The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, UNSCO who spoke in relatively depressing terms about the possibility of a two state solution. We went to Ramallah, where we met the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNWRA and were given a tour of the refugee camp which has existed since and therefore looks like a run down neighborhood rather than a tent camp as well as meeting students who received work training. students on tour But it is often the personal stories that leave a lasting impression.
We had a powerful meeting with a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem, just below the wall of the historic Old City, who have had their house demolished by the Israeli authorities, but still live in the room that remains. They didn t know what to do when the bulldozers came to finish the job. The whatsapp mobile number list students were also given a serious tour of Hebron, a city in the West Bank that has Israeli settlers in the middle of the Palestinian city. The settlers are protected by the Israeli Defense Forces, which makes life very difficult for the Palestinian residents. However, the settlers believe that they have a historical right to live in the city.
The competing narratives are an important aspect of the trip and something that takes time to absorb. There are a number of things that the students get to feel on their bodies by physically traveling in the field. For example, how small Israel Palestine really is. In one week we traveled between Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah and Tel Aviv. The cities are not far from each other as the crow flies, but are separated by military check points, a wall built by Israel, and two understandings of reality. The trip is intense and the students are often strongly influenced as the days go by.