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Our day started with more beautiful views of Haifa and the surrounding area from the university's mountain-top campus. (See my blog photo for the day.) To the north is Akko and the Lebanon border and to the south is Tel Aviv.
Dr. Udi Eran, professor of political science, provided a morning lecture on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. His framework of this multi-layered, complicated conflict was superb. Lunchtime was devoted to individual meetings with faculty counterparts at the university. I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Esther Carmel-Hakim, a professor of women and gender studies. She shared information about her life on a kibbutz, the current state of women in Israeli society and her recent initiatives to contribute articles on Jewish women to the Hebrew Wikipedia.
Our afternoon lecture focused on peace education and Dr. Haggai Kupermintz provided excellent background information on intractable conflicts. As a member and board member of the Richmond Peace Education Center, I was particularly intrigued with this approaches to peace education and and his research on Arab-Jewish youth relations.
We ended our day with a visit to Daliat El-Carmel, a Druze village located on Mt. Carmel. A member of the Druze community provided a walking tour of the village and he shared information on the history and culture of the Druze religion. Our visit ended with a traditional Druze dinner in a modest, family-owned restaurant with sunset views of the bay.
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