, join the Interfaith Pilgrimage for Palestine, a public witness calling for an end to military cargo shipments from Oakland to Israel. As the drumbeat of war and profiteering grows louder, we deepen our commitment to non-cooperation with harm and support the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo to proclaim: Divest from war. Invest in life.
This Mother’s Day, join us and be a voice for a different future, a future that sees children as our greatest inheritance. Children are sacred. As parents, aunties/uncles, grandparents, educators, healers and people of faith, let us put our values into actions that save lives and end the horror of the US and Israel’s war on children. For the sake of the future, let us create the world we want to see by demanding an end to the shipping of arms from Oakland.
Together, we will journey 12 miles through Oakland and Alameda, walking our prayers and embodying our shared conviction that every human life is sacred, and that peace with justice cannot be built through militarism. Participants are invited to join us for the entire 12 miles, or for one of the 5 legs (1-4 miles long).
This pilgrimage grows out of the global Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages of 2024 and local collaborations such as the Right of Return Pilgrimage in 2025. In this third year, we renew our collective call for an immediate arms embargo—locally and nationally.
Event details:
Date & Time: Saturday, May 9, 8am – 7pm
Location: East Bay, CA (from downtown Oakland, through Alameda, to the Oakland Airport)
Distance: 12 miles (the route will be segmented into 5 shorter legs (1-4 miles each) that participants can choose from; see below in schedule section)
Registration
Register Now for Interfaith Pilgrimage 2026
Si solo hablas español y estás interesado, ponte en contacto con la oficina en office@im4humanintegrity.org
Purpose:
The Interfaith Pilgrimage for Palestine invites all participants to journey and pray for an end to the US complicity in war and grieve the impact of war on children in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran.
Objectives:
The Interfaith Pilgrimage for Palestine aligns with the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo, and advocates to
- Recenter the sacredness of all children.
- End the genocide, ethnic cleansing and torture of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
- Cease all military cargo shipments from Oakland Airport to Israel.
- Implement a permanent policy to prohibit the use of Oakland’s public infrastructure and finances for military transfers to any country committing war crimes.
- Support Block the Bombs legislation nationally.
Schedule and Route highlights:
Participants are invited to join for the entire 12 miles, or specific legs below. Note: times include pauses for programming plus the journey.
8:00am – 9:00am Leg 1: Oakland City Hall to Oakland Ferry Terminal (1 mi)
Start at City Hall to call in our local elected officials to support the campaign: stop the flow of deadly military cargo from Oakland. Travel to the Port of Oakland, calling on our port commissioners for their support.
9:00am – 11:45am Leg 2: Oakland Ferry Terminal to Union Point Park (3 mi)
Start on the grassy lawn in front of the Ferry Terminal, in view of the cargo vessels and machinery of the port. Acknowledging the 1990s protests of shipments to apartheid South Africa, we call on our movement ancestors to help us stop military shipments to Israel.
Proceed along the Oakland waterfront, the Embarcadero, and out past Coast Guard Island Bridge, where last October faith and other protesters opposed the government’s attempt to bring a surge of ICE officers to the Bay Area and were met with violence.
11:45am – 12:45pm Lunch break, , program and start of Leg 3
Speakers, music, and a special ritual “flipping the tables of injustice.”
12:45pm – 2:15pm Leg 3: Union Point Park to Shoreline Drive in Alameda (2 mi)
Travel to and across the Park St. bridge into Alameda, down the length of Park St. to the water. Garner visibility on this leg through the heart of Alameda. Pause at a Chevron station to uplift the anti-Chevron campaign.
2:15pm – 5:15pm Leg 4: Shoreline Drive to FedEx (4 mi)
Engage in ritual to connect with the sacred water and draw spiritual sustenance for the rest of our journey. Take the Bay Trail to Bay Farm Island. Continue down a smooth but unshaded length towards the outskirts of the airport. Note the presence of Flock (AI surveillance).
5:15pm – 7:00pm Leg 5 and Closing: FedEx to OAK Airport (1.5 mi)
At the intersection of Ron Cowan Parkway and Air Cargo Way, witness FedEx operations – where the company carries fighter plane parts to Israel – and other corporate complicity with genocide. Experience Buddhist chanting and mindfulness meditation before traveling to OAK airport. There will be an opportunity to flyer and raise awareness among travelers both in and outside the airport. Closing blessings; easy access to BART.
