Home > Olives & Thorns > Archives > 2008 > August > 20 > Entry
Talking peace in Tel Aviv
An Israeli delegation sat down across from their Syrian counterparts to hash out an agreement on sharing water resources in the Golan Heights. Down the hallway, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators discussed the future of Jerusalem in the context of a two-state solution.
For years, the grownups haven’t been able to find a way to peace. Perhaps they should leave it to 50 college students from 18 countries and the Palestinian West Bank at a five-day mock peace conference at Tel Aviv University.
“We hope this can set an example,” said Dana Sender, one of the event organizers, who is a Far Eastern Studies major at Tel Aviv University. “Maybe if we can show our leaders this initiative comes from students who care, maybe it will make a difference.”
One student came from Lebanon via Syria and Jordan on a foreign passport. His circuitous journey to Israel underscores an absence of peace in the region. Tel Aviv is just a couple-hour drive from the Lebanon border.
In many cases, Israeli students played the part of Arab negotiators and Arab students represented the Israeli side.
“The goal is to show the complexity of the situation,” Sender told me today as more mock negotiations were unfolding. “The more you learn, the more confused you get.”
In this afternoon’s session, Israeli and Palestinian teams stalled over a resolution to the 60-year Palestinian refugee crisis. Israelis, as well as an Egyptian representative, were proposing refugees forfeit the right of return in exchange for citizenship in Arab countries.
The Palestinian team refused.
“Perhaps it’s too complicated,” Sender said, “to reach a peace agreement in five days.”
Comments