Volunteer
This is a joint effort! We need volunteers for roles from art to logistics, safety, clergy, comms, fundraising, and music.
Please indicate your interest in the registration form. Note that the safety team (which is fun and fulfilling) will require an additional online orientation May 6 at 7pm and move on a slightly different schedule the day of.
We are also offering an in-person Safety Training for new folks on April 26, 2-4pm.
Safety Team schedule
7:30am – 12:15pm — Legs 1 & 2 Combined: Oakland City Hall to Union Point Park (4 mi)
12:15pm – 2:15pm — Leg 3: Union Point Park to Shoreline Drive (2 mi)
2:15pm – 5:15pm — Leg 4: Shoreline Drive to FedEx (4 mi)
5:15pm – 7:00pm — Leg 5 and Closing: FedEx to OAK Airport (1.5 mi)
Donations:
In various pilgrimage traditions, generosity is specifically invited and cultivated as a practice. Offerings are made to express gratitude, seal vows, seek repair, or pay penance for our complicity. Rooted in these traditions we invite your generosity.
Individuals
- Donate when you register. This gift will go towards humanitarian needs for children and families in Gaza and Iran, and the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo campaign. Suggested: $10 – $1000.
Organizations and community groups
- Sponsor the pilgrimage to help underwrite the cost of the event – a total of $10,000 for materials, banners and art, supplies for security and medics, snacks, water, and stipends to community leaders. Suggested: ($1000, $500, $300, $100).
Please give what is a meaningful gift for you and/or your organization.
How to donate
- Check mailed to: IM4HI, 310 8th Street, Suite #310, Oakland, CA 94607
- Individuals, write checks to IM4HI (memo: “I4P”)
- Organizations, write checks to IM4HI (memo: “I4P sponsor”)
- Online –
How to Prepare:
- Join our next Art Build – May 6, 4-8pm
- Orientation – April 29, 7pm (zoom) – A link will be sent to everyone registered for the pilgrimage.
Community agreements
This Pilgrimage is a sacred journey in solidarity with Palestinians and other targeted communities. In that spirit, we ask for agreement on the following:
- We will come together to express love and solidarity, embody remembrance and resistance, and channel our grief and anger into action.
- We will participate prayerfully knowing that we all pray in different ways. We strive to be respectful and be on the journey together. We will find a way to support and care for one another.
- There will be trained safety teams, de-escalators and police liaisons. I agree to follow all safety instructions given by event organizers and safety team volunteers while participating in the Pilgrimage and to move in the spirit of nonviolence. In case of need, I will reach out to one of these team members. We keep each other safe.
- We will carry the art we co-create at the Art Build in order to be a unified voice to uplift the faith-rooted themes for the pilgrimage.
Participating Organizations:
Alameda Families and Friends for Collective Liberation
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee
Bethel Community Presbyterian Church
Beyt Tikkun Synagogue
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Cal-Nev Palestine Task Force
Ceasefire Circle, Or Shalom Jewish Community
Chavurah for a Free Palestine
Church of the Sojourners
City Church of San Francisco
Congregation Beth El
East Bay Church of Religious Science
East Bay Mediation Center
First Mennonite Church of San Francisco
Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)
Friends of Wadi Foquin
Haven Berkeley Faith Community
Hindus for Human Rights
IEB Indy Gaza Action Squad
Japanese American Families for Justice
Jewish Voice for Peace – Bay Area
JeWitch Collective
Kehilla Community Synagogue
Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church’s Peace in Palestine—Friends of Wad Foquin Solidarity Group
Loretto Link
Mennonite Action Bay Area
Oakland People’s Arms Embargo
Oaklife Church
Richmond Jews 4 Palestine
Sacred Mountain Sangha
SF Bay Area Friends of Standing Together
SF Interfaith Council
Shomeret Shalom
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Bay Area’s Palestine Solidary Campaign
St. Columba Catholic Church
Tsuru for Solidarity
Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley
Weirdo Queerdo Monastery
And more coming….
Register Now for Interfaith Pilgrimage 2026
Si solo hablas español y estás interesado, ponte en contacto con la oficina en office@im4humanintegrity.org